MEDIA ROOM

Beija-Flor Cachaça has been recommended as part of the Perfect Bar by The Mail on Sunday.

How to stock the Perfect Bar

- The Connaught's Santino Cicciari serves up his top cocktail-mixing tips and the ingredients you'll need.

The most important elements of a bar are the spirits - they are mothers to your cocktails. You might be tempted to stock up only on the drinks you like, but this bar is for guests. As a mixologist, the temptation for me is to innovate, but I know I must be able to offer classics, too. Simple is sometimes best..... Always keep fresh ingredients to hand and squeeze juice directly into the drink. And don't ignore glassware, either. Get the right glass and the drink tastes different.

If you're going to invent your own cocktails (and if not, why the home bar?), you need bespoke glassware. Call me a traditionalist, but you need garnishes, too. Every drink should be finished with a flourish - for any mixologist, this is the 'grand finale'.

Please read the Contents List of the Perfect Bar and view the Perfect Bar Picture. Beija-Flor Cachaça is No 14.

Please read the latest Beija-Flor Cachaça review from Sukhinder & Rajbir Singh of
The Whisky Exchange: Cachaça Review

"Beija-Flor (...) is a small-scale, boutique product made by artisans with a meticulous attention to detail and commitment to quality that is simply impossible for larger scale producers.

The result is a product of such quality that the first time we tasted it we couldn't believe that what we were drinking was really Cachaça.

The Pura is has an incredibly lush, rich texture and an amazing spectrum and depth of flavour for a white spirit thanks to at least a year of resting before bottling, while at the other end of the scale the Reserva is aged for ten years and exhibits a level of complexity that we simply had not imagined could be achieved by a Cachaça.

The Beija-Flor range deserves a place not just at the top table of Cachaça, but in the upper echelons of all South American spirits."