Besides its economical and social importance, there are very few studies, about the Brazilian sugar cane spirit, or "cachaça", quality. This Brazilian beverage is very quite appreciate by its typical aroma and flavor, that can be improved by aging in wood recipes. The complex process that occurs during the aging depends, among various things, on the wood utilized to made the cask, the aging time, and of course the initial distillate quality. In order to study the sensorial profile or the sugar cane spirit aged in oak casks, samples corresponding to zero, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months, aging in a 200 liters oak cask, and two commercial brands, were submitted to the descriptive quantitative analysis methodology. An initial group of 16 members, pre-selected by triangular tests and sequential analysis, had created according to the Kelly's Repertory Grid Method, the descriptive terms for the aged sugar cane spirit. After a training period, the group was reduced to 10 members, based on its discriminant power, reproducibility and agreement among judges. Then the samples were tested by this selected group in individual cabins, in monadic form with four repetition, and the results submitted to analysis of variance, Tukey's tests and principal component analysis. The descriptors selected for the aged sugar cane spirit were: woody aroma, vanilla aroma, alcohol aroma, yellow coloration, initial sweetness, sweetness aftertaste, initial woody flavor, wood flavor aftertaste, agressivity, astringency and sour. The results showed significant changes in the "cachaça" sensorial characteristics during the aging period (p<FONT FACE="Symbol">£</font>0,05). After 48 months the aged product showed pronounced woody aroma, initial sweetness, sweetness aftertaste, vanilla aroma, yellow coloration, initial woody flavor and woody flavor aftertaste. The aged sample showed alcohol aroma, agressivity, initial alcohol flavor and alcohol flavor aftertaste, significativelly lower than the others samples analyzed
sugar cane spirit; aging; descriptive quantitative analysis; cachaça
