Novo Fogo is a delectable spirit, called Cachaça, made by a small Brazilian distillery relatively close to the Atlantic rainforest, also called Floresta Atlântica. The distillery is carbon-negative, using organic sugarcane and natural ingredients while also following an inspiring mantra: “Leave the world better than when you found it.” Contributing to that mission is the brand’s reforestation project, to create the great ‘Un-endangered forest.’ Because its signature beverage, Cachaça, relies on healthy Brazilian forestage — specifically local trees like the Amburana, Tapinhoã, Castanheira, and many others — Novo Fogo has created a sustainable operation that helps preserve the Atlantic rainforest.
The brand’s Director of Marketing, Luke McKinley, met up with The Manual’s Dan Gaul to talk all things Novo Fogo and its inspiring approach to a carbon-negative and eco-revival operation. It was our chance to take a behind-the-scenes look at how it all came to be and learn what’s driving the business today.
Introductions and experiences
Interestingly, like Dan Gaul, Luke McKinley reveals he’s based in the Seattle area. Gaul asks how living in Seattle influences his work with a Brazilian-based company; after all, they are miles apart.
“We’re very lucky to have two footholds in North America and South America,” McKinley says. “Novo Fogo’s origin is in the south of Brazil, but our North American HQ is here in the Seattle area. We think that both places actually share a lot in common, despite being 6,000 miles away. We share a love for nature, surrounded by a beautiful place, so there’s definitely, despite the distance, a lot of cool overlap that informs a lot of how we think and how we live every day.”
“In all of these cool creative ways, it’s all about bringing people together, supporting each other, and spreading that positivity.”
Excitedly, Gaul asks McKinley if he gets the opportunity to visit the Brazil location and distillery.
“I do,” he says. “That’s one of the great privileges — sharing our really incredible place with people who’ve never been to Brazil before. I usually go one or two times a year; I’m actually gonna be going in two weeks. I’m taking a small group of bartenders down who won a cocktail competition last year. That’s just one of the coolest parts of this job… the greatest privilege is being able to share our very unique, really mesmerizing place with the outside world. And whenever we get to go there, it is just so much to soak up and so much learning to always take place.”
It sounds like a dream, but the real inspiration stems from the brand’s ultimate goal: Maintaining a healthy, eco-friendly, and sustainable operation.
The Novo Fogo backstory: Building up to modern distilling
Gaul and McKinley dive a little deeper into the origins of Novo Fogo, which stretch further back and are perhaps more humble than one might expect.
“The distillery was founded in 2003 by an ex-head of Volvo operations in Brazil named Fulgencio Torres Viruel. From the very beginning, he had a vision of producing traditional Cachaça by doing things the right way, [like] farming sugar cane organically, establishing zero waste practices from the jump,” McKinley explains.
“It is extraordinary how the ethos of the business, even then, is extremely similar to what we practice every single day, now.”
With its operation largely established, it would take some time before the Novo Fogo brand was brought into fruition, at least in name. It all started in Brazil.
“Fast forward about a dozen years, our founder and CEO Dragos Axinte had this idea — he was passionate about the country of Brazil, his previous company had taken him there, and [he] saw this massive opportunity to share artisanal Cachaça and the wonders of Brazil with the North American market,” McKinley says. “So, he had this idea — as with many Latin-American spirits companies — to start a brand, find a distillery, and partner exclusively with it to bring it to the United States. So, he and his wife Emily traveled all over the countryside of Brazil, meeting with distillery owners and producers, and they found this truly astonishing, perfect fit in kindred spirits in this little teeny tiny town in the south of Brazil, tucked away in the Atlantic rainforest, a little town called Morretes (mo-HET-ches).”
McKinley explains that all that took place from “about 2008 to 2009,” with the Novo Fogo brand launching “right around 2010.”
“I was actually reviewing our business plan that Dragos wrote during that time, and it is extraordinary how the ethos of the business, even then, [was] extremely similar to what we practice every single day, now,” he says.
Ideals that have remained steadfast in this day and age? That’s certainly impressive. But what are those ideals? What does Novo Fogo truly stand for?
“The design of that deck looked quite a bit different from what the brand identity looks like today. But the fundamental values of leaving the world a better place than when we found it, through these really delicious spirits, were always that ambition from the jump,” McKinley says.
Fast forward to Novo Fogo in 2024
Partnering with the music duo from Florida, SOFI TUKKER, Novo Fogo has introduced its ENERGIA drinks for “healthy people who like to have a good time.” They’re instilled with the spirit of Brazil, of course, but also with a spark of fun and passion — passion fruit, that is.
“It was one of those kind of whirlwinds that looking back was like, damn, so many people were so delighted by what they experienced. Because of this confluence of good people, and art, and drinks, and music, and the backdrop of all of it is that we’re saving the rainforest while we’re at it.”
The Passion Fruit Cachaça, Novo Fogo’s newest release, is inspired by the multi-Grammy nominated dance music superstars. It comprises forest-friendly and organic sugarcane infused with Silver Cachaça and notes of passion fruit, orange peel, vanilla, pure cane sugar, and oak from aged barrels. The result is a beautiful, delicious harmony of Brazilian flavors worthy of the Novo Fogo and SOFI TUKKER names.
“In all of these cool creative ways, it’s all about bringing people together, supporting each other, and spreading that positivity from like Novo Fogo and Sofi Tukker all the way down to our distributors and our bartenders we work with. It’s definitely given our brand identity a completely new, fun texture that we really love,” McKinley shares.
Making memories with Novo Fogo
But as we all know, when spirits are involved, good times often ensue. Eventually, Gaul asks McKinley about one of his most memorable experiences with the company. He had some pretty wild stories to share and immediately revisited an impromptu party with music, drinks, and fun. McKinley reminisces about a time everyone experienced in New Orleans.
“Almost exactly a year ago, Tales of the Cocktail 2023, it was the coming together of SOFI TUKKER. We did a DJ set, during the day, it was like 5 PM, but we blacked out all the windows and turned it into this what we call a jungle disco vibe,” he explains. “These Tales attendees showed up and just had their faces blasted off with the fun of Brazilian drinks, and SOFI TUKKER music, and dancing on the stage, it was like truly amazing.”
Don’t worry folks, it didn’t end there. The very next day, the partying continued.
“Remember the flash mobs of the early aughts; they’re bringing them back; they’re calling them Flash Bobs. We did a flash Bob on Bourbon Street, where you just kind of come out of the woodwork. It was right after the Barbie movie came out, so we did a remix of the Barbie Girl song that everyone was dancing to. Innocent bystanders were like completely bamboozled about what’s happening,” he shares.
Why’s it so special for McKinley and anyone lucky enough to attend?
“It was one of those kind of whirlwinds that looking back was like, damn, so many people were so delighted by what they experienced,” he says. “Because of this confluence of good people, and art, and drinks, and music, and the backdrop of all of it is that we’re saving the rainforest while we’re at it. Some people might have walked away from that weekend thinking, “Wow, I really like how Novo Fogo is such a sustainable company.” Other people were like, “I really dig that Novo Fogo does crazy dance parties in New Orleans. It was such a beautifully chaotic, awesome connection of everybody that I’ll always remember it.”
Maybe it’s time for the rest of us to crack open a bottle of organic Cachaça from Novo Fogo and have a drink and some fun. Either way, we highly recommend watching the full interview. There are some fantastic stories in there we didn’t cover here.
