If you've ever wondered how cachaça (Brazil's famous sugarcane alcohol) is made, this is a perfect place to learn. This small-scale alambique (distillery) with a focus on sustainable production offers free guided tours demonstrating every stage of the process, from harvesting and milling of sugarcane, to filtering and separation of the juice, to distillation at high heat in elegant copper cooling towers, to aging in casks of oak, Brazil nut or local pink jequitibá wood. It's located 7km northeast of Tiradentes.
Afterwards, taste the goods and purchase a bottle or two to bring home in the attached shop. Ideal times to observe the whole process are during the main June to August harvest season, or the secondary harvest in January and February.