Ypióca Group is a Brazilian traditional manufacturer ofcachaça located in the state ofCeará. In May 2012,Diageo agreed to acquire the Ypióca brand for $450 million; the deal closed by the end of 2012.[1]
The Ypióca Group consists of seven companies which include mineral water production and farming. It is the oldest continuously active private company in Brazil.[2]
The Group has many products, most of which use the name Ypióca followed by a name (like Ypióca Gold, Ypióca Crystal, Ypioca 150 etc.). Sapupara is the name of another famous product of the Group, being sold with the names Sapupara Ouro (gold) and Sapupara Prata (silver).
There are also many other Ypióca Group products, like mixed drinks (Ypióca Limão, Sapupara Limão), wines (Catuaba Garanhão and Catuaba Vinhagrinha) and Naturágua, a famous mineral water brand in Ceará.
The Group has five production plants, with its own fields for production ofsugar cane, located in the countryside of the states ofCeará.
In the transformation and distillation of the sugarcane, the Ypióca Group uses technology imported fromEngland andScotland. For aging, the group uses the traditional wooden barrels.
The Ypióca Group has, at its Museum of Cachaça inMaranguape,Ceará, Brazil, the largest wooden barrel in the world, with a capacity of up to 374,000 litres (82,000 imp gal; 99,000 US gal).[3]