Produção de sentidos sobre as práticas de consumo de cachaça de alambique: uma análise a partir dos apreciadores

Abstract

Admittedly, cachaça is one of the most expressive assets of the national cultural identity. In the colonial period, alcoholic beverages had a pejorative character, since drunkenness was a counterpoint to ethics, morals and religious customs proclaimed at the time. Actually, despite the fact that drinking has played a significant role in the history of Brazil, socially the negative view on consumption still lingers, corroborating the symbolic value of a marginalized product. The act of drinking cachaça has the most peculiar symbols and senses, but despite the diverse motivations for consumption, the Brazilian passion for the distillate is always the same. Therefore, in this dissertation the focus is on the consumption practices of the drink, as well as on the senses and emotions that permeate this action. As a theoretical contribution, we opted to use the Studies Based on Practices and the Consumption Metaphors of Holt (1995) for the discussions that follow. This research is a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory study. As data collection methods, documentary research, participant and non-participant observation, as well as semi-structured interviews with handmade cachaça tasters were adopted. For analysis purposes, narratives were used as the main material, which was obtained through observations, field notebooks and interviews. The data obtained were categorized and characterized according to Holt's metaphors: experience, integration, classification and play. However, in view of the data collected, it was possible to notice that another metaphor had emerged, namely consumption as moral. These dimensions allowed us to understand how consumers interact with drinking and related objects, how they personalize their practices, assimilate, evaluate, classify themselves before others, socialize in certain environments, among other aspects. Morality, in turn, emerged not only because it is the consumption of alcoholic beverages, but also because it is a product whose consumption still carries with it some stigmas, especially from the historical, cultural and social point of view. In addition, it was observed that the senses attributed to the consumption of handmade cachaça are directly related to culture, affectivity, pleasure and well-being, social ascension, knowledge and socialization. Thus, through the understanding of the narratives, it became possible to highlight not only the elaborated senses about consumption, but also the changes in narratives about the distillate. In this way, as new studies glimpse themes that work specifically with the consumption of handmade cachaça by women, the understanding of religious meanings around drinking, in addition to various studies that encourage debates about the cachaça field, as well as new ones. theoretical and methodological possibilities. Finally, it is hoped that the reflections presented in this study will encourage debates about the cachaça field, as well as new theoretical and methodological possibilities to what the drink is at the heart of. This study sought to demystify the consumption of handmade cachaça, in addition to unveiling the senses and emotions attributed to consumption practices, without making any value judgments and / or presenting a biased view of reality.