The word is a compound of the Iberian languages' words for "water" (agua in Castilian; aigua in Catalan; água in Portuguese; auga in Galician) and "burning"/"fiery" (ardiente in Castilian; ardent in Catalan; ardente in Portuguese and Galician).

Aguardientes are strong alcoholic beverages obtained by fermentation then distillation of sugared or sweet musts, vegetable macerations, or mixtures of the two.

Fruit-based aguardientes include those made from oranges, grapes, bananas, or medronho ("cane apple").

Brazil defined cane aguardiente as an alcoholic beverage of between 38% and 54% ABV, obtained by simple fermentation and distillation of sugarcane that has already been used in sugar production and has a distinct flavor similar to rum.

Cachaça, on the other hand, is an alcoholic beverage of between 38% and 48% ABV, obtained by fermenting and distilling sugarcane juice, and may have added sugar up to 6 g/L.

According to Spanish and Portuguese versions of European Union spirits regulations,[2] aguardiente and aguardente are generic Spanish and Portuguese terms, respectively, for some of the distilled spirits that are fermented and distilled exclusively from their specified raw materials, contain no added alcohol or flavoring substances, and if sweetened, only "to round off the final taste of the product".

In Brazil, a beverage known as cachaça or pinga, considered distinct from traditional aguardiente, is made from sugarcane.

Dark cachaça, usually seen as the "premium" variety, is aged in wood barrels and is meant to be drunk neat.

It can be made from many cereals, ranging from beans to rice, or whatever can be converted into alcohol, be it fruit peels or candy, using improvised and illegal equipment.

Different flavors are obtained by adding different amounts of aniseed, leading to extensive marketing and fierce competition between brands.

On the Caribbean coast, there is a moonshine called "Cococho", an aguardiente infamous for the number of blindness cases due to the addition of methanol.

In Guam and the Mariana Islands, a distilled version of tubâ (coconut palm wine introduced from the Philippines) is known as aguajente (also aguayente or agi).

It was prevalent among the Chamorro people, but is largely extinct; the United States banned its manufacture soon after the acquisition of Guam from the Spanish Empire in 1899.

[6][7][8] In Ecuador, aguardiente is also derived from sugar cane, but unlike Colombia, it is left largely unflavoured.

It is mostly used to fortify wines such as port or aged to make aguardente velha (old burning water), a kind of brandy.

[citation needed] In certain areas of the Pyrenees in Catalonia, aiguardent, as it is known in Catalan, is used as an essential ingredient in the preparation of tupí, a type of cheese.

In some places in Galicia, a small glass is traditionally taken at breakfast as a tonic before a hard day's work on the land.