Poncha is Madeira's national drink: aguardente de cana (sugar-cane rum), honey and fresh lemon juice, muddled with a wooden caralhinho. The classic 'poncha pescador' is fishermen's strength (≈18 % ABV). Variants use orange, passion-fruit or tangerine. Drink it at a roadside bar in Serra de Água or any Câmara de Lobos tasca for €2–3 a glass.
The base spirit is aguardente de cana, a clear, grassy rum distilled from fresh sugar-cane juice on Madeira itself (the Engenho do Norte in Porto da Cruz and the Engenhos do Calheta are the two surviving stills). Bee honey from the laurisilva, fresh-squeezed lemon and the muddling stick (caralhinho) finish the drink.
Poncha pescador (fisherman's poncha) is the original recipe, strong, sour, no fruit beyond lemon, and was drunk by Câmara de Lobos cod fishermen before dawn shifts. Modern bars also pour poncha regional (sweeter, less sharp) and fruit variants: maracujá (passion-fruit), tangerina, ananás (pineapple). Tourists usually start with passion-fruit; locals stay on pescador.
The benchmark roadside stops are Bar Filhó in Serra de Água, Taberna da Poncha in Câmara de Lobos, and almost any inland village bar before noon. A glass is €2–3 and you should not order more than two before driving the ER101.