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.