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CAIPIRINHA
It's the national drink of Brazil, and maybe summer.
By Darcy O'Neil
As we hit the peak of summer, the sweltering heat will make everyone crave a drink that will quell their thirst. There are plenty of cocktails that can do in a pinch, but there are only a few that do it really, really well.
The Mojito is a classic option, and so is a Margarita, but after a while people get bored of these drinks and start to look for something new and different. That's where the national drink of Brazil, called the Caipirinha [pronounced kay-pee-REEN-yah], will open your eyes and quench your thirst in a whole new way.
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Cachaça
For a proper Caipirinha you need cachaça, which is a clear sugar cane distillate from Brazil. Unlike rum, cachaça is made from the pure pressed cane juice instead of the molasses by-product used for rum. The aroma of cachaça is reminiscent of a smokey tequila, but lacking in the depth of aromas common in good tequila. It also has a "grassy" quality that would be familiar to anyone who's tried Rhum Agricole, another rum-like spirit from the Caribbean. Cachaça is a fairly feisty spirit to taste straight, and the aroma matches the flavour (smokey, grassy) and it has some heat on the finish. It doesn't have the depth of flavour tequila has and is very dry, unlike rum.
Making a Caipirinha
The Caipirinha is a relatively simple drink to make, but the results are sublime. The name roughly translates to "little countryside drink". The drink only requires cachaça, a lime, sugar and ice to make. A muddler is handy, but if you don't have one, the back of a spoon will work fine.
Caipirinha Recipe:
1.5 oz cachaça
2 tsp sugar or simple syrup
1/2 lime (cut into 4)
In a rocks glass place the four lime wedges and the sugar (or simple syrup). Muddle vigorously to extract the oils from the lime peel. Pack the glass full of coarsely cracked ice and add the cachaça. Stir and garnish with a piece of sugar cane or a lime wedge.
Variations and Tips
This drink is best served ice cold. The smokiness, from the cachaça, still comes through, but the refreshing flavour of lime is what makes this drink a hot climate favourite. If you use too much sugar, the drink becomes flabby, and if you don't use enough, the lime flavours will overpower. But when everything is in balance, the cocktail shines.
Like many other drinks there are multiple ways to enjoy a Caipirinha. Some people like to use simple syrup and others believe that using granulated sugar helps extract extra oils from the lime peel during the muddling process, resulting in a better drink. Some people like using brown sugar and others use white sugar but pure cane sugar is a good choice too. You can also use different fruit in place of the lime, such as pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, kiwi, passion fruit, berries, and grapes. Some bars in Brazil specialize in Caipirinha variations. Experimentation is the best way to figure out what works for you.
If you can't find cachaça in your neighbourhood, you can use this bartender trick to create an approximation. When you make the Caipirinha, substitute the cachaça with 1 oz of white rum and 1 oz of silver tequila. In this case cheaper tequila works better.
Darcy O'Neil is a bartender with a formal education in chemistry. His motive for becoming a bartender was part by chance and partially to fulfill his culinary desires. Darcy feels that in life, food and drink are too important to take short cuts, so he quickly became an advocate for making great cocktails. Darcy currently works as a bartender in London, Ontario and spends his time writing about his mixology and bartending experiences on hiswebsite, The Art of Drink.
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