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The Official Cocktail of Rio: the Caipirinha
To celebrate the start of the Summer Olympics, I’ll be enjoying something far better than the Summer Olympics — booze. Specifically, I will be drinking the official cocktail of Brazil, the Caipirinha. It’s a straightforward lime, sugar, and hootch concoction that’s the perfect way to slake your thirst on a hot summer day, whether you’re lounging on Ipanema or sitting your front porch (consult your local liquor laws).
The drink’s name is the Portuguese equivalent of “hillbilly” — caipira refers to the countryside where Brazilian sugar plantations distilled their localized version of rum. But first, a warning about this “rum”: It’s called cachaça, which I can only assume is Portuguese slang for “rocket fuel.” It offers the bouquet of turpentine and the finish of hull cleaner. Needless to say, you don’t want to do shots of this stuff unless you need to clean out those stubborn intestinal parasites you picked up along the Amazon.
However, when cachaça is combined with sugar and lime, the harshness vanishes and it’s pure refreshment. Here’s how you make a Caipirinha:
- Cut half a lime into 2-4 pieces, and toss them into a sturdy glass.
- Sprinkle in 2 tsp. of sugar (I add a bit more) and muddle it. (Muddling usually calls for a special tool, but a wooden spoon will do fine. Muddling is just beating up the lime wedges a bit to release some of the juice and the oils from the rind, while mixing in the sugar.)
- Fill the glass with crushed ice, pour in 2 oz. of cachaça, and stir it up.
Easy, right? Even easier is the drinking since it’s the perfect mix of sweet and sour with no boozy bite. This is the beauty of the Caipirinha, but also the danger. If you aren’t limiting yourself to two or three of these babies, you just won’t stop. By Monday morning, you’ll wake up face down in a favela, wondering who gave you the throat tattoo of a samba dancer and searching in vain for your underpants.
So while you’re watching the events in Rio this weekend, and need to tune out a preachy Bob Costas monologue, do it with a Caipirinha in hand. I’ll make mine a double.
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I’m comparing the price of cachaça to Zippo lighter fluid right now, thanks for the tip.
I could use one of those about now, watching the NBC coverage of the opening ceremonies. For the love of sanity, please don’t let NBC host any more Olympics.
We used to pound these down when I worked in Luanda, Angola. They went well with the Cuban cigars we could buy there.
Good call.
Cheers.
Anyone know of a good place to get cachaça in the US. I know you could substitute white rum, but I want to keep it authentic.
I have a BevMo and Total Wine and More nearby, and they have several options available. I would assume most larger liquor stores would stock it. And now there are aged, refined versions of high-end caçhaca, but for cocktails I get Pitú, which is the most popular brand in Brazil and costs about $10.
I say that every year! They ruin it every time with their stupid purple prose narrations. Hilarious writing, Jon.
I knew the must be a way to get rid of these. Thanks!
Are you sure you’re not celebrating the imminent victory of a few open-borders Republicans?
PS – Amazon 2Day shipping isn’t always the best option.
I have to be pretty sloshed before I can risk turning on the Olympics coverage, seeing as how NBC refuses to run Bob Costas trigger warnings.
Bringing up #chemtrails? Is that the favored strategy for protecting John McCain this year?
Jon, I’m gobsmacked! I just realized that you have your priorities exactly aligned with the universal zeitgeist. Well done! I promise to praise your writing forevermore!
Have a happy weekend.
Yup, Costas makes me dizzy, for all the wrong reasons.
We got it at Total Wine.
The blessed caipirinha is literally how I met my wife. Our mutual friend hosted a barbecue and when I walked in the door my future wife was the first person to greet me, standing at the kitchen counter muddling the limes. She turned and offered me a drink I had never heard of before and the rest is history.
In case anybody is curious about how to pronounce caipirinha, the first syllable rhymes with “sky”, and the last syllable is “ya”. In Portuguese the nh is equivalent to the Spanish ñ. If you can roll the r, even better.
Ky-peerrr-EEN-ya.
And the rum cachaça is pronounced kah-SHAH-ssa.
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They’re very popular in Italy, but sweet drinks do not agree with me.
The Olympic coverage here has been fine but I couldn’t watch more than a few minutes of the dismal opening ceremony. Was that bacteria-themed segment supposed to be ironic?
Many times have I disagreed with Mr Gabriel’s politics, but I tip my hat to him in this matter. The caipirinha is a touch of heaven on a hot , sticky day.
I have been drinking theses for about 20 years since I spent a month in Brasilia. What’s your favorite Cachaca? Mine is currently Cabana. I also use agave syrup in place of the cane sugar. near as I can tall, Caipirinha season follows hurricane season, more or less precisely.
I once was given a bottle of Cachaca as a gift from some Brazilians. I didn’t drink hard liquor at the time (still don’t very much) so I gave it to my brother-in-law. I don’t know what brand it was, but the outside of the bottle had wood shavings glued to it.
The only one I’ve tried is Pitú. Leblon is the most popular high-end brand around here, but paying three times the price didn’t seem worth it since I only use it as a mixer.
Jon,
Not one time I suspect has Sam Sifton Food Editor of the Times written such a paragraph. One more reason not to read the Times.
Regards,
Jim
It’s grain alcohol made from sugar cane. About 200 proof. Had something similar in Ecuador. There it was served with cinammon and heated.
I don’t mean to challenge Jon’s medical expertise but it appears these parasites simply took a well earned siesta.
@jon terrific humor. Loved the: “It offers the bouquet of turpentine and the finish of hull cleaner” part in particular
EThompson’s favorite drink. Is she still around?
Had my 1st caipirinha in Rio in 1982 during Carnival – what a riot! Have never looked back.
BTW, loved those tangas way back when – they were practically no thicker than dental floss. Wonder if they’ve gotten any skimpier during these some 35 odd years?
Long story.
I got time.
Check your mail.
Ma’am yes ma’am!