Cachaзa and the Caipirinha

[lperry]

I'm just back from Brazil where i drank more than my fair share of caipirinhas. I watched bartenders cut limes, muddle, and pour, and in only one place did I see them shaken. I think stirring is more common, mainly so that the person drinking can decide how much sugar to dissolve into the drink. (At least that's the story.)

I've had caipirinhas in the past in several places in the States and in Canada, and I believe that I have never really had one with true cachaзa until this trip. In addition to the usual lime, common fruits used in caipirinhas or batidos are passion fruit, pineapple, and kiwi. With fresh passion fruit, the drink is wonderful indeed. I'm already trying to find them in the stores here.

So now I have a bottle of Ypiуca ouro cachaзa, the one that was recommended by my Brazilian colleagues for mixing into a decent caipirinha. I asked for a mixing recommendation, not a sipping one. I will publicly admit that I am a wimp - I can't drink it straight, even though I was assured that not only does every Brazilian drink cachaзa straight, every Brazilian's grandmother drinks cachaзa straight. ;)

So does anyone else have a love of this drink? They went down so nicely in the Amazon when it was 95 degrees with 100% humidity and a battalion of mosquitoes was swarming around my ankles. It's such a wonderful hot weather drink. How do you make yours? What cachaзa do you use? Have you tried different fruits?

-Linda

[frenchrumlover]

i love my caipirinhia with germana 10 years or vehlo barreiro gold .
you can add any sort of fruit you want but for my personnal taste i prefer the traditional way

[RobertBurr]

cachaзa with lime, passionfruit, strawberry, kiwi, even melon water is great.

the caipirinha done well is right up there with a classic daiquiri in terms of simple, wonderful, refreshing. Brazilians in South Florida take their drinks seriously. I think we're a little ahead of the curve, but other cities and regions will soon come to love the caipirinha, even if they can't pronounce it.

[EssentialSpirits]

I tried a really good Cachaca at WSWA called... i think boca loca or something to that effect.

http://www.drinkbocaloca.com/home.html

It was pretty darn refreshing.

This was the recipe they made me.

1 1/2 oz BOCA LOCA
1 lime
2 teaspoons sugar

Clean and cut a lime into eight wedges. Place the lime and sugar into your glass and mash the ingredients together. Add ice equal to your glass then add the BOCA LOCA. It's important to keep stirring with your paddle stirrer (see Get Stuff) to keep the sugar mixed

but here are more recipes.

http://www.drinkbocaloca.com/recipes.html

[krustykrab]

but other cities and regions will soon come to love the caipirinha, even if they can't pronounce it.

OK, here's the scoop... (pronounced kie-purr-REEN-yah) ;)

So we can be ahead of the curve!!

[lperry]

the caipirinha done well is right up there with a classic daiquiri in terms of simple, wonderful, refreshing.

I agree completely. I'm even going to buy my first muddler (I've been making do with the end of a wooden spoon) in honor of this drink. And now I'm also going to go back to the daiquiri again and try it done right!

The Brazilian is Brazil were pretty serious about mixed drinks as well. I never saw "mixers" like you see here - just fresh, ripe fruit. It was really nice.

[Tiare]

Linda, the Ypióca ouro cachaça you had must be the same Ypioca gold that we now have got in our spirit shop..i think i need to get that one and try it!:)

[lperry]

I think they could be different products - there are both "gold" and "ouro" even though the remainder of the label is in Portuguese on both bottles. And now that I look, I actually have "empбhada ouro" and there is yet another "ouro" on the website! :confused: Mine has been aged in balsam wood and the bottle is encased in a basket. The basket was what my friends told me to look for. I don't know anything about the other ones except that Ypiуca is a very old and respected producer in Brazil.

Here's a link that might be useful. (It took a while to load, even on broadband).

http://www.ypioca.com.br/

[Tiare]

Thanks for the link! i must admit i don`t remember now how the bottle looked like, its new here and i saw it one time 3 weeks ago i think it was. I have to go and check that bottle again and then i can say which one it is.
Its definetily worth a try!:p

[Matusalem]

If this is the same bottle of "ouro" I have, you aren't alone in finding it a bit rough and rugged. I got the bottle in 2002 (still have a great percentage of the contents left in the liquor closet).

This was the first experience I recall with a cachaзa straight out da' bottle. My initial impression of it was, wax floor stripper. But I've definitely tasted worse since ...and also now better understand some of the natural edge cachaзa often arrives with.