Recipe: Rio’s Celebratory Caipirinha
By now everyone knows that Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Olympics (sorry, Chi-town), and should you find yourself wishing to toast the city’s victory (any excuse for a cocktail…), you’ll likely pour yourself a caipirinha, the semi-official cocktail of all of Brazil.
If that’s too staid, Leblon offers this spin on the drink. Try it while thinking of the pole vault and the hammer throw.
The Lemon Lime and Blue Caipirinha
2 oz. Leblon Cachaca
3 Lime Wheels
3 Lemon Wheels
6 Blueberries
2 Teaspoons of Superfine Sugar (or 1 oz. Simple Syrup)
Cut lime into (3) 1/8″ wheels and cut lemon into (3) 1/8″ wheels and place into shaker. Add 2 teaspoons of superfine sugar, or 1 ounce of simple syrup. Gently muddle fruit in shaker for 10-15 seconds, extracting juice from lemon and lime wheels. Add Leblon Cachaca. Fill rocks glass to the top with crushed ice. Add 6 blueberries. Shake or stir, mixing blueberries, ice and lemon-lime fruit thoroughly. Garnish with Lemon, Lime, and Blueberry combination.
On Monday night, I went to the 2009 Rum Festival in NYC, hosted by the Ministry of Rum. One of the producers at the tasting was Cabana Cachaça, and I thought their product was quite good (I’m not a big fan of cachaça).
At their table, they served a really nice cocktail which contained the following ingredients:
Lemon juice
Simple syrup infused with jalepeno peppers (de-seed, and steep in syrup for 3-4 hrs)
Cabana Cachaça
Pear slices
Crushed ice
I don’t know if this drink has a name, but it was good enough to consider for a party or get-together.
Whoops– almost forgot– Pear nectar is another key ingredient to the drink recipe above.