Caipirinha is pronounced (kye-puh-reen-ah”

The Caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil and one of my favorite summertime drinks.They are simple to make and very delicious but not for the faint of heart. The drink is made with Cachaça, which is made from is made from fresh sugarcane juice that’s fermented and distilled and is usually 80 proof or higher.

Bygbaby.com Mindspill

After 2 of these and I usually out for the count. Today I had 3 and I’m still standing surprisingly.

Ingredients:

  • Cachaça (pronounced ka-shaa-suh)
  • Sugar
  • Lime
  • Ice

Procedure:

  • Quarter one half of your lime and place in a cocktail tumbler along with 2-3 spoonfuls of sugar
  • Muddle the lime and sugar until the lime is juiced
  • Fill the glass with ice and pour in the cachaça until the glass is full
  • Shake your powerful concoction (with a shaker top over your tumbler of course)
  • Once your drink is well shaken and not stirred serve and enjoy

Any of the substitutions for the cachaça will make your drink a bootlegged hot mess!

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Cachaça History:

Cachaça was invented by the first Portuguese settlers of Brazil, in the region around the town of São Vicente, sometime between 1532 and 1548. Workers at local sugar mills first discovered that the sugarcane juice (garapa), cooked and left standing, would “sour” (ferment) and turn into a mild alcoholic beverage. The product, disparagingly named cagaça, was consumed by slaves (plantation owners began serving the liquid to their slaves after noticing that the drive would increase vigor.), as a cheap substitute for the Indians’ cauim. Soon someone had the idea of distilling it, and thus cachaça was born.

Cachaça distilleries multiplied through colonial Brazil during the 16th and 17th centuries. Portugal eventually took notice and, in order to protect the market for Portuguese-made grappa, tried several times to outlaw the manufacture and consumption of the new spirit. In 1756, after a century of failure to suppress it, the Crown gave up and levied a tax on cachaça. This tax brought substantial revenue to the Treasury, and contributed to the reconstruction following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami.

Currently there are more than 4,000 different brands of cachaça available in Brazil. Early in its history it was consumed mainly by Africans, peasants, and members of the lower class. As is often the case, elitists considered it a low drink, unfit for exclusivist bars and tables. However, the finer points of the product gained wider and wider appreciation, and it is now a very popular drink, considered by some to be in the same class as whiskey and wine. In the country’s largest cities there are many bars specialized in cachaça, called cachaçarias, offering hundreds of different brands, some of them very expensive. The most prized brands are produced in Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The Brazilian government and producer associations have recently acted to promote the export of cachaça. (Soure: Wikipedia)