Cachaça

[viva]

I've had a 2-month hiatus, but will be back in Brasil by the end of the month... target: Germana + any other cachaca recommendations from my Brasil colleagues. I'm not drinking this Ypioca stuff anymore! After I bring it back, I'm getting some key limes and we're going to see what happens.

On the sugar aspect, I too add a boatload more sugar than most of the internet recipes I see.

[bacchant036]

experimenting with different kinds of sugar is fun to,

i tend to use a heaped tablespoon of castor at the bar, dissolves quickly and seems to be about the right amount for a whole lime

[Heikki]

Some tenders I know use some form of granulated sugar, as they claim the resulting abrasion extracts the oils from the zests more efficiently. Personally, I think this is nonsense, and these folks should fetch themselves a decent muddler and use a bit more elbow-grease. There is nothin worse than undissolved sugar in a drink.

In my home bar experiments I have used cane sugar with caipirinhas and people have actually liked when there is some undissolved sugar in the bottom of the glass. I did try to get all the sugar to dissolve, but cane sugar seems to require more work than normal white fine surgar. Undissolved sugar seems to add to the possibility to "sample" a little while drinking by moving the straws around and getting different amounts of cachaça, lime, sugar or more or less watered combination of all. I do agree that undissolved sugar is usually an untidy sight, but caipirinha seems to be forgiving in that aspect.

Does anyone have comments about Nêga Fulô cachaça? That is what I have been using and I think it works well. I do not have previous experience with cachaça, but at least it makes tastier caipirinha than what I was once previously served.

--

Heikki Vatiainen

[fatdeko]

Living as I do in the Milds of Maine, we only get Pitu cachaca. Say what you will, it is what it is.

So I was whiling away the hour at the Eastland Park Hotel the other day and they had Caiprinhas as an Happy Hour special. I went for it but was a tad let down 'cuz there was no stick action. Dude simply made me what amounted to a Cachaca Rickey.

Not awful, actually pretty good. I had two, in fact.

There's something bordering on Tequila--flavor wise--with cachaca that's so subtle, yet such a signature lead, that I was happy enough that Pitu was in my drink and not Bacardi like so many faux caip's I've had/made.

[beans]

Dude simply made me what amounted to a Cachaca Rickey.

I feel your pain.

[CooksQuest]

If anyone is interested, I just added my secret recipe for a killer caipirinha at eGullet recipes, inspired by a whole bunch o' trips to Brazil.

As for other uses for cachaca, I'm going to try jello shots tonight...

[viva]

I saw some key limes at the grocery tonight, so I made:

Made with...

• 4 little key limes (next time I would probably use 5 or 6)
  
• 2 tbsp superfine sugar
  
• 1/3 cup cachaca (still on my Ypioca)
  
• crushed ice (for the water effect CooksQuest was describing)
  

I must say that the key limes are, in fact, KEY! This was much closer to a caipirinha as I have had them in Brasil than any other caipirinha I've made using regular-old-limes. Using the superfine sugar as CooksQuest suggested definitely smoothed out the drink as well - 2 tbsp is a lot less than I had been adding in previous caipirinha attempts.

Huzzah!

[Chef Shogun]

Attempt #2!

Have to admit I deviated a bit from the standard formula, in that I used half a Valencia orange I wanted to use before it went bad. Used the suggested three tbsp of sugar and hot water to make the paste. Seperated the orange flesh from the pith, since like the previous limes, I had already taken the zest for infusing. The orange slices remained largely intact though muddling, so should be tasty when I'm done! Realized I forgot to let the orange sit in the sugar paste for a while, but it's still good! Better than the first attempt lime.

[johnnyd]

*Blink!*

Yes, a lightbulb...

Your Valencia got me thinking. What if we used a blood orange???

Hmmm !!!

[Chef Shogun]

That'd be pretty sexy. The orange slices, as it happens, were very tasty after stewing in the drink a while.

[bbq chef]

Espirito De Minhas is an excellent middle of the road cachaca. You really want to use the extra good stuff for sipping only. F-d up thing is that with the exchange rate, a decent bottle of the Espirito De Minhas (wich can be got in any supermarket) is only like $10 US in Sao Paulo,but that garbage Pitu is like $15 US here in NY.

[johnnyd]

Count yourself lucky: PITU is $25 here in Maine and it's all we've got.

[Chef Shogun]

Yeah, it's the same in DC (as far as I can tell. I haven't done an exhaustive tour of the DC boozerias...yet!) and VA. What other cachaca is out there that there's a reasonable chance of buying retail? We've got Pitu at the state stores in VA, and if there were any others on the special order list, it wasn't obvious by name, which is why I'm asking! Anything I should look out for? Who's got the Stateside distribution?

[fatdeko]

Ok. So I'm flipping through the Sept. State Liquour book and Pitu can't be found but something called Pirasununga "51" cachaca can now be had. It's cheaper than Pitu was/is. Anyone know how bad it are?

[CooksQuest]

Ok.  So I'm flipping through the Sept. State Liquour book and Pitu can't be found but something called Pirasununga "51" cachaca can now be had.  It's cheaper than Pitu was/is.  Anyone know how bad it are?

←

It's better than Pitu, which -- to me -- has a too salty taste. I just bought some 51 yesterday. It's not anything really exciting compared to the excellent dark ones from the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil. But, it's ok for a homemade caipirinha.

I paid $13.99.

[johnnyd]

Que Susto, meu bem! Manda-me dois garafas! De-pressa, pa!

Where are you that you are getting 51 at that price?

Translation: "You're freakin' me out, dude! Send me two bottles... on the double!"

Edited September 9, 2004 by johnnyd (log)

[viva]

A couple of my Brazil buddies recommended 51 as a good basic cachaca. There's an interesting article on the trendiness of cachaca and caipirinhas in general here, and 51 is mentioned.

I leave Sunday for Sao Paulo, and I'm bringing back as much cachaca as the US government will allow!

[CooksQuest]

Where are you that you are getting 51 at that price?

←

Newport area -- Jersey City, New Jersey. It's even cheaper in Newark, New Jersey.

[viva]

I'd like to report back on my preliminary (and just oh-so-painful) cachaca research...

The Ypioca Crystal I bought in the US is officially deemed crap in my eyes. Because I brought Germana back with me, and it is good. Germana was about R$50 (US$17 and also at the airport where I am sure I overpaid due to lack of time).

The Germana is more viscous and fuller/slightly sweeter tasting. There's a hint of caramel color. It doesn't have the raw edge of the US-available cachacas, therefore requiring a lot less sugar in my caipirinha to smooth it out. I'm going to pop it in the freezer and see how it is as a sipping liquor. Somebody please import this into the US for crying out loud.

Of course, Ypioca is like US$5 in Brazil (but US$25 in the US), so you get what you pay for.

I tried bbqchef's recommendation of Espirito De Minas as well, and it was nice & smooth (and also very reasonably priced!). I noticed that several cachacas in the store had "cachaca de minas" as a description on the bottle. Are most cachacas made in the state of Minas Gerais? The Germana appears to be.

Now, they also had a Germana 10 YO cachaca, but it was R$450 (about US$150). ~~dreaming~~

On another note, I went to a trendy little restaurant called Spot near the Sao Paulo art museum (MASP), and they serve up a little raspberry caipirinha. Thick raspberry & sugar slurry at the bottom topped with crushed ice & cachaca in the usual way. It was pretty good for the first few mouthfuls, but when you got to the raspberry slurry at the bottom, it was too sweet and you had to filter it through your teeth because of the seeds. Not attractive. It almost had the appearance of raspberry jam, which made me think that the raspberries were frozen or perhaps cooked in a sugar syrup a little. I thought I'd post about this because I think as a drink a raspberry caipirinha has promise, and I'm sure the e-Gulleteers can improve upon it.

[johnnyd]

Excellent, Smithers! ....I mean Viva! PM me to get my mailing address so you can rid yourself of that unsightly Ypioca bottle!

...and Beans, I'll see to it that, um, you get half...

[johnnyd]

...but seriously folks...

I don't think Cachaca in the freezer is going to do any good. It's just the nature of the stuff that causes me to wonder about that move. Maybe just a hunch.

The caramel colour will deepen with age, something the cheap stuff can look forward to if you keep it long enough. I bet the Germana 10yr was a deep colour, no?

[viva]

The Germana (plain & 10 YO) is wrapped in straw/raffia from top to bottom, so you can't see the color until you pour. Logic would dictate that the 10 YO would be deeper in color.

Yeah, I'm betting that cachaca is more similar to rum (well, it is rum), in that I've never really gotten a big benefit from freezing it.

I'm thinking I could start a good cachaca importation & distribution business. It boggles the mind that y'all can't get Ypioca... I get it at the grocery store (well, it's AJ's, but still). It's better than Pitu.

[Chef Shogun]

So I go to this place the other week, for drinks after work. I was in the mood for a Martini for some reason, even though I'm not the biggest gin fan in the world. The bartender seems nice...asks how I want my martini, then shakes it even though I asked for stirred, but it was a nice gesture. Next drink: my first professionally made caipirinha, made with '51'. Very tasty. Beat the heck out of my ham-fisted and almost certainly yahoo-assed attempts at home. Think I need to go for more lime and sugar. I bring my (empty, of course) glass back to the bar to cash out:

"How did you like the caipirinha?" --Bartender

"Oh, I liked it a lot! I keep trying to make these at home, but they never come out so well. Certainly not this well!" -- Me

"Thanks, glad you liked it. " -- Bartender

"I think I need to use more lime in mine" -- Me

"Well, the thing with these is, you have to go out and get cachaca" -- Me

"........ " -- Me

Cachaca! Is that what you use in these?! Well, I'll certainly be going back, anyway!

Edited September 29, 2004 by Chef Shogun (log)

[bacchant036]

on the germana 10yr,

its a slightly darker color, the 3yr has a semi gold tinge to it as well,

curious monkey's i've known have peeled back the label to peer at what was (and perhaps still is?) a recycled kirov vodka bottle - see they do care about the environment!

and freezing? get rid of those yummy agricole flavours? a rum blasphemy surely!

[johnnyd]

Actually, I heard that Bacardi imports cheap cachaca in those railcars that look like big oil or water drums, like mile-long train loads of the stuff, then processes it somehow. That would explain how a little island can get their rum into every bar on the planet.

Once I had a bottle of "Medronha" from Caldas de Monchique, Portugal which sat around for a few years in a closet. When I found it, it had turned a golden colour and tasted far better than the white, labeless spirit I had brought over years prior. Drained that in a hurry...