by Christine Liu - 156 Reviews - 111 List
I say cachaca, you say ... caipirinha? If no other cocktail comes to mind ("another caipirinha!" doesn't quite count), here's your homework: Sample from the surprisingly diverse set of Boston cocktails that incorporate cachaca, Brazil's national spirit made from fermented fresh sugarcane juice. Each sip of the smooth, grassy distillation evokes a brilliant South American tropicalia.
Updated: August 14, 2009
How to make an already sexy cocktail just downright smolder? This flamboyant Asian lounge with a kitsch kick imbues the iconic caipirinha with a potent exotic weapon: tiny, fierce, green Thai chilies. As an infusion of the hot pepper is muddled with lime, sugar and Thai basil, then shaken with Leblon cachaca and served on the rocks, the ordinary transforms into something that's tongue-tingling and extraordinary. Nibble on the impaled pepper garnish if you're craving above-and-beyond spiciness.
This might be technically breaking from the cachaca theme (by definition, it must be produced in Brazil), but the Framboise cocktail features Clement rhum agricole from Martinique, which is made from sugarcane juice and is, at the very least, cachaca's French-speaking cousin. This elegant little minx of a drink the rhum with muddled raspberries and rose-infused syrup, then tops the shaken result with Champagne. The Framboise may well appear pink and fruity, but damn if it doesn't pack a potent, seductive punch.
The Beija Frances cocktail, sipped with sultry flourish at Gaslight's heartbreakingly handsome zinc bar, could certainly be described as a "cabana boy" drink. The iced concoction of Beija cachaca, Lillet Blanc, Canton ginger liqueur and a ginger infusion delivers a subtle sweet-spiciness that rolls refreshingly off the palate--and takes one's imagination to cosmopolitan outdoor lounging with tanned, taut company. Oh, don't mind if I do, honey pie.
You're probably best asking for the "Nikolaihof Wachau Hollunderbluten" by name before a bout of imbibing (whew), but rest easy--the artisanal biodynamic elderflower syrup is exponentially easier to swallow than to pronounce. Just request the addition of the rarely spotted Austrian elderflower syrup to create an off-the-menu "unorthodox caipirinha," and the resulting drink explodes with a fragrant and complex cooler that sweetly takes the sting out of the hottest summer spell.
It's not earth shatteringly different from a caipirinha ... or is it? You make the call when the Venezuelan restaurant's colorful bar serves you a caipiroja, a sheep in wolfish caipirinha clothing: Leblon cachaca muddled with sugar and blood oranges, instead of limes, and enjoyed on the rocks. It's a tart, tangy step above the typical sugarcane experience, as if your plane to Brazil just happened to experience a breezy detour through the Mediterranean orchards of Sicily.
