Caipiríssima

The best known cocktail in Brazil is the Caipirinha, which is made with sugar, muddled limes and cachaça. We’re fans of cachaça, which is produced from sugar cane juice, just like rhum agricole, and typically has crisp, grassy notes to it. But like all good classic cocktails, the caipirinha is subject to many different variations and we’re partial to the caipiríssima, which is a caipirinha that is made with rum. It is an easy and versatile cocktail that is well worth adding to your repertoire. We’re serving these up on a regular basis during the Olympics, while getting into the Rio spirit and binge-watching all kinds of sports.

Our drink starts with a half a lime, cut into wedges and muddled with demerara sugar. If your lime isn’t particularly juicy, you might want to throw an extra wedge or two into your glass. You can use any kind of rum and we used a mid-range aged rum to give the drink some body. White rums tend to be a little more refreshing and, of course, you can always use rhum agricole! Shake everything up and pour it out into your glass and you’re ready to drink!

Caipiríssima
2-3 tsp sugar
1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges
2 oz rum (white, aged – your choice!)

In a cocktail shaker or mixing glass, muddle together sugar and lime. Add in rum, then generously fill a large rocks glass with ice and add the ice to the shaker. Shake vigorously until well-chilled, then pour contents of the shaker back into the rocks glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.