Sam ... Cachaca by itself is definitely not something to taste but Caipirinhas are delicious and a great summer cocktail.

My friend's father brought back cachaça and a caipirinha recipe from a Brazilian business trip several years ago... delicious!

I had a Caipirinha at a Brazilian steak house in Tyson's corner last week. My buddy has been raving about them since he got back from Rio. Very similar to a mojito, but without the club soda filler.

Sturmy, you know, I've been drinking gin and tonics lately, and i really enjoy putting extra lime in them. The lime takes the edge off the gin. I wonder if it will do the same with the cachaca?

Cachaca 51. I bought it about a year ago to fill out some extra space in my basement bar.

Drank one shot. My reaction much like Sam's. In fact, I'm fairly sure I did breathe fire.

It made my bottle of grappa jealous.

Sam, I usually do the double lime in my G&T's too. Lately though I've cut the tonic out completely and starting drinking bombay on the rocks with onions. But honestly I haven't been drinking much this Summer. Too much work, not enough play!

I can't believe you don't watch "Three Sheets." You have a great job - but this guy has the best job ever.

http://www.mojohd.com/mojoseries/threesheets

In one episode he sat at a table with 2 old men in South America and drank the stuff. He got hammered.

AC-M, wow, I've never seen that before. I'll have to check it out.

Sturmy, gin and onions? What?

Strait cachaca can be very good if you get the barrel aged kind. Unfortunately I can't find any around here because of the terrible import laws in this state.

and no, I didn't just respond to this post because you said bad decision....

Three Sheets is a great show. It was recently picked up by Fine Living Network and runs weekdays from 10-11 p.m. FLN is channel 232 on DirecTV, I'm guessing it is on Comcast Digital as well.

Yeah Sam. Not a big fan of olives in my gin, so I started with the onions awhile back. Works very well!
I've watched the episode of Three Sheets when he sits with the two old men. Also saw the one where he drinks Sambuca with two guys and they compare the quality of the liquor. Interesting show.

I tried it in Rio several years ago for the first time. By itself it wasn't drinkable, but when mixed properly it goes down way too easily. I ran up a huge bill at the pool bar and an even bigger headache the next day. Enjoy and beware.

Need Smooth! Guapiara Cachaca is smooth. So smooth you can actually drink it straight, without the burn, and the stuff is 80 proof! Now thats what you call quality.

Hi,
I´m from Brasil and I will try to explain what happens when you dink a poor and
cheap distilled like ....51 or Ypióca .
Those are industrial made. The good cachaças are hand made (artesanal) and they
are aged up to six years in many types of woods.

The making process is completelly different.

In the hand made process
the sugar cane is manually cutted and the fermentation is natural and
has no quimicals.
During the destilation the "head"(the beggining of the destilation process) and the
"tail"(the end of the destilation
process) are takened off, keeping only the "heart", this is what makes
it taste so good and does not give "headaches".

Very Good for the day after. No hangover.
Much better than Tequila ou Whisky !

The industrial process don't throw nothing so..... bleargh!!!

Carlos

Thanks for the comment. What are the names of some good cachaca brands?

The names are one thing question, but a better one would be where in this town could we even find a place that stocks 'em?

We have 4000 brands in Brasil. Its difficult to know how is industrial or artesanal made.
Those are my favorites.

Weber Haus
Magnífica
Cachaça do Rei
Boazinha
Caludionor
Anízio Santiago (the best of brasil U$ 150 a bottle)
Salineira
Velha Januária
Vale Verde
Tabaroa

I think that will be very difficult to find this brands in the US.

Dear Sam,
If you want i could try to send you some bottles by mail.