The Caipirinha can safely be called the national cocktail of Brazil. After all it is made with the country’s distinctive rum variety cachaca. For the uninitiated, the Brazilian rum is made by distilling sugar cane. Now many have compared lesser varietals to the high-octane ethanol that fires the countries combustion engines, but access to a quality cachaca can fire-up your taste buds as never before.

Ready

• ½ lime, quartered
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 oz cachaca
• crushed ice

Set

• Muddler
• Short flat bottomed glass
• Stirrer

Go

1. Muddle sugar and lime wedges in the bottom of a flat bottomed glass. Be careful not to over crush the lime wedges which will release the bitter oils from the fruit.
2. Add crushed ice and cachaca.
3. Stir and serve

What you should know

If you don’t have crushed ice on hand, simply place some ice cubes in a plastic bag and bang the bag against a hard surface (inside of the sink) until ice is properly crushed.

I first came across this recipe in Eric Felten’s excellent How’s Your Drink column in the Wall Street Journal. He also has a book by the same name and even though this recipe in not included in I highly recommend How’s Your Drink to anyone who enjoys mixing a quality cocktail or simply enjoys digging into the etymology of things.