The Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail, is delicious but not for the light of heart. The drink’s signature spirit, Cachaça, is 80 proof so it packs quite a punch. But it’s an easy drink to lighten up. Simply use less Cachaça or add some club soda in the final step.
Ingredients
1/2 lime, cut in quarters, then crosswise
2 oz. Cachaça
1 cup ice cubes
2 tsp sugar (note: Cachaça is made from sugar cane so it’s pretty sweet already. You might want to start with 1 tsp. of sugar if you don’t like your drinks very sweet.)
Preparation
Add lime quarters and sugar to glass. Muddle the lime and sugar to get the lime essence out of the rind (if you don’t have a muddler, you can use a wooden spoon). Add Cachaça and stir to dissolve most of the sugar. Fill glass with ice cubes, add club soda if you want to lighten things up, and give it a good final stir. Cheers!
