Best Caiparinhas in Rio ?
 

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Thank you for your advice.

one of my favorite rio memories was very simple - pizza & caiprarinhas (& a banana split for dessert!) as a lunch in an open-air restaurant along copacabana at a restaurant called something like alcazar or something. if you stay at the sofitel walk towards copa & it is a few blocks up on your left. great pizza & strong caiparinhas with a view of copa! very simple though. i also understand there are great drinks at the little stands all along the sidewalks - and very cheap!! other restaurants to consider - gula gula, etorre, porcaos (go to the one out of town), garota de ipanema, etc. these (besides porcaos) were all in leblon or ipanema. small, simple places - nothing really high end - the 1st two were our favorites!

Well I would rather have a pizza and chopp(draft beer) and I have had many at Alcazar. This is an ok place to go to if you are on the beach and want to run across the street for a quick lunch/pizza and chopp or anything else. Usually when I want a top shelf drink before dinner I will go into one of the 5 star hotel lobby bars and ask for top shelf liquor including Cachaça which is used for the Caiparinha, you also may want to check out Academia da Cachaça where they have hundreds of the best brands of Cachaça in Brazil, I am sure you will get the best there. Also one time I was on the beach in front of the Marriott and I had several caiparinhas from one of the barracas there, they used plenty of sugar and it was so delicious. Just be careful because while you are drinking them you will feel so good but the next day if you have too many you will be devastaded after all it is Brasil's fire water.

I only ever have a few ......

The BEST, sitting along the boardwalks, either in CopaCabana or Ipanema...with the heat and excitment, they taste so GOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD. You know what i mean, from one of the many stands serving along the beach.

Maybe you can tell me the names of a few of the best bottles of cachaca. Sadly, although we get just about every form of liquor in Australia, I cannot locate any cachaca !

Through the years I have not really developed a taste for caiparinhas as I find them too strong and effective. I do remember one time it was my first day in Rio and I had jet lag. I was on my second caiparinha and I just had this warm comfortable feeling and felt so good, whatever was ailing me as far as lack of sleep is concerned was gone.

Most of the cachaca sold in most cafe's such as Alcazar is a brand called "51" it is even sold in supermarkets and it goes for about $3 a bottle even the Brazilians here in the US drink it. It seems to be the most common brand for the common people. When I was in Rio last time I wanted to bring back some cachaca for my Brazilian friends here in NY I went into a liquor store in Copacabana called "Deu La Deu" Vinhos which is located behind the marriott on rua domingos ferreira, 66 , I asked for a very good cachaca and I selected a brand called Germana Cachaca de Minas. My Brazilian friends recognized this as a very good brand and told me that they enjoyed it immensley. Alcazar serves "51" cinquenta e um but I find it too harsh for my taste. I prefer a cuba libre (rum and coke) or a Hi Fi (vodka and orange juice) may Brazilians drink cuba libre and off topic not many of the young Brazilians enjoy Bossa Nova. Another drink I prefer is called a capaiVodka, made the same way as a caiparinha with limes ice and sugar but contains vodka instead, this is also very popular and not as harsh.