Drinks in Rio
 

Ok so I thought about something else! What alcohol is available in Rio. I know about the sugar cane alcohol & Brahma but do they have vodka that you'd find in the U.S. or something that they bottle locally? Just want to know what to look for while out partying. Thanks!

Beer is everywhere, and the local favourite in Rio is SKOL. My personal preference is ITAIPAVA, which is from a city just outside of Rio, followed by Brahma and Bohemia.

Vodka is vodka wherever you go, and is best mixed with RED BULL or GUARANA. You can also make Caipivodkas!!

Cachaca is the sugar cane alcohol for Caipirinhas which you can have with limes or even choose another type of fruit. I would try Maracuja (passion fruit), Morango (strawberry) or even PEssego (peach), all are very good.

Whiskey is also popular and regarded as a rich mans drink. The most popular labels are Johnnie Walker.

Have FUN!

Don't drink too many caipirinhas, too fast!

Can you drink too many ;-)!? I guess so. But, boy do they taste good on a hot afternoon! I actually found a source of cachaca when I got home to Chicago and enjoyed them all summer!

We had our first Caipirinhas in Puerto Iguazu at the poolside bar at our hotel and highly recommend them! Liked them so much we bought a bottle of Cachaca at a local Beverages & More when we got home. Haven't tried concocting the drink yet, but look forward to doing so this summer. It's a perfect hot weather drink!

Here are a couple of recipes for enjoying at home.
Pitcher:
http://www.epicurious.com/drinking/d...s/views/200880

Individual drink:
http://www.epicurious.com/drinking/d...s/views/200374

Passion Fruit Caipirinha:
http://www.epicurious.com/drinking/d...s/views/232182

The fun part of making a caipirinha for me was beating up the ice to crush it! Great way to work out your frustrations (if you have any) or just get a little exercise. I found the best way to do it was put some cubes in a ziplock bag, wrap it with a towel and then take a hammer to it. I tred just putting cubes in the blender, but without any liquid it didn't work so well. And since the liquid comes from crushing the limes (I found a very nice wooden "pestle" at a gourmet cooking store), you can't really have any liquid in with the ice in the blender. Anyway - half the fun is experimenting. I don't use an actual recipe anymore - I just pour :-)!

Aaaah. See, in Rio we had a maid (she came with the apartment rental) so we had her help us make the caipirinhas. Nothing quite like that! SOOO worth it!

Crushing up the ice? I have had many caiparinhas in my day but I have never seen them in Brazil crush the ice. Yes you need to crush the limes with the sugar and make a mixture of it but then just add ice cubes and cacaca and bingo you have a caiparinha.

Hmmm...thanks for the tip. The recipe I got said to use crushed ice, so that's what I did. I guess I've been using up a lot of energy needlessly. I'll use cubes next time! Thanks for the time saver!