Recipe

• 2oz raspberry-infused cachaça (*see note below)
• Half a lime, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 sugar cube (about 1tsp sugar)
• .25oz Green Chartreuse

Muddle the 4 pieces of lime with the sugar cube until the sugar is dissolved. Careful not to overpulverize the peels as it can get bitter. Add the cachaça and Green Chartreuse and stir to combine. Top off with ice cubes (or crushed ice), and stir again. Garnish with an additional lime wedge so the drinker can customize for more tartness.

*To make the infusion, combine about 4 oz of cachaça with a small handful of raspberries in a closed jar. Leave for a couple days, and shake once in a while. Strain out the liquid using a coffee filter or fine mesh strainer.

About

This twist on the classic Brazilian Caipirinha is fruity and refreshing, yet has a nice layer of herbal complexity with the addition of Green Chartreuse. The Caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil and is seriously one of the most refreshing drinks ever. It’s traditionally made with cachaça, a sugarcane-based spirit native to Brazil.

Before I knew what cachaça was, I’d hear people say it was similar to white rum. This seems to suggest you can sub your typical white rum if you can’t find any cachaça to make your caipirinha. Well, yes, cachaça is similar to white rum, as long as that’s agricole white rum.

Agricole rum refers to the style of rum made from fresh sugarcane instead of molasses. Due to its origin in the French Caribbean, agricole rum is often labeled by its French spelling – “rhum.” Cachaça is NOT similar to molasses-based white/silver rums from Spanish or English origins (Bacardi, Flor de Cana, Havana Club, Don Q, Mount Gay, El Dorado, etc). That said, feel free to use one of those if you so desire, but it won’t taste like a caipirinha.