FOOD + TRAVEL | AUTHENTIC FLAVORS
Sip cachaca in L.A.: Brazil's 'coolest export since the bikini wax'
Real, tried-and-true, tasty treats and where to find them. They are worth a trip, no matter how far you may have to travel.
Brazil leads the world in ethanol production, creating the biofuel from sugar cane. That same cheap and plentiful ingredient goes into cachaça (kah-SHAH-sah), the rum-like spirit of the country.
It's what gives a unique kick to the caipirinha, the national cocktail, which ranks as Brazil's coolest export since the bossa nova and the bikini wax.
Cachaça is the third most consumed spirit (after vodka and soju) in the world. The drink began to catch on in Southern California in 2004, but like Mexico's tequila, cachaça recently has gone upscale with a handful of new luxury brands, such as Agua Luca, Cabana and Leblon.
Some sip cachaça straight, and any of the aforementioned labels reward that effort, but it reaches its full potential when mixed with muddled limes and sugar in the crisp caipirinha, a cooling cocktail that nimbly straddles the sweet-sour line.
Cariocas, as residents of Rio call themselves, pack the two outposts of Academia da Cachaça, where nearly 100 labels of the stuff are available, along with many variations of the caipirinha, to quench their thirst.
Locally, drop in at Bar Nineteen12 at the Beverly Hills Hotel or Ciudad in downtown L.A. to try a classic caipirinha made with fresh ingredients.
Ciudad, 445 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, (213) 486-5171; Bar Nineteen12, Beverly Hills Hotel, 9641 Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 273-1912.
What's your favorite foreign firewater? And your favorite place in the Southland to sip it with friends? Weigh in on our Travel Message Boards.
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