brazilian bramble

2 oz Cachaça (Seleta)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Drizzle 1/2 oz of Jubitacaba Liqueur (sub Crème de Mûre or Cassis) over the top, garnish with a lime slice, and add a straw.

After the Panamanian Cooler, I decided to stick with the South American theme and make something with the Jabuticaba liqueur that Stephen Shellenberger introduced me to earlier in the year. Jabuticaba is a grape-like dark fruit that is native to Brazil, and the liqueur possesses a Concord grape-like flavor with a little sharpness to it. When I spotted a bottle at a neighborhood liquor store in Somerville, MA, for $9.99, it seemed like a great bargain. For an idea, I decided to make a variation on the modern classic, the Bramble. Well, the Bramble is more of a classic in feel than age for it displays a great similarity to the Fix; while the latter's recipe was first recorded in the mid 19th century, the Bramble was created in 1984, more than a century later, by Dick Bradsell in London. By merging the Bramble with this liqueur and elements of the Caipirinha, the Brazilian Bramble was born.
The Brazilian Bramble presented the cachaça and lime notes to the nose. With the liqueur being added after the mixing step, its sweetness and berrylike flavor were more concentrated on the bottom of the drink due to its greater density. As the straw drew from the bottom, the sip was full of the Jabuticaba's grape-berry flavors which mingled with the lime, and the swallow contained the cachaça funky notes. Once the liqueur on the bottom was diminished or if the straw was raised to avoid it, the sip was more grassy from the cachaça which paired well with the lime; in addition, the swallow contained the cachaça's vanilla notes from its aging as well as its funkiness.