casa samba

1/2 Lime in Wedges (3 wedges)
1 cube Sugar
2 oz Cachaça (Novo Fogo at work, Cuca Fresca at home)
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters
1 dash Absinthe (8 drop Kübler at work, 12 drop Copper & King at home)
2 drop Saline

Muddle the lime wedges with the sugar cube. Add the rest of the ingredients, shake with ice, double strain into a double old fashioned glass, and fill with cracked ice.

Two Saturdays ago at Drink, a guest asked for a Caipirinha riff, and I decided to take it on a New Orleans adventure. The original impetus was how well cachaça and rhum agricoles work with Benedictine such as the cachaça Petition and the agricole Homere Punch, and then I rounded off things with Peychaud's and absinthe. Since their next order was doubling up on this creation, I decided to make it once I got home that night.For a name, I dubbed this one later the Casa Samba after the Brazilian Carnival held in New Orleans every year. Once prepared, the Casa Samba met the nose with grassy funk and anise aromas. Next, crisp lime on the sip flowed into grassy, herbal, and anise flavors on the swallow.