A few weeks ago Leblon Cachaca was the first-ever sponsor for the Mixoloseum’s Thursday Drink Night event. I mentioned just before the event that Gabriel from CocktailNerd.com and I were going to be taking part in this event live from Trader Vic’s in Las Vegas, courtesy of our new sponsors. I’ve already covered the Vic’s part of the evening over at the Mixoloseum blog, and heartily recommend you go check it out.
Gabe and I spent a lot of time making drinks with the bartenders at Vic’s. It was a lot of fun. While we created a few drinks that I really liked (one of which I haven’t mentioned yet, but will be included in my upcoming review of Leblon), there is one that really stood out to me as the best of the evening.
Sao Paulo Iced Tea
2 oz Leblon Cachaca
1 oz Absolut Peach Vodka
1 oz Gin
.5 oz Cointreau
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Lime Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a tall glass with ice and top with soda. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
What I really enjoy about this drink is the way the strong, overripe fruit notes of the cachaca play with the citrus juice and the peach flavor of the vodka. The drink is light and refreshing. Winter is the completely wrong season for sipping this drink (but hello new favorite summertime drink!), but I can’t stop making these and toying with little changes to the recipe to suit my mood. Last night I had one with 2 dashes of angostura bitters added to the mix. I’ve tried different gins, different orange liqueurs (I have a serious addiction to Clement Creole Shrubb), orange bitters, demerara syrup…the list goes on and on and each variation is just as delicious and refreshing as the last.
So you no longer have an excuse to only drink Leblon in caipirinhas. Get out there and try this drink and let me know what you think. Have a tweak or suggestion? Share it! And be sure to join the entire Mixoloseum crew every Thursday for Thursday Drink Night!
, tdn
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
This reminds me of another drink I picked up from the Miami Herald awhile back. They called it the “Miami Iced Tea” because it was created by a bartender here. You should check it out. The raw cane flavor of the Cuca Fresca really provides a nice foundation for the drink and it is also super refreshing!
Miami Iced Tea (served in a highball glass)
3 oz. Cuca Fresca Cachaca
2 oz. sour mix (try to use fresh if you can)
2 oz. Coca-cola
1 oz. orange juice
Pour all of the ingredients into a tall, ice-filled mixing glass. Cover and shake well. Pour, without straining, into a highball glass. Garnish with a lemon slice and straw.
This looks and sounds delicious. However I don’t have and am not going to spring for an entire bottle of Absolut Peach (or Absolut anything for that matter). How much does the peach affect the drink? Will plain Vodka mean a waste of the other ingredients, or could I muddle a slice of real peach in there to compensate?
Hi Doug,
I don’t know if the muddled peaches would work. It’s worth a try though! I can say for a fact that using normal vodka without any peach makes the drink overly bland and empty. I’d been debating trying a sub out of the peach vodka for a peach brandy, or maybe use .5 oz vodka and .5 oz peach brandy. Try it and let me know!
Doug, the peach vodka is central to it. I’m assuming you could try muddling peaches and upping the gin or a peach brandy and upping the simple slightly but you’re messing with the volume of liquids and concentration at that point.
Remember, vodka does not corrupt, and absolut vodka does not corrupt absolutely. It’s what you do with it that deems it evil or no.
Katie,
That looks like an interesting cocktail…I’m going to have to try that. Thanks for the suggestion!
Last night the bar I was in (Vessel in Seattle) didn’t have anything with peach so an apricot liqueur was used instead. I think I prefer it to the peach.
Of course I might need to have a few more, just to make sure.