The Traveling Mixologists

The Traveling Mixologists:

• Stephan Berg, München
• Bastian Heuser, Berlin
• Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro, Berlin
• Jörg Meyer, Hamburg
• Thomas Jakschas, Köln

Wir werden unser Netzwerk an reisenden Mixologen mit der Zeit ausbauen. Von Zeit zu Zeit packen wir unseren Barkoffer, polieren die Bar Spoons und Shaker und brechen auf, neue Städte und Barkeeper kennen zu lernen. Unsere Wurzeln sind die klassische Mixology, das Wissen um die Reduktion eines guten Getränkes, wie es schon die Gründerväter, Harry Johnson und Jerry Thomas Ihren Gästen mixten. Mit dem Hintergrundwissen eines klassischen Bartenders, sind wir offen für neues und das Zeitgeschehen hinter der Bar.
Wir sind auf der Suche nach dem heiligen Gral, wohl wissend, das wir Ihn nie finden werden. Wir leben, wie Gary es nennt, “the joy of mixology” und freuen uns auf Anregungen und Entdeckungen während unserer “Reisen”.

Wir werden durch die Landen ziehen und vorrangig mit zwei Arten von Veranstaltungen gastieren.

• Gastspiele hinter verschiedenen Tresen: in Zusammenarbeit mit den Bartendern vor Ort nähern wir uns einer Spirituose, einer Epoche, einem Stil, einem Buch etc.
• BarCamps: Tagesveranstaltungen, sozusagen Seminare, in der Regel thematisch an die Abendveranstaltungen angelehnt.

The Traveling Mixologists will give credits to one of the most important European barbooks “The Savoy Cocktail Book”. Written by legendary barman Harry Craddock and first published in 1930, this book made Europe the epicenter of cocktail culture in the 30`s and gave important influence for future generations of bartenders all around the globe.
During the evening they will bring back long forgotten concoctions and a few ones altered to be suitable for the 21 century.

Connaisseurs are more than welcome!

Performance will be held:

August 15th,
Cologne/Germany

Bar Shepheard
Rathenauplatz 5
0049-2213310994

BY BASTIAN HEUSER aka BEUSER aka BARWORKS - currently in Brasil:

Before I start I have yet one thing to say:

The following words shall not be of any judging nature. It shall be a brief description (not more and nothing less) of the way Brazilian bartenders (from the districts of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) prepare and serve this little and lovely piece of refreshment….

In the last 4 weeks of my travels I have had a lot of Caipirinhas.
I have had them at little beach huts in the sizzling sun, I have had them in 5 star hotels overlooking the sheer madness of Sao Paulo, I have had them in all kinds of restaurants and bars and I even had one in a greasy diner on the highway from Rio to Sao Paulo.
Every single one of them tasted better and pleased my palate more than pretty much anything I have been served under the name of `Caipirinha` in the whole of Europe.

I asked myself: Why? What is the difference?

And although I now do have a definite opinion on this drink, I want to leave it to you to judge and discuss the ´best way` (if there is such thing)…I just hope my ´insight-informations´ will help!

We shall start where most (if not all) drinks start out at: the simple choice of

1. Ingredients

The limes being used in Brazil are not much different from the ones we get (persian limes) but they thend to be a bit bigger and juicier.
(For the use of other fruits see 2.)
The sugar though is much different. Here one uses white cane sugar of an amorph structure (not crystalized) which hardly costs anything but still seems to be unvariably expensive in European countries and not of real interest for export.
This sugar is superfine and dissolves almost instantly when brought in contact with liquids.
The third ingredient is the choice of ´pinga´ (Cachaca). Most bars I visited used either ´Cachaca 51´, ´Ypioca´ or ´Velho Barreiro´ only a handful used other Cachaca.
The mentioned ones are available for roughly 2-3 ? per litre and display what we call ´pouring brands´ nonetheless there is always the possibility of an upgrade. (I shall get back to this later)

2. Ordering

When ordering a Caipirinha in Brazil, in most cases you will be asked for your choice of ´pinga´ but in all cases you will be asked for your choice of fruit. For Brazilians a Caipirinha is not limited solely on the lime but can be made with pineapple, mango, passionfruit, kiwi, papaya, etc.
And they will not add these fruit to the lime but substitute it for the lime which in general will make a far sweeter drink.
But Brazilians do have a much sweeter palate than we do and I must say that these ´Fruit Caipirinhas´ can be a welcome refreshment on a hot afternoon.
Talking about sweetness:
in a lot of restaurants and bars you will even be asked if you would prefer your Caipirinha with artificial sweetener instead of sugar…something that was totally new for me.
Especcially the well-heeled (and well-proportioned) crowds of Rio seemed to prefer this way to cut down on one´s daily calory-intake.
(What do you think about this? Is this something we should start to think about under the aspects of ´customer service´ or any other given aspects?)

3. Preparation

Now we shall take a look at the preparation of the most popular kind of Caipirinha: the ´Caipirinha con Limao´
In most of the places I visited, the bartender would cut off the ends of the lime, slice it in half and cut out the inner white pith. Then he would slice the halfs lengthwise and cut them in thin slices. These will then be muddled under the addition of 3-4 bsp of mentioned sugar in the guests´ glass.
Some only take half a lime which seemed to be a bit dependent on the size of the actual glass used (in that case the sugar was reduced as well).
Not one of my Caipirinhas was prepared with crushed or shaved ice.
Only a handful contained cracked ice (in that case the ice was freshly cracked in the hand of the bartender using a muddle stick), most of them were prepared using cubed ice.
Every single one I had was shaken, mostly using a small plastic glass which fitted smugly over the guests´glass (kind of a speed shaker I guess).
By the way: in general the glass that the drink is served in tends to be a bit smaller than we are used to…nonetheless the amount of pinga is roughly the same (60ml).
Straws are common but only to stir the drink up for the odd time or two not for actually sipping from it. You sip out of the glass.
A nice thing I experienced a couple of times was the service of my Caipirinha with a small spoon, which somehow reminded me of Harry Johnson and Jerry Thomas…

4. Upgrades (´Pimping´)

I have mentioned the possibilities of upgrades earlier on.
There are supposed to be about 3000 different brands of Cachaca available in Brazil…I have not quite had all of them but I had the odd one.
I can therefore just give you a few examples of upgrades that I enjoyed in my Caipirinha, but be reminded: this is my personal taste, no judgement.

Santo Grau, Minas Gerais

Germana, Minas Gerais

Espirito de Minas, Minas Gerais

Magnifique, Rio de Janeiro

Armazem Viera, Santa Catarina

These Cachacas (in my personal view) will enhance the drinking experience of a properly made Caipirinha…sipping them on its own is up to you (in fact this would be a whole new essay so I will not get into that at this point).

Just to let you know: the most popular upgrade of a Caipirinha within the Brazilian community is….a Caipiroska!

They love Vodka and especcially people who seem to be a bit on the wealthy side would never order a Caipirinha. Caipiroska made with Lemons and artificial sweetener is more often their choice.
Even a lot of bartenders I talked to choose this drink to be their personal favourite….interesting, is it not?!

5. Prizes

Pouring Cachacas are widely available at around 2-3 Euros for 750 ml, Premium Cachaca will set you back inbetween 8 and 12 Euros.
For the really good stuff you can easily pay up to 300 Euros…
Prizes for the Caipirinha heaviliy depend on the location where it is consumed at (not the quality though).
I have had some for as little as 1,50 Euros, I have had some for as much as 8 Euros but most of them were prized somewhere between 3 and 5 Euros (upgrades obviously being a different kind of party).

A few closing words before I leave to Chile to find out more about their Pisco Sour:

Damn´ me, I just love Cachaca!

And I wish that, when I come back, I can start to find decent Caipirinhas in more bars around Europe….maybe even the odd Sipping-Cachaca next to the ever-expanding choice of rums.

I´ll consume heaviliy. And leave good tips. I promise….

Bottoms up,

Beuser

-A Traveling Mixologist-

The Traveling Mixologists win the Hendricks Croquet …

Link: sevenload.com

Link: sevenload.com

31.5.2007 the Traveling Mixologists invite you to our “Pimp my Drink” Evening at Olivers Bar the “Trinkhalle”, Baaderstrasse, Munich. Tom (Cologone), Goncalo (Berlin) and Jörg (Hamburg) will mix up some forgotten classic and some pimped well known. To give a tribute to Mr. Beuser (currently brasil), we are also thinking about having a caipirinha on our menu, even if a normal german bartender doesn’t like this drink of the crowd. Goncalo spend a box of limes for testing in his bar (but don’t tell the owner!) to bring this drink back on the board. To give a tribute to one of the greatest living german bartenders, Charles Schumann, Goncalo pimped one of his Drinks. Tom brings some london inspired drinks, Jörg some old classics. Shaker and Barspoons will move from 8.00 o’clock p.m.