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A few months ago I visited Agave during one of my triannual sojourns in New York. Along with a multitude of friends, I spent the evening there sampling and resampling (for quality assurance of course) their jalapeño margaritas. Since then I've become a huge proponent of spicy drinks. I truly enjoy how the tang of the alcohol and the spiciness can work together if done right.

At the Taste of the South End, I was excited to encounter the booth that Leblon Cachaça had set up, where they passed the evening busily doling out their Cucumber/Jalapeño Caipirinhas.

Cachaça is the national drink of Brazil, and is a rum that is distilled from sugar cane and then aged in wooden barrels (Leblon uses French cognac casks). With it, you can make a Caipirinha, which is the Brazilian equivalent to the Mojito, which substitutes muddled lime for the mint.

Get the recipe after the jump! Image used with permission from Leblon. For more articles like this, go to The Food Monkey website.

Here is the recipe from that evening:

Leblon Cucumber/Jalapeño Caipirinha

Ingredients

• 2 oz Leblon Cachaça


• 1/8 inch jalapeno


• 3/6 lime (cut in wedges/pieces)


• 2 slices of english cucumber (1/4" thick each)


• 3/4 oz agave nectar

Directions

1. Muddle all ingredients in a shaker, then add ice and Leblon.


2. Shake Vigorously and strain into a martini glass


3. Garnish with a cucumber

I must say that really fell in love with this beverage. I'm a big fan of the lime flavor of vodka gimlets as well as sweet rum flavor of mojitos, and this drink of seemed to meld everything that I enjoy in those two with some additional kick from the jalapeños. Would it be untoward to say I sampled more than one Caipirinha that evening? (again, just for quality assurance)

If you want to make your own, the Leblon website has a fun online "Caipirinha School" with instructions and videos, which you can check out here.!

I set up a Caipirinha station of these at my recent birthday party, which was a great hit. It was a fun interactive way of getting people participating and an activity together, and they tasted great.