Missed it!

According to this website, yesterday was International Cachaca day. (Cachaca is the spirit used in the Caipirinha. )

Cachaca might soon have its own special day. The SBC (Sociedade Brasileira da Cachaca) wants to declare June 12 the International Day of Cachaca because June 12, 1744, Portugal, then colonizer of Brazil, prohibited the production and distribution of cachaca in the country.

Coincidentally, I passed up an opportunity to have a cachaca drink at Range. They have a special cocktail for each day. Yesterday in honor of the world cup they were serving one called the Pele which used cachaca as its base spirit. Had I only known then what I know now I could have celebrated appropriately. Instead, I finally tried The Flourish, a drink that's been on the menu for a while. It's made with "bombay gin, moscato d'asti, and peach bitters." I didn't like it. The Moscato D'Asti has a sweet peachy taste to it (think Peach Schnapps) and the bitters didn't do enough to distract from the sweetness. The gin does a good job tempering the other flavors, but if I were to make this drink I'd use less Moscato and an even more herbal gin. However, they made up for it with a drink called (I think) 1794. If I remember correctly, it's made with whisky, Campari, Cinzano vermouth, and bitters. The drink works almost like a Manhattan Perfect, but instead of sweet and dry vermouth, they use the Campari to add an herbal anise flavor. The result is something in between an aperitif and a Sazerac, and it's fantastic.