Louisville Mojo: Nightlife Notes #2

Some hipsters say that the Caipirinha craze is played out, but as far as I can tell, most people still don't even know what it is. If you're an card-carrying degenerate Cachaca addict like myself, then you know how hard it can be to get a decent Caipirinha in this burg.

(A quick tutorial: The Caipirinha (pronounced Kyper-reen-ya) is the official national cocktail of Brazil, and its chief ingredient is Cachaca, a sugarcane-based liquor that is like Rum on steroids. Depending on the brand, Cachaca's alcohol strength is anywhere from 38% to 80% by volume. More importantly, it's mega-fermented to the point of being psychoactive. In other words, I adore it.)

Without a doubt, for my money (and for the money of those who buy me drinks), the best Caipirinha in L-ville is found at Seviche (1538 Bardstown Road). They use Ypioca and Pitu, both of which are among the relatively inexpensive brands of Cachaca, which just goes to show you, it's not what you put into a drink, it's what you can get out of it. I'm not certain what brand they use at Havana Rumba, but I've never been fully satisfied about their Caipirinhas (which is probably the only less-than-fawning thing I have to say about them.)

And my experience trying to get one at Palermo Viejo (1359 Bardstown Road) was a total disaster. I asked the waitress for a Caipirinha and she looked puzzled and said "I don't think we know how to make one of those, but I'm sure we can come up with something" and turned to leave. I had to stop her and say "uh, no, no, no, thanks anyway". So a Mojito was ordered (and it wasn't very good).

The Old Seelbach Bar (500 Fourth Street) has it right though. They mixed a virtually perfect Caipirinha last time I was there, using the deliciously snooty high-end Leblon. And when they ran out of that, they had the good taste to offer to substitute 10 Cane Rum, which is actually made with a process closer to Cachaca than traditional Rum.

Meanwhile, I had dinner last night with Catclaw Theatre Company's Victoria Lee, at The Old Spaghetti Factory (235 West Market). Sure, it's a nationwide chain, but I like hanging out here - mainly because of its perfect ambience, looking more like a circa-1890 brothel than a pasta joint. I tend to eat light here and prefer to drink instead, since I'm always amazed at how a dish containing 75 cents worth of pasta can set you back just twelve dollars. (I do worship their Mizithra/Browned Butter dish though!)

I order the Tuaca Raspberry Lemon Drop, not even really being aware what Tuaca is. Turns out it's an odd vanilla-brandy liqueur, which should have worked well with raspberry and lemon but rather didn't - the net result smacked more of pink grapefruit than the target flavors. Nothing against pink grapefruit, mind you, but that's not what I thought I was ordering.

I switched to the Espresso Martini, and that's the stuff! It's Three Olives Espresso Vodka along with some bonus Hazelnut flavor, and I could have sat there and imbibed these all night.

Much as I would have liked to have done just that, there were other places to be. Louisville Mojo received an invite from Shawn Gabriel Pierson to some sort of multimedia event for some sort of organization called Studio 502. We headed off to Renbarger's Brewhaus (942 Baxter Avenue) to check it out.

The Brewhaus is a fantastic venue and I highly recommend it to all, but what we saw at the Studio 502 event didn't particularly move us. Their advance hype had stated it would "be unlike anything Louisville has seen." But honestly, it was exactly like the kind of thing I've seen many, many times in Louisville.

Mixing live bands, fashion, and art exhibitions in a bar/disco environment is nothing new, and frankly, mixing a bunch of different things into one event guarantees you end up with a disjointed crowd who are there for only part of what is being offered, and are bored or annoyed with the rest of it.

The art on display was nice - the art, in fact, is really what I came for - but I would have enjoyed it a lot more in a proper gallery setting, or at least someplace with better lighting. I especially liked the large portrait of Pablo Picasso propped up against a wall.

There was some guy who was introducing the next band onstage, and who also decided to tell some jokes. Each one was cruder and dumber than the last, and each time he told one, I saw someone pack up and leave. Seriously. The most printable one went something like this:

"After sex, she said to me, honey, why you always wash up before you go home?"

(he paused with impeccable comedy timing)

"I said, you think I want my girlfriend to smell your p----??"

You could hear the crickets, the un-amused audience silence was so deafening. (I think some were waiting for his punchline, not having realized it had already been delivered.)

We quickly downed our drinks, put on our coats and wandered out along with other people who had also decided they'd had enough. Off into the night, to cozier and smokier dens of maturer iniquity.

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Sherry Deatrick thu dec 17 2009 at 1:39 pm ·


	I used to love caipirinhas when I lived in NY in the early 90's. My friend Kathy Kelly (a very funny woman from Dublin) and would head to the Brazilian restaurant in midtown after work about once a week. We'd eat a steak and drink a few of caipirinhas. They tasted a lot different from the ones I get in Louisville. Did they change the method of making cachaca? In short, I just don't like the taste of them anymore. They taste like rotten fruit to me.

J.S. Holland thu dec 17 2009 at 2:59 pm ·


	Cachaca is well known for being inherently funky, especially the gold type, but there is wide variation in flavor, potency and pungency in all the many brands of Cachaca I've tried. (but I love 'em all!)

Sherry Deatrick thu dec 17 2009 at 3:27 pm ·


	Maybe what they were serving in NY wasn't a real caipirinha!

metricsister thu dec 17 2009 at 9:57 pm ·


	ughhhhhhhh.......... sounds like a total waste of time

metricsister thu dec 17 2009 at 9:59 pm ·


	the art show thing, I mean. and is that a caipirinia in the pic?

J.S. Holland thu dec 17 2009 at 11:08 pm ·


	Nope, it's the Tuaca Raspberry Lemon Drop at the sketty factory.

Carlos Jahara #319303 fri dec 18 2009 at 6:39 am ·


	Only a mistake. To be cachaça it shoude have between 38% and 48% ao acohol in volume. I love it. When Brasil Brazil create shame and become a great power will be the Cachaça and not whisky the drink on the planet.

J.S. Holland fri dec 18 2009 at 9:26 am ·


	Update: I added an image of that Picasso portrait from the Brewhaus show. The artist is Chase Collins. Good stuff. And J4H4R4, I'm with you - I eagerly await the day that Cachaca attains world domination.

kendramimosa sat dec 19 2009 at 6:05 am ·


	Never had cachaca but you have my curiosity piqued now. So Seviche is in the Highlands now? That's good news, I thought they'd gone out of business.

J.S. Holland sat dec 19 2009 at 7:59 am ·


	Seviche's always been in the Highlands, but they had a second location in Goose Creek for awhile - that's the one that closed. I urge everyone to keep supporting the remaining Bardstown Road location, it's one of the best places in town!

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