Chicago is covered in dirty slush today so it takes some imagination to conjure up a beachy Rio vibe with samba dancers, 3000 crazy feather costumes and the 80-degree weather of Brazilian Carnaval.

Thankfully, there are a few new varieties of cachaça —Brazilian sugar cane rum—hitting the market right now to put us in the mood for the annual festival–which actually lasts through tonight. To see if some non-Brazilian office workers could get in the groove, I opened a few bottles of cachaça (ka-SHAH-sah) and mixed some drinks after we put this week’s issue to bed on Friday evening. We couldn’t find any decent limes or even fresh lime juice in the South Loop, but we made do with Real Lime concentrate, sugar and club soda for our improvised downtown caipirinha.

We alternated making small batches using Leblon–which Bacardi recently bought a stake in–and Cabana. Cachaça, one of the most popular spirits in the world, is fermented and distilled from fresh sugar cane, unlike rum which is made from molasses–a by-product of the sugar refining process. As for the distinguishing characteristics of these brands, Leblon is rested in XO Cognac casks from 3 to 6 months to mellow it out a bit, while Cabana is double-distilled. Both smell incredible when uncorked: Leblon is a bit sweeter and Cabana has more overall character.

Everything went swimmingly considering we forgot one essential ingredient: the boom-box blasting samba and baile funk. The sparkly green carnival mask was passed around and modeled while the cocktails–for the most part–were well -received. This is what drinkers were saying about them, organized by which brand we used.

Leblon caipirinha
“I like the tart.”
“Smooth.”
“This isn’t the punch in the face I was expecting, I’ll have another.”
“I never noticed that tattoo." "Oh, It’s from my hardcore days.”

Cabana caipirinha
“Just the perfect balance between sweet and tangy.”
“Holy shit, is that tart!”
“Really delicious Country Time Lemonade.”
“Smells pretty rustic.”
“It’s as if I am preparing to tango.”

Our experimental cranberry soda caipirinha went over nicely. "Subtle zest" was the verdict. But our experimental tangerine caipirinha didn’t get such high marks. “It’s like a library drink, like drinking old books.”

Next time—when the sun comes out maybe–we’re making our caipirinhas properly by muddling the limes with simple syrup and bringing the damn iPod boombox. Binny’s locations carry Leblon ($27.99 for 750ML). Sam’s and Binny’s carries Cabana for ($34.99 for 750ML). And National Geographic has a rad selection of Carnaval masks to get you set for next year.