Name: Rabo-de-Galo
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Cachaça (unaged); 15 ml Rosso/sweet vermouth; 15 ml Cynar/carciofo amaro; 1 dash Hop grapefruit bitters

Ingredients

1 2/3 fl oz

Cachaça (unaged)

1/2 fl oz

Strucchi Rosso Vermouth

1/2 fl oz

Cynar or other carciofo amaro

1 dash

Hopped grapefruit bitters (optional)

How to make

Glassware

Prepare

Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.

Prepare garnish of orange zest twist.

Method

THROW OR STIR (or even shake) all ingredients with ice.

STRAIN into ice-filled glass.

Garnish

EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Rabo-de-Galo contains 159 calories

Alcohol content:

1.4 standard drinks
22.77% alc./vol. (45.54° proof)
19.6 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Rosso/rouge/sweet vermouth (di Torino) — Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

History

One of the best-known drinks in Brazil, Rabo de Galo originated in the mid-1950s after a Cinzano factory opened in São Paulo, leading to rosso (sweet) vermouth being mixed with the local cachaça.

'Rabo-de-galo' literally translates from Brazilian Portuguese as rooster tail or 'cock tail'. In Brazil, a cocktail is called 'coquetel'. Originally served as a shot in dive bars, which in Brazil are called pés-sujos (literally translates as 'dirty feet'), the proportions and the drink's ingredients vary greatly from bar to bar and region to region, but are generally accepted as being 2/3 cachaça and 1/3 sweet vermouth.

In São Paulo, it is now commonplace for the vermouth to be substituted with Cynar, or (as above) both sweet vermouth and Cynar to be mixed with the cachaça. As the Rabo-de-Galo has transitioned from pés-sujos to cocktail bars, so it has moved from being served straight-up in large tall shot glasses to tumblers and on-the-rocks, as above.

Gallery

Comments & Discussion

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Mephisto 46w

A real star cocktail, but I confess that I prefer in the 50/40/20 proportion.

Justin Aniello 1y

I unfortunately find most cachaca cocktails underwhelming compared to it on its own and this one was no exception. The blend of cachaca and Cynar give an almost grapefruit flavor with a pithy aftertaste. Not bad but unlikely to make again.

Mariana Missio Vieira da Rocha 2y

Just a curiosity about the "pé sujo" bars. They don't look exactly as a dive bar, the only thing in common in being cheap.
Dive bars are mostly a closed and dark space, while a pé sujo is an open and clearer (but not cleaner) space.
Picture from a pé sujo bar https://images.app.goo.gl/6qEAYTwZ1DRnJJv96

Matt Premium Member 2y

For a cocktail that is mostly cachaca, this has surprising amount of sweet fruit, plus a very nice bitterness (from the Cynar, mainly) that I really like with the cachaca funky/grassy taste. I used Leblon/Carpano Antica/Cynar. Really nice.

John Hinojos Premium Member 3y

Very flavourful cocktail and perfect in the evening. Use Clairin from Haiti at 113 proof which gave it some additional punch, but delightful. This is a cocktail which seems to improve as it breathes and the ice melts.

Fabio Andrade 6y

Grapefruit is not a local fruit in Brazil, so we usually use orange peel to garnish and add the oils flavor to the fancy cocktail version. You can use 1/3 rosso sweet vermouth to 2/3 cachaça, Cinzano or Martini are mostly used so the orange will fit better. The versions with a part of Cynar or Cynar in place of the vermouth can work well with lime peels too.