Submarino

 I recently had the chance to travel throughout Brasil and experience many new foods and regional cultures. In Curitiba I had the chance to try a drink called a Submarino. This drink is supposedly typical of southern Brasil, but I had not encountered it prior to my visit to Curitiba. Submarino has a resemblance to a Boilermaker or Depth Charge in the USA.  The main difference is instead of whiskey you use Steinhäger in a Submarino. Steinhäger is a spirit distilled from wheat and Juniper berries. It is German in origin, and Curitiba and other parts of southern Brasil have a large concentration of German immigrants. This could be a contributing factor to the popularity of the drink. The shot glass(or canecinha)of Steinhäger is dropped into the pint of draft beer and you drink it just like that. At the Bar do Alemão (big German bar) where I tried Submarino, they also had a variant which substituted Jägermeister for Steinhäger. I will have to experiment with this one sometime. Overall this beverage was pretty good and a look at how parts of Brasil hold German influence.