Chopp Mentality

Leaving Rio after a month was long-awaited. Instagram floods with post-Brazil content—Westerners mourning their return to monotonous routines, leaving behind beaches, sun, and caipirinhas. That wasn't us just yet. We still had adventures ahead on the continent before flying home. Still, the seven-hour journey to Patagonia gave me time to reflect on our time here.

It'd be too obvious to mention Ipanema sunsets, hikes up Corcovado, or live concerts on Copacabana. I wanted to chat about something more specific: the chopp.

What Is a Chopp?

Chopp is Brazilian slang for a small glass of beer—somewhere between a half pint and 33cl. Usually Brahma, in my experience, and the word comes from the German "Schoppen". Technically, chopp (or chope) means draft beer in Portuguese. Beer served from a tap, poured into small, ice-cold glasses with a frothy head.

Chopps are served everywhere, all times of day, all ages. Groups of retired women catching up on neighborhood gossip. Groups of 20-somethings predrinking for a funk gig later that evening. Different occasions, different styles. Here are my top four.

The Smooth Foamy Draft Chopp

The OG. The cappuccino of chopps. Cold as hell, pulled from a custom Brahma branded draft hose and poured into an iconic "Brahma Chopp" glass. So cold your teeth tingle. Served everywhere, but hits hardest in a century old boteco. Picture yourself, cold chopp in hand, eating some picanha with broccoli rice and chips, with some farofa and beans on the side. Perfect.

Okay, technically this and the others aren't really chopps since they're not draft. But more fun to group them together.

The Out-of-Bottle Chopp

A close second in my ranking. These are easy to find—pretty much every other street corner, whether you're on the beach or in the center, has a local bar selling pastels, sandwiches, and ice-cold beer. Bottles come out of freezers set to deliver what Brazilians call Trincando de gelada (an "ice-crackingly" cold beer). They get slapped on the table in bottle-specific coolers. Some beers were so cold they poured out as slushies. The glasses here are different too—smaller ones called copo americanos, like something you'd have at home. Sit back, share a few bottles with friends, watch a Brazilian football game on a grainy TV screen, up in the corner of the room.

The Football Game Chopp

You're midway through the first half. Your team's up 2-0, thirty minutes in, and you need liquids to make it to halftime because you've cheering too hard. Enter: the football game chopp.

A man in orange with a big keg strapped to his back—like an adult-friendly Santa—walks through the stands to serve you a cold chopp in a plastic cup. The beer isn't great. But it's not supposed to be. It's been sitting on someone's back for half an hour. You're there for the football. The chopp is just the cherry on top.

The Beachside Lata

It's hot. Really hot. You're baking on Copacabana beach. You've just sat down after an hour of embarrassing yourself with a group of Brazilian youths trying to play keepie-uppies. You're parched. A beach vendor walks by chanting "Choppie, choppie" as if they were an angel descending from the roasting sun. Pops open a cooler and hands you a tin of Brahma. Not technically a chopp, but it fits the main criteria: small, cold, Brahma. It hits. But I clearly came to the beach unprepared. Families around me had personalized can coolers or poured their chopps into insulated coffee cups.

Special Mention: The Assumed Refill Policy

When Brazilians say "the beers are flowing" they must mean it literally. When you order a chopp, regardless of where, there's almost no time between your last sip and a fresh glass or bottle hitting the table. Tell the waiter you don't want another and they'll look at you with genuine disappointment, like you've broken some unspoken rule.