“I WANTED TO be a priest,” said João Paulo Campos, the owner of Velho Adonis, a bustling boteco, or Brazilian-style tavern, in Rio de Janeiro. “This bar became my church instead.” Indeed, after drinking countless draft beers as a regular, Mr. Campos, 41, bought Adonis three years ago and renovated the 60-plus-year-old establishment, making his devotion to these idiosyncratic watering holes complete. “A boteco isn’t just a place to drink,” he said of his calling. Often opened by immigrants and operated in informal grocery-style shops, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, some botecos found themselves on shaky footing. In 2019, initial warnings about the closure of Bar Luiz—known for the best chopp, or draft beer, in Rio—prompted mourning from Cariocas of all stripes.

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