Pisco
Unaged grape brandy from Peru and Chile. Peruvian pisco is distilled once, to bottling strength with no water added, and rested in neutral vessels — so it tastes vividly of the grape.
grapey · floral · earthy
Kinds
- Puro (Quebranta)
- One grape, non-aromatic: earthy and round. The pisco sour classic.
- Aromático (Italia, Torontel, Moscatel)
- Floral and Muscat-like.
- Acholado
- A blend of grapes.
- Mosto verde
- Distilled from wine before it's fully fermented: softer and richer.
- Chilean pisco
- May be diluted and aged in wood — a different spirit with the same name.
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Peruvian Quebranta for a pisco sour; Italia or an acholado when you want it floral.
- A little history
- Peru and Chile both claim pisco and its name, and the argument is still live; each protects its own.
- Worth knowing
- For a pisco sour, shake without ice first (a dry shake) to build the egg-white foam, then again with ice. The drops of bitters on top are for smell, not mixing.