New Brew Tuesday: Pisco

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Posted By: Cornelius Aesop on 2010/07/20 in Drinking, New Brew Tuesday - Comments: View Comments

Pisco Sour By caseywest, May 20, 2010 via Flickr Creative Commons

After watching one of the greatest shows ever, Three Sheets, I became sad to see that the host Zane Lamprey never got around to show casing the Peruvian side of this liquor. Instead we only saw the Chilean side, which seems to be more regulated in its creation of Pisco. The side by side taste test will have to wait till I’m able to locate some pisco from Chile, until then these pompous pisco producers will have to deal with a full Pisco breakdown where both sides get a full review.

Some of you may not be too familiar with pisco, but may be more familiar with its Italian cousin grappa. Grappa is made from wine discards while pisco is made from fresh grapes and in Peru it includes the typical discards. Both drinks were once considered a poor man’s drink but nowadays both can be seen in high class cocktails for man and monkey alike.

I’ll try not to pick any sides because I haven’t been to Chile yet, but the Peruvians lay claim as the originators, after all it is named after the town where it was first exported. While Peruvian pisco’s production isn’t under strict regulation like Chile’s, from my experiences in Peru it was still a great drink.

In Chile it is only pisco if it is made from muskrat grapes from the third and fourth region of Chile. While in Peru pisco is made using mainly (but not exclusively) muskrat or italia grapes including skin, seeds and stems along with, at times, corn, grain and sugar cane nectar. (Thanks for the info Zane) Since this Peruvian version does not meet Chilean standards they do not recognize it as Pisco.

Yet don’t let Chile fool you into thinking that Peru doesn’t have their own complex variations of pisco. There are three styles of pisco in Peru: Quebranta, Acholado and Italia. ¹

Now that you know what the heck it is, now on to the important stuff, like how to drink it.

If you have ever had a mojito or caipirinha then you may just like this classic Peruvian/Chilean variation the Pisco Sour. This drink is made by mixing pisco, sugar, limes, dry egg whites (really?) and bitters. Or if you are like me and are afraid of dumping an egg in your drink you can buy a powdered mix and just add Pisco and ice.

There are other variations and cocktail mixes for pisco, but I tend to stick with the classic.

Why is this drink so important that it must be written about, well my friends this lovely drink has it’s own holiday which lands on the first Saturday in February every year. I’m embarrassed to say that I did not make it to the town of Pisco even though I was less than 30 minutes away in Paracas but that only means I’ll have to make it back there – and this time for the celebration.

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Tags: Acholado, alcohol, Chile, cocktails, drinks, grape, grapes, holiday, Italia, muskrat, muskrat grape, New Brew Tuesday, peru, phishgo, pichiu, pisccu, pisco, pisco sour, pisku, Quebranta, salud, Three Sheets, zane, Zane Lamprey

adventurerob

This makes me want to go on a mission to taste all the cocktails of the world. I suspect I don't have enough time though.
http://www.MonkeyBrewster.com/ Cornelius Aesop

Now that is a mission that I could put my liver behind. @(^_^)@ Even if there wasn't enough time it sure would be fun to try.

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A LITTLE BIT ABOUT A LITTLE MONKEY

The coolest traveling monkey around! I'm a monkey on a mission trying to figure out what makes you humans tick. Join me on my travel blog with a twist, a tail and some fur as I share what I learn and fling the rest. READ MORE...