To experience Pisco is to experience Peru and vice versa. Writer Kerrie-Anne Riles gives us a real taste of the liquor and its origins.

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What’s So Special About a Pisco Sour Cocktail – Peru’s National Drink?

You can’t say you’ve really visited Peru without sampling their national drink. In a restaurant, it is almost obligatory to drink a pisco sour before any meal. And it’s often offered as a welcome drink at accommodations or functions. So what’s so special about pisco?

Peru has a long history of producing wine from the 1540’s when Francisco de Carabantes created Tacama, the first vineyard in Peru, with vines brought from Spain. The Spanish vines flourished due to the similar growing conditions.

Pisco is a brandy or a high-proof spirit from distilled grapes. The main area for growing grapes for Pisco is Ica, about 300km south of the capital, Lima. Traveling by bus you will see glimpses of the coast. Our journey was scheduled for four hours but in reality took six. You can take a tour of three wineries with Pisco Tasting Tour (Private Tour): Cusco Unique Experience where you can learn about the production of pisco.

It takes 7kg of grapes to make one litre of pisco liquor. The unique grape combinations used in pisco are selected from eight varietals that are blended, then traditionally allowed to ferment in ceramic vessels called pisqueras or bolijitas before distillation in lined cement vats.

Pisqueras, ceramic vessels for traditional first fermentation.

Experiencing Peruvian Pisco: Vista Alegre

Founded in 1857, Vista Alegre today is a highly automated winery with 97 hectares of grapes and a pecan orchard. In this mass produced modern winery, the grapes are transported by a series of rotating augers to huge fermentation vats then piped to the copper vats for distillation.

Distilling the Pisco in copper vats at Vista Alegre and automated bottling line. 

Experiencing Peruvian Pisco: Tacama

Tacama is the oldest winery in Peru. Located in the upper part of the valley of Ica its vines stretch to the foot of the Andes Mountains. They produce twenty-three types of grapes that are harvested at night during summer with white wine grapes in January, red in February and the super sweet grapes for Pisco being harvested in March.

Independent travelers can arrange cellar tours through Tacama. You can have a leisurely lunch from the extensive menu at their restaurant (with Tacama wines of course) while enjoying their famous Peruvian paso dancing horses show.

The last Sunday in July is National Pisco Day in Peru (as opposed to Pisco Sour Day which is the first Saturday in February) and the fountain in front of the chapel sprays free pisco instead of water.

Fountain in front of chapel at Tacama.

Experiencing Peruvian Pisco: El Catador

Established in 1856, tradition at El Catador is still honored in the making of the pisco. The grapes are sourced from many small local growers. After the grapes are crushed, the first fermentation takes 14-15 days in the ceramic pisqueras known here as burros – “donkeys.” The distillation takes place in open pits with copper heating pipes entwined around the vats.

How do you carry a burro? Our guide and my husband demonstrate how it’s done.

El Catador specializes in piscos infused with fruit and some have cream added like the lucama–a unique Peruvian fruit and chirymoya–Peruvian custard apple, flavors.

Distillation pits at El Catador.

The tasting experience at El Catador is quite different to the serious discussions of the quality of pisco at both Vista Alegre and Tacama. Here the atmosphere is lively and more about celebrating the joy of drinking pisco. Our young sommelier Analie enthusiastically accompanied each of our many tastings with a detailed description of what was added to the pisco and a different cheeky toast.

Considering the generosity of all the tastings included in our three winery visits, it is definitely recommended to have a designated driver!

Infused Piscos at El Catador.

Hungry for more? Get a recipe for Pisco Sour cocktails

Just what is a Pisco Sour Cocktail?

Pisco Sours were invented by an American bar tender Victor Vaughen Morris in Lima in the early 1920’s when he ran out of whisky for whisky sours. With the addition of egg white, pisco sours have evolved into the most popular drink in Peru and are now considered their national drink.

Basically, Pisco sours are a tangy drink of pisco with lemon, simple sugar syrup and egg white shaken vigorously with ice then strained into a very cold glass to form a frothy cocktail. It is then topped with up to three drips of Angostura bitters for its aroma, not just for decoration. When drinking, the espuma–froth on the top, sinks to the bottom of the glass. (For me this is the best part and I always embarrass my husband by asking for a spoon!)

Pisco sours come in three sizes: “el simple,” “el doble,” and the monster “el catedral,” created in1950 by Pancho Wiese who was the owner of the Hotel Bolivar. Every Sunday Pancho insisted on drinking a pisco sour in the largest glass before going to the cathedral and the name stuck. Today you will also find many variations such as Maracuyá–passionfruit, or Azul–with blue curaçao.

My husband and son enjoying the Azul and Maracuyá Pisco Sours in the “el catedral” (large) size. 

There are many ways to learn the secrets of this special cocktail. Demonstrations are usually offered during every food tour in Peru and many bars and restaurants offer classes.

Pisco Sour Making Lessons with Lima Gourmet Tours.

Hungry for more? Here’s a recipe for a Cucumber Chile Margarita from Mexico

Restaurants and bars in Peru are always creating new ways to present pisco. At Matria restaurant in Lima we found a new way to enjoy pisco: cooking mussels in it! Mejillones salteado en aromas de pisco was so good that once we had eaten the mussels from the shell we used an empty half shell to scoop out the rest of the broth. Delicious!

The Chasqui Bag is a new cocktail at 27 Tapas in Lima. Basically a cocktail of pisco and lime shaken with crushed ice, it is presented in a chasqui bag. It is described as an homage to the traditions of the chasqui message runners of the Incas who carried these small personal bags. Each bag is woven in a traditional Inca pattern. A further nod to tradition is the smoke of the purifying palo santo, an aromatic stick set alight just before you receive the cocktail.

Chasqui Bag cocktail at 27 Tapas Lima.

Although pisco sours are often consumed in copious quantities at parties, it is really an aperitif. As Felix, the Captain of Waiters at the up-market Lima 27 restaurant, handed me my rather generous pisco sour he said with a grin, “One pisco sour is good, two maybe, but three you go to sleep!”

To learn more about about visiting Peru, here’s the official tourism website. 

— Story by Kerrie-Anne Riles. Photos by Kerrie-Anne and Alan Riles

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