Pisco
Pisco is a distinct style of brandy which is made in the wine-growing regions of Peru and Chile. It’s made like brandy, by distilling wine. Its origins go back to the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries, who brought with them their brandy-making skills. The name Pisco is drawn from a Peruvian port, through which the spirit was exported back to Spain. There are varying types of pisco, as the regulations for distilling pisco in Peru and Chile are different, and within those regulations there are many factors which influence the end product. Piscos from different regions will taste differently depending on the grapes used in its production. The most common way that pisco is consumed is the classic Pisco Sour cocktail, which combines pisco with egg white, lime juice, and simple syrup. The Peruvian recipe also adds bitters, but the Chilean recipe doesn’t (should you wish to show off to the barman).
Top Pisco Posts:
Pisco 101 with Duggan McDonnell
Pisco Porton
Macchu Pisco
Campo de Encanto Pisco Grand & Noble Acholado
We’re stepping back here. In 2011 we reviewed Macchu Pisco’s “La Diablata” bottling, which is made from a blend of grapes in the “acholado” style. This is the Peruvian company’s original pisco, a single-varietal bottling made from Quebranta grapes. It’s a solid pisco, mild but traditional with plenty of musky funk on the nose. Breathe…
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One of the top brands of the pisco revival, Encanto has been making waves for years — and we’re only just now getting around to reviewing it formally. An acholado style pisco, Encanto is a blend of distillate from four types of grapes — Quebranta (74%), Torontel (6%), Moscatel (4%) and Italia (16%). (Most other…
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Okay they’re really not disco-inspired cocktails, but it was tough to resist the whole rhyme scheme. Absolutely abysmal wordplay aside, Pisco is indeed a wonderful South American brandy that is sorely under-represented in the cocktail world. Here are a couple of recipes courtesy of our friends over at Portón that are worth checking out and…
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Chile celebrates its Independence Day on September 18, and this year the country took the opportunity to revive the battle its been locked in with Peru over who originated — or makes better — the South American spirit of Pisco. Distilled from grapes, Pisco is essentially unaged (usually) brandy, though in Chile they are more…
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Here’s an oddball review: A bottle of pisco brought back from Chile (which disputes with Peru who originated this Latin spin on unaged brandy) called Los Artesanos del Cochiguaz. Los Artesanos del Cochiguaz’s Pisco is available in a variety of proof levels (not to mention a variety of other spirits). This one is bottled at…
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Pop quiz: What’s the proof level of Pisco 100? 84 proof, of course! The origin of Pisco 100’s name is unclear, but this Peruvian Pisco — an “acholado” style blended of distillate from several grape varietals — is a pungent example of the spirit. On the nose, traditional Pisco character — jet fuel, aromatic pine…
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Just when you thought it was safe to put the old Pisco Wars to rest (you were fighting in the Pisco Wars, weren’t you?), Kappa comes along and dredges it back up again. You see, unlike the vast majority of modern Piscos, Kappa hails from Chile, not Peru, the latter of which has long claimed…
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A new entry from Macchu Pisco (one of the bigger distributors of this Peruvian brandy worldwide, but whose standard product we’ve never reviewed), La Diablata is an “acholado” style pisco — a blend of three grapes: Quebranta, Moscatel, and Italia — which puts it in the same wheelhouse as Encanto. La Diablata, as the name…
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I can safely say now that I know more about Pisco than I ever thought I would. More than I ever thought there was to know, actually. And yet, I’m still little more than a novice. Pisco is, put simply, unaged, grape-based brandy from Peru (or Chile, which we’ll discuss later). Peru puts strict controls…
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I’ve learned more about pisco in the last 48 hours than I’ve ever wanted to know. In a nutshell, pisco is the Peruvian or Chilean take on brandy (the two countries are virtually over war over which pisco is “real”): Made by distilling wine then bottling it without aging, pisco is a white spirit that…
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