Pisco

Distilled from different grapes in the two countries – Peru and Chile – that produce it, the liquor takes its contested name from the Quechua for little bird and the pottery in which it was aged (but more directly from the name of a coastal Peruvian city where it was produced).

It was first created in the sixteenth century as a consequence of protectionist policies by the Spanish King banning wine from the new world. Nearly all the first pisco came from a new grape variety – Quebranta – which is still the main source of “pisco puro” in Peru today. Peru also produces aromatic, mosto verde and acholado (blended) pisco. It is the blended pisco which is normally used for the national cocktail of the neighbouring countries, pisco sour, which contains lemon or lime, egg whites, syrup and regional bitters as well as the liquor.

In Chile, varieties of Muscat are the most common grape and certain additives are permitted in order to achieve particular alcohol levels. Chilean pisco is not allowed into Peru, which calims proprietorship of the term “pisco” on historical grounds.