Pisco is
a brandy made originally from the fermented juice of the Quebranta grape,
a Muscatel variety that grows in the Ica region of southwestern Perú
and in the Elqui valley of Chile (left, formerly part of southern Perú).
Popular legend traces the origin of pisco to an ancient Incan ceremonial alcoholic
beverage. This is inaccurate (the Incas never grew grapes), but it is certain
that the recipe is over 400 years old. The only alcoholic beverage attributed
to the Incas was chicha, technically a beer (sour mash) made from corn. The
corn was mashed and fermented in a clay vessel buried in the ground. The Quechua
(the prominent Inca tribal group) word for the clay vessel is pisco.
The Spanish brought Muscatel and winemaking to South America, and with it
the distilling of wine into aguardiente (brandy). The Muscatel, a dark, aromatic,
high-sugar grape, was grown in Europe primarily for making raisins, sweet
wines, and brandy, and the Spanish began making aguardiente from Muscatel
wine in the Viceroyalty of Perú (Perú and Chile today) as early
as 1547. They found that the arid, sun-drenched valleys pictured here, irrigated
with pure Andean snowmelt through Inca engineering, was a superior environment
for viniculture. The grape pressings were fermented in the same clay pots
used to make chicha. Hence the name pisco. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda called
pisco "bottled sunshine."
Today the grape pressings are fermented in steel vats. The resulting wine
is then distilled in copper stills, cooled, and (for pisco corriente) blended
with purified water to reduce the alcohol content. The process is similar
to the production of grappa in Italy.
The areas of production of Pisco are mostly along the Peruvian coast like
Lunahuaná, Cañete, Pisco, Ica, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna.
Peruvians happily enjoyed pisco "straight" for 400 years. However,
it was too potent a beverage for many visitors who drank it either diluted
with water or mixed with fruit juices.
The National Coctail
from Peru is the Pisco Sour, we want to share with you the secret receipt
only the “experts” know, try it!
How
to take it:
One is due to possibly take like appetizer, in a glass that allows to retain
its aromas. It is the traditional form and in which better delicate taste
can be appreciated.
Ingredients:
3 glasses of Pisco
1 clear one of egg
1 glass of lemon juice
Sugar to the taste or, in its defect, syrup of rubber, perforated Ice
Preparation:
To liquefy clear of egg and the sugar, adding later the other ingredients,
to beat them and to serve in medium glasses type ball well, adding to each
one four drops of bitter of Narrowness.
For 4 people.
