Peru Claims Pisco

You were was misinformed about the Pisco Sour. It is not from Chile, it is from Peru. Let me tell you the story. Peru has a city, a port, a river and a valley called Pisco. Pisco is south of Lima, the capital of Peru, and has 74,300 inhabitants, very close to the famous Nasca Lines. Pisco (the drink) was first produced in Peru’s southern Pisco Valley as far back as the 16th century, made from grapes brought by the Spanish conquerors. The word “pisco” means “bird” in the Quechua language of Peru’s Inca Indians. The Pisco Sour was invented in the early 1900s by an English barman at the Maury Hotel in downtown Lima, when he did not have whiskey for a whiskey sour.

Chile--showing more business savvy than Peru--patented the name Pisco in 1931 and dominates international sales of the liquor, exporting seven times Peru’s volume. Though Chile has almost doubled production since 1992, Peru produces what it did in 1984. Pisco is Peruvian, as Tequila is Mexican. I have drunk Pisco and Pisco Sour for more than 20 years. I had a liquor store in Lima. Once, a salesman offered me what Chileans called Pisco. . . . It was flat. If you want to taste an authentic Pisco Sour, try the one made with real Pisco, at a Peruvian restaurant, such as one of the El Pollo Inkas.

PEDRO DANIEL SAMANIEGO

From the Internet