Two At The Most » Pisco

BarSol Quebranta Pisco and the Sol de Oro

Stevi — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:02:32 +0000

I never get tired of mentioning that I first discovered pisco on a trip to Peru. It was also in Peru that I discovered my other love, Peruvian horses.

Imagine my delight when a bottle of BarSol Quebranta Pisco arrived for review. Not only was it a pisco, but it featured a logo of a Peruvian horse and rider, which gave me an excellent chance to refer to my beloved horses on my cocktail blog.

Sol de Oro (V)

On to the pisco. BarSol Quebranta is a pisco puro. Puro indicates that the pisco is made from only one variety of grape, in this case the quebranta, a non-aromatic black grape variety developed in Peru. The BarSol is very dry on the nose, and that holds true in the glass. While this definitely tastes like a pisco, it’s far less sweet and robust than the acholados I tend to prefer. The BarSol is more refined and subtle than most piscos I’ve been able to find in the US. This makes it a very mixable form of grape brandy.

Naturally, when I first opened the bottle, I immediately had to make pisco sours. The BarSol makes a delightful pisco sour, very drinkable. I recommend you experiment with the right ratio of simple syrup and lime juice for your palate. I also like to occasionally use a mix of half lemon juice and half lime juice, but I find a pisco sour with all lemon juice is never quite right. And don’t be fooled into trying Meyer lemons. They do not belong in a pisco sour.

Sol de Oro Cocktail

Next it was time to experiment with a new pisco drink. Aside from the sour and pisco punch, there aren’t that many great pisco-based cocktails. Yes, I do like the piscadora, and apparently San Francisco is attempting to fill the void with a rash of new pisco bars. I live further north, however, and must amuse myself with taunting my local bartenders for carrying Chilean pisco.

I’ve experimented with pisco on several TDNs, but nothing has quite worked. But on a hunch, I started experimenting with apricot brandy, and liked the initial taste. I started with Marie Brizard Apry, but found it a little too robust to find the right balance without resorting to soda water or champagne to lengthen the drink. Instead I switched to Rothman & Winter’s Orchard Apricot, which is lighter, and let the pisco sing through.

I also found that my favorite fortified wine, Lillet blanc, didn’t mix well in this context. Instead, using Martini & Rossi bianco vermouth brought the lightness. As I mentioned, the quebranta is quite dry, so I still wanted a touch of sweetness. I turned to orgeat to give an extra layer of flavor, and was not disappointed. The last note came from Fee Brothers lemon bitters, which adds a final brightness that blends all the ingredients together.

Sol de Oro

1.5 oz pisco (BarSol quebranta)
1 oz bianco vermouth
0.75 oz apricot brandy (Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot)
0.25 oz orgeat
2 dashes lemon bitters

Stir over ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

Oro Ocultado

I do tend to prefer this a little sweet; if you prefer a drier cocktail, reduce the orgeat, but don’t eliminate it completely. It adds depth to the overall drink.

Since this is my first successful pisco cocktail I want to share with the world, I had to name it after Sol de Oro (Viejo), the most important modern stallion in the Peruvian breed. The port of Pisco is located in the Ica region of Peru, and Sol de Oro was discovered in the quebradas (valleys) of Ica region. Sol de Oro is the grandsire of my first Peurvian horse, Oro Ocultado, so he holds a special place in my heart.

What flavors do you think work best with pisco?

My Journey with the Pisco Sour

Stevi — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:01:28 +0000

I can trace my love of mixology through the evolution of my standards for homemade pisco sours.

Like many Americans, I first discovered this delicious quaff on a trip to Peru. I had one every chance I could get, and picked up a bottle of acholado pisco at the duty free, along with some packets of pisco sour mix. I was told this was a way to make a decent pisco sour, especially since we can’t get the right citrus here in the US, and for a while, I believed that.

Then I decided to try to mix my own. As I documented in my very first cocktail post, I didn’t think I could get a wonderful foamy head on a pisco sour without resorting to a blender.

Pisco Sour

Now that I’m building my skills as a home bartender, I’ve discovered I can create an egg white drink with a gorgeous, foamy froth on top with just my shaker and some effort. My favorite secret is using the dry shake. Put all the ingredients in the shaker with no ice, give a vigorous shake for at least 10 seconds. Then add the ice and shake again, for as long as you can stand it. I aim for at least a minute.

The result is luscious, rich, and tastes all the better for knowing the effort I put into it. Who knows, maybe the next step in my journey is to start scorching my sours. I am definitely eying the milk whippers that all the cool bars in town are using for foaming their egg-white drinks.

For nearly a year, my standard pisco sour recipe has been 3 : 2 : 1 pisco : simple syrup : lime juice. This makes for a dangerously drinkable beverage that always seems to go down too fast. Lately I’ve been tinkering with the recipe to bring the pisco more to the forefront and up the sour. The result is a drink that I sip more slowly, and I enjoy more.

Pisco Sour

2 oz pisco (BarSol Quebranta)
1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1 oz simple syrup (1:1)
1 egg white
Amargo bitters for aromatics (sub Angostura) (don’t include in shaker!)

Dry shake everything but the bitters for at least 10 seconds. Add ice and shake for 1 minute. Strain into cocktail glass and top with 1-2 drops bitters.

Peru and Chile dispute the origin of both pisco and the pisco sour. You may guess from the above where my opinion lies. Regardless of your feelings, remember that the first Saturday of February is Peru’s National Pisco Sour Day. That sounds like a damn fine reason to make a round and toast. ¡Viva Perú!

Piscadora

Stevi — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:04:00 +0000

Our Spring has been quite cool this year in the Pacific Northwest. We did have a gorgeous weekend, so my thought are turning to Summer cooling drinks. Tonight I decided I would will the sun to come back by making something tasty.

I opened up David Wondrich’s wonderful Killer Cocktails and came across the Piscadora. I was instantly sold.

I love Pisco. It takes me instantly back to my two trips in the Andes Mountains with Perol Chico. Arriving at the ranch, we received delicious Pisco sours. And after a long days riding, a shot of Pisco was always on order.

Wondrich’s recipe doesn’t specify a particular style of Pisco. Tonight all I had on hand was Guacamayo, a Pisco puro. It’s not the best quality Pisco available here in Washington, but it makes a respectable Pisco sour and plays fairly nicely in mixed drinks. I can’t wait until I find another bottle of Don Cesar, and I would really like to try this with Barsol.

This recipe is very tasty. The Chambord compliments the Pisco, and the ginger ale and lime juice combine to make it infinitely drinkable. I used Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew ginger beer. My rocks glasses are quite roomy, and the ginger beer is pretty strong (the recipe calls for ginger ale), so I suspect my tall drink isn’t as tall as Wondrich may have envisioned, but I don’t want the ginger beer to drown out the other flavors.

Piscadora
2 oz Pisco
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz Chambord (or raspbery syrup)

build in collins glass or double rocks glass filled with ice, add brandied cherry and top with 2 ounces ginger beer.

Damn Good Pisco Sour

Stevi — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:39:00 +0000

In celebration of find a proper bottle of Peruvian pisco for sale in a Bellevue, Washington state liquor shop, I made Pisco Sours last night. Those made en el Norte can’t ever be right because we don’t have the right limes here, but I found the store-bought limes to work fine.

You can’t get the right foamy goodness on top without using a blender, and i think the ice adds the right amount of dilution, anyway, so go with it:

recipe for four:
1 cup Peruvian pisco (i used Guacamayo, which is a pisco puro)
2 oz simple syrup
2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
white of one large egg
Angostura bitters (for garnish)

put everything but bitters in blender with 10-12 ice cubes. blend until the ice be no more.

pour into cocktail glasses, top with a dash or two of bitters.

Enjoy!

The guacamayo may help me get over my preference for pisco acholado in a pisco sour, because the result was nicely balanced, and easy to drink. maybe too easy…

Here’s hoping I can keep finding Peruvian pisco in Washington. Oddly enough, the liquor board web site told me I should be able to find Barsol pisco acholado at the shop, which they didn’t have on the shelves (I didn’t ask if they had it in back). If you search for Guacamayo as a brand, you’ll find the listings, but not in the brandy list. Oh, Washington State LCB, how you tease me.

And don’t buy that crap in the maoi head bottle. That’s chilean. It’s an aromatic aguardiente that is not suitable to be called pisco. P’tui.