Gin and tonic, gin and tonic and more gin and tonic. There is no other combination more popular than this one. It seemed to us like a fashion with an expiration date, but the years prove us right. Thousands of new gins from Spain and other countries emerge, they are combined with new tonics... so the menus of bars and cocktail bars offer us thousands of options. We no longer know whether to drink it with pepper, with cucumber, with rose petals or with the bartender's latest eccentricity.
But there are other cocktails with a lot of life. One of them, oddly enough, is the pisco sour. “I have a theory that it is a sleeper, it is one of the best-selling cocktails, at least in Barcelona, although it may not seem like it. It is a cocktail that is found everywhere and is very pleasant,” says Mar Calpena, journalist, bartender and cocktail teacher at the CETT-UB tourism and hospitality school in Barcelona. She gives us the basic clues about this Peruvian drink… or Chilean?
Pisco, the base of everything
Pisco is what in other countries would be pomace or brandy. “It is one of the many spirits that are distilled from grapes. Grape distillates are the most basic distillates of humanity. Then wheat distillates and other things would arrive.” Pisco has its origin shortly after the conquest of America, “the Spanish brought their wine, and the next step was to start distilling,” says Calpena.
Peruvian or Chilean?
Peru and Chile dispute the origin of pisco and have a fervent trade war. “In fact, they are slightly different drinks. Both use different varieties of grapes and distillation methods that are not exactly the same. If you ask a Peruvian, they will say that the origin is Peruvian, if you ask a Chilean, they will tell you that pisco is Chilean.”
Between 35 and 48 degrees of alcohol
There are some Chilean piscos that go below 35 degrees, but generally pisco is between 35 and 40 degrees. “They can reach up to 43 degrees. Peruvians have a little more temperature and are up to 48 degrees,” says Calpena. To give us an idea, it is an alcohol content similar to what a gin can have.
After dinner or in 'pisco sour'
Pisco is a spirit, and in its countries of origin it is common to drink it as is, alone, as a digestive after meals. “Spirits have the character of an after-dinner alcoholic beverage throughout the world.” But the other way to drink this drink is in the combined pisco sour. “This is one of the most successful cocktails in the world, it is an easy cocktail to prepare and very easy to drink.”
The surname 'sour'
This 'sour' that some cocktails have as their last name means "sour" and means that they contain lime or lemon and, above all, sugar. “But pisco sour has a peculiarity, and that is that it incorporates an egg white to give it texture. It is that beautiful foam that appears at the top of the glass, and on which a few drops of Angostura are placed,” explains this cocktail specialist.
The recipe from the IBA, International Bartenders Association
Calpena gives us the recipe for the professional pisco sour recipe, that of the IBA (International Bartenders Association), which is prepared with a shaker. The ingredients are:
> 4.5 cl of pisco
> 2 cl of sugar syrup (syrup, equal parts of sugar and water)
> 3 cl of lemon juice
> 1 small egg white
Chill a pompadour glass with a little ice. All the ingredients are mixed in a shaker with ice and shake well because we want the egg white to emulsify. We empty the ice from the glass, filter the liquid into this glass, and decorate it with a drop of Angostura.
Other cocktails with pisco
There are other possible combinations with the spirit called pisco. “One of them would be the chilcano, a long-drink cocktail. It is to be taken with food and combines pisco with ginger ale.” Another of them is the capitan, “it consists of mixing pisco with vermouth.”
