Pisco sour, the national cocktail of Peru
Are you visiting Peru? Then you should absolutely try a pisco sour. It is the national cocktail of Peru. In this blog I will tell you all about this refreshing drink and how to make it yourself.
What is a pisco sour?
A pisco sour is made with pisco - a type of brandy - lime juice, sugar syrup and beaten egg whites. The cocktail looks simple, certainly not exotic. The finishing touch is limited to a slice of lime on the rim of the glass. The pisco sour is delightfully fresh, with a nice balance of sweet, sour and bitter. The fluffy egg white creates a silky feel in your mouth. You can compare it to the effect of perfectly whipped milk foam in a cappuccino.
What is the origin of pisco?
There are several stories about the origins of this drink. One thing is certain: the liqueur pisco was already made in the 16de
century, during the time of the Spanish conquistadores. They brought back surplus grapes from Spain on their ships. Those fermented during the voyage overseas and formed the basis of the brandy that got the name pisco.
Pisco sour, an American invention
The birth of the pisco sour and the life story of American Victor Vaughen Morris are inextricably linked. Victor, a citizen of Salt Lake City, Utah, was a man of high esteem. He belonged to one of the most prominent families there and received a good education. The Cerro de Pasco Railroad Company recruited him as a clerk in the early 1900s. Victor’s job was to supervise the construction of a railroad in Peru. Through that line, silver and copper were transported from the high-altitude Cerro de Pasco mine to the commodities market. Victor got married in Peru and moved with his family to the capital Lima. In 1915 he opened the Morris Bar and served pisco sour for the first time. During Prohibition, he didn’t have any bourbon from Kentucky to make a whisky sour. Resourceful as he was, he replaced the bourbon with the local liquor, pisco. The pisco sour was born!
What about the egg white?
Egg white was not added to pisco sour until much later, even though Jerry Thomas, forefather of all bartenders, already added it to whisky sour in the 1860s.
Here is how you handle the egg white: you shake it vigorously with the other ingredients in a shaker. This creates a layer of foam that floats on top of the cocktail. Whether to add ice while shaking is a matter of debate. Purists swear by a pisco sour without ice that is "shaken," not "blended."
If you use too much ice, your egg whites won’t be frothy. However, for a properly chilled cocktail, you do need ice. Therefore, dry shake your cocktail first without ice, then add a few ice cubes and continue shaking. That way, you’ll make a fabulous pisco sour.
Concerned about raw egg whites? Feel free to replace it with pasteurized egg whites.
Ready to taste the pisco sour? Here's the recipe
The proportion of the amount of alcohol to the other ingredients varies from 30% to 50%. I tried and tasted several versions and the following recipe is my favorite.
Ingredients for 1 pisco sour:
- 50 ml pisco
- 30 ml lime juice, strained
- 20 ml sugar syrup
- 1 protein
- 3 drops angostura bitters
-
Methods
Add the pisco, lime juice, sugar syrup and egg white to a shaker. Dry-shake vigorously until you get a nice layer of foam. Add a few ice cubes to the blend and continue shaking for about 30 seconds.
-
Finishing
Using a Hawthorne strainer, pour the cocktail into a stemmed glass. Now drizzle the angostura bitters onto the whipped egg whites. Decorate with a slice of lime, if desired.
![SG 17 piscosour]()
