| Pisco Sour | |
| Type | Cocktail |
|---|---|
| Primary alcohol by volume | |
| Served | Straight up; without ice |
| Standard drinkware | Old Fashioned glass |
| Commonly used ingredients |
|
| Preparation | Shake hard or blend with ice and strain into glass. The bitters are an aromatic garnish topping the finished drink, put on top of pisco sour foam. |
| Recipe adapted from The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan | |
A Pisco Sour is a cocktail containing pisco, lemon or lime juice, egg whites, simple syrup, and bitters[1][2]
Contents |
The national origin of the pisco sour is debated. Both Chile and Peru lay claim to the drink.[3] In both countries, the variety of lime used is what North Americans would call Persian lime but Peruvians call simply "lemons". In the United States, the drink is usually made with commonly available Lisbon or Eureka lemons. With the increased availability of Pisco and regional bitters outside South America, the Pisco Sour, like the Mojito and Caipirinha, has increased in popularity in the United States.
Since 2003, Peru has a National Pisco Sour Day which is celebrated on the first weekend of February.[4]
The roots of Pisco itself reach back to the 16th century and stem from Colonial rule. The Spaniards brought the grape to the Peruvian region from Europe, but the King of Spain banned wine in the 17th Century, forcing locals to concoct a different kind of alcohol from the grape.[5]
Guillermo Toro Lira writes in his book Wings of Cherubs that Pisco Sour's antecedent was invented near the Plaza de Toros de Acho of Lima, in the Viceroyalty of Peru during the 18th century. At this time, Pisco was mixed with lemons, and received the name Punche (Spanish for Punch). This drink also served as the predecessor for the Californian Pisco punch, invented during the 20th century in the Bank Exchange Bar of San Francisco and which contains Pisco, lemon, and pineapple.[6]
Two accounts tell the story of the invention of the Pisco Sour.
According to the Morris account, in the early 20th century the Morris' Bar of Lima, Peru, created and popularized the drink Pisco Sour. The bar's owner, Victor Vaughn Morris,[7] was a bartender born in the United States, in Berkeley, California.[8] Nicknamed Gringo, Victor Morris created the drink as a variety of the Whisky Sour. The Pisco Sour's popularity reached bars as far north as San Francisco in the United States by the 1930s.[9] Renown Chilean historian Gonzalo Vial Correa also attributes the Pisco Sour's invention to "Gringo" Morris from the Peruvian Morris Bar, but presents his name as William Morris.[10]
Peruvian researcher Guillermo Toro-Lira provides a much more detailed version of Victor Morris' invention. According to Toro-Lira, Morris was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. Morris traveled to Peru in 1903 and worked as a cashier in the Cerro de Pasco Railway Company. On April 1, 1916, he inaugurated his bar in Lima under the name "Morris' Bar". While open, the bar served as a gathering spot for English-speaking foreigners and notable individuals such as ambassadors and wealthy businessmen. Morris' Bar remained well-known for its Pisco Sour, Victor Morris' invention, until 1929 when the bar closed due to Morris' declining health and increasing competition from other Limean bars, including the departure of some of Morris' bartenders to competing bars.[11]
According to the Stubb account, the origin of the pisco sour story told of an English steward of a sailing ship named "Sunshine". In 1872, Elliot Stubb obtained leave to disembark in the port of Iquique, which was a Peruvian city at the time prior to it becoming a Chilean city in 1884 , with the aim of settling in the city and opening a bar. In his bar, he experimented with many aperitifs and drinks, of which one would become the Pisco Sour.[12]
In Chile, different spin-offs of the Pisco Sour recipe can be found, such as the Ají Sour (with a spicy green chili), Mango Sour (with mango juice), Sour de Campo (with ginger and honey), and Sour Hass (with avocados, pineapple, and mint).
In Peru, additional variations of the Pisco Sour can be found, combining some traditional Peruvian jungle fruits such as aguaymanto, cocona or traditional leaves such as the coca leaf in the Coca Sour. Another cocktail prepared with Peruvian Pisco is Chilcano (ginger ale, honey, lemon).