Pisco, the unknown aperitif

One of the first things that was recommended to me when I got to Chile was a cocktail--a pisco sour. I've tried other "sour" drinks before, but I had never heard of the liquour used in Chile's national aperitif of choice. This weekend, in the Elqui Valley of northern Chile, I got a first hand look at just about everything I'd ever want to know about pisco.

The Elqui Valley is the only area of Chile where the pisco grape can be grown, not only horticulturally, but also by law. The liquor has been described as similar to a brandy, though to my untrained palate, a pisco sour (pisco + lime juice + a whipped egg white) tastes a little like a margarita. On Saturday we visited the piscoteca Capel, which is where that particular brand of pisco is manufactured and bottled. We were taken on a quick tour of the piscoteca, while our delightful Chilean guide explained the process. It's quite labor intensive to make pisco, with a lot of distilling, fermenting, etc, but for a drink with this much clout, that's to be expected.

The final stop on our tour was the cellar, where we could each sample one of the various varieties of pre-mixed pisco cocktails. Salud!