I'm really excited to bring you today's Cocktail of the Week. It's probably one you've never had and maybe even never heard of. Alice's father had a close friend from Argentina who was just an amazing man. He existed in a world that is all but gone today; always immaculately dressed, brown before 6 and black after. He raced Velocettes and Ferraris and he knew his cocktails. He used to talk about one which for whatever reason just went in one ear and out the other, probably because we didn't know what he was talking about.

His name was Guillermo Frascino, and the cocktail he often spoke of was the Pisco Sour...

Follow up:

Well first off, what is Pisco anyway? Most of the distillates in the brandy family have fallen off the current radar and sadly so. Pisco is grape brandy made in either Peru or Chile. In Chile it is made from Muscat, Pedro Jiménez , or Torontel grapes. In Peru, Quebranta, Common Black, Mollar, Uvina grapes are used for pure pisco, while aromatic pisco uses Italia, Muscat, Albilla, Torontel. The array of variations of what pisco could be was so daunting and confusing that it was simplified to make it more "accessible" (read as more marketable and exportable). There is a hot debate across national lines over who "owns" pisco and how it is properly made. I'm not going to get into the politics of alcohol, because it's a mess. I will however tell you what the differences are between pisco from Peru and Chile because they are not trivial and do affect the flavor of the pisco.

Chilean pisco is divided into 4 categories: regular, special, reserve, and great (mostly indicating the final alcohol level from a low of 30% to 43% or more). In Chile the grapes are fermented and the resulting wine is distilled in copper vessels. The distillate is aged in wood for several months or more, then diluted down with water to the desired proof and bottled.

Peruvian pisco also has 4 categories: pure, aromatic, mosto verde, and acholado. The difference between pure and aromatic is the variety of grape used. Mosto verde, or "green must" is distilled from the fermenting grape must before fermentation is complete, leaving more raw grape sugar in the distillate. Acholado, unlike the other varieties, uses a blend of grapes as opposed to a single grape variety.

The process in Peru is markedly different from Chile. The grapes are fermented and the wine is distilled in copper vessels to exactly the final proof desired. Once the intended alcohol level is reached, the distillate is aged for a minimum of 3 months in glass or stainless steel followed by unadulterated bottling. In essence, the pisco process in Peru does not allow for any meddling with the flavor of the distillate at any stage of production while Chilean pisco is modified by aging in wood and altered by dilution.

Enough of the process and on to the cocktail.

Pisco Sour:

• 3 parts pisco
• 1 part lime juice
• 1 part simple syrup
• 1 egg white (or 1 oz)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Add the pisco, lime, sugar syrup and egg white to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. The point of the egg white is to create foam, just like the foamy texture of the instant Pussycat. Strain off into an old fashioned glass or a more suitable glass as shown above. Shake a dash of Angostura onto the foam.

I have read of variants which add a sprinkle of cinnamon to the foamy head. I'll leave that up to you. Also be aware, if you do any reading about pisco sours, there seems to be some controversy about the use of lemons or limes. The trouble is not which to use (it is lime) but translation errors. In South America, limes are called "limon" while lemons are 'lima". I'm also going to go out on a limb and guess that there are variants using Roses lime juice, because that is sweetened lime and clearly easier for the lazy among us. I'm sure at some point I'll try to mix one up with Roses and I'll let you know how it turns out.

So head out to the store and pick up a few bottles of pisco. Try a pisco sour with pisco from Peru and from Chile, they will be different and you can decide which you prefer. And if you don't feel like shaking up a cocktail, just pour yourself a pisco straight, because it's excellent that way too.

What's interesting is that here in the U.S., pisco is dirt cheap. It's not cheap because it's bad stuff, but because it isn't corrupted by a marketing machine. There aren't scantily-clad pisco girls holding umbrellas over glistening displays of pisco sours on beds of crushed ice at the liquor stores or at Nascar events. There aren't 40 different varieties of lemon or red currant flavored pisco to choose from - just pisco from Peru or Chile. Go get some before it becomes trendy and the price triples!

Cheers!

By the way, please don't get the impression that I have anything against scantily-clad pisco girls holding umbrellas.