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Pisco Sour

pisco, lemon juice or lime juice, sugar, egg white, and bitters

The Pisco Sour is a sour formulated around Peruvian brandy, and regionally-popularized at Morris’ Bar, Lima, by 1924. The Pisco Sour achieved world-wide fame in the 1960s with the rise of commercial jet travel.

The recipe, above, is from 1903, and describes a shaken cocktail of pisco, egg white, sugar and lemon juice. The drink is essentially a simple sour made with the local brandy and local citrus, and it evolved in circuitous, difficult-to-trace ways. Today, the drink exists in two primary forms: the Peruvian style, which contains egg white, is shaken and strained into a cocktail glass, and the top decorated with drops of aromatic bitters; and the Chilean style, which has no egg white, and is most typically strained into a rocks glass, over ice cubes. Both can be superb drinks, the two approaches offer different ways to explore various styles of pisco.

Pisco Sour (Peruvian)

Shake with ice:

  • 2 oz pisco
  • 3/4 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple syrup
  • 1 egg white

Strain into a cocktail glass.

Top with several drops of aromatic bitters (Peruvian or Angostura)


Pisco Sour (Chilean)

Prepare a rocks glass filled with ice.

Shake with ice:

  • 2 oz pisco
  • 3/4 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple syrup

Strain into the prepared glass.

Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, p. 546–7; Nuevo Manual De Cocina a La Criolla (1903) (see https://issuu.com/davidpino7/docs/recetario1903); barware icons courtesy of Haus Alpenz