Pisco Sour
Origin Peru, Chile? No matter. This is a good one.
Made these on the fly for a friend. No regrets! I’m still on a mission to use past cocktail ingredients from my cabinets in clever ways. My latest find was Pisco (And I think I have two bottles.) The angostura bottle was messed up a bit. As the recipe below says, for the pretty dots and swirls transfer it to a tiny bottle instead. However, these were delicious! So, that doesn’t affect the taste. A swirl is a swirl and you should do so in whatever manner you choose.
I remember this day. I felt like I was running either a cafe or a cocktail bar. I had two friends drop in earlier in the day and I made them each espressos in my cute little pink cups and then had another friend drop in for a pre- dinner cocktail. Three rounds of guests! It was a busy day in my kitchen! But I like it that way.
Pisco Sour
From Meehan’s Bartender Manual
PISCO SOUR
“Origin Victor Morris, who opened an American bar in Lima in 1916, made this drink famous; however, a 1903 pamphlet,
"Nueva Manual de Cocina a la Criolla" by
S. E. Ledesma, includes the first printed Pisco Sour recipe titled "cocktail." We can thank Fernando Castellon (via Wondrich in Imbibe!) for letting the truth get in the way of a good story here.
Pisco's character depends on the grape varietal or blend it's distilled from, so once you've offered your guest their options, the primary tasks at hand are to balance the cocktail, properly emulsify the egg white, and decorate the frothy head elegantly. A standard shake will suffice after dry shaking, and you can fine-strain without compromising the texture. Decant your bitters into a dropper bottle so you have pinpoint control of the shape and size of your bitters decoration. As long as the head is thick like a Guinness, the bitters will remain on top of the liquid and not affect the taste of the drink underneath.
Besides decoration, the bitters' purpose is to cover up the earthy aroma of the egg white.
TENDER MANUAL
Spirits & Cocktails: Brandy and Eau de Vie
Hacks "Lime" in spanish is limon, so you'll often see Pisco Sours prepared with lemon juice, which works well, too. When I visited Peru in 2009, all of my Pisco Sours were prepared in a blender with (too much) gum syrup, and aromatized with Peruvian Amargo Chuncho bitters, which are a nice touch.
2 oz. La Diablada pisco ( I used Cesar Pisco)
0.75 oz. lime juice (I used lemon juice)
0.75 oz. simple syrup (page 391 It’s equal parts sugar and water boiled on the stove until the crystals dissolve and cooled)
1 egg white
Garnish: Angostura bitters
Dry shake (for 15-20 seconds but not too long as to not deflate the egg white foam) , then standard shake with ice and fine-strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with drops of Angostura swirled with a straw. (I used a toothpick).
Enjoy! ❤️
Alex