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Pisco / Feature Articles

This week we wrap up our story of the life of Victor Morris, the creator of our beloved Pisco Sour. 
We will learn about his direct descendents and the creation of Bar Morris in Lima. Thanks you to the thorough and arduous work of Guillermo Toro-Lira.
Till next time,

Hans Hilburg


By Guillermo L. Toro-Lira - February, 2008

On the 28th of September of 1905, Victor Morris marries Maria Isabel Vargas, born in Lima (or Callao, according to one source), in Cerro de Pasco on May 17th, 1887. This legal wedding makes Maria a U.S. citizen. Victor and Maria Morris have three children: Richard P. Morris born in Cerro de Pasco on October 23rd, 1906; Robert V. born in Callao on April 29th, 1910 and Juana Rebecca born in Cerro de Pasco on February 2nd, 1913. The three children are registered as U.S. citizens. Little is known about this part of the Morris family, which could have included several trips to Lima and Callao.

In 1907, Victor’s youngest sister, Rebecca V,. gets married in the city of Pacific Grove, California. The newlyweds decide to live in the city of Berkeley, located a short distance from San Francisco, where Rebecca works in real state.

Victor Morris worked in the Cerro de Pasco Railroad Company until 1915, when the company is merged with the Cerro de Pasco Mining Company to form the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation.

From the year 1915, the Morris family resides in Lima, where Victor opens the Morris Bar on the same year.*

Nothing is known of the life of Sidney H. Morris, other that he sailed from Callao to New York in May of 1922, presumably going back to visit Utah. Sidney H. Morris is found residing in the city of San Francisco, California, in January of 1930.

In August of 1923, Victor, Maria and two of their three children, Robert and Juana Rebecca, sailed from Callao to San Francisco, California. They stayed in the nearby city of Berkeley. The trip is apparently for a vacation and to visit his sister Rebecca V., who resided in that city for over fifteen years. They repeat the visit in 1924 and in 1925, at the same time of the year. All these trips are aboard the steamship S.S. Colusa, owned by the Grace Line, a steamship company with Peruvian roots and with some interests in the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation. The address of the Morris’ at Berkeley is 2612 Regent St.

In 1927, the Morris Bar published an advertisement in Lima where Pisco Sour is announced, among many other cocktails that were very popular in the U.S. in the days prior to the Prohibition Act of 1919.*

It was the first time that a cocktail with the word “pisco” in its name is advertised in Peru. It was also the second cocktail created in the world with that first name, after Pisco Punch, a cocktail created in San Francisco, California, and advertised since the 1880s. Victor Morris never offered Mint Juleps in his bar (a cocktail very similar to today’s Mojito but prepared with bourbon whiskey instead of rum).

Victor Morris dies on June 11th, 1929. In January of 1930, Maria Morris sails from Callao to San Francisco with her three children (Richard, Robert and Rebecca) on board the steamship S.S. Charcas, six months after the death of Victor. They reside in a new address in Berkeley: 2328 Warren St. and visit Sidney H. Morris, Victor’s brother, who resided in San Francisco at that time. In the middle of the same year, Maria and her three children reside in San Francisco.

*Author’s note: All the historical data presented in this article comes from public repositories located in the U.S., with the exception of the information related to the opening of Morris Bar in 1915 (Schiaffino, 2006) and the Morris Bar advertisement published in 1927 (Laos, 1927)(Balbi, 2004)(Schiaffino, 2006).