Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Patricio Tapia, a conspicuous Chilean journalist specialized in wine, gave up to the Peruvian pisco: he published an article last week at Wikén magazine of El Mercurio paper, admitting that Peruvian pisco sour is better than the Chilean one.

"Ours is lemon juice of pisco. That's it," he wrote; adding that only in Peru we get that "voluptuous and refreshing mixture of acidity and a sensation of creaminess.”

Tapia analyzes the differences between our pisco and the Chilean one. "The quebranta, which is the base of the most traditional Peruvian piscos, seems to not exist in our country." Tapia explains that in Chile is a common practice to mix stocks, in Peru it's done in a specific way. The acholado pisco always uses aromatic grapes with stocks with more body.

Peruvian pisco isn't brought up in kegs, as the Chilean one, but in steel or plastic crock or in the traditional chalk jar to not to distort the expression of the stock. And one more detail: the year of vintage is indicated at our pisco bottles.

Another important difference is that in Peru water is not needed to lower the level of alcohol. "Peruvians feel it as a sacrilege because it distorts the character of the distillation, so they choose the portion suitable to the gradation of their pisco."

Finally Tapia says Peruvian pisco is more rich and diverse, due to the number of national farmers who try to give a high quality pisco.

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