Pisco Training

Table of Contents

Introduction 3-4

Chilean Pisco 5-6

Peruvian Pisco 7

2
Introduction

In the late 1550s, the Spanish began to plant and harvest export quality grapes selected to produce wine
with, while those that did not measure up were discarded or given to the farmers to do with as they
pleased. It is in this context that small groups began to use these grapes to distill a brandy-like liquor
from the discarded grapes.

The black grape taken to the Viceroyalty of Peru by the Spanish suffered due to its adaptation to soil
and weather conditions, eventually stabilizing in a new variety named "Quebranta", purportedly named
because the original grape was "broken" (Spanish quebrar), or tamed, for its new environment. Almost
all early pisco was believed to be produced from this variety of grape. Others used any grape available
at the time

In 1613, a will of a resident of the of Ica —a town called Pisco in Viceroyalty of Peru, close to the Nazca
lines. In it he itemizes his worldly goods, including 30 containers of grape brandy, one barrel of the same
spirit, a large copper pot and all of the utensils needed to produce pisco.This is the first documentation
of a historic alcoholic drink in post-Columbian Peru.

3
Introduction

The drink began to acquire consumers in the sailors that transported products between the colonies and
Spain as well as sailors of other nationalities, who began to call it pisco, naming it after the port. where it
was thought to originate from. The drink then became a favorite of sailors and workers who visited the
port of Pisco as well as other Peruvian ports. It was exalted for its strong taste and ability to quickly
affect the consumer. As trade from Peru to the world grew, so did the popularity of pisco, until it almost
equaled wine in quantity as an export.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pisco was a mainstay on ocean-crossing vessels, drunk
mostly by sailors, as officers usually drank whisky or other "finer" spirits. The main reasons for its
heyday were the low price and high availability. This position was maintained by pisco until the onset of
rum, which won over consumers with lower prices and a softer flavor.

4
Chilean Pisco

In the late 1550s, the Spanish began to plant and harvest export quality grapes
selected to produce wine with, while those that did not measure up were discarded
or given to the farmers to do with as they pleased. It is in this context that small
groups began to use these grapes to distill a brandy-like liquor from the discarded
grapes.

No distinction between varietal mixes is made other than it is restricted to the

three kinds of grapes named above.
Regular pisco is quite bland in taste since the alcohol is mixed with water,
reminiscent of a weak rum, and its odor is very sweet and woody with a slight
yellowish tinge to the color.
Control Pisco from Chile is aged in oak and has a specific ABV of 40%.

5
Chilean Pisco

Special and reserve are very similar in flavor and color, both being very sweet and of a cloudy
yellowish color. The flavor is much stronger than regular pisco and leaves an alcoholic aftertaste in
the mouth, similar to bourbon.
Great pisco has a commanding odor and a very pleasant dark yellow color, it is not as sweet as the
other varieties, yet it carries strong woody flavor the others lack.
The yellowish to amber color in Chilean pisco is due to the wood aging process, with the darker
colors being a telltale sign that they have been aged longer. Not all Chilean pisco is tinged, and the
more mass-marketed brands can be clear.

6
Peruvian Pisco

Peruvian Pisco is distilled using freshly fermented grape juice instead of aged wine. Like
some Scotch whiskies, the process is only carried out in copper pot stills. Unlike most vodkas, it is not
distilled in continuous stills.9 Peruvian Pisco is never actually diluted after it is distilled and enters
directly at its bottling strength.

Peruvian Pisco is an alcoholic fruit juice product originating from the distilled fermented grape juice
from selected grapes grown in the traditional rich wine growing region of the Ica valley, around the Pisco
River and Ica Rivers, which are both about located 300 km south of Lima, the capital city of Peru.

A Peruvian Pisco peculiarity is that the first part of the distillation (called the heads) is kept, and then
mixed in with the rest of the distillate. Re-adding the ’heads’ ads in more ‘character’ to the variety of
Pisco and this is the way that the Peruvians traditionally liked it.

Many types of grapes were used to produce pisco, leading to a wide variation in flavor, aroma, viscosity
and appearance of the liquor.
This harmed attempts to export the product under a single denomination since there could be enormous
differences between the contents of bottles sold as pisco