Saturday, February 02, 2008

Happy Pisco Sour Day 2008! (Pisco Sour: Not For Beginners)


Peru loves its emblematic cocktail so much the Peruvian government has declared the first Saturday in February Día Nacional del Pisco Sour, National Pisco Sour Day.

This year, the Pisco Sour Day falls on February 2.

According to José Antonio Schiaffino in his book, The Origin of the Pisco Sour, this drink was invented in the Morris Bar, which operated between 1915 and 1933 in Lima.

Curiously, the owner of the bar was a fellow Californian, Victor Morris, who first made a variation of the whisky sour using Peruvian pisco.

Eloy Cuadros, barman summa cum laude at Lima's historic Hotel Maury, tells us that after Morris invented the pisco sour the Maury perfected it.

The fact is while the Morris is no longer around the Maury still is and it expects to sell close to four thousand pisco sours on February 2.

Pisco sour celebrations will be going on all over Peru on February 2.

In Lima's bohemian district of Barranco, thousands of people are expected to congregate to celebrate this quintessentially Peruvian cocktail. In the southern Peruvian city of Tacna, there will be a pisco sour making competition. In Lima's Jesús María district, another huge pisco sour festival will be held, as well as in Lima's Surco district.

In Ica, where the majority of Peruvian pisco is distilled, there will also be a pisco sour festival. And, in Trujillo, in northern Peru, the pisco sour festival has been going on since early Friday.

Whenever I arrive in Lima, I always head straight to the Café Haiti in Miraflores to have a pisco sour (or two) in celebration of my arrival.

A country that dedicates a day to celebrating a cocktail can't be all that bad, can it?

I love the Pisco Sour: Not For Beginners marketing campaign. Pisco KO'd the Scotsman and his whisky, the Mexican and his tequila, and the Russian and his vodka...LOL!

The text reads: "Lime and the finest Pisco from Peru, blended following the traditional recipe of the ancient Peruvians, brings to life an intense flavour experience. Enjoy it. Carefully."







We've written a bit about pisco, and pisco sours, here at Peru Food: we told you how pisco is made, we linked a video on the role of pisco in Peruvian history, we shared a number of recipes for making pisco sours, including the easiest-ever illustrated pisco sour recipe from Japan. And, last year, we also celebrated pisco sour day.

So, if you have nothing else to do on Saturday, February 2, at the least, you should have a pisco sour.

Happy Pisco Sour Day!



Peru.Food@gmail.com
.
.
.






Click here for the Peru Food main page.

TAGS: Peru, Peruvian, food, cooking, cuisine, cocina, comida, gastronomía, peruana

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Im always enjoy handling a Pisco Sour , well! lets make one and enjoy it.
Cheers!

::Alejandro:: said...

Just one? No way! Saludos!

Anonymous said...

Hi
Just returned to Brasil from a month in Lima. Managed to take in the Pisco festival in Barranco...a great afternoon and very glad to have returned with 3 bottles of Pisco and the required ingredients.
Have just discovered the blog and will get to grips with what looks like a fantastic resource.
One quick question...of all the many culinary delights of the trip i got addicted to the simple salada de palta. But just how do i prepare that great salad dressing that it seems to be accompanied by in every restaurant????

obitran said...

hi Alejandro--thanks for the link to my post on Food/Actually!

Kion, the restaurant I wrote about ALSO has some kick ass Pisco Sours--blew my mind. There are also quite a few Chinese/Peruvian, Chinese Cuban, and other mixed restaurants in the city it's kinda nuts...

happy eating! (and drinking ;))

::Alejandro:: said...

@ tim: I'm not sure which salad recipe you mean, but send me an email, and maybe I can help you out. Thanks for the comment.

@tqly: glad you liked the post, next time in NYC, will have to check it out. Salud!

KirkK said...

Hey Alejandro - I love those photos....

::Alejandro:: said...

Hey Kirk...me too!