Pisco is a brandy made by distilling wine in Peru and Chile. Spanish colonizers in the 1500s made it to reduce the weight and volume of wine for shipping throughout the Spanish colonies. The spirit’s name comes from Pisco, Peru which was a port that shipped agricultural products.
Peruvians and Chileans both claim Pisco as their national drink. Let’s not fight. Let’s just have a drink.
Pisco was the most popular drink in Gold Rush San Francisco (1849). At the time, cross-country travel was difficult. 49ers who took the passage around South America to San Francisco picked up pisco on the way.
The drink goes really well with ceviche, the Peruvian national dish. Careful, it can change your life. Ceviche is a very light meal so drinking pisco with it hits you hard. Yes we know from experience.
National Pisco Day 2022
In Peru, National Pisco Day (DĂa del Pisco) is the fourth Sunday of July.
The next National Pisco Day is Sunday, July 24, 2022.