What Makes Pisco Unique From Other Types of Brandy? by Renzo Palacios

My friend Renzo Palacios, also a native Peruvian living in the U.S., is known for his great knowledge and taste on making the best pisco sours. That’s why I had to make him the first of my contributors to my blog, one because he is the coolest, and second because it is great to know things about the authentic pisco which is made in Peru. And take note he likes reading this book you can purchase on your next trip to Lima called “Pasion por el Pisco” (Passion for Pisco) written by Jhonny Schuler from where he got some of the information to write this piece. Thanks Renzo!

Pisco, the flagship drink from Peru, is a pure grape juice distillation without any other ingredients, compared to the Italian Grappa, the Galician Orujo, the French Marc, the Greek Tziroupo, the German Trestten, and the rest of brandy in the world which aren’t pure.

Pisco is made from the must just fermented, whereas other brandy are made from the distillation of orujos which is comprised by the rests from the grape after pressing it to make wine and includes grape skin, seeds, and parts of the bunch.

Another difference pisco has to other types of brandy, is its noble nature since the beginning. A good pisco embraces the richness of its aromatic palette and its tasting structure that comes from the different types of pisco grapes used for its preparation.

Also, pisco doesn’t go through certain rectification processes as happens with other brandy that need to age to obtain their new features.

Finally, pisco doesn’t require water to regulate its alcoholic content as other types of brandy do.

In Peru, the production of pisco has significantly grown. Currently there are more than 400 bodegas producing pisco in the country. In fact, statistics about consumption of pisco continue increasing between 10-15% in the past eight years, and exports of pisco have grown in average 40% since 2002.