Pisco Sour

About This Recipe

The pisco sour is Peru's national cocktail and one of the most balanced drinks ever invented — pisco (the country's grape-based brandy) shaken hard with fresh lime juice, simple syrup, and egg white into a snow-white foam, finished with three drops of Angostura bitters traced through the foam by toothpick. It was created at Morris' Bar in Lima around 1920 by American bartender Victor Vaughen Morris, who modified the classic whisky sour with the local spirit. The result is sour, sweet, smooth, and aromatic, with a delicate fluff of foam holding the bitters in suspension. Pisco purists argue endlessly about chilean vs peruvian, quebranta vs italia, dry shake vs reverse — but the four ingredients and the precise ratio are sacred.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 120 mlpisco (Peruvian, quebranta or acholado)
• 40 mlfresh lime juice (key limes if possible)
• 30 mlsimple syrup (1:1 sugar to water, cooled)
• 1 largefresh egg white
• 1 cupice cubes
• 6 dropsAngostura bitters (3 per drink)

Instructions

1. 1

   Chill the glasses

   Place two coupe or rocks glasses in the freezer for 10 minutes.

2. 2

   Dry shake

   Add pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, and egg white to a cocktail shaker without ice. Shake hard for 15 seconds — the dry shake emulsifies the egg white into foam.

3. 3

   Wet shake

   Add the ice cubes. Shake hard for another 15 seconds until the shaker is frosted and bitterly cold.

4. 4

   Double strain

   Strain through both the shaker strainer and a fine mesh strainer into chilled glasses. The foam should be 1 cm thick and white as snow.

5. 5

   Bitters art

   Drop 3 bitters drops onto the foam of each drink. Drag a toothpick through the dots in a swirl or zigzag pattern for the classic finish.

6. 6

   Serve immediately

   Drink within 5 minutes — the foam settles, and a flat pisco sour is a sad pisco sour.

Variations

• •

  Maracuyá sour: replace lime with fresh passionfruit pulp for a tropical Peruvian variant.

• •

  Chilcano de pisco: the long, fizzy cousin — pisco, lime, ginger ale, ice.

• •

  Vegan pisco sour: replace egg white with 30 ml aquafaba (chickpea brine) — surprisingly identical foam.

Storage

Drink immediately. Syrup keeps 2 weeks refrigerated. Pre-batch the no-foam version (pisco, lime, syrup) up to 24 hours; add fresh egg white and shake just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions