Top 10 out of 100 - #10 The Pisco Sour

As a favor for stealing one of her best employees away from her on detail, a friend asked that I follow up on my Anvil 100 cocktail effort with a ranking of my top 10 cocktails from that list. As I mentioned before, there were definitely a number of cocktails on that list that I would consider marginally enjoyable, at best (I'm looking at you, Ramos Gin Fizz), but there were far more I thought were pretty darned tasty. So coming up with my favorite ten was not an easy task. Plus, I had to take into account my own preferences (I am a whisky / whiskey fan first, with gin a very close second), making sure that I wasn't skewing the results based on what I was predisposed to like in the first place. There are many cocktails that don't appear on this list which I love (Whiskey Sour, where are you??), but I figured that I would keep it simple and just work with the ones on the List.

So these will be the 10 I enjoyed making and drinking the most from the list, number one being my favorite (duh). Starting with Number 10:

#10 The Pisco Sour

Pisco isn't something I had any personal exposure to before starting The List - I knew it came from the land of llamas, and I like llamas, so no worries there. Since I am a big fan of Whiskey Sours, this was a cocktail I was eager to try. It surely did not disappoint. Pisco is Peruvian or Chilean grape eau de vie, one which is typically not wood aged, and has a unique tang to it - not quite citrusy, but one which hits you a little bit on the tart sensing part of your tongue. Mixed with the sour component, pisco's unique tang really adds to the complexity of the drink (in a way I don't think whiskey does quite as well). And then adding the egg white brings the whole cocktail together - sweet, sour, creamy, tart, with a touch of bitterness added by the bitters.

Definitely one I will go back to. If you wear one of those cute little Peruvian hats while drinking one, all the better - and it may lead to singing a short ditty about transporting llamas to places of higher education, and what could be wrong with that?

Pisco Sour

2oz pisco

1oz lime juice

.5oz simple syrup (I used agave syrup)

an egg white

single drop of Angostura bitters

Shake HARD with ice to build up the froth from the egg. Strain into a chilled rocks glass, add drop of bitters on top.

Pisco Sour - v.Dos

So having failed (relatively speaking) at my first attempt at making a Pisco Sour, I decided to try the Wikipedia version of the recipe, which called for limes, egg whites, bitters, and simple syrup in addition to the pisco. I utilized the agave nectar in place of the simple syrup because I was just too lazy to make some real simple syrup (and I had a couple of beers after work, so I wasn't in the prepping mood). Knowing I had the right ingredients, I tried again at making a decent example of this drink.

This time I think I succeeded. The egg white was the real difference - without that, I don't think you have a drink anywhere near as good. I had never really used egg whites in drinks before - both because of a concern about killing myself (highly over dramatized - if you have fresh eggs, there is almost no chance of any type of botulism issue), and because I wasn't really looking to mix up cocktails that called for eggs most of the time anyway. But the egg white not only gives you a nice frothy head on the drink, but it gives the drink a creamy, velvety texture definitely not present without it. It's a texture really foreign to citrusy cocktails normally, and that makes it even better. The key is to really shake the hell out of it - straining it into the glass brings the froth level down some, so you want to be sure to build up a lot in the shaker to ensure a good amount makes it into the final product.

Pisco Sour

2 parts pisco
1 part lime juice
1 part simple syrup (agave nectar)
1 egg white
bitters (Angostura, or home made)

Add ice to a Boston shaker. Add pisco, lime juice, agave nectar, and egg white. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain into an old fashioned glass. Add two to three drops of bitters to top.

Pisco Sour - Part Uno

Pisco is a grape-based brandy, almost exclusively referenced as part of the Pisco Sour. It's a drink I heard described as being pretty awesome - not quite a whiskey sour, a little more refreshing than people might typically find a whiskey sour to be. I picked up a bottle of pisco recently, and then accessed a recipe for Pisco Sour on an iTouch app I downloaded for drink recipes (seemed reasonable enough).

I should have known when the recipe called for "1 to 2 Tbsp of sugar" in a drink to be shaken over ice that something wasn't quite right. Of course, I should have known enough not to make the drink using that ingredient - sugar won't dissolve in cold liquids on it's own very much if at all, so, not surprisingly, the first pass created a drink with a lot of sugar crystals in the bottom of the glass and left behind in the shaker. Also not surprisingly, the drink came off truly deserving of its "sour" title. The only other ingredients I had been given for the drink were 2 measures of pisco and one of lemon juice, so what I got was a whole lotta lemon pucker.

Realizing the error of my ways (and drinking the first drink anyway - I'm not an idiot, after all), I decided to substitute some agave nectar for the raw sugar. Agave nectar is awesome stuff - like a simple syrup, but with a little extra herbiness in with the mild sweetness. Despite what you might think, it doesn't taste anything like tequila - it's a pretty neutral sweetner, and you can get it in its all natural version. This yielded a MUCH better drink - proper sweet / sour balance, definitely drinkable and refreshing. Winner, I thought, and pretty simple.

Turns out, it's a little TOO simple.

Looking up pisco on Wikipedia, the drink recipe (and history) called for: pisco; limes, not lemons; egg white; bitters; and simple syrup instead of "sugar." That would definitely yield a more complex drink - the bitters would definitely add a layer of flavor complexity, and the frothy egg white would give it some texture lacking from my version. I might stick with the lemon - although I think I used all my lemons last night, so if it means skipping a run to the co-op, I'll use limes.

So, tonight I'll try Pisco Sour v.Dos - and I'll look for a better iTouch drinking app.