Pisco, that distillate that is the national drink of Peru, has come a long way from the first arrival of grape strains to the country from the Canary Islands in the 16th century to a production today of almost nine million liters annually, of which that the vast majority are destined for export, according to data from the Ministry of Production. And Spain is the second importing country behind only the United States.
The history of the pisco sour cocktail has also been centenary since the roaring twenties of the last century, when the American bartender Víctor Morris invented it in his bar near the Plaza de Armas in Lima on a fortunate night in which, apparently, He ran out of whiskey for the usual cocktails and had to mix the local brandy with lemon juice, a few drops of Angostura and some ice cubes. Possibly the egg white appeared later.
Today there are more than 500 wineries with designation of origin in Peru that process the eight varieties of pisco grapes in the regions of Lima and the southern regions of Ica, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna, and this spirit, differentiated by going through a single distillation, is drunk from the aperitif time until well into the early morning in classic hotel bars in the historic center of the Peruvian capital or in the sophisticated clubs in the elitist neighborhoods of Miraflores, San Isidro or Barranco. These are our favorites:
1.
Carnival Bar
Included in the ranking of The world’s 50 Best bars 2023, the location of Aarón Díaz and his partners Juan José Benítez, “J”, and Raúl Arcayo, “R”, in the San Isidro neighborhood, has a menu that includes 70 cocktails, “among them the 18 classics, but with additives and five of them based on pisco,” he clarifies. J., Captain Benitez. In addition, the Gran Carnaval menu consists of seven selected half cocktails, including Pisco punch of the house, made with the variety of Quebranta, Lillet, pineapple, elderberry and spices grapes, and the Three Musketeers, an innovation in which each of the owners participate. And, since last December, this beautiful design bar has been serving its own brand Pisco Barsol Carnaval.
If there is an inexcusable tradition when having a pisco or a cocktail in Lima, it is pairing them with a pick —halfway between the tapa and the Spanish ration— which at Carnival are served washed down with a spray of distillates: Thai-style prawns, truffled croquettes or strip roast.
And you shouldn’t leave the bar without taking a look at the Ice Room, where R and his team make, or rather design, the ice cubes that cool each cocktail.
Carnival Bar. Avenida Pardo y Aliaga 662, San Isidro 15073, Peru.
2.
Captain Melendez
Pisco bar par excellence located in the Miraflores neighborhood, Roberto Meléndez took over from his father, the legendary Felipe “Chino” Meléndez, bartender at the historic bars of the Marly and Bolívar hotels, in the center of Lima. “It can be said that the Meléndez family has been working with pisco cocktails for 80 years in different places,” says Gianella Reyes, bartender at Capitán Meléndez, where all the cocktails are based on pisco, with interesting variations of the sour and Chilcano. The house cocktail is made with pisco from the La Ley Escobar brand – obtained in its Ica winery in an artisanal still – from the variety of Quebranta grapes, Campari, Licor 43 and orange juice, and other favorites of a clientele “about all local and 25 years old or older,” explains Reyes, they are Sangre y Arena, with cherry liqueur; the Captain Negroni, which also has juniper berries, or the Punch de Chica, made from pisco macerated in purple corn.
Captain Melendez. AClle Alcanfores 199, Miraflores 15074, Peru.
3.
Gran Hotel Bolívar
He Pisco Sour It was served for the first time in the Morris bar—which has already gone down in history—on Boza Street, a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas, and in the 1920s they were already popular in hotel bars. Bolívar and Maury. While the classic Bolívar bar is being renovated until its reopening in mid-2024, another location in the hotel serves the house’s pisco sour, the Catedral, which has twice as much pisco as the usual recipe: six ounces; the achilcanado cocktails obtained with macerated coca leaves, cinnamon and mint; the Lady sour, with a mysterious maceration that the Bolívar bartender does not reveal, or a Zamboni, which is combined with red vermouth and Campari. As for the snacks in this century-old hotel in the Plaza de San Martín that has had Orson Welles, Cantinflas and Ava Gardner as clients in its heyday until the sixties, or Jagger & Richards years later (today the atmosphere is much more local), you can choose between ceviche, of course, lomitos, chicharrones or, the house specialty: a cheese dish, chicken chicharrón and yuquitas.
Gran Hotel Bolívar. Jirón de la Unión 958, Lima 15001, Peru.
4.
Lady Bee
“The secret of our success is adapting the pisco grape strain to each cocktail,” explain Alejandra León, manager of the Lady Bee bar, and bartender Alonso Palomino. A good idea to delve into the world of pisco here is to decide on their 8 Grape Varieties Experience or a Captain, classic and combined with vermouth. It is not a place to consume at the bar, which is small, but through reservations and at the table, where the clientele is mostly tourists and in an age group between 35 and 45 years old. And a plus of the house is, without a doubt, the quality of its snacks, based on oysters, razor clams, clams, barnacles or steak tartare.
Lady Bee. Avenida Ernesto Diez Canseco 329, Miraflores 15074, Peru.
5.
Ayahuasca
![Ayahuasca Bar. Image provided by the establishment.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/R5TA7S6ZVFAYBAUMJGETFP6NCE.jpg?auth=c89625bb0933f2fcb68744b66fccec9caddf1ba972a5e4d3dd61c60d999c586e&width=414)
A gastrobar in the impressive Berninzon mansion, in the exclusive Barranco neighborhood, Ayahuasca serves classic pisco sour, with lemon or passion fruit juice or the Andean fruits aguaymanto and tumbo; the refreshing classic Chilcano, which combines Peru’s national liquor, with ginger ale, lemon, lime slices and lots of ice, or what the house considers its most famous machacado: the Tunché, with pisco, strawberry and passion fruit pulp. For a shot, the most recommended pisco here is the Huamaní brand, from the Torontel aromatic grape variety. The Ayahuasca has five bars inside the aristocratic mansion—two of them outside next to the railings and hardwood shutters—or on the tiled patio. According to Jordan Quizpe, bar manager, customers are divided equally between Lima residents and tourists. And the pairing snacks? The menu offers lomo saltado or ají de gallina empanadas, salchipapas, mozzarella cheese wonton with chimichurri of Andean herbs, beef heart anticuchos or barbecue wings.
Ayahuasca. Avenida San Martín 130, Barranco 15063, Peru.
6.
Martinez Tailoring
![Remus Cocktail, from Sastrería Martínez. Image provided by the establishment.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/BP7YUKU6ZJDFVP3W7SWNZQDJRA.jpg?auth=a6c4f51fc6134eb287f42d56e7aacc54bb4ce05e22afbf9ac4b5580cfe5143c7&width=414)
This hidden bar, so hidden that it takes a while to find the entrance in a basement in Miraflores, may be the most avant-garde place in Lima. Run by the owner Diego Macedo, with extensive experience in bars in Madrid such as the La Viana cocktail bar, the first impression baffles the visitor, finding himself in a small room equipped like a classic and elegant tailor’s shop from the 50s. Always with prior reservation, You pass through this room equipped with scissors, measuring tape, rolls of thread, scraps of fabric and Singer machines, and enter a beautifully designed bar, among the three finalists in the 50 Best Discovery award in Singapore in 2023.
“Since two years ago, when we started our journey, we have taken great care of Peruvian distillates and, thus, we serve more than twenty brands of pisco, although the house brands are Barsol and the expensive 1615,” says Macedo while recommending that we try their three signature cocktails with this brandy from among the 18 of the house: Morrys, Remus and The Commodore. The first has an absolutely national composition, based on pisco 1615, pear matacuy from Cuzco, agave honey from the Amazon mixed with Cajamarca butter and sesame, lemon and Amaro. And cooled with large ice cubes that have printed, or one would say carved, the house brand: MS.
The menu also has a classic tailoring format divided into sections such as Classic Cortes, with the usual cocktails, such as the pisco sour; the Iconic Suits, which were the most requested last season, or Los decosidos, 00 alcohol with the particularity that “what we do is dealcoholize Amaretto and Campari in our own laboratory and we obtain an Amaretto sour —with lemon and vanilla— or an Americano (Campari with Cinzano and soda) whose flavor is exactly the same as the originals with alcohol,” says Diego Macedo. And when it comes to snacks, at Sastrería Martínez you can snack on anything from angus entrails, ceviche, lamb chops or bacon to sophisticated scallops with Amazonian chili sauce, aceviched shells or grilled octopus.
Martinez Tailoring. Avenida Mariscal La Mar 1263, Miraflores 15074, Peru
7.
Hotel B
![Cocktail with pisco from Hotel B. Image provided by the establishment.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/GWU7BGVHEJCWDHO6YQRHKM4E7U.jpeg?auth=939d09a217a640c095ae3aad03ff5f4e42d8ba2293132df0fc71597338c113ac&width=414)
Hotel B, in a classic mansion in the Barranco neighborhood decorated with works of contemporary art and others from before colonization, won the award for Best Gastrobar in Peru in the 2019 and 2022 competitions, and its manager, Axel Romero, serves the bar. , also awarded on the same dates as the best bartender. “Although of course we make classic cocktails, our customers come above all because of the reputation of our signature cocktails in which we include ingredients from the Amazon, such as lulo (naranjilla in other countries) or camu camu, two subtropical fruits. “, explains Romero while juggling to prepare a passion fruit Chilcano (the Chilcano is the second most popular cocktail in Peru, after the sour) or an 1890, also with pisco and strega liqueur, white vermouth, bitters, brie cheese and honey. fig. To pair the cocktails, the bartender at Hotel B suggests shells in cocona sauce (another Andean fruit), mini serrano ham pizza, hamburger or grilled prawns.
Hotel B. Jirón Sáenz Peña 204, Barranco 15063, Peru.
8.
Maury Hotel
Opened in 1826 and recognized as the oldest in Peru, the Maury Hotel, in the historic center, preserves its classic bar, one of the first, along with that of the nearby Gran Hotel Bolívar, to include pisco sour in its menu, back in the roaring twenties. “So, we have been serving the famous cocktail in this bar for about 100 years,” says bartender Braulio Álvarez, who has been serving it for a quarter of a century. It is another very local bar, although it is also a favorite of Chilean, Mexican and Colombian tourists who come especially for appetizers. Although the Punch of the Liberators was invented here on July 28, 1821, when they gave it to the guest José San Martín who had just proclaimed the independence of Peru to try, the star cocktail of the house continues to be the pisco sour, of course. , followed by Chilcano. Of the first, Don Braulio says that the secret lies in the juice of some small, very good quality lemons, “and not using lime, which ruins the cocktail.”
The Maury’s bar is in a 1950s style with plenty of wood and a coffered ceiling, and jazz from that era also usually plays. It was one of the most fashionable bars in those years of the mid-20th century. The snacks are simple: lomo saltado, chicken empanadas… a place to remember times that already seem remote.
Maury Hotel. Shred Ucayali 201, Lima 15001, Peru.
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