Pisco Sour and other merits of the Southern Hemisphere

Happy New Year!

Now that my holiday buzz has worn off and I'm staring down the first full work week in a good while, I'm already scheming to fly south for the winter. Chile is is wooing me hard.

That coast! Those mountains! But mostly the incredible Cab Sauv on the cheap. I hear that if you pencil in the wineries right, you can ride a bike from one to the next down hill all the way.  

In the meantime, let's enjoy a Pisco Sour together. Both Peru and Chile lay claims to Pisco, though the Pisco Sour originated as a variation on the Whiskey Sour in Lima in the 1920s by American expat Victor Vaughn Morris. The drink's popularity quickly spread from his saloon to Chile. Recent Chilean folklore has spun rumors of a Chilean origination of the Pisco Sour as early as 1872, at the then Peruvian port of Iquique (read more here). See what there're doing there? Sorry Chile, Peru won this round, but I'll be drinking this one for you!

I have posted on Pisco Sours before on this roundup of sour cocktails. This time I swapped out the lime for lemon. The use of lemon or key lime appears to be much more common in Chile, though the citrus topic is surrounded by some debate. As Chilean Piscos tend to be sweater than their Peruvian counterpart, I have reduce the simple syrup. If you are using a Pisco from Peru, increase the simple syrup to half an ounce.

Pisco Sour
1 1/2 ounces Chilean Pisco
1/4 ounce simple syrup
1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice (or freshly squeezed key lime juice)
1 egg white
Angostura bitters
lime bitters

Combine all ingredients except the bitters in a cocktail shaker. Add the whisk from a hawthorn strainer and dry shake. Remove the whisk and add ice, and shake again. Now really shake that sucker. Pour into an old fashioned glass and add a few dashes of Angostura bitters and one dash lime bitters on top.  

Cheers!