Pisco Cocktail Recipes That Go Beyond the Sour

Sacred Valley, photo by Jacob Tyler Dunn

Get to know this aromatic grape spirit with a new repertoire of drinks

No spirit can solely be defined by one cocktail. Ask anyone if they want a pisco cocktail and often you’ll get a quizzical, “what’s that?!” query.  Yet offer them a Pisco Sour and the connection to the drink is likely made, though most people still don’t really know what the “pisco” part quite means. 

That’s because there’s often a huge disconnect between the spirit itself and its place in a cocktail—a misunderstanding that this drink is simply a sour, made from pisco. Therefore, inevitably, when people think of pisco, Peru and Chile’s take on brandy, they think of the Pisco Sour. The classic cocktail, said to be created by Victor Morris in the ‘20s, (maybe) is universally loved, and rightly so.  But there is so much more to this grape-based spirit known as pisco.

Here are some pisco cocktails that will change the way you think about the versatile spirit.

SACRED VALLEY

Recipe courtesy of The Crunkleton, Charlotte, NC

This pisco cocktail gets its smoky flavor from the Islay single malt, but is balanced by the sweetness of the syrup and passion fruit.

O! You Pretty Thing, photo by Jenn Tosatto

• 2 oz pisco (we recommend Pisco Lunas, silver medal winner in the 2019 NY International Spirits Competition)

• ¼ oz Ardbeg Ten Years Old

• ½ oz honey syrup (2:1)

• 2 dashes orange bitters

• 1 oz passion fruit cordial

• basil leaf

Place 1 oz passion fruit cordial into chilled coupe glass. Shake the remaining ingredients with ice and double strain into the glass. Slap basil leaf and float on top of drink.

O! YOU PRETTY THING

Recipe courtesy of Jenn Tosatto of Mission Taco Joint, Kansas City, MO

Pisco obviously works in a slew of tiki-esque cocktails as its flavor profile shares much in common with rum and those tropical fruit flavors. Pineapple and grenadine are the perfect additions to this drink.

• 1½ oz Pisco (we recommend 4 Fundos, gold medal winner in the 2019 NY International Spirits Competition)

• ½ oz lemon

• ½ oz pineapple

• ½ oz turbinado syrup

• ¼ oz good quality grenadine

• barspoon bruleéd diced mango

Directions: Shake all ingredients with ice and pour entire contents of the shaker into a Collins glass over new ice. 

Sun Don’t Shine, photo courtesy Accomplice Bar

SHINE DON’T SHINE

Recipe courtesy of Accomplice Bar, Los Angeles, CA

East meets West (more specifically Southwest) in this complex, fruit-forward cocktail from the bar that sits next to Taiwanese soul food spot Little Fatty. 

• 1¼ oz Capurro Acholado Pisco

• 10 drops Sichuan chili oil, or more to taste (bar uses Master Chen's Sichuan Drizzle Chinese Hot Chili Oil) 

• ¼ oz Giffard Pamplemousse Grapefruit Liqueur

• 1 oz ruby red grapefruit juice

• ¾ oz guava puree

• ½ oz lime juice

• 6 drops tiki bitters (bar uses Bittermens Elemakule Tiki Bitters, or you can sub in Angostura) 

• 1 pinch smoked sea salt (bar uses Maldon Smoked Salt, but you can use regular sea salt)

Directions: Shake all ingredients until chilled. Pour over crushed ice into a white wine glass. Serve with a grapefruit slice.

BEETMASTER

Recipe courtesy of Lockwood Stn, Houston, TX

Two Piscos and a Pod, photo courtesy Vault

Created initially for a coffee shop, of all places, this riff on the Pisco Mule, some say the original Mule, gets its earthy taste from both the pisco and the beets.

• 1½ oz pisco acholado (we recommend BarSol)

• ¾ oz beet syrup (make 1:1 simple syrup with half of a peeled, chopped up beet. Cool and strain out solids before using.)

• ¾ oz lime juice

• ginger beer

Shake all ingredients except ginger beer with ice until well chilled. Strain into collins glass over fresh ice. Top with ginger beer.

TWO PISCOS AND A POD

Recipe courtesy of Vault, Fayetteville, AR

This light and refreshing cocktail from bartender Shaun Traxler is a delightful alternative to your typical Italian spritz.

• ¾ oz Caravedo Mosto Verde Pisco 

• ¾ oz Caravedo Torontel Pisco

• ½ oz fresh lime

• ½ oz cardamom/almond orgeat (or use regular orgeat)

• .25 oz apricot liqueur

• 2 dashes rhubarb bitters

• rose water in atomizer

• 2 oz powerful soda water

• mint sprig

Directions: Add all ingredients except soda and rose water to ice-filled shaker and shake vigorously.  Strain over rocks in Collins glass. Top with soda and stir gently. Add mint and spray rose water directly on the mint and top of the cocktail.

EL CAPITÁN 11

Recipe courtesy of Dale DeGroff and Aki Wang

Cocktail icons DeGroff and Wang teamed up to create this pisco take on a Manhattan… so you could also call it a ‘Lima’?

• 1½ oz Macchu Pisco  

• ¼ oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

• ½ oz Mancino Chinato

• 1 dash Dale DeGroff’s Pimento Bitters

• Fresh mandarin orange zest for garnish

Assemble all the ingredients except the garnish in a cocktail shaker glass with ice and stir to chill. Strain into a V shaped cocktail glass and garnish with a Mandarin orange zest expressed over the top of the drink and then dropped in.

Passion Punch, photo by Jacob Tyler Dunn

PASSION PUNCH

Recipe courtesy of Tony Abou-Ganim

Clearly, passion fruit and pisco just make sense together. Add a little rum and sour, and you have delicious concoction from the Modern Mixologist himself.

• 1½ oz Barsol Quebranta Pisco 

• 1½ oz passion fruit purée

• 2 oz fresh orange juice

• 2 oz fresh Lemon sour

• 2 dash Angostura orange bitters

• 1 dash ground nutmeg

• fresh passion fruit

• ½ oz LemonHart 151 Rum

• garnish: orange and lemon slices, brandied cherries

In an ice filled mixing glas, add pisco, passion fruit purée, fresh orange juice, fresh lemon sour, bitters and ground nutmeg. Shake with ice until well blended, and strain into an ice filled goblet. Top with a float of Lemon Hart rum. Garnish with orange and lemon slices and a brandied cherry.