A pinch of Pisco

Ah. Pisco. What joy. What rapture. What occasional incitement of nausea.

Pisco is the national drink of Chile of which they have immense pride. Except, when I say ´national´ I should add something of an adendum. Just this... there is a bit of a tug of war between Peru and Chile as to the ownership and origin of this fine beverage. Add to this the fact that these two countries had a fairly biggish war sometime in the last two centuries and at times things can get, well, a bit tetchy.

It is a bit like the contest between Australia and New Zealand as to who owns the Lamington, the Pavlova and Russell Crowe. Though, truth be told I have never understood why we are so intent on claiming that last item. If someone can explain to me the attraction in being able to declare sovereignty over the phone throwing, Souths supporting (and truth be told fairly unattractive) fellah, please take the time to drop me a line.

The drink itself taste like something between rum and brandy - and can be quite nice, when consumed with a mixer. The best of these is a concoction involving lemon juice which is simply called Sour. Straight, Pisco feels a bit like someone has decided to open Helga´s House of Pain in the lower depths of your stomach. The only problem is that Pisco Sour is seen as a bit of girly drink in these parts - something I was not pleased to discover, not after I had spent so much time and effort in aclimatising myself to be able to drink beer like a ´real man´

I discovered this last fact while visiting the Tres Eres (Three R´s) factory in Pisco Elqui, a tiny little hamlet in Valle de Elqui, some 3 hours away from La Serena. Here we were given a very interesting tour of the site followed by an extended Pisco tasting session, with the occasional cheese empanada to draw away the more pronounced effects of tipsiness. We were treated to three grades of Pisco - 35% proof, 40% proof and 45% proof.

Strangely enough, the higher the proof, the smoother the drink went down with the 45% proof giving a pleasant warming feeling in the lower abdonam... abdano... in the lower belly. They recommended that the 35% proof be taken with a mixer, which was cleverly disguised code for ´Don´t drink this straight without taking out life insurance´

So next time you are out on the town, don´t have a beer... get a Pisco Sour, and if you can´t do that, grab a Breezer. And think of me.

Rock and Roll.

Paddy.