Just a few months ago our close friends Eney Jones and Jeff Writer traveled to Costa Rica. Their goals for the trip remain cloudy; however, what impressed us most upon their return was a gift of a bottle of Capel Pisco Reservado. The hazy dark brown-green bottle resembles the famous Easter Island head statues - one of the more memorable bottle shapes we've ever seen. After tasting this liquor our guess is the Easter Island statues must have some relation to the powerful enchantment of pisco.
As always, FlyingCracker welcomes spiritual gifts, and Pisco is high on the list. For the uninitiated, Pisco is a pomace brandy and pomace brandy is a distillate produced from the remnants of a wine crush. In Italy this spirit is known as grappa, in France it is called marc. Peruvians first created and enjoyed the effects of pisco in the 16th century, but in the 1930's Chile's president trademarked the term. More about that debate can be found in a legal-style brief.
Our first experience with pisco involved, of course, the Pisco Sour. Two friendly neighbors joined in the festivities and in no time our only bottle was all but dry. We experienced the effect noted by Paul Harrington: "[Pisco] has the curious quality of loosening people's tongues while sharpening their wits." In weeks to come we'll be experimenting with variations on the theme. While you breathlessly await the results of our work please feel free to try some pisco yourself. If you live in the general vicinity of Crested Butte/Gunnison or Hwy. 50 in south-central Colorado you can obtain Capel (Chilean) Pisco from Corks Liquors in Montrose. The bottle isn't nearly as pretty as ours and this is not the "reservado", but then again you didn't have to travel to Costa Rica or Easter Island for a drink of this elixir.
More reading: The Devil Of the Andes and the story of Pisco Sour Day. Depending on where you live you may be able to obtain Pisco via the Internet here.