A while ago I decided to tour the cordial section of one of my local liquor stores, specifically one I haven't been going to much in the past year or so. I chose that particular aisle because of my disdain for the most common hard liquors--vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, tequila, etc. So when I saw a distilled grape spirit, from Chile, I jumped at the chance, and brought it home. The actual drink was pisco, from the Capel brand, and company.
As I later discovered, the origins, name, and nature of pisco are hotly debated. In essence, we have a duel between the countries of Peru and Chile. Pisco is the national drink of both of these nations, and each considers their version of it to be the only "true" pisco. Let's start this fight off with the name. Some claim it's the Quechua word meaning "bird." Why this term for bird became the name of a liquor is kind of left unsaid. But others claim pisco means a type of earthenware container, and/or the liquor often put in said container. Finally, some think that the Peruvian town of Pisco was where the drink was initially, or at least most notably made, so naturally it became the name of the liquor.
As for the origin, both Peru and Chile have old traditions of making wine, and then transforming this wine into other spirits, like brandy. Supposedly the first written reference to pisco is in the will of a Peruvian man named Pedro Manuel, in the town of Ica, in the early 1600's. But other historians claim that the drink was simultaneously being made in Chile. Peru does have one thing on their side--while pisco may have been made in Chile for hundreds of years, it didn't become prevalent and very popular until the early 1930's or so.
Then there is the spirit itself. In both Peru and Chile pisco is a brandy, or a liquor distilled from wine, made from grapes. But there are some differences. To be legitimate in Peru, the pisco can only be made from 8 recognized grape varieties, while in Chile it's 14 kinds. In Peru pisco can only be distilled once, while in Chile it can be distilled multiple times. And, in Peru pisco can be aged in earthenware, steel, or glass containers, but NOT wood ones, while in Chile wood containers are fine. All of these details seem pretty insignificant to me, but to Chilean and Peruvian pisco connoisseurs these are anything but trivial.
Capel is an acronym, which stands for Cooperativa Agricola Pisquera Elqui Limitada. In 1938 23 men and 5 women founded this company. Over the decades the company became more popular, and by the 1980's Capel pisco graduated from being a small local favorite to a large, national brand. By the 1990's Capel started exporting it, mainly to the U.S. Currently it makes up more than 50% of the pisco market in Chile. Chilean pisco is usually made in various forms, defined by their alcohol contents. Corriente o Tradicional is 30-35%, Especial is 35-40%, Reservado is 40%, and Gran is 43% and up. Capel makes several different types of pisco, selling a 35% one, a 43% one, a special edition, and transparent varieties. The company also makes a rum, and a premixed cocktail.
There are several ways to traditionally enjoy pisco. Some imbibers have it neat (plain), either as an anytime drink or as an aperitif (pre-meal drink), or digestif (post meal beverage). Some have it mixed with fruit and herbs, in a solution called a macerado. But the most common, as far as I can tell, seems to be as part of a cocktail.
Capel Reserved pisco, double distilled: This had a clear color, and a boozy odor. The alcohol content was listed as 40%. I didn't have any mixers on hand, and drank it before I found about the various cocktail types, anyway. So I had mine straight, as a shot. The taste was just awful--like it was industrial alcohol or something. The only flavor was harshness. Or, to quote Ralph Wiggum, "It tastes like burning!" I despised this, and only gritted my teeth and eventually finished it because I dropped about $20 for the 750 mL bottle. So, in a short while I've discovered one of, or maybe the best liquor I've ever had (Arak Razzouk, see January 29, 2022 post), followed shortly by one of the very worst. Part of me wants to see if the Peruvian version of pisco is also this terrible. But only if I can find a single shot, 50 mL tiny bottle of it, so I don't waste money and time on something I'll probably loathe. To be fair, I can't recall liking any other brandy, so maybe if you like this liquor type you'll also enjoy this. I won't be fighting you for the bottles, that's for sure!
I'd like to close by briefly discussing some famous Chileans. I should note that many of the folks I'll mention have very long names, which are sometimes replaced by shorter pen, or stage names, which I'll use for brevity. First off, two Chileans have won the Nobel Prize for Literature--Gabriela Mistral in 1945, and Pablo Neruda in 1971. In the world of acting, there's Cote de Pablo, who was born in Chile but moved to the U.S. as a child. She's best known for appearing on television's "NCIS" from 2005-13, and 2019-20. She also appeared in such movies as "The Last Rites of Ransom Pride" (2010) and "The 33" (2015). Pedro Pascal also was born in Chile but moved to the U.S. as a baby. He appeared in such movies as "Hermanas" (2005), "The Adjustment Bureau" (2011), "Wonder Woman 1984" (2020), and the upcoming "The Bubble" (2022), and on such television series as "Game of Thrones" (2014) and "The Mandalorian" (2019-). On the other side of the camera, there's Alejandro Jodorowksy, who was born in Chile but moved to France. He's recognized for directing films such as "El Topo" (1970), "The Holy Mountain" (1973), "Tusk" (1980), "Santa Sangre" (1989), and "Endless Poetry" (2016). Alejandro Amenabar is Chilean-born, but is now also a citizen of Spain. He directed movies like "Thesis" (1996), "The Others" (2001), "The Sea Inside" (2004, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film), "Agora" (2009), "Regression" (2015), and "While at War" (2019). Moving to music, there's Chilean-born, now American, Tom Araya, who's been the bassist and vocalist for the thrash metal band Slayer since 1981. In sports, Anita Lizana (born in Chile, she later moved to the U.K.) was ranked #1 in tennis in 1937, the same year she won the U.S. Open. And finally, Sammis Reyes is the first person from Chile to play in the NFL. In 2021, with the Washington Football Team, he suited up for 11 games, with 1 start, at tight end. He played mostly on special teams, and made two assisted tackles. Since he's in his mid 20's, I'm sure he'll attempt to play more seasons.
Additionally, Chile is notable for a couple of natural things. On the negative side, the world's most powerful earthquake, with a magnitude of between 9.4 and 9.6, occurred here, in the Valdivia quake on May 22, 1960. (Other quakes in history resulted in more deaths, but had less powerful magnitudes.) Then there's the Atacama Desert. It's the driest non-polar desert on the planet, with annual rainfall of well less than an inch (about 2.5 cm.). Because of its extreme aridity, lack of clouds, elevation, and relative lack of light and radio pollution, the Atacama is one of the best places on Earth for viewing the stars--an astronomer's dream.
Also, on Thursday, March 17th, I'll be posting about an upcoming anthology that I'll be a part of. Included in this post will be information about the Kickstarter project that precedes the book's publishing. The title is "Death's Garden Revisited," edited by Loren Rhoads.
No comments:
Post a Comment