My piece on pisco is online now at Out.com (read it here). Artemio Vasquez from Yerba Buena, a great South American restaurant in the East Village, shared his Pisco Guava recipe which I posted earlier here, and his classic Peruvian style Pisco Sour follows. (Artenio recommends using Macchu Pisco, a really fine Peruvian pisco that's made by two sisters, quite unusual in the male-dominated world of spirits making.)
PISCO SOUR
2 ounce Macchu Pisco
One organic brown egg white
3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
Shake the egg white on its own, add the rest of the ingredients and shake again. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Aretemio Vasquez, Yerba Buena
A sort of neo-classic from Damon Dyer of Flatiron Lounge, the Este Gabacho is a clear, stirred cocktail that employs--sparingly-Martini Bianco
and an ingenious combination of grapefruit and orange bitters to create
liquid gold.
ESTE GABACHO
2 oz Barsol Pisco acholado
A heavy 1/2 oounce of St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/2 oz Martini & Rossi Bianco vermouth
2 dashes Flatiron citrus bitters blend*
Stir over cracked ice in chilled mixing glass, strain into coupe glass, garnish with grapefruit twist.
*Flatiron citrus bitters blend is simply a blend of Fee Brothers Grapefruit bitters and Regan's Orange bitters #6. The former provides rounded grapefruit flavor notes, while the latter provides cardamom spice and orange flavor notes.
Damon Dyer
Flatiron Lounge
Make no mistake, the Gabacho is a muscle cocktail. For a softer,
more approachable version try its little sister the Gabacha. Simply add
1/2 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. Here are Damon's notes to me about his inspirations in creating these cocktails.
These drinks are the result of playing around with St. Germain, which
was stilll fairly new on the market, and seeing how its floral,
grapefruity, lychee flavors would marry with the sweet vanilla spice of
(the criminally underused) bianco vermouth. Such delicate flavors
require a base spirit that doesn't overpower the whole mix, prompting
attempts with light rum, gin, tequila, and vodka. Many failed
experiments in the Flatiron Lounge Research and Development Laboratory
later, I had the "Eureka" moment to use pisco. Pisco is a beautifully
flexible spirit, adaptable to many styles of drinks, and the subtle
orange spice of the acholado was the perfect foil to the St. G and
Bianco. I heartily recommend this cocktail to those that want a drink
with a strong backbone, but with a lighter and complex flavor
