Posted on 02/08/2003 11:45:56 AM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
LIMA, Peru/SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - The juice of one lemon, an egg white, a bit of sugar syrup, and -- most importantly -- three ounces of pisco: that's what's needed for the drink any Peruvian will tell you is the best thing to come out of this Andean country since the Incas.
"You put all that in a cocktail shaker and out comes the pisco sour," said Mauro Viza, a bartender at El Queirolo, a Lima tavern founded in 1880 where anyone who knows which end of a bottle is up goes to get a mean pisco sour.
"The measurements are exact ... and the key is the quality of the pisco," Viza said.
The quality of pisco -- and who has the rights to make the grape-based liquor -- is precisely the issue that has sparked debate as both Peru and its southern neighbor Chile seek to make sure their pisco fills cocktail glasses around the world.
Saturday, Feb. 8, is "Pisco Sour Day" in Peru, with free cocktails and celebrations in Lima and in southern Peru, where the town of Pisco is located.
On that same day, Chile, Peru's historic rival, celebrates "Piscola Day" to honor the typical mix of Chilean pisco with Coca-Cola or Sprite.
Chile's plan for a national pisco day -- featuring a party in seaside resort Vina del Mar thrown by industry leader Pisco Capel -- has people hopping mad in Peru, where pisco lovers say the Chileans make nondescript moonshine.
"We are hoping that every Peruvian who has never had a pisco sour will drink one and keep on drinking, honoring our banner drink: pisco," said Peru's Production Minister Eduardo Iriarte.
According to a marketing campaign, with the slogan "Chile, say goodbye to pisco!," Peru wants Chile to stop selling a liquor called pisco.
MORE PISCO DOWNED IN CHILE
But Chileans, meanwhile, shrug their shoulders and say pisco predates either Peru or Chile, invented in the 17th century when both were part of a giant Spanish viceroyalty.
"Peru's position is totally unfounded. Peruvian pisco hasn't attained the popularity or acceptance that Chile's has," said one industry executive, requesting anonymity.
They point to pisco's greater success in Chile, which produces some 13 million gallons (50 million litres) a year to Peru's 260,000 gallons (1 million litres), even though Chile's population is roughly half of Peru's.
At an outdoor cafe in a wealthy part of Santiago, Mexican psychologist Adolfo Ortega, vacationing in Chile, gazes into the pale yellow, foamy depths of his first pisco sour.
"Some friends who were in Chile told me that pisco sours were really good, and they are," he said, adding that he doubted pisco would win the renown of Mexico's beloved tequila.
Some pisco can be found in the United States, Europe, and Japan. But industry officials in Chile hope to make pisco famous worldwide.
"Historically, the industry hasn't put much effort into exporting but that's changing now. We now have the capacity to produce more than the Chilean market consumes," said Roberto Salinas, deputy managing director for Pisco Capel.
Industry officials in Peru, with minimal exports, admit they have a lot of work to do. "But for the first time, (the government) is ready to deal with the problem ... and that could help revive this industry," said Vina Tacama's Pedro Olaechea.
In one Lima bar, U.S. backpacker Jeffrey Moore brushed Peru and Chile's conflict aside. "I don't care where it comes from," he said. "The point is that pisco should ... warm up the body and make the soul happy."
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