You’ll Want to Sip This Pisco Cocktail All Weekend Long

This recipe is part of our premium cocktail recipe series:

By now, hopefully, you’ve tracked down at least one of our recommended premium spirits and had the chance to craft a truly incredible quaff. From here on out, this series is going to blaze ahead of our premium spirits list and feature incredible hand-selected distillates from around the world, as well as imaginative mixes you can use them in.

This week’s entry into the premium cocktail series is inspired by yet another spirit-beverage combo native to Sud América: Cuatro G’s ‘Mosto Verde Italia’ Pisco, and the famous El Capitán cocktail. This short and sharp snifter is wonderfully fragrant and warming, combining the verdant aroma and vivacious mouthfeel of pisco with the rich complexity of Luxardo, and finishing with a bright and zesty finish. Read on for the low down on this seductively sweet classic mashup!

At more than 400 years old, pisco has a history almost as deep and rich as colonial Peru itself. In fact, this clear spirit, as well as the town in which it originated, are named for a much older culture of indigenous people, the Pisqu, from what is today southern Peru. Much like its European relative grappa, pisco is an entirely grape-based spirit, distilled from the first press of freshly harvested wine grapes of just a handful of varietals traditionally grown in Peru’s verdant coastal valleys.

Cuatro G’s ‘Mosto Verde Italia’ Pisco is a renowned and highly sought-after make of pisco, with a sharp, engaging floral aroma, superb structure and complexity typical of the super-premium ‘mosto verde’ style. Bright citrus notes cut through the gentle bouquet of this fine example of the Peruvian craft, resulting in an open and fresh finish that begs another sip.

The classic El Capitán, after which this week’s premium cocktail is modelled, was supposedly the drink of choice of the mounted generals of the Peruvian military. Equal parts pisco and sweet vermouth, this heady number would’ve no doubt kept the brass warm during the bitter-cold nights on the highlands of Peru.

In this sweet and seductive classic twist, henceforth known as La Capitana Cereza, the gripping brightness of the pisco is tempered by a 50/50 blend of sweet and dry vermouth, much like a perfect manhattan. A splash of luxardo maraschino liqueur gives this racy cocktail a rich vanillin undertone, while a dash of orange bitters to finish brings a balance of citrus notes into the foreground.