Pisco Sour
- 2 oz pisco brandy
- 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 1 egg white
- Angostura bitters as a garnish
Shake all ingredients, except the bitters, to emulsify the egg white then add ice and shake again. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle a few drops of Angostura bitters on the top as a garnish.
The national drink of both Peru and Chile, the first printed reference to the Pisco Sour recipe is found in a Peruvian cookbook printed in 1924. There are also stories of bartenders running out of whiskey for the Whiskey Sour and substituting pisco, the local brandy. Pisco is a clear, unaged brandy made from muscat grapes originally brought over by the Spanish.
Messing with egg white can be a bit of a pain. We got the bartender in a hotel we stayed at in Santiago, Chile, to admit they used dried egg white powder but we prefer to use the real thing. The lime juice is the star of the show so we prefer to use Key limes.
You need to shake the ingredients vigorously before shaking with ice to emulsify the egg white and to create the foam. An artisan would use a dropper to get the drops of bitters onto the top of the foam. If you haven't got time for that be careful to at least get the drops inside the glass—it's harder than it looks.