pisco

 

Pisco (from Quechua: pisqu, little bird) is a South American liquor distilled from grapes. Developed by Spanish settlers in the sixteenth century, it takes its name from the conical pottery in which it was originally aged, which was also the name of one of the sites where it was produced: Pisco, in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The first vineyards were planted in the coastal valleys in the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Pisco is produced in winemaking regions of Peru and Chile. The drink is a widely consumed spirit in the nations of Bolivia, Chile and Peru. The right to produce and promote pisco has been the matter of legal disputes between Chile and Peru, both of which hold their most iconic cocktail to be the pisco sour.