How To Make A Pisco Sour

I had no idea pisco was so nuanced. The colorless grape brandy produced in Chile and Peru isn’t quite as popular as cachaça, but it’s coming on fast; you can learn more about it at places like ThePiscoBook.com, but you can also learn from the pros behind the bar. I did just that recently, as I chatted up Bruce Hood, the Bartender at Osaka in West Hollywood. Now at first, Osaka sounds like yet another Japanese sushi joint, but much like Sushisamba weds Japanese and Brazilian cultures together, Osaka does the same with Japan and Peru. There’s a good reason, actually.

The connections between the two countries run deep. Thousands of Japanese have made Peru their home. Immigrants from Japan are called the issei generation; second and third generation Peruvians are referred to as nisei and sansei. Japanese Peruvians comprise the second largest ethnic Japanese population in Latin America after Brazil (hence, the Sushisamba connection).

So back to Osaka. It’s a sexy little restaurant with both an airy, light-filled (indoor) pisco garden, as well as a darker, more intimate dining room. They have three locations in South America, with the West Hollywood spot being their only one in the U.S. The menu covers all of the bases, from sushi to anticuchos; ceviche in several forms and of course, a deep list of piscos. I had never seen the Oro brand, which I discovered later comes in at least a half dozen different grape types and blends. Some of the more intriguing were the torontel, acholado and quebranta. Aficionados will drink them neat, but as I soon discovered, adding a little lime juice, simple syrup and an egg white isn’t bad either.

Pisco Sour

3 oz. pisco

1 oz. simple syrup

1 oz. fresh lime juice (if possible, from Key limes)

1 egg white

1 drop angostura bitters

Combine the pisco, syrup, lime juice and egg white in a tall glass; add ice and shake vigorously for about 10-15 seconds.

Strain drink into rocks glass; add drop of bitters near the edge.