Pisco Sour: The Authentic Peruvian Recipe (Step by Step)

A properly made pisco sour is a serious thing. The recipe isn't complicated — 5 ingredients — but proportions, type of pisco, and technique matter. This is the recipe as it's made in Lima, no shortcuts.

Ingredients (for 1 drink)

• 3 oz pisco — quebranta or acholado. NOT italia (too floral for a classic sour).
• 1 oz fresh green lime juice — fresh-squeezed. Bottled lime juice ruins the drink.
• 1 oz simple syrup — equal parts sugar and water, boiled until dissolved.
• 1 fresh egg white — small, not large. It's what makes the foam.
• 4-5 small ice cubes — small, not large rocks.
• 3 drops Angostura bitters — to finish, on top of the foam.

Method (step by step)

1. Put a shaker in the freezer 10 minutes before. Cold pisco sour, not lukewarm.
2. Egg white alone in the cold shaker. Dry shake (no ice) for 30 seconds — this creates the creamy texture.
3. Add pisco, lime juice, simple syrup. Shake again, now with ice, 20 seconds fast and hard.
4. Strain into a chilled coupe. The white foam will form on the surface.
5. Finish with 3 drops of Angostura bitters on the foam. Creates the classic pattern — don't stir.

Common mistakes

• Using American yellow lemon. Completely changes the profile. Use small green lime (Key lime style), or Peruvian limón sutil if you can find it.
• Skipping the dry shake. Without shaking the egg white alone first, the foam comes out thin. The step you CAN'T skip.
• Pisco italia. Good for modern fruit sours, but it distorts the classic balance.
• Too sweet. Correct balance: lime should be felt, pisco should be felt, it should NOT be a sugary drink.
• Serving warm. Everything (shaker, glass, ingredients) should be cold before starting.

Where to buy Peruvian pisco in LA

Good piscos available locally: Pisco Portón, Macchu Pisco, Capurro, Tabernero. Stores:

• BevMo (Sunset, Hollywood) — wide selection
• Total Wine (multiple) — best price on Macchu Pisco
• K&L Wine Merchants (Hollywood) — Pisco Portón Mosto Verde, top-shelf edition

Variations on the classic

• Maracuyá sour — replace lime with passion fruit juice. More fruity.
• Coca sour — uses coca leaf infused into pisco. Peruvian, strong, not for the faint of heart.
• Chilcano — the refreshing version: pisco with ginger ale and a splash of lime. More of a summer drink.

To drink a properly-made pisco sour without making one yourself, check our cevichería list — most have a bar with pisco.