Chilean Pisco Cocktails at Grand Cata

Since opening in March 2016, Grand Cata continues to impress with its diverse and thoughtfully curated selection of Latin American wines and spirits. The Shaw hotspot hosted a Chilean pisco tasting this past Friday, which featured two unusual takes on the pisco sour.

The first cocktail showcased was made using Pisco WAQAR, a fresh and aromatic spirit made exclusively from moscatel (muscat) grapes. This cocktail tasted like a sunny afternoon, with softly sweet floral notes complemented by a tangy lemon profile.

The other featured cocktail was a more classic interpretation of the traditional pisco sour; it was made from Kappa pisco, produced by the Marnier Lapostelle family, and was also distilled from a single varietal (also moscatel). It had a rich texture from egg whites and a complex herbal note from a dash of Angostura bitters.

Chilean piscos aren’t seen as commonly in the U.S. as their Peruvian cousins, but Grand Cata has a solid selection; they’re worth checking out for fans of Cognac, other brandies and white spirits alike.

Wait – what’s pisco?

It’s a spirit distilled from wine (also known as brandy). Pisco is made in Peru and Chile, but each country has its own regulations (types of grapes allowed, distillation process, aging, etc.) that define the spirit and its various styles.

Learn more about Grand Cata here.

Grand Cata: 1550 7th St. NW, DC; 202-525-5702; www.grandcata.com