Peru battles Chile for rights to grape drink

Lima, Feb 4: As he poured the frosty, cloudy drink called Pisco Sour, 64-year-old bartender Eloy Cuadros Cordoba had three words to say: ''Pisco is Peruvian''.

In Peru's capital Lima this weekend, thousands echoed the toast many times over, their smiling faces belying deadly serious expressions as they lifted glasses of the intoxicating mixture of the grape-liquor, lime juice, egg-whites and sugar.

Pisco sour is made from pisco, a liquor distilled from grapes originally planted in Peru in the 16th century, shortly after the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. Peruvians take their Pisco very seriously.

Peru celebrated its annual national Pisco Sour day yesterday, the latest salvo in a centuries-old battle to have the world recognize pisco as, well, simply Peruvian.

Chile would beg to differ.

Simply Peruvian

Pisco derives its name from several sources, including the indigenous Quechua word for the pisqu ''little birds'' of the Ica region in southern Peru where it originated, the Piskos people who during the Inca Empire inhabited the area, and piskos, the name given to containers originally used to store the liquor.

For Peruvians, from government ministers to grape producers to regular citizens, that is evidence enough to be proprietary about the drink.

Peru's neighbor, Chile, a rival since the latter defeated it in a 19th century sea war, disagrees.

Chileans also claim the drink as their own and point to larger production and extensive marketing efforts to popularize Pisco to prove they are the true owners of the name.

Each country has worked to insert clauses in international trade agreements to recognize pisco as belonging to them.

Sometimes they are successful, but sometimes they have to share the honor.

Bulgaria, for example, recognizes both Peruvian and a Chilean pisco. Israel recognizes only Peruvian pisco.

''We seek the recognition of a tradition, of geography and of the rich history of Peru. This (pisco) comes from the 16th century, with the arrival of the Spanish,'' said Gonzalo Gutierrez, the Peruvian deputy foreign affairs minister spearheading Peru's pisco diplomacy.

The oldest written record of pisco dates back to the will of a colonist in Peru in 1613, who itemized 30 containers of ''grape brandy'' among his worldly possessions.

''What, Pisco? Chilean? Those words don't go together,'' said Cuadros, who has tended bar at Lima's oldest hotel, the Hotel Maury, for 48 years and who touts himself a keeper of the secrets of making Pisco Sour.

The bar is considered by Peruvians to be one of the first ever to serve the cocktail.

''If a man walks into the Maury bar and doesn't ask for Pisco Sour, then he is a sinner. If he comes to Lima and doesn't come to the Maury, he is also a sinner,'' said Cuadros, busily serving the cocktail patrons of the wood-paneled bar.

Reuters