Pisco Punch

It's probably not what you think. Thanks to one of our favorite cocktail books, Esquire's Handbook for Hosts of 1949, most imbibers unfamiliar with South American spirits think that Pisco Punch is the same as pisco. Of course, there were probably plenty of reputable sources who were also spreading the incorrect information. But the fact is, pisco is the liquor used in the Pisco Punch, which is really more of a cocktail than a punch.

According to our cocktail compatriot George Gilder, the Pisco Punch came about during the late 1800s, when ships traveling around Cape Horn would stop in Chile "to fill up with pisco and flamingo girls. Gringos couldn't drink it, so they had to mix it as a cocktail."

Most drink historians credit two bartenders, Professor Jerry Burns and Duncan Nicole, of San Francisco's Bank Exchange for inventing this drink's recipe.