Pisco is a distillate that since prohibition has not been too familiar to the majority of drinkers in the United States. However within the last 20 years, (especially the last few years) along with other terroir based spirit categories like Mezcal for example, Pisco has experienced significant growth and is appearing on more back bars, in more liquor stores and in the hands of more spirit and cocktail enthusiasts.

Pisco, the national Spirit of Peru, (and some may argue Chili), is a Brandy as well as it’s own unique Spirit category that is growing exponentially in the United States, cognitively and fiscally. In 2011 alone Pisco sales increased by 211%. This spells victory for many Pisco producers who have been crafting this artisinal and terroir based libation for over 300 years.

On a trip to Peru with Campo De Encanto Pisco’s Distillers Apprentice Program, I discovered that production methods for making Pisco, although not as strictly enforced as say, Cognac for example, have not changed, even after being passed down through generation after generation. Artisan producers who have overcome monumental odds, like terrorism, exploitation and agricultural difficulties, have maintained their integrity and love for the craft and continue to make one of the most elegant and beautiful spirits in the world. To them, Pisco is truly a way of life.

I experienced this first hand when I was fortunate enough to meet “La Legenda”, a ninety year old 5th generation distiller who has outlived his contemporaries and is still hard at work. How is this possible? La Legenda’s physician upon examination asked him how can it be that a man so elderly has the heart and organs of a thirty-five year old? “I drink Pisco everyday” was his reply.

For bartenders like myself and many of my contemporaries, Pisco has become a “hip” spirit to pour and talk about. Just the other day someone I’d never met before approached me with a question regarding production saying “you’re like the Pisco girl right?” Throughout my young adult life, being mercurial by nature, I’d considered myself to be many different kinds of a girl, but never The Pisco Girl, and it rolled so trippingly off his tongue I couldn’t resist “Well…um…yes! Why yes I am!” I replied.

What’s a 28 year old woman living in Los Angeles doing so obsessed with Pisco? Why is this white un aged south american brandy so alluring? In an industry where the majority of my money is made not through serving cocktails, but by pouring the same spirit/soft drink combo on repetition; vodka soda, whiskey coke, rum diet…you get the point…I usually get my kicks by playing tricks on customers, and I’m not afraid to admit it. My favorite being the “hey-guy-look-over-there-while-I-embellish-your-very-manlydrink-with-a-paper-umbrella”.

Now Pisco is a major player in my bag of tricks. Yummy girly shooters? Boom! Pisco sour shots. Long Island Iced Tea? Bam! Thats Pisco, lemon juice, curaçao and a splash of coca-cola in your hand Broseph, and you’re going to feel a lot less shitty in the morning. You’re welcome.

Pisco is the perfect clear spirit for converting the weekend warrior, breaking habitual behavior and putting them on a path towards connoisseur. It’s light, nuanced, sexy and is one of the most under appreciated imports on the market. Campo de Encanto Pisco understands that an important bridge between the Artisan and the consumer is the Bartender. They are the educators and ambassadors for the Category. They are the crucial link, the street team that gets the product into the mouths and minds of people through cocktail making and story telling. In fact, on the first generation bottling it used to read “blended for bartenders by bartenders”. So it’s no surprise that myself and like minded bar folk geek out over the exotic product. For us, its refreshing to have a liquor brand actually take the initiative to educate us beyond just a bunch of glossy points of sale mumbo jumbo, drink strategy cards and promo girls.

Thus the Distillers Apprentice, a truly unique program was born. Eight bartenders from the united states, as well as myself, spent a week in Peru with the Master Distiller Carlos Ruben Romero-Gamero, a student of La Legenda, as well as Co-Founders Walter Moore and Duggan McDonnell, and experienced hands on intensive training from picking grapes all the way through to blending and bottling. This high level of engagement between a liquor brand and trade and/or consumer is practically unheard of it. A typical Distillery tour is a wine-and-dine charade that includes lavish accommodations, expensive meals, swag and then at the end a brief walk through of the actual premises where very little information is provided. The major players in “big beverage” closely guard their practices and have operated this way for decades. Transparency is the least of their concerns, if a concern at all.

However this mentality is being challenged simply by the era we are living in. Technological advancement has revolutionized the free flow of information which in turn has emancipated the minds of people world wide and helped us to form a global network of questioning and answering. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How are at the top of the contemporary vocabulary. Transparency is no longer a luxury or a privilege but an ever growing commodity that spans many different industries, although currently most popular amongst lifestyle products. The Artisans within these industries are the pioneers of product transparency. Small scale, authentic production is the very harbinger of the pellucid, because really there is nothing to hide, quite the opposite, everything is created to be shared.

When it comes to Pisco production, Encanto is transparent by default, which makes them a cutting edge and contemporary company that still produces a dignified spirit the same way it was made hundreds of years ago. When properly crafted, Pisco is a 100% pure, distilled to proof, un aged product to which nothing may be added. Not every Pisco producer follows the rules of production like Encanto, who understands that Pisco is a true representation of the depth, complexity and terroir of Peruvian grapes.

Who would have thought that two white guys from San Francisco and a brown guy from Peru would end up finding common ground on a clear spirit? Campo de Encanto is now an award winning Pisco that not only promotes the category with honor, but transcends industry norms and changes the way people think about booze.

If you haven’t had the privilege of touching your lips to a glass of Pisco, make haste to you’re nearest bar or liquor store my friends. Make haste.