Bank Exchange Saloon, San Francisco, ~1880.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | PISCO | 40 % |
| 1 oz · 30 ml | PINEAPPLE JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | LEMON JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 4 oz mixed with ice, 0.8 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +0.8 oz of water |
| Served | 4 + 0.8 = 4.8 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.8 ÷ 4.8 = 16.7 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.8 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 131 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM PISCO MUSCAT · the coriander note
The coriander-lavender terpene. Saison and Belgian wit beers use coriander seeds as part of the spice bill, and linalool is the molecule doing the heavy lifting. Muscat grapes carry it too, the floral Moscato d'Asti note. Industrially common in shampoo and air freshener for the same reason it shows up in beer: the brain reads it as fresh.
ALSO IN Pisco Sour · Basil Smash · Hugo Spritz · Earl Grey Marteani · Vieux Mot · Caprese Martini
FROM PINEAPPLE · the grape candy note
The grape-candy / Welch's-grape-juice aroma. Concord grapes carry it in concentrations no European wine grape (Vitis vinifera) approaches; American Vitis labrusca grapes, native to the northeastern US, hold methyl anthranilate as a signature. The "foxy" note in North American grape juice and artificial grape candy both come from the same molecule. Also used as the standard bird repellent on commercial fruit crops; birds find it intolerable.
ALSO IN Ramos Gin Fizz · Hurricane · Singapore Sling · Mary Pickford · Royal Hawaiian · Bahama Mama · Paloma · Tequila Sunrise
FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
Pisco, pineapple, lemon and sugar. Unaged grape brandy meets tropical fruit, a pre-Prohibition San Francisco standard. Ethyl esters come from pisco, ethyl acetate from pineapple and citral from lemon.
Duncan Nicol's Bank Exchange Saloon (San Francisco) made Pisco Punch the standard San Francisco cocktail of the 1880s-1900s. Mark Twain and Mayor Sunny Jim Rolph are counted among its regulars; Rudyard Kipling, a visitor in 1889, is usually quoted on it as 'compounded of the shavings of cherubs' wings, the glory of a tropical dawn, and the red clouds of sunset.' The original recipe was a closely-guarded secret that died with Nicol in 1926; modern reconstructions are educated guesses. Pisco Punch survives at San Francisco's Comstock Saloon.
