The experts at London’s Bajo Bar share the ultimate recipe for Peru’s sweet and sour national cocktail.

The rise of Peruvian cuisine in Western cities over the past five years not only means we can now devour ceviche relatively inexpensively to our hearts content, it also means the pisco sour – an incredibly underrated cocktail – has been shared with the masses. Sour, sweet, chalky yet refreshing, the pisco sour is the national drink of Peru and takes its name from the hero ingredient – pisco brandy made in the winemaking regions of Peru and Chile. The Peruvians love it so much they have a yearly public holiday in celebration of the cocktail on the first Saturday of February. Although it was reportedly invented in the 1920s by an American barman in Lima – the drink is still considered a “New Era” concoction on the official IBA cocktail lists. Indeed, it is certainly not an “Unforgettable” classic like an Old Fashioned or a Negroni and, even though it should feature on the menu of any cocktail bar worth its margarita salt, it is certainly not yet a go-to for those fixing themselves, or a guest, a drink at the end of the day.

We believe everyone should be able to enjoy a pisco sour without leaving the comfort of their home, so we asked Mr Corrado Beninato, a bartender at the Bajo Bar at Lima Floral in Covent Garden, London for his tried–and–true recipe.

“Its simple freshness is immediate and makes it a perfect drink to wake up your palate,” says Mr Beninato. “Everyone loves a pisco sour – it is impressive and with some practice, it is easy to make. We use Quebranta pisco as standard as this is most common variety in Peru, but experimenting is great so try with “Italia” pisco or one of the other grape varieties to mix things up a bit.”

Serves one

Ingredients:

50ml Peruvian Pisco (quebranta grape ideally) 30ml freshly squeezed lime juice 30ml sugar syrup 15-20ml fresh egg white 2 or 3 drops of Angostura Bitters to finish

Method:

Combine the pisco, lime juice, sugar syrup and egg white in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake very vigorously to achieve a fine foam. Strain into chilled glasses and top with 2 or 3 tiny drops of bitters.

We squeeze the lime by hand taking care not to over-press as this extracts bitterness from the pith (it is better to use an extra lime rather than wring it out). You can use a blender briefly rather than shaking if you prefer, but take care not to whip up too much foam or water down the cocktail with excessive ice.