Category: trips

Cognac Deau Visit
While in France last year, I had time for a quick unscheduled visit to the house of Deau Cognac.

Deau is located about 40 minutes from the town of Cognac, between the Fin Bois and Petite Champagne. They grow about 30 hectares of grapes, and buy wine from other growers (Fin Bois, Grande Champagne, and Petite Champagne) that they distill on-site.

The distillery itself is quite large, with 12 stills.

I met Véronique Bru Legaret, who along with her son heads up the company. They actually produce three cognac brands: Deau, Moisans, and Roland Bru (named for Véronique's father, who brought the company into the current era).

Previously they sold all their cognac to large brands (I think they no longer do), but now seem to be emphasizing their luxury products. New fancy, sail-shaped bottles have just hit the USA market recently further emphasizing their luxury positioning.

I quickly tasted through most of the Deau line, and here are my nonsensical-as-usual notes:
- VS: Tight but good
- VSOP: Smells more mature than the VSOP bottling would suggest; sweet cream.
- Napoleaon: 7-8 years old. Sweet yellow raisins.
- XO: Around 15 years old. Christmas spices including buttery cinnamon with a spicy/minty finish.
- Black: Around 10 years old. Sweet and thin, meant for mixing.
- Louis Memory: Supple, creamy, like a more mature version of the XO
- L.V.O.: Stands for the French translation of "Life in Gold." Made from 1915, 1930, 1950 Grande Champagne cognacs. Banana, raisins, subtle and sandy.
A superquick but lovely visit!
February 18, 2015
A Visit to Merlet Cognac and Liqueurs in France
The Merlet family has been distilling in France for 5 generations, but have only launched their own brand of cognac in recent years. They have a really interesting history that I learned on a visit to their chateau, vineyards, and distillery in 2014.

A Brief History of the Cognac Market
- Many people from different countries around the world (occupying as well as liberating armies) discovered cognac in World War II. The demand for cognac was very high globally after the war.
- In the 1960s based on the brandy's success, the region planted a lot of vines.
- In the 1970s there was a big glut in the market, resulting in some economic problems for producers who over-planted and over-extended themselves.
- Today those vines planted all those years ago are nearing the end of their lifespan and need to be replanted or maintained.
The Merlet family made wine and distilled cognac for many brands, including Hennessy until 2000. In the 1970s due to the market glut, the Merlet family diversified away from just making cognac into making liqueurs. Today the company's business model reflects both history and that same ingenuity.

Merlet Today
- Produces liqueurs including the Creme de Cassis for which they are particularly well-known
- Makes their own brand of cognac, and produce an unaged brandy for the European market
- Distill brandy for sale to cognac houses
- Produce Hypnotiq liqueur
- Run the Leblon cachaca distillery in Brazil
Visiting Merlet – The Home and Vineyards

I visited the family home, vineyards, wine production facility, distillery, and aging facility, which are scattered about the area of Saint Sauvant, a little village near Cognac with a 12th century church as its central feature.

The family home is Luc Merlet(my host for the day)'s father's house. It looks out over vineyards (they own 40 hectares) and was the former location of the distillery.

The house was also once the home of Baron Otard, who was a real person as well as the name of a Bacardi-owned cognac brand. That brand home is now located in a tourist attraction/castle/aging warehouse in the heart of the city of Cognac.

I visited the vineyards in the fall, about 10 days before they'd begin harvesting the ugni blanc grapes for distillation. (Ugni blanc is the same grape as Italy's Trebbiano.) These vineyards are in the Borderies delimited region, while the current distillery is in the Fin Bois.

Making Wine for Cognac

We then drove to the winery, where they receive the grapes, crush, and ferment them. Grapes are harvested over the course of just 3 weeks and made into wine, then the wine rests until they have a chance to distill it, which can be months away (by March 31 all distilling for cognac must be completed). The winery was a former co-op winery that they purchased.

Ideal ugni blanc grapes for cognac production are low in sugar/alcohol potential, because distillation will concentrate all the flavors in the grape. The lower the potential alcohol the more times you need to concentrate it to reach the final proof, and thus the more you'll concentrate the flavors getting there. (For example, a 10% ABV wine would be concentrated 4 times to reach 40%, while a 5% wine would be concentrated by 8 times.)

Also, for cognac you cannot add sulfates to the wine to preserve it (as those would be horrible after distillation), so they want high-acid grapes.

Distilling and Tasting

At the distillery, they have 9 stills, including a gargantuan 100 hectoliter still. This huge one can only be used for the first distillation; smaller ones will be used for the second.

Merlet's Brothers' Blend cognac (named for Luc and his brother) is a VSOP aged between 4-12 years and created for mixing in cocktails.

They recently released the first of the Seleccion Saint Sauvant cognac, which is a higher-end bottling.

The flagship of the liqueur line is their Creme de Cassis. Legally creme de cassis must have a minimum of 400 g/l sugar added, but theirs has 500-550 g/l according to Luc Merlet. He says the local blackcurrants (which are the only of the fruits for liqueurs that they grow themselves) require more sugar.

Luc Merlet mentioned a traditional cocktail that is a mix of Cassis and Suze, sometimes with soda added. It has a name that means "panty bottom."

Merlet has also released a couple of liqueurs branded as C2, for Cognac and Cassis and Cognac and Citron. These are meant to be premade aperitifs meant for mixing with ice and soda water.

That was a lot of information gleaned from such a short visit! Thanks for Luc Merlet for hosting.
February 17, 2015
Distillery Visit: Bunnahabhain Single Malt Scotch Whisky on Islay
In 2014 I visited the Bunnahabhain (boo-nuh-ha-bin) distillery on the island of Islay off the western coast of Scotland. Bunnahabhain is the northernmost distillery on Islay (home to whiskies including Laphroaig, Bowmore, and Ardbeg) with the Paps of Jura just across the water. They call Bunnahabhain "the welcoming taste of Islay" because unlike those other scotch whiskies, Bunnahabhain is mostly not smoky and heavy.

Not So Smoky

It wasn't always that way. Until 1963, according to Distillery Manager Andrew Brown, Bunnahabhain made smoky Islay-style whisky. In olden days, they used to malt the barley on-site, but now the old malt hall holds barrel aging facilities.

Now they use unpeated barley (less than 2 ppm phenol) for most of their whisky except special editions. Those take place during only a few weeks during one period of the year. In 2014 the were doing 9 weeks of peated malt distilling, using barley with a phenol level of 35-40 parts per million. Malted barley is delivered to the island and ground on-site.

It is then washed with hot water to wash out (and keep) the fermentable sugars and leave behind the solids. The mash tun holds 50,000 liters.

While most scotch whiskies (at least most that I've visited) wash the barley three times, with the last wash going to the next batch, at Bunnahabhain they wash it four times with the last two washes going to the next batch. Not sure why.

If I got this right, the barley contains 20% fermentable sugars going into the wash, and sugars are washed out (to go to fermentation) at each step:
- 64 Celsius water brings the sugar content down to 15%
- 80 Celsius water bring it down to 5%
- 90 Celsius water for both the second and third washes brings it down to basically zero.
Fermenting and Distilling

The sugary liquid is now ready for fermentation, which is done is one of six wash-backs. The liquid ferments for either 48 hours (on Mondays and Tuesdays so they can distill the fermented beer later in the week) or 110 hours (on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, as these will be distilled the next week after the weekend). Brown said this doesn't make a change in the final spirit's flavor after distillation, but they do blend together the spirit made from the two different fermentation times before barreling anyway.

Bunnahabhain is the only distillery on the island to use pure spring water for fermentation. Much of the water for other distilleries starts at one place on Islay and runs over peat bogs on the way down to the distillery, but Bunnahabhain pipes their water 2 miles from the spring so it doesn't run through peat.

The stills here are the tallest on Islay, all packed into a little still room. Two of the stills are quite old, while the other two were added in 1963 along with other equipment when the distillery changed format from Islay-style to unpeated scotch.

When they distill peated whisky during those few weeks of the year, they take different heads and tails cuts on the second distillation as opposed to when they're distilling unpeated whisky.

Water used to bring the newly-distilled whisky down to barrel proof is the same spring water used in distillation but run through a 5 micron particle filter and then a UV light filter.

All of the single-malt whisky made by Bunnahabhain is aged on Islay. They have 21,000 casks aging locally in 6 dunnage and 1 racking warehouses. Whisky for the blends ages on the mainland.

The whisky is bottled on the mainland outside of Glasgow, using the same water that Deanston does (demineralized municipal water).

Bunnahabhain sells about half of the whisky they make to other brands for use in blends. Of the remaining half, 10-20 percent of it is sold as Bunnahabhain single-malt, while the rest goes to their own blends. The parent company Burn Stewart produces Scottish Leader and Black Barrel blends.

Quick Tastes

I visited the distillery during Feis Ile (more on that later), which didn't give a lot of time for quiet contemplation, but here are a few notes on what I tasted.
- Bunnahabhain 12 year old: A mix (not a finish) of whisky aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. It has a lot of nutty flavors, dried fruits, and a whisp of smoke.
- 18 year old: Aged in ex-sherry barrels. It is softer yet spicier than the 12 year, and richer due to that sherry influence. My tasting notes, which you should know by now don't make sense to anyone but me, describe it as "rosemary stems and velour tracksuit in dark green."
- 25 year old: First and second-fill ex-sherry casks. Rich, lovely, wood-soaked and showing the good qualities of age.
- Toiteach: From peated barley aged in bourbon and sherry casks. Young canned peaches and ash, a touch of hospital, interesting and well-made.
- Helmsman's Dram (a special edition for the festival): Aged 9 years in ex-bourbon then 1 year in a Marsala cask. Seemed Marsala-influenced (old wood tastes), "chicken jerky and chocolate covered salty raisins."
- Westering Home (also a festival edition): 10 years in ex-bourbon casks then 6 years in cognac casks then 1 year in Sauternes. To me it tastes like Bunnahabhain with a touch of wine and spice.
It was a great day on Islay and my third visit to the island, yet I can't wait to go back again.
February 10, 2015
Distillery Visit: Deanston Single Malt Scotch Whisky
The Deanston distillery is located just a half an hour's drive north of Glasgow, Scotland (and not far from Edinburgh either), near the town of Stirling alongside the River Teith. It's just barely in the Highlands and has that honey-forward flavor I associate with the lower Highland area.

In addition to producing single malt scotch whiskies, Deanston is the "spiritual home" of the Scottish Leader blended scotch brand. The distillery is open to the public for tours.

The River Teith is the source not only of water for distillation, it is the power source of the distillery. River water flows into the distillery and passes through a hydro-electric station. They use only 25% of the power generated to supply the distillery (they say it is the only self-powered distillery in Scotland), and sell the rest of it back to the national power grid.

Previously the water powered a huge water wheel to accomplish the same thing. The distillery was originally built as a cotton mill. Here's a brief overview of the history:
- 1785 The Deanston Cotton Mill opened. The cotton mill employed and housed a whole town (the houses are still a few hundred yards away), printed their own currency, and offered schools and other services for the workers.
- 1965 The mill closed.
- 1967 The mill reopened as a distillery. The weaving shed became the barrel warehouse.
- 1974 The first Deanston single malt was released
- 1982 The distillery closed in the bad whisky economy that was about to turn around
- 1991 The distillery reopened in the good whisky economy from the 1980s
- 2000 Deanston received certification to produce organic whisky
- 2008 Deanston begins bottling only non-chill-filtered single-malts
Making Whisky at Deanston

For Deanston's single malts they use all un-peated barley (less than 2ppm phenol), and soft river water that flows over granite (so no peat in there either).

Their malt mill is a Porteus mill, which is so sturdy they've only had to recalibrate it twice since the 1960s. Unfortunately for the company they made their machines so well they went out of business as people didn't tend to need to buy new ones. The mill grinds the malted barley but does not separate out the husks.

They have a rare, huge open-top mash tun that holds 11 tons of barley/water though they do 9-ton mashes. Mashing is where the ground barley is washed with hot water to release sugars and leave behind the solids. As is typical, they wash the grains three times with different temperature waters:
- 64 Celsius water: Gets the enzymes out of the barley without destroying them, along with some sugars. (These enzymes will help break up the larger sugars so they can be fermented by yeast.) The sugary/enzyme water goes toward fermentation.
- 78 Celsius water: To remove the majority of the sugars. The sugary water goes toward fermentation.
- 88 Celsius water: To remove last bits of sugar. The sugary water goes into the next mash (the next batch) rather than into fermentation.
There are 8 washbacks, 60,000 liter steel (not stainless) tanks. Yeast is added to the sugary water for fermentation. Yeast comes in liquid form via tanker. Yeast is combined with the wort (sugar water) at about 19-20 degrees Celsius. During fermentation, the liquid naturally heats up then cools at the lend.

They do a long fermentation- 100 hours- that includes a secondary fermentation to bring in fruity, green-apple notes.

Distillation and Aging

Then it's time for distillation. At Deanston they have 4 stills – 2 wash stills (first distillation) and 2 spirit stills (second distillation).

The first distillation in a 15,000 liter still brings the fermented beer from 8% ABV up to 23-25%. They don't make any heads/tails cuts in the first distillation. The second distillation in a 14,000 liter still takes the spirit up to an average of 68% ABV.

The lyne arm/swan's neck of the still tilts slightly upwards at an angle, which also helps produce a lighter, fruitier style of Highland whisky.

During distillation, they manually adjust the stills to prevent over-foaming – the distiller looks into the windows of the stills and cuts down the temperature if it's foaming all over the place. They boil the spirit at a relatively low temperature to increase reflux/copper contact, which also helps produce a light spirit.

New make spirit goes into barrels at 63.5% ABV. The water used to reduce the spirit to barrel proof is river water that has been treated with a UV filter to ensure nothing grows in it. The barrels, 50,000 or so of them for their single-malts, are stored in the former weaving shed – a unique aging facility in Scotland.

This building has a ceiling (unfortunately difficult to photograph) similar to sherry bodegas with tall cathedral-style arches and central poles that collect water from the roof down through their middles. The high ceilings were to maintain consistent temperature year-round (better for the sewing equipment) and were covered with grass.

There is only a 5-6% temperature change in the warehouse during the year, which gives them less than a 2% evaporation rate (angels' share).

To bring the whiskies down to bottle strength, they use municipal water that has been demineralized on-site using a resin bed filtration system. They do not chill filter their whiskies, but they run them through a paper filter before bottling at room temp.

Deanston Whiskies
- 12 Year – The flagship product, with tastes of biscuit and ginger spice. All the whiskies have a honey note.
- Virgin Oak – No age statement whisky aged in ex-bourbon casks of various ages, then finished in virgin oak casks from Kentucky for 9-12 weeks. My host and brand ambassador for the Burn Stewart Distillers whiskies, Dr. Kirstie McCallum, calls the Virgin Oak a "summer whisky."
- Spanish Oak – Aged 10 years in ex-bourbon casks then 9 years in ex-Spanish brandy barrels, with dried fruits and nutty sherry notes.
- Sherry Cask – I think this was a limited edition, aged for 10 years in ex-Oloroso sherry barrels
- 1974 – Aged 37 years in ex-Oloroso sherry casks, yet it still comes in at 50.3% ABV (showing their super low angels' share). It has rancio, ashy, high vinegar notes of super old sherry.
My trip was hosted by the parent company, Burn Stewart Distillers, who also own Bunnahabhain, Tobermory, Ledaig, Scottish Leader, and Black Bottle. I also visited Bunnahabhain and will write about that more in another post.

By the way, Deanston was my 100th distillery visit!
February 4, 2015
Peru, Bird Poop, and the Birth of the Agro-Industrial Complex

Last year while on a trip to Peru with Pisco Porton, we took a side trip to Las Islas Ballestas near the town of Paracas. The islands are important bird habitats, but more importantly they're covered in bird poop.

Peru is an exciting country for drink nerds like me, as it is the birthplace of the potato, pisco, and the cinchona tree that produces quinine for tonic water. I didn't realize until recently that it was also the birthplace of the international guano industry, perhaps the world's first exported industrial fertilizer.

Guano, the bird poop that covers these ocean islands, is high in nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, according to this surprisingly rich guano history page on Wikipedia. It is such a good fertilizer that it was exported to Europe in an era of Peruvian history from the 1840s to the 1870s called The Guano Age.

(Much of the harvest of guano was performed by Chinese indentured servants, which is probably only interesting to me in that the same populations were dragged around the world to harvest sugar cane after slavery was abolished; another tie-in to the global booze business.)

Recently, DNA testing has revealed that the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-52 may have been caused by new potato varieties imported along with Peruvian guano to Europe.

And the end of international potato blight was the development of even more agro-chemicals, this time synthetic ones designed to cure the potato of the disease.

History is amazing.

Here are some pictures from my visit to Las Islas Ballestas.

January 28, 2015
Bars, Restaurants, and Sights of Lima, Peru

In 2014 I visited Peru with Pisco Porton. In this post, I wanted to write up some places I visited in the city of Lima. I was only in town for about a day in a half, so I didn't see much.

Cocktail Bars and Restaurants in Lima

Johnny Schuler's Key Club

This restaurant is sort of like a speakeasy bar: It's open to the public, but there is no sign so you've gotta just know where it is. It looks very much like a place politicians and other power players would dine. I ate there with Schuler, who is the distiller of Porton. (He has a long history as a restaurateur and pisco television host before running his own distillery.)

amaZ

This funky restaurant and bar in the Miraflores district specializes in fresh juices and herbs, with Amazonian ingredients in the food and drink and decor. There is a small central bar, lots of tables and chairs, and another dining room with wicker/rattan umbrellas over the top.

Malabar

This restaurant has the same chef-owner as amaZ, but it's located in the San Isidro district. While it looked to be a ice restaurant, I sat at the bar and made friends with the bartender Jesus Avila Sovero. The restaurant is reportedly known for its Pisco Punch, which was sweet but nice. I also had a Chilcano (pisco and ginger ale) with anise; one with purple rice-infused pisco, tonic, and orange juice; and another with yellow tomatillo (that they call gooseberries).

This was definitely a good stop.

La Calesa

The name means "buggy" or more likely "carriage" as you can see reflected in the hilarious laminated menu. Actually the whole place was pretty silly (located super close to Malabar) but I liked it. It is known for its traditional Pisco Sours, which are served double size.

You can get those from a pre-batch or try any of the 16 pisco infusions featured on a shelf of jars. I had a Chilcano with camu-camu-infused pisco, as well as a touch of canela (cinnamon) pisco. I also tried the Algarrobina, which is sort of like eggnog but made with bean syrup. It was weirdly good.

Huaca Pucllana

This is a fancy/trendy restaurant adjacent to an ancient temple site from a civilization dating to 1000 years before the Incas. However it mostly looks like a pile of bricks.

The restaurant has a beautiful view though, over the ruins toward part of the city.

January 27, 2015
Sights and Cities Along the Pisco Trail in Peru: La Ruta Del Pisco
Last year I visited 5 distilleries in Peru with Pisco Porton (read about that visit here and here): Vinas de Oro, Tres Generaciones, Lovera, Hotel El Carmello, and La Caravedo where Porton is made.

In other posts, I've written about the pisco distilleries that I visited along the pisco trail, aka La Ruta Del Pisco. This post is an overview of getting to the pisco region, where to stay, and things to see.

As you can see from the below maps, to tour pisco distilleries there is a long drive from Lima (the northernmost pin on the map) down the west coast of Peru to Ica, the southernmost cluster, passing the pisco producing towns of Chincha and Pisco.

In Ica we visited La Caravedo, the distillery that produces Pisco Porton. They were the host of my trip.

Resources for Visiting the Pisco Region of Peru:
- This page on the Peru Tourism website has information about distilleries.
- Here is a guidebook (PDF format) about visiting pisco distilleries in Ica. It's in Spanish but it has detailed information about distillery visits.
- Should you want to arrange a tour or book a visit of the distilleries from Lima, Porton recommends using LimaTours or ContactTours.
Sights along the Ruta Del Pisco

As you can see, there are several pins on the map. The topmost is Lima, then the next pin along the ocean the Asia district. This is a seaside town and beach that seems mostly filled with local families. We stopped off for a great meal there at the modern restaurant El Piloto, but I'm not sure there is much else there to see for the international tourist.

The next two pins mark the city of Chincha and the distillery for Vinas de Oro.

The next pin out in the water are the islands called Las Islas Ballestas, which are important for bird habitat and the production of guano.

The district from which one takes a boat to Las Islas Ballestas is called Paracas. It is the most stylish of the towns we visited, with fancy hotels and it's where the wealthy residents of Lima come to relax. There are several large resort hotels, and it's probably the nicest place to stay if touring the pisco region of Ica, even though it's a big drive to Ica from there.

Ica is the city with lots of pisco distilleries, including La Caravedo (Porton), Bodega El Catador, and Hotel El Carmelo. On the outskirts of town is the oasis Huacachina.
January 22, 2015
Distillery Visit: El Carmelo Distillery and Hotel in Ica, Peru

Last year I visited 5 distilleries in Peru with Pisco Porton (read about that visit here and here): Vinas de Oro, Tres Generaciones, Lovera, Hotel El Carmello, and La Caravedo where Porton is made. This post is about my visit to El Carmelo in the region of Ica, Peru.

El Carmelo is an unusual property, a quirky hotel and restaurant as well as a distillery. We only stopped in for dinner so I didn't learn much about it. The property's website is here.

It was dark so I didn't get great pics. Two are below.

Related articles

Distillery Visit: El Carmelo Distillery and Hotel in Ica, Peru

Distillery Visit: Tres Generaciones Pisco in Ica, Peru

Distillery Visit: Lovera Pisco in Ica Peru

January 21, 2015
Distillery Visit: Lovera Pisco in Ica Peru

Last year I visited 5 distilleries in Peru with Pisco Porton (read about that visit here and here): Vinas de Oro, Tres Generaciones, Lovera, Hotel El Carmello, and La Caravedo where Porton is made. This post is about my visit to Lovera in the region of Ica, Peru.

Lovera is located in the village of Guadalupe in the region of Ica where there are around 120 distilleries. We were between places and decided to pop in on our way somewhere.

This distillery is particularly rustic. Unlike most that have switched to stainless steel fermentation tanks, at Lovera they ferment in the traditional clay/ceramic botijas. Those are the tall containers you see located around distilleries.

We didn't really learn much about the production process here as we were just popping in, but we did stop in at the "bar," which was a single box under a canopy with a few chairs around it.

There were a couple of what I assume are the regulars. The guy on the right has a radio he is wearing around his neck.

Besides the pisco that they make there, we also had some of the local aperitif that they call "quita calzon" aka "panty remover." It is also called "perfecto amor" and in the US, the brand BarSol imports one. It is an aperitif drink; a combination of grape juice and pisco.

In other countries, the similar aperitif (made from unfermented juice and the distilled product of that same juice) is called pineau des charantes (cognac), Floc de Gascogne (armagnac), and Pommeau (Calvados).

While at the bar, Porton's distiller Johnny Schuler told us the traditional way of drinking shots of pisco while sitting around in a group, as we were at this bar. One pours a shot into a shot glass, then pass the bottle to the next person. Then you take the shot and shake out the glass on the ground before passing the shot glass to the person with the bottle. Cheers.

Related articles

Distillery Visit: Lovera Pisco in Ica Peru

Distillery Visit: El Carmelo Distillery and Hotel in Ica, Peru

Distillery Visit: Tres Generaciones Pisco in Ica, Peru

January 20, 2015
Distillery Visit: Tres Generaciones Pisco in Ica, Peru

Last year I visited 5 distilleries in Peru with Pisco Porton (read about that visit here and here): Vinas de Oro, Tres Generaciones, Lovera, Hotel El Carmello, and La Caravedo where Porton is made. This post is about my visit to Tres Generaciones in the region of Ica, Peru.

Tres Generaciones is one of a few names you'll find used for this distillery tourist stop. The compound is called Tres Esquinas, and it also contains the restaurant La Olla de Juanita.

The distillery was founded in 1856. There is one distillery, but five families have the rights to use it. The distiller is Juanita Gonzalez.

The distillery has both types of stills used in pisco, the old-school falcas and the "modern" alembics that are the typical copper pot stills we usually see.

As mentioned in a previous post about Pisco Porton's distillery La Caravedo, falcas are stills that are built as pits. The top part (at ground level) is a cap to open the still. It has no bubble shape on top like a traditional alembic, nor a lynne arm/swan's neck: It pretty much is a box with a tube near the top taking off the steam.

The steam is condensed in a typical copper coil, suspended in a big pool.

The alembic stills look pretty standard, though they tend to be encased in brick (like cognac stills).

We tasted a 60% ABV pisco right off the still, and it was soft, smooth, earthy, and grapey. Not citrusy at all and totally drinkable even at that proof. More than most spirits, pisco tastes delicious right off the still. I suppose it helps that by law it will never be watered down after its single distillation.

Below are a few more pictures from the distillery and restaurant.

Related articles

A Visit to La Caravedo, Home of Pisco Porton, in Ica, Peru

Distillery Visit: Tres Generaciones Pisco in Ica, Peru

How Pisco Porton is Blended

Distillery Visit: El Carmelo Distillery and Hotel in Ica, Peru

January 14, 2015