Peru’s National Cocktail Debuts in Israel
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Peru’s flagship drink will be sold for the first time in Israel, according to the South American country’s foreign trade officials.
The pisco will be available in bars and restaurants initially only in Tel Aviv.
“The pisco will compete with drinks already positioned in this market. We are confident that Israelis will get more familiar with our distillate, which will soon be among their preferences,” Peruvian foreign trade and tourism minister Magali Silva told El Comercio newspaper.
The debut is the result of intense effort by the Peruvian trade office in Tel Aviv since 2014, which is part of an international “Peru, dedicated to the world” campaign, added Silva.
The beverage will be available in Israel under the brand Barsol and also imported by a major spirits company. The name “pisco” is protected under the Israeli Patent Office to represent products distilled exclusively along the Peruvian coast between Ica and Tacna, according to La Republica newspaper.
For years, Peru and Chile have debated which was the first to invent pisco, an un-aged brandy distilled from grapes and a key ingredient in the pisco sour.
In the United States, the grape brandy was reportedly described by Chilean Nobel Prize laureate and poet Pablo Neruda as “a million rays of sunshine in a single drop.”
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
