11) Pisco Pom

1.5 oz. Pisco
.5 oz. Cointreau
.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
.5 oz. Pomegranate juice
.5 oz. simple syrup

Add all ingredients into an old fashioned glass with ice. Stir briefly and garnish with a twist of lemon.

It began as it does almost every week. Ed and I staring forlornly at the rows of bottles.

"So, what do you want to use today?"
"I don't know. What do you want to use?"

In short order Ed was holding up a bottle of Pisco (a liquor distilled from grapes in Peru and Chile). It's been seeing somewhat of a resurgence recently and is a sprit I myself have only recently had experience with. Having only had it in cocktails, Ed and I decided to take a taste, and boy howdy is it a potent brew. It had, however, a rather pleasant finish of grape that had us intrigued. In thinking about what we might use to foil the Pisco I recalled that the bar had recently got some pomegranate juice recently and figured it would at least be an interesting attempt.

We knew that we were going to have to go fairly light on the pomegranate juice as it is a potent flavor which could easily overwhelm the Pisco. The Cointreau and lemon juice came out of me somewhat at random. Well, the Cointreau was there to brighten the overall drink, but really I was just kind of blurting. Our first pass was sans the simple syrup, and the finished product was seriously chalky. The tartness of the pomegranate was really overwhelming. Ed being the calm voice of reason blithely suggested a little bit of simple syrup and we were set.

The Pomegranate was, of course, front and center but the syrup toned down its power. The Cointreau brightened the drink overall, and there was a nice, subtle finish of both grape and lemon.

Got any favorite Pisco recipies? Leave a comment. Or you can send us an e-mail at drinkaweek [at] gmail [dot] com.