Waqar pisco review
Fancy rustling up a classic pisco sour? Ensure you use the best base spirit by reading our review of Waqar pisco, a Chilean spirit with bags of botanical flavour.
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Waqar pisco – 40% ABV
Star rating: 5/5
The first thing you notice about Waqar is the bottle. The text and image are embossed straight onto the glass, the font is stylish and the graphic of grapes on the vine is simple but very attractive.
Pop the cork and, even before pouring it, the floral aromas are evident. Few piscos smell this good through the narrow neck of a bottle.
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When nosed in the glass there are more floral aromas, and a sweetness, contrasted with vegetal notes too. The sweetness is very aromatic, with hints of pear, peach and apricot.
The pisco is 100% Muscat grapes, also used to produce sweet dessert wines, but the sweetness here is very delicate, and unlike a dessert wine there’s a peppery spiciness too.
In the mouth it has a syrupy-like quality, coating everything with those floral tastes, the peachy notes, a taste as complex as a wine, with a very slight and pleasing sourness to it. It slips down smoothly, and would be a very versatile spirit.
It would go well in a cocktail, perhaps even mixed with wine because the grape test is evident, but it’s so smooth and appealing it would be equally good for sipping.
Waqar is made at the Planta Tulahuén distillery in Tulahuén, in the foothills of the Chilean Andes. The distillery is now in the fifth generation of the Camposano family, and Waqar is made in small batches, which is more costly but gives more control over the results. The attention to detail definitely shows.
The perfect pour
Juan Jose Castillo Castro, who runs Edinburgh’s 83 Hanover Street (now named Superico, in the same location named) used Waqar in several cocktails including his lychee ramon, which combines Waqar pisco, lychee liqueur and grapefruit juice.
Read our full review of piscos
Learn how to make the perfect pisco sour.
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This review was last updated in February 2020. If you have any questions or suggestions for future reviews, or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk. For information on alcohol guidelines, read our guide to drinking responsibly.
