Pisco Waqar Review

This Pisco Waqar made in Chile from Muscat grapes is the best pisco I’ve ever tasted.

Last year I did a comparison tasting of various piscos for the BBC Good Food website, and this Pisco Waqar took first place with a rating of 5/5. It isn’t just my opinion, either, as I recently looked up some other reviews and several people also said this was the best pisco they’ve ever tasted.

Pisco Waqar is produced in small batches by a 5th-generation family distillery, the Pisquera Tulahuén, run by the Camposano family in Tulahuén, in the foothills of the Chilean Andes. Tulahuén is a tiny village with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and was founded way back in 1690.

Pisco Waqar is made from 100% Muscat grapes, which are more commonly used to make dessert wines. The grapes are hand-picked and are a mix of Pink Muscat and Muscat of Alexandria. They’re turned into wine and the wine is then distilled once in wood-fired pot stills. This is clearly artisanal spirit making at its finest.

Pisco Waqar Review

The resulting quality is clear. You smell the floral aroma as soon as you open the bottle, but it’s less intense and sickly sweet than the average dessert wine. Nosed in the glass the aromas are more fruity than floral, with peaches and apricots, and hints of pears too, with touches of roses, mint and freshly-cut grass. As a counterbalance to the sweetness there’s a spicy ginger element as well.

The Bottle

The quality extends to the bottle, too. There’s a simple and elegant drawing of grapevines winding around the text, and both the text and the image are embossed directly onto the glass for a distinctive and sophisticated yet fun look.

It’s what’s in the bottle that matters, of course and this pisco is a spirit that can stand its ground against top tequilas or smooth scotches any day of the week. It’s good enough to sip on its own and it makes a killer pisco sour.