Meaning & use
Pisco
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A clear or yellowish brandy made from fermented grapes, produced mainly in Peru and Chile.
Grammar: Uncountable; used without 'a' or 'an'. You can say 'a glass of pisco' or 'some pisco'.
Patterns
- a glass of pisco
- pisco sour
We tried pisco for the first time at a bar in Lima.
The bartender mixed pisco with lemon juice and egg white to make a pisco sour.
nouncountableinformal
A cocktail made with pisco, especially a Pisco Sour.
Grammar: Countable when referring to a drink: 'two piscos' means two glasses of the cocktail.
Patterns
- order a pisco
- have a pisco
She ordered a pisco while we looked at the menu.
They serve excellent piscos at that new Peruvian restaurant.
Common combinations
- pisco sour
- The pisco sour is the most famous cocktail in Chile and Peru.
- a bottle of pisco
- He brought back a bottle of pisco from his trip to Santiago.
- pisco grapes
- Pisco grapes are grown in the sunny valleys of Peru.
- pisco distillery
- We toured a small pisco distillery in the south of Peru.
Synonyms and how they differ
- brandy
- Brandy is a general term for spirits distilled from wine; pisco is a specific type of brandy from South America.
- grappa
- Grappa is an Italian spirit made from grape skins, while pisco is made from whole grapes and is not usually as strong.
Commonly confused: Pisco or Pisces? Pisco or pistachio?
Pisco vs Pisces
Pisces is a zodiac sign (the Fish) and is pronounced differently; pisco is a drink.
Pisco vs pistachio
Pistachio is a nut; pisco is an alcoholic drink. They sound somewhat similar but are unrelated.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'pisco' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Pisco is a drink, so 'a pisco' means a glass of it. The other options confuse pisco with pistachio (a nut) or Pisces (a zodiac sign), which are different words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Pisco”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.