Hoarding Alert: Miguel Torres Chile Pisco El Gobernador

First spotted in Oshawa, the coveted Curacao finally made its way to Toronto this week, with the first nine bottles hitting the Bloor/Ossington store. That was a real pleasant surprise for west-enders, since we’re pretty much used to that store specializing in a good range of Colt 45.

So, when the rain let up, I took a little stroll to get my fair share of the bounty and, while there, discovered that the new pisco, Miguel Torres Chile Pisco El Gobernador (363978), was also available in Bloorcourt. So I bought that, too, despite it’s being from Chile, which is usually a deal-breaker for me.

I think many of my readers will know that pisco is the focus of a longstanding dispute between Chile and Peru. Each claims it as their national drink, each claims it makes a better product. Generally speaking, I side with Peru, especially since Johnny Schuler, antique map collector and master distiller at Pisco Portón (located in Ica, Peru) told me the Peruvian port town called Pisco goes back to at least the 17th century. And he has the maps to prove it.

Mainly, though, of the piscos I’ve sampled, the standouts have been from Peru. Then again, I haven’t sampled many Chilean ones—only those that have made their way through the LCBO in the past and haven’t been great.

Times have changed. El Gobernador blows away the LCBO’s current Peruvian offerings—Pancho Fierro, which has an industrial taste and Soldeica, a Vintages product, but a flat, one-note pisco. By comparison, El Gobernador is light and lively with a sweet, aromatic, almost minty introduction and a tingly, herbal finish. No question in my mind that, at present (I’d still like to see premium Peruvian piscos like Portón and Encanto here), this is, by far, is the best on-shelf pisco in Ontario. And it’s just about exactly the same price as the others. It appears cheaper at $28.30, but it’s only a 700 ml bottle, so it’s fraction of a cent more expensive per ml than Pancho Fierro.

Go, Chile!

One more little detail. Somebody’s blacked out (like, with marker) the “40% alc/vol” on each individual label. Looks to me as if LCBO testing determined it was a little over (41.2 per cent, to be precise) and somebody had to spend an afternoon with a sharpie and umpteen cases of pisco.

Because we’ve often been faced with absolutely no pisco in Ontario, whatsoever, I’m going to call this hoard-able, even though it appears to be general list.