just four years old. Davis wrote that the English ship Daniel O’Connell anchored was packed with a “considerable quantity” of pisco of the Italia varietal. Nathan Spear distributed this shipment, some of it going to the bar of Swiss Captain Jean Jacques Vioget — the first barkeeper of San Francisco. Today, both Davis and Spear have downtown streets named after them, but the name of Vioget — who also drew the first painting and the first street layout of the city — was unfortunately forgotten. May this note help raise his memory! Then came the Gold Rush of 18481849. Tens of thousands of people from all over the world rushed to San Francisco in the span of a few months, making it the fastest-growing city the world has ever seen. The importation of pisco increased significantly, and bars didn’t have to
think long about how to take gold dust away from thirsty miners. Many a miner tasted pisco for the first time shortly after sailing through the Golden Gate. They imported both types of pisco: the standard, made with Quebranta grapes, and the exclusive Italia made with the aromatic grape of the same name. The most expensive liquor available in town during those days, pisco was in San Francisco to stay.
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ifty years later, Scotsman Duncan Nicol concocted Pisco Punch in the Bank Exchange Saloon. A delectable mix of pisco Italia, gum arabic syrup (a sweetener and emulsifier), pineapple, lime juice and distilled water, it is undoubtedly an evolution of an old Peruvian punch brought by seamen from Callao. The potent but subtle concoction soon became a San Francisco staple, associ-
T I R I P S E H T R E V O C S DI OF THE SNAKE
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