Distillery Visit: Tres Generaciones Pisco in Ica, Peru
January 14, 2015
Last year I visited 5 distilleries in Peru with Pisco Porton (read about that visit here and here): Vinas de Oro, Tres Generaciones, Lovera, Hotel El Carmello, and La Caravedo where Porton is made. This post is about my visit to Tres Generaciones in the region of Ica, Peru.
Tres Generaciones is one of a few names you'll find used for this distillery tourist stop. The compound is called Tres Esquinas, and it also contains the restaurant La Olla de Juanita.
The distillery was founded in 1856. There is one distillery, but five families have the rights to use it. The distiller is Juanita Gonzalez.
The distillery has both types of stills used in pisco, the old-school falcas and the "modern" alembics that are the typical copper pot stills we usually see.
As mentioned in a previous post about Pisco Porton's distillery La Caravedo, falcas are stills that are built as pits. The top part (at ground level) is a cap to open the still. It has no bubble shape on top like a traditional alembic, nor a lynne arm/swan's neck: It pretty much is a box with a tube near the top taking off the steam.
The steam is condensed in a typical copper coil, suspended in a big pool.
The alembic stills look pretty standard, though they tend to be encased in brick (like cognac stills).
We tasted a 60% ABV pisco right off the still, and it was soft, smooth, earthy, and grapey. Not citrusy at all and totally drinkable even at that proof. More than most spirits, pisco tastes delicious right off the still. I suppose it helps that by law it will never be watered down after its single distillation.
Below are a few more pictures from the distillery and restaurant.
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