In America, it’s the new big thing in cocktails and mixology, or so proclaimed the New York Times (June 22, 2011): “Pisco, the clear grape spirit of South America….the fastest-growing spirit in the country.” A lot of credit for pisco’s elevation to trendiness goes to Melanie Asher (MBA ’03), founder of Macchu Pisco, the Maryland-based company she started back in 2005 with her sister, Lizzie. They import their product from Peru, which is actually overshadowed by neighboring Chile in terms of the amount of pisco produced. Both countries are riding the pisco boom but the Peruvian version has a quality edge, the Times asserted. Explains Asher, “We get our grapes from a cooperative of women growers. We monitor the wild yeasts, use cold fermentation, and generally go beyond the denomination rules.” Macchu Pisco has seen sales increases of 30 percent annually for the last five years. It holds 60 percent of market share in a number of U.S. cities, including Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

The company came to life at HBS. Explains Asher, who moved to America from Peru as a child, “As preparation for the HBS Business Plan Contest, I did a marketing independent study on how to launch a premium pisco brand in the United States. We entered a plan in the contest and were semi-finalists. The alumni I contacted during my second year were extremely helpful in mentoring me. After graduation, I had the option of returning to work at Diageo, the world’s largest spirits company, but I decided HBS had given me all the tools I needed to take the entrepreneurial risk.”

Asher is personally involved in the production cycle in Peru, monitoring the overall process from selecting the grapes to crushing them barefoot. The result is an un-aged 80 proof clear spirit derived from fresh-fermented grape juice (wine). It takes at least four bottles of wine to produce one bottle of pisco. Pisco Punch and Pisco Sour are the spirit’s flagship drinks but mixologists worldwide are having a field day coming up with new libations, which is all good for Macchu Pisco. Salud!

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