1870: Pisco y Pisco Punch en San Francisco

Este es el testimonio del historiador norteamericano Herbert Asbury quien investigó, la popularidad del Pisco en la costa oeste de los Estados Unidos y publicó en su libro "The Barbary Coast: An informal history of the San Francisco underworld" (Herbert Asbury, Nueva York, 1933) una descripcion del pisco y un grabado de un bar en San Francisco donde se bebia el pisco. Mas adelante habla del Pisco que se uso para preparar el Buttom Punch.

El Bank Exchange era especialmente famoso por el "Pisco Punch", inventado por Duncan Nichol, uno de los barman más reputados... Durante la década de 1870´s era de lejos la bebida más popular en San Francisco, a pesar que se vendía a 25 centavos el vaso, un precio alto para aquellos días. Las descripciones de San Francisco en aquel período, abundan en referencias casi líricas a su sabor y potencia, como "la crème de la crème" de las bebidas. Su base era el aguardiente de Pisco, que era destilado de la uva conocida como italia o la Rosa del Perú, y se denominó así debido al puerto peruano por donde era embarcado (...) Sobre el aguardiente en sí, (...) un conocedor que lo probó en 1872 sentenció: Es perfectamente incoloro, con una delicada fragancia, terriblemente fuerte y tiene un sabor que recuerda el whisky escocés, pero es mucho más delicado, con un marcado gusto a fruta. Viene envasado en jarras de arcilla, anchas en la parte de arriba estrechándose gradualmente hacia abajo, que contienen aproximadamente cinco galones cada uno.
----
The Bank Exchange was especially noted for Pisco Punch, invented by Duncan Nichol, who was second only to Professor Jerry Thomas as bar-tender. During the eighteen-seventies it was by far the most popular drink in San Francisco, although it was sold for twenty-five cents a glass, a high price for those days. (…) But descriptions of the San Francisco of the period abound with lyrical accounts of its flavor and potency, and it must have been the crème de la crème of beverages. Its base was Pisco brandy, which was distilled from the grape known as Italia, or La Rosa del Peru, and was named for the Peruvian port from which it was shipped. (...) And the brandy itself, (...) was thus described by a writer who first tasted it in 1872: ‘It is perfectly colourless, quite fragrant, very seductive, terribly strong, and has a flavour somewhat resembling that of Scotch whiskey, but much more delicate, with a marked fruity taste. It comes in earthen jars, broad at the top and tapering down to a point, holding about five gallons each.

Pisco brandy was also used in a drink called Button Punch, which Rudyard Kipling, in his From Sea to Sea (1899), described as the "highest and noblest product of the age"