barsol pisco drinks international brands report

Brands Report 2020: Pisco

14 January, 2020

The ongoing debate over the origins of pisco – and therefore the most authentic choice of brands – will probably never conclude. One thing which cannot be argued is that Chilean pisco is more popular with bartenders than it used to be. 

Two years ago just three of the top 10 bestselling brands were Chilean, but now the balance is 60/40 in favour of Peru, with more Chilean brands getting close to the top 10.

This could be, in part, a measure of the craft pisco products now coming out of Chile, but also a response to the work being carried out by Chile’s Association of Pisco with bartenders in Europe.

However, this year’s champion is Barsol, which hails from Peru – 34% of bars that stock pisco said it was their number one. In fact, the brand was also found to be one of the top three choices in 59% of bars. Don’t expect that dominance to be eroded next year – Barsol was twice as likely as its nearest rival to be named the trending pisco.

Macchu – which is among the top-three piscos in nearly a quarter of bars – came in second, up from fourth, just ahead of Barsol, which had an almost identical record.

Although Pisco Portón dropped down the bestselling list this year it is now second in the top trending category and, despite past trademark battles with tequila brand Patrón, John Schuler, the man behind the Peruvian brand, has now established his brand in the global bar channel.

But the biggest climber in the ranks was Demonio de Los Andes, which gained three spots to finish fourth in the 2020 list.

The challenge for Chilean pisco brands is to increase exports as 99% of it is currently consumed domestically. Meanwhile, for the overall category the big task is to celebrate the popularity of the Pisco Sour cocktail, but also demonstrate the flexibility of the South American grape spirit and increase its accessibility.

                                                                                                

Methodology

The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.

To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.





Digital Edition

Drinks International digital edition is available ahead of the printed magazine. Don’t miss out, make sure you subscribe today to access the digital edition and all archived editions of Drinks International as part of your subscription.

Comment

La'Mel Clarke

Service isn’t servitude: the skill of hosting

La’Mel Clarke, front of house at London’s Seed Library, looks at the forgotten art of hosting and why it deserves the same respect as bartending.

Instagram

Facebook