LUX Food & Drink Awards 2016

LUX - Food & Drink Awards 2016 5 The brain child of sisters, Melanie and Elizabeth Asher, Macchu Pisco LLC has spent the last 9 years growing into an internationally renowned brand, famous for its premier Piscos; offering three core products, each of which are a prime example of luxury craftsmanship. Since first introducing Macchu Pisco, a traditional Peruvian grape brandy, to the United States, CEO and Founder Melanie Asher has achieved more than simple acclaim for a superb spirit. Named one of top 10 female distillers in the world, she has brought to life three award winning piscos which come in the form of: Macchu Pisco - a premium puro Quebranta variety, super-premium acholado-style La Diablada Pisco and luxury mosto verde style of pisco, aptly named Ñusta, after an Incan princess. For those who are not so familiar with the Pisco category, Pisco is an unaged clear spirit derived from a single distillation of fresh fermented grape wine. It takes at least five bottles of wine to produce one bottle of pisco. From this costly process an elegant spirit is born, one which most closely captures the essence of the grape. Prior to 2007, when Macchu Pisco first entered the North American market, the Pisco category was small and little-known to the consumer. Armed with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and experience working with large spirits firms while an investment banker, Melanie recognized that the country’s rapidly growing interest in cocktails and the wide world of artisanal spirits set the stage for introducing a pisco and thus helped launch the Best Female Owned & Operated Spirits Company Macchu Pisco LLC is a producer and exporter of spirits, dedicated to taking Peru’s finest Pisco to the world. We profile the company and its Founders, gaining an absorbing insight into the decadent tipples it creates – Pisco, a luxury grape based white spirit. Best Female Owned & Operated Spirits Company category in the US. Melanie was joined by her sister Elizabeth, a Harvard lawyer, who now serves as the company’s President leading Macchu Pisco LLC’s export operations and marketing efforts. The sisters sought out to make the best pisco for export and set up in Ica, part of the Pisco Valley of Peru for the production of their piscos – all of which are distributed worldwide. Macchu Pisco prides itself on being a true family enterprise through and though, comprising four generations of women, starting with their 101-year old Amelia, who was Melanie’s partner-in-crime in developing the unique La Diablada blend that stands to this day as the world’s only vintage pisco to their 27-year old cousin Natasha Iny who serves as their European Brand Ambassador. Today, grandma Amelia continues to approve every distillation and blend iteration before bottling. Each of their piscos is a collaboration that Melanie and Lizzie have developed with a co-op of women farmers, the same farmers from whom they have ethically sourced their organic grapes from since the inception of their company. As a fully woman owned company the firm is committed to giving back to women in Peru, serving on the Board of Coprodeli, thus being recognized this year as Best Peruvian Company Abroad by Premio Orgullo. Uniquely qualified to create a worldwide pisco company, Melanie has been able to combine her business acumen with knowledge of winemaking that she had garnered while living in Bordeaux France where she spent time honing her skills in the Rothschild wineries. This experience provided her essential knowledge as the first step in pisco production is to create a superior young wine that is then distilled. Not surprisingly, her peers in the spirits industry agree as Melanie was named this year Pioneer of the Year and inducted into the Dame Hall of Fame at Tales of the Cocktail, the spirits world’s most prominent gathering. Likewise, her countrymen have rewarded her efforts for leading the charge in establishing the pisco Company: Macchu Pisco LLC Email: melanie1@ macchupisco.com Website: www.macchupisco.com T h e S p i r i t S o f T h e A n d e s Uniquely qualified to create a worldwide pisco company, Melanie has been able to combine her business acumen with knowledge of winemaking that she had garnered while living in Bordeaux France