Episode 167 - Macchu Pisco with Melanie Asher

In this fascinating conversation and tasting with Melanie Asher of Macchu Pisco, some of the topics we discuss include: Melanie's journey as an entrepreneur - from hustling flowers in Peru at the age of 6, to mergers and acquisitions for international spirits companies, to founding her own Pisco brand. How Pisco is unique from other un-aged fruit brandies from around the world, including which grapes can be used to make it and what other production considerations are required by the category's geographical denomination of origin. Then we get into the tasting, where we sample Macchu Pisco's premium base expression, as well as 3 different varieties from the "La Diablada" collection, a custom blend made for the Founding Farmers restaurant group, and wrapping up with a pour of Ñusta - an ultra premium bottling that only gets produced in the order of about 100 bottles per year. Along the way, we talk about what it takes to run a spirits brand, how Melanie thinks about blending in the un-aged spirits space, what to drink with Keanu Reeves, and much, much more.