Andes on the Rocks

By Shaun Tolson

Sixteen years ago, Oscar Award–winning director Steven Soderbergh began lming a movie in Madrid about Ernesto “Che” Guevara. To celebrate the occasion, the lm’s Bolivian casting director, Rodrigo Bellott, gi ed Soderbergh a bottle of Casa Real Black Label singani. It was a bottle that Bellott had to buy on Spain’s black market—Bolivia’s national spirit wasn’t exported at the time—but Soderbergh fell in love at rst sip.

“Even before it reached my mouth, the bouquet was a surprise and unique to any spirit that I had imbibed,” he says of the eau de vie, which is cra ed from Muscat of Alexandria grapes that must be grown at least 5,250 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains. “I wasn’t used to spirits with that alcohol level having such an aromatic presentation.” e spirit’s layered and complex avors inspired Soderbergh to create his own version of singani, dubbed Singani 63 and produced for the director by Casa Real. He was soon distributing the brand throughout the U.S., and in 2014, he started lobbying the government to o cially recognize singani as a unique style of brandy distinctive to its place of origin. “ is spirit is absolutely the essence of Bolivia,” he says. “You could not reproduce this anywhere but with that single grape varietal grown in that 20,000-acre area that’s 6,000 feet above sea level. is is hard stu to make.”

Earlier this year, Soderbergh succeeded in his quest: Singani was recognized by the U.S. government as a distinctive category of brandy that can only be made in Bolivia. Still, the spirit is but a blip in the U.S. liquor market, with just a handful of brands, including Rujero and Los Parralles, available through extremely limited distribution stateside. It’s Soderbergh’s hope, however, that the new designation will encourage a new audience of drinkers to give it a try. When they do, he knows they’ll be enraptured, just like he was 16 years ago.

“It’s a form of transportation, a way to experience another culture,” he says. “ is is the spirit version of me saying to someone, ‘You have to check this movie out.’ ere’s nothing like it.”

Vibrant and versatile, singani can play a starring role in a range of cocktails, including these three classics