jueves, 4 de agosto de 2011

Connections with San Francisco’s Pisco Punch

The register has some significant comments that link the Morris’ Bar with the Bank Exchange saloon of San Francisco, California whose last owner, the Scottish Duncan Nicol, was the inventor of pisco punch. Nicol was nicknamed Pisco John and the Bank Exchange, Pisco John’s. It must be noted that the Morris’ Bar register started in 1922, almost three years after the San Franciscan bar closed its doors due of the Prohibition Act of 1919. The first related comment is from a Frank E. Smith, who writes in January of 1926: “Regards to Duncan Nichol [sic]”.
A William Avery commented in March of the same year: “Pisco John, San Francisco”. In October, William N. Woods writes: “Recollections of ‘Pisco John’s’ San Francisco Calif” and in March of 1928, a H. W. Moss writes simply: “Pisco Johnny,” giving Victor Morris a second and a highly complimentary nickname. Understandably, three of this four registrants were residents of San Francisco.

Frank E. Smith’s comment appear to indicate that Victor Morris knew Duncan Nicol. There is a circumstantial evidence that may proof this is the case, and possibly even more: that Morris himself may have obtained the pisco punch recipe. Morris visited San Francisco in August of 1925 and only a few days after his return to Lima the first comment about pisco punch appears. It was written by a J. Foster on September 25: “Ray! Rah! [illegible] is Pisco Punch.”

Other comments were written in 1928, these are: “Pisco Punch - and how!,” “Pisco Punch [followed by the drawing of a happy face]” and “Fly-Tax & Pisco Punch forever.”
A possible relationship between Morris and the Bank Exchange of San Francisco and its famous pisco punch is reinforced when noting the fact that John Lannes, barman of the Bank Exchange and its proprietor for a few months before of the Prohibition Act of 1919 closed its doors, visited Lima and signed the Morris’ Bar register on June 10, 1927. Lannes wrote that he came from San Francisco and gave an address in that city, which permitted, along with an analysis of his signature, to determine with certainty that he was indeed the person that worked at the Bank Exchange. Unfortunately, Lannes didn’t write any commentary and the length of his stay in Lima is unknown. But what it is almost certain is that John Lannes tasted Morris’ pisco sour in 1927. As a side note, if Morris met Duncan Nicol during his visit to San Francisco in 1925, it was six months before the death of the last one, which occurred in February of 1926.
NOTE: (Gracias Donna y Michael Morris
Analysis of the Morris’ Bar Visitors Register (1916-1929)
Guillermo L. Toro-Lira, Michael P. Morris, Donna M. Morris - January 1, 2009

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