Singani has been distilled in Bolivia's southern valleys since the 16th century, when Spanish monks planted Muscat grapes near the silver mines of Potosi to make wine and spirits for the high-altitude colonists. Protected as a denomination of origin, it is the proud national liquor of Bolivia, most famously served as a chuflay.
Neat, it is silky and intensely floral, all white peach, jasmine and grape blossom with a clean warmth. In a chuflay it turns bright, bubbly and citrus-laced, the perfume riding atop the fizz. Elegant, aromatic and dangerously easy.
Distilling aromatic Muscat wine concentrates the grape's volatile floral terpenes into the clear spirit, while the high-altitude growing region preserves bright acidity and intense aromatics in the fruit.
Variations
served neat, chuflay with ginger ale, yungueñito with orange juice, sour with lemon
On the Palate
Where Singani sits in the Bolivian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 160 min
Harvest ripe Muscat of Alexandria grapes at high altitude.
- 22880 min
Crush the grapes and ferment the juice into a dry base wine.
- 3120 min
Distill the wine in a copper pot still to capture the aromatics.
- 430 min
Collect the clear heart of the distillate, discarding heads and tails.
Watch outKeep only the clear heart of the run and cut away the heads and tails — that middle cut is where the grape's floral aroma lives, clean and safe.
- 560 min
Rest the spirit briefly to mellow before bottling.
- 61 min
To make a chuflay, fill a glass with ice.
- 72 min
Pour a measure of singani and top with chilled ginger ale or lemon-lime soda.
- 81 min
Garnish with a lemon wedge and stir gently to serve.
