Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber-colored spirit produced in winemaking regions of Peru and Chile. Made by distilling fermented grape juice into a high-proof spirit, it was developed by 16th-century Spanish settlers as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain. It had the advantages of being produced from abundant domestically grown fruit and reducing the volume of alcoholic beverages transported to remote locations.

The oldest use of the word pisco to denote Peruvian aguardiente dates from 1764. The beverage may have acquired its Quechua name from the Peruvian town of Pisco, once an important colonial port for the exportation of viticultural products, which is located on the coast of Peru in the valley of Pisco, by the river with the same name. From there, "Aguardiente de Pisco" was exported to Europe, especially Spain, where the beverage's name was abbreviated to "Pisco".

The Viennese newspaper Wiener Zeitung in 1835 reported on the Peruvian spirit made from Italia grapes:

A large quantity of a spirit known as Pisco de Italia, imported from Peru, was consumed in Chile. But since the import duties are so high, a similar grape with large oval berries has been used to produce a similar drink, which has almost completely displaced the Peruvian. [Ehemals wurde in Chile eine große Menge des unter dem Nahmen Pisco de Italia im Lande bekannten Branntweins verbraucht, der aus Peru kam; aber seitdem die Einfuhrzölle so hoch sind, hat man aus einer Art Traube mit großen ovalen Beeren ein ähnliches Getränk bereitet, welches das peruanische fast gänzlich verdrängt hat.]

— Wiener Zeitung, Saturday, 1 August 1835, page 1

In the Medical Lexikon of Robley Dunglison (1858) it is stated that, following observations of Swiss Johann Jakob von Tschudi:

In Peru, the common brandy obtained from grapes is the Aguardiente de Pisco, so called because shipped at the port of Pisco.

— Medical Lexicon: A Dictionary of Medical Science, 1858, page 859