falca is a particularly simple variety of pot still used in Peru and formerly in parts of Chile. See pisco. To make a Peruvian falca, a sheet of copper is hammered into a simple, wide-mouthed kettle (the paila). This is then encased tightly in stucco-covered brick, with a firebox underneath, and covered with a brick dome whose inside is finished with plaster impregnated with a mix of various traditional sealants, among them tar, egg white, burnt sugar, and oil. A hole is made in the top of the dome for filling the still and provided with a simple copper or earthenware lid, and another sheet of copper, rolled into a very long, tapered tube (the
The falca is very old: the first record of a still in Peru, owned by a Greek named Pedro Manuel in 1613, describes it simply as a “caldera grande … con su tapa e canon”—a “large kettle, with its lid and tube.” Some light on its possible origin, and that of distilling in South America in general, can be cast by examining the somewhat more primitive version that was used in Chile. This was described in 1826 by John Meiers, who encountered it in Aconcagua, in the center of the country just north of Santiago. It followed the same general design and terminology but was rather less substantial in construction, with a shallow, removable wooden head that incorporated the cañon, which is laid in a trough of running water. This still bears a strong resemblance to the stills used to this day in the Cape Verde islands to make grogue, the local cane spirit, particularly in the cooling arrangement, and it must be noted that the African Atlantic islands were an important staging area for Iberian colonization of the Americas.
The falca has the important advantage of using much less copper than a standard alembic and largely dispensing with the skilled metalwork needed to make still heads and condensing coils (the version Clements Markham encountered in the Peruvian jungle in 1860 is even more frugal, being made out of a clay pot, the broken bottom of another one, and some bamboo tubes). In places where resources are scarce, the advantage is decisive, meaning the difference between distilling and not distilling. On the other hand, its design allows for very little of the purifying reflux alembic-style still heads provide, and distillation must be managed very carefully if one wishes to extract a clean spirit from it. See reflux.
The falca is still used in Peru, and when used well it yields an intensely aromatic spirit.
See also Hacienda la Caravedo.
Markham, Clements. Travels in Peru and India. London: 1862.
Miers, John. Travels in Chile and La Plata, vol. 2. London: 1826.
Ricome, P. Industria Peruana de los aguardientes de uva. Lima: Sección técnica de propaganda agropecuaria, 1942.
By: David Wondrich