Victor Vaughen Morris

Victor Vaughen Morris (August 5, 1873 – June 11, 1929) was an American immigrant to Peru and businessman and bar owner best known for inventing the Pisco Sour, the national drink of Peru.

Victor Vaughen Morris
Morris
Born(1873-08-05)August 5, 1873
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
DiedJune 11, 1929(1929-06-11) (aged 55)
Lima, Peru
OccupationBar owner

Origins

Morris was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Descending from a pioneer family, his father was a businessman and a polygamist having served there as a Mormon bishop and his grandfather and great-grandfather had played a prominent role in the founding of the city. He was for several years manager for the B.C. Morris Floral Company but later assumed the direction of the retail stores of Salt Lake Floral Company. He was both popular and energetic and a success as President of the American Florist society. Victor was a leading spirit in Lodge No. 85 of the Elks.[1][2]

Morris' Bar, Lima, Peru
Salt Lake Tribune article on Morris's railroad clerical position to be taken in Peru

In 1903, he traveled to Peru to work as a cashier for the Cerro de Pasco Railway Company. Then, in 1915, he moved to Lima and, on April 1, 1916, founded Morris' Bar.[3]

Located in 847 Calle Boza (close to the Plaza Mayor of Lima),[4] Morris' Bar served as a gathering spot for the Peruvian upper class and English-speaking foreigners. According to Peruvian researcher Guillermo Toro-Lira, among the notable individuals who attended Morris' Bar were Elmer Faucett (founder of the Faucett Perú airline), José Lindley (founder of the Corporación José R. Lindley S.A. and Inca Kola), Alfred L. Kroeber (the cultural anthropologist), and Richard Halliburton (an adventurer and cultural ambassador to Peru).[5] The saloon was also a center of drink experimentation for Morris. Nicknamed Gringo, Victor Morris created the Pisco Sour as a variety of the whiskey sour.

Visitor Register

An M.I.T. mining superintendent, John Tinker Glidden, was "perhaps" the first non-employee and unaffiliated registrant to sign the Morris' Bar Visitor Register.[6] Glidden petitioned for permission "to import 500 Japanese laborers into Peru" in order to supplement (what he deemed as) recalcitrant "natives." Augusto B. Leguía, a xenophobic President against all Japanese immigration, denied the request.[7]

In 1942, when his body was found at the bottom of a mine shaft (only months after organizing, participating, and photographing his eldest daughter's wedding),[8] he worked for the J.P. Morgan & Co.-backed Anglo American plc in the Lucanas Province. His widow, daughters, and their children later immigrated into California and the Pacific Northwest.[9] Glidden's signature, along with a handwritten comment, appeared in the Register on Wednesday, October 4, 1922. That date marked almost twenty months since Morris' introduction of the Pisco Sour, or a variant thereof, to Euramerican drinking culture---without Angostura bitters and egg whites, later added by bartender Mario Bruiget. Glidden reflected on the bar's most excellent libations and services, commenting that "perfection is made of attention to trifles and yet perfection is no trifle."[10]

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Mines, Railroads, and Mormons in the Story of Pisco Sour". April 5, 2016.
  3. “The Life and Passions of Victor V. Morris, Creator of the Pisco Sour” , Published in Dionisos Magazine, Lima, Perú - February 2008.
  4. "Peruanos Celebran el "Día del Pisco Sour" con Degustaciones y Fiestas" (in Spanish). Emol.com. Agence France-Presse. February 5, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  5. “Análisis del registro de firmas del Morris’ Bar (1916-1929)”
  6. "Analysis of the Morris' Bar Visitors Register (1916-1929)". Pisco, its Origins and Traditions. May 3, 2020.
  7. Staff, United States War Department General (1978). United States Military Intelligence [1917-1927]. Garland Pub. p. 2716. ISBN 978-0-8240-3010-0.
  8. Perú, Sociedad de Ingenieros del (1942). Informaciones y memorias de la Sociedad de Ingenieros del Perú (in Spanish). Sociedad de Ingenieros del Perú. p. 257.
  9. Leonard, John William; Downs, Winfield Scott; Lewis, M. M. (1922). Who's who in Engineering. John W. Leonard Corporation. p. 501.
  10. "Analysis of the Morris' Bar Visitors Register (1916-1929)". Pisco, its Origins and Traditions. May 3, 2020.

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