 The cocktail originated in Lima , Peru , and was invented by Victor Vaughen Morris , an American bartender , in the early 1920s . Morris left the United States in 1903 to work in Cerro de Pasco , a city in central Peru . In 1916 , he opened Morris ' Bar in Lima , and his saloon quickly became a popular spot for the Peruvian upper class and English @-@ speaking foreigners . The pisco sour underwent several changes until Mario Bruiget , a Peruvian bartender working at Morris ' Bar , created the modern Peruvian recipe of the cocktail in the latter part of the 1920s by adding Angostura bitters and egg whites to the mix . 
