Born in Peru and based in San Francisco, Nico Vera is a writer, mixologist, chef, and photographer. He shares stories, original pisco cocktails, and traditional Peruvian recipes on his blog, Pisco Trail. Nico is the resident Peruvian chef at 18 Reasons, a cooking school in San Francisco. Through his pop-up dinners and classes he takes diners on a gastronomical tour of Peru’s criollo cuisine, a fusion of Inca, Spanish, African, Chinese, and Japanese cultures. At an early age, his mom taught him how to cook and his father made him his first Pisco Sour. He returns to Lima every year to visit family and stay up to date on culinary and cocktail trends. Growing up listening to Afro-Peruvian and Latin music, Nico loves to dance and play hand drums. To connect with Pachamama (Mother Earth), he runs on mountain trails in California, Colorado, and Peru.