Stevi Deter is a cocktail ingenue living in Redmond, WA. When not coding or riding Peruvian horses, she can be found writing about drinks and spirits at Two at the Most.
I had my first taste of Fernet Branca several months ago, when I noticed a bottle at the liquor store, and the name rang a bell. Only when I got home did I discover what I was remembering was the Hanky Panky, a drink that required a mere two dashes of the stuff.
Fernet Branca
I opened the bottle, took a whiff, and nearly fell over. This was one of my first encounters with an amaro, and what a place to start. I dared a small sip, and let’s just say, I was not ready. My tongue could not even begin to parse the flavors that were running riot in this deep dark spirit.
No wonder. Fernet Branca is a secret blend of over 40 herbs and spices. A grape base is infused with ingredients that include aloe, chamomile, cardamom, myrrh, gentian root, cinchona bark, orris root, zedoary, and saffron and then fermented for a year in oak barrels.
Fernet Branca was created in 1845 as a medicine by self-taught apothecary Bernardino Branca. It’s been touted as a cure for everything from indigestion to colicky babies. His daughter-in-law, Maria Scala, hit upon the strategy of marketing it as a relief for menstrual discomforts, and for years, advertisements displayed women drinking the amaro. Today it’s a favorite digestif, and a popular hangover cure.
I have used a dash or two of the Fernet Branca in a few drinks. I’ve treated it as a non-potable bitter akin to Angostura, not a drinkable amaro. Straight, I find the mix of flavors in Fernet to be just too overwhelming and noisy. There’s also a strong medicinal aftertaste I find almost unbearably unpleasant.
But Wayne Curtis’ recent article in the Atlantic inspired Chez Two at the Most to give this bitter drink another try. Reading about the San Francisco bar tradition of chasing a shot of Fernet with ginger ale, Bryan experimented with adding ginger syrup and soda water.
Fernet and Ginger
1 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz ginger syrup
soda water
Fill rocks glass with ice, add Fernet and syrup, top with soda water.
The ginger is strong enough to stand up to the Fernet and bring the flavors into balance. It still allows the complex flavors of Fernet to shine through. Particularly interesting are some of the woodier herbs. The aftertaste is also mellowed considerably.
Fernet and Moxie
The Wayne Curtis article also mentioned the popularity of Fernet Branca and Coca-Cola (Fernet con Cola) in Argentina. I gave this combination a try, but it was surprisingly unpleasant. The Coke and the Fernet just clashed, creating an unpleasant, artificially metallic flavor. Adding more Coke did little to make it better. I wondered if it wasn’t a case where the use of high fructose corn syrup in US Coke meant it didn’t work as well as Coke made with cane sugar, as it would be in Argentina.
On my next visit to the store, I looked for some cane sugar cola, which was surprisingly difficult. There were at least ten different speciality root beers, but I only found one cane sugar cola drink. This was Moxie Original Elixir.
This particular soda seemed a great choice to try with the Fernet, as it also has gentian root. And I was not disappointed. This really is a fantastic mixer with the Fernet. I found the resulting drink to be honestly refreshing. The flavors mixed well, in a very complimentary manner. I was astonished that just two ounces of Moxie made a full ounce of Fernet quite drinkable for me.
Fernet Branca and Moxie Original Elixir
1 oz Fernet Branca
2-4 oz Moxie Original Elixir
Fill rocks glass with ice. Pour in Fernet Branca. Top with Moxie Original Elixir. Give a quick stir. Garnish with orange slice.
My conclusion is that when using Fernet as a key ingredient in a cocktail, it’s important to find something that can both stand up to and blend with the Fernet. It may seem counter-intuitive at first, that the way to address too much flavor is to add more flavor. But finding complimentary flavors turns an assault on the palate into a more subtle dance.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Moxie… sigh.
My family has an ugly but true story about Moxie.
My grandfather was actually given the opportunity to invest in a small southern beverage company to the tune of $10,000 for 10% of the operation. He declined the offer because he thought it couldn’t compete against Moxie.
The company? Oh yeah, COCA-COLA….
I would love to try Fernet and Moxie but of course, there`s no Moxie here. We can find only one type of cane cola, Boylan, but i`ll give it a try in a few mins. Could be good to wake me up after yesterdays TDN.
I’ve got some Mexican Coca-Cola now – I was thinking of using some of it to try “HFCS vs. Cane Syrup Coke” when mixed with Fernet.
Great article Stevi! Ditto on using Fernet as a bitter rather than as a base or even primary modifier, but perhaps some Mexican Coke or another sugarcane cola will work out (no Moxie here either).
Cheers!