Try a Little Bitterness: Fernet-Branca
Straight Up Cocktails and Spirits

Does your palate lean to the bitter side? Do you enjoy the sharp, bracing flavor of Campari on a hot summer evening? Ready to try something that packs an even bigger punch? How about nip of Fernet-Branca?

The Flavor

On first sip, Fernet-Branca is just plain bitter. But let it settle on your tongue a moment and the full, dark complexity of its flavors really starts to shine. Made from a secret recipe that is said to include a combination of as many as 40 different botanicals, including roots, bark, herbs, and spices such as saffron and cardamom, Fernet-Branca has a whole lot going on in the taste department. There's something decidedly, well, medicinal about it, but also something surprisingly clean and bracing. It has a thicker, more syrupy texture than Campari, and, at 40 percent alcohol, packs a much boozier punch. It's a liqueur with a bite - and bark.

The Story

Made from a formula first developed in Italy in 1845, Fernet-Branca was originally marketed as a medicine to aid digestion, and over the years, it's been claimed to help everything from hangovers to cholera. Part of a larger family of Italian herbal liqueurs called amari (singular amaro, meaning "bitter"), Fernet-Branca is now one of several brands of fernet available on the international market (others include Fernet Stock and Luxardo Fernet Amaro), but remains the most iconically famous. The distiller Branca also makes a powerful mint-flavored liqueur called Branca-Menta. Fernet-Branca is especially popular in Argentina - and San Francisco.

A Few Ways to Drink It

Straight: Served either neat or on the rocks, Fernet-Branca's the ultimate digestif
With Soda: Lighten things up a bit by adding club soda or seltzer for a refreshing hot-weather drink
With Cola: A delicious combination of bitter and sweet that's especially popular in Argentina
With Coffee: Add a little to a cup of black coffee for a bracing after-dinner drink
In a Cocktail: Cocktail uses include a 2-bitters riff on the Old-Fashioned called the Toronto, which calls for rye, Fernet-Branca, simple syrup, and Angostura bitters

Have you tried Fernet-Branca? Any favorite ways to serve it?

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf.

Nora Maynard is a longtime home mixologist and an occasional instructor at NYC’s Astor Center. She is a contributor to The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries and is the recipient of the American Egg Board Fellowship in culinary writing at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. She previously covered food and drink in film at The Kitchn in her weekly column, The Celluloid Pantry.

(Images: Nora Maynard)

Comments (12)

Thanks for the suggestion! I can't wait to drink a Fernet and Coke later tonight!

This is such a San Francisco staple. I ordered some in SD and they knew right away I lived there. At the end of a night of too much drinks or too much food or both, a shot of this clears you right up. Never thought of having it as a cocktail, but I will...maybe even TONIGHT!

In SF we order this straight up with a ginger ale chaser, no other way

When I worked in a restaurant in my 20's in the UK there was a guy who came in every morning at about 9-10am and had a couple of large ones of these straight up...we call it hair of the dog...not sure it's a good thing! the memory has stayed with me a while

Sounds a lot like the German Killepitsch, of which I am an enormous fan.

fernet y cola is the way to go. although when i was feeling a little sick, my boyfriend made me a fernet version of a hot toddy: fernet, hot water, and a little lime. it was pretty good and it made me feel better.

@therippa - total agreement. no need for mixing or chilling, etc. just a shot of fernet and a ginger back. done.

also - delicious!

Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton Paterson is a wonderful and hilarious book. I tried to drink it while reading the book, but it was way too bitter for me.

This is such a Thing in San Francisco, I don't quite understand. It typically comes in a small glass (probably 3 - 4 oz full) and I've never seen anyone sit and sip on it. They take it as a shot and have a coke or ginger back.

This is their happy faces before drinking Fernet.

These are the faces they make after downing their glasses.

The one fellow tried to describe it's appeal; something along the lines of, "it is such amazing burning, that you are pleased it's over when you've finished."

oh man, ever since i was a child i've used this - with remarkable success, i might add - for indigestion. sure helps bring the burps along! it's so gross though, i can't imagine drinking it in any other way.

my uncle in italy will sometimes have a corretto with fernet - literally, espresso "corrected" with fernet (more traditionally done with grappa). i have tried it, and i have to say, i find it INCORRECT!

This is one taste I cannot acquire, even after having bought a bottle. A drink should not taste this bad.