Fernet
Fernet (Italian pronunciation: [ferˈnɛt]) is an Italian type of amaro, a bitter, aromatic spirit. Fernet is made from a number of herbs and spices which vary according to the brand, but usually include myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and especially saffron,[1] with a base of grape distilled spirits, and colored with caramel coloring.
Fernet is usually served as a digestif after a meal but may also be served with coffee and espresso or mixed into coffee and espresso drinks. It typically contains 45% alcohol by volume. It may be served at room temperature or with ice. A mint-flavored version of fernet is also available.
Fernet's smell has been described as "like black licorice-flavored Listerine".[1]
Popularity
Fernet is very popular in Argentina, where the production is around 25 million liters, 35% sold in Buenos Aires province and Federal District and 30% in Córdoba province (with a population of 3 million people).[2][3] It is commonly mixed with cola,[4] but it is also drunk with soda water (in an "old fashioned way"), or even neat.
The drink has been popular in the San Francisco Bay Area since before Prohibition.[1] In 2008, San Francisco accounted for 25% of US consumption.[5] San Francisco bars usually serve fernet as a shot followed by a ginger ale chaser.[1]
Cocktails
Fernet can be mixed into cocktails, though the strong taste can overwhelm other ingredients. It can replace bitters in recipes; for instance, the Fanciulli cocktail is a Manhattan with fernet instead of Angostura bitters.[6]
The chef Fergus Henderson offers a recipe, entitled both "A Miracle" and "Dr. Henderson" that approximates Branca Menta by combining two parts fernet with one part crème de menthe over ice. The recipe describes this cocktail as a cure for overindulgence.[7]
In popular culture
Fernet receives a mention in the novel Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.[lower-alpha 1]
It forms the titular subject of James Hamilton-Paterson's 2004 novel of Tuscany expatriate life, Cooking with Fernet Branca [8]
In the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth remembers himself sitting in Florence, Italy drinking a Fernet Branca.[9]
Fernet Branca (as Fernet-Branca) is mentioned in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.[lower-alpha 2]
Fernet was reported to be the favorite drink of 2007 U.S. Open (golf) winner Ángel Cabrera.[10]
See also
Notes
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