Fernet-Branca: 27 Botanicals From Four Continents, Since 1845

We pour a full range of Japanese amari from the Scarlet line at Iseya. Fernet-Branca is the Italian original that all of them are answering.

1845

Fernet-Branca was formulated in Milan in 1845 by Bernardino Branca, a self-taught herbalist, who set up a business with his sons to make and sell it.

Fratelli Branca Distillerie is still family-owned, and the recipe is still treated as a genuine secret. The complete formula is reportedly known to one living person, with the only written copy kept in a safe in Milan.

Whether that is exactly true or partly legend, the effect is the same. Nobody has successfully reverse-engineered it.

27 Botanicals

The base is a grape spirit. Into it go 27 herbs, roots and spices sourced from four continents.

The published ones include aloe, rhubarb, gentian, galingale, cinnamon, myrrh, bitter orange, iris, saffron and chamomile.

A few of those are worth pausing on.

Gentian is the source of much of the bitterness. Gentian root is one of the most intensely bitter substances used in food and drink, and it appears in a large share of European amari and aperitifs for that reason.

Myrrh is a resin, the same one used as incense for thousands of years. It contributes an aromatic, slightly medicinal, almost church-like quality that is a large part of why Fernet smells the way it does.

Saffron is the expensive one, and Branca reportedly buys up to 75% of the world's Iranian saffron supply annually. That is a startling figure for a single product, and it explains both the cost structure and the depth in the finish.

After blending, it rests a minimum of one year in large Slovenian oak vats before bottling.

Why Bartenders Drink It

Fernet has a long-standing reputation as the bartender's handshake, a shot passed between industry people at the end of a shift.

The practical reason is that it is aggressively bitter, minty and cold-tasting, which resets a palate that has spent eight hours tasting sugar. The cultural reason is that it functions as a shibboleth. Ordering one signals that you know what you are ordering.

What It Tastes Like

Intensely bitter, with mint and menthol at the front, saffron and aromatic herbs behind it, and a complex, lingering, medicinal finish.

It is a genuinely challenging flavor and it does not soften with familiarity so much as become legible. The first one is a shock. The tenth is a favorite.

How to Drink It

Neat or on the rocks, chilled, in a small snifter. Straight from the freezer is common and takes some of the edge off.

Traditionally it is a digestivo, taken after a heavy meal, and the tradition is medically reasonable: bitter compounds stimulate digestion, which is why the entire amaro category exists.

Pair It With

After a rich meal, on its own. Or alongside something like matcha tiramisu, where the bitterness meets the sweetness head-on.

Try It at Juraku

Fernet-Branca is on the bar at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, alongside the Scarlet amari from Iseya. Check the current menu or ask us what is open.