A brief, uplifting note about an Argentine tradition that I’ve come to enjoy over these past few months: Fernet con Coca Cola, or, simply “Fernet and Coke.” Note: I wrote this post in 2011 when I was living in Mendoza – updates below!

Fernet and Coke – The Phenomenon

Fernet Branca is an herbacious digestif made in Italy by Distillerie Fratelli Branca. However, Argentina is the only other place in the world that they make it outside of Italy.  Fernet became popular in Argentina with the Italian immigrants at the turn of the last century (as in 1900) and then spread like wildfire throughout the country.

How does Fernet Branca taste? On its own, it is disgusting. (At least I think so.) It’s bitter, it’s really hard to describe the taste, and the recipe is a secret.

Its Wikipedia entry describes it as “myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and especially saffron, with a base of grape distilled spirits, and coloured with caramel colouring. Ingredients rumored to be in fernet include codeine, mushrooms, fermented beets, coca leaf, gentian, rhubarb, wormwood, zedoary, cinchona, bay leaves, absinthe, orange peel, calumba, echinacea, quinine, ginseng, St. John’s wort, sage, and peppermint oil.” The Fernet Branca website describes it as having 27 herbs, roots and spices.

There are several different types of Fernet: Fernet Branca is the default, while Fernet Branca Menta is a mintier version. Fernet Branca is mainly what’s used to make Fernet and Coke.

Fernet is an acquired taste. The first time I tried it, I hated it. I asked my friends how they could possible drink something so terrible. They assured me that I’d come to like it, especially if I was having it as Fernet and coke. I was a nonbeliever.

Fernet and Coke – “Para Preparar”

There are a couple ways to order Fernet in a bar here in Argentina. You can either get it normally (fernet con coke), or you can get it “para preparar”, when the bar gives you 1 glass with ice and fernet, another glass with just ice, and a bottle of Coke to mix your own according to how you like it.  This is probably the best way to go and the best value – and you can make it more suave at first (mostly Coke) and then move on to higher potency combinations later in the evening.

Then one day I enjoyed it. It was after a few adult beverages, of course. But for some reason, I began to like it. And now I know I’m going to crave it when I get back to Texas. Hmph.

Since 2011… Fernet Branca is everywhere.

Update: We love the tradition of Fernet and coke so much that we named our sweet French bulldog “Branca.” When folks ask what her name is and we tell them, they inevitably ask what it means and it ends up being a little education for them about what Fernet is and some even say “OMG I’ve had that!”

Turns out, Fernet is having a “moment” back here in the U.S. after I originally wrote this post back in 2011. You can find it behind nearly every bougie cocktail bar in the States. Bartenders love the stuff for adding an amaro note to cocktails. There’s so much more to do with Fernet Branca than make Fernet and Coke.

Who’d have known?

Are you a Fernet fan? Let me know your favorite recipe in the comments below!