Fernet-Branca Shot

Fernet-Branca neat — Bernardino Branca's 1845 Milan formula (27 herbs), Italian immigration to Argentina and the international bartender's professional handshake.

Fernet-Branca is among the most storied spirits in Italian history, created in Milan in 1845 by Bernardino Branca. The Fratelli Branca Distillerie, established on that foundation, has been family-owned continuously since. The formula — 27 herbs, roots, spices, and botanicals including gentian root, rhubarb, myrrh, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, saffron, and peppermint oil in a grape spirit base — was originally presented as a medicinal product, and Fernet-Branca was marketed through the 19th and early 20th centuries as a remedy for stomach complaints, morning sickness, cholera prevention, and various other ailments in a period when distilled spirits were standard components of pharmacy dispensaries. The product's transition from medicine to digestivo to cultural icon occurred gradually: it became Italy's standard after-dinner stomach settler, the bitter shot consumed at the end of a meal as a digestivo and ordered in bars as a sign of insider drinking knowledge. Italian immigration to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — Argentina received more Italian immigrants per capita than any country except the United States during this period — transplanted the Fernet tradition to Buenos Aires and the Pampas, where Fernet con Coca (Fernet-Branca mixed with Coca-Cola) became one of the most consumed drinks in the country. Among bartenders internationally, ordering a shot of Fernet-Branca became a professional handshake, a way of identifying one's industry affiliation through a shared taste for intensity.