Fernet
Fernet is a style of Italian amaro that is intensely bitter and herbal, with menthol, eucalyptus-like and bitter-root notes and very little sweetness. Fernet-Branca, from Milan, is the dominant brand and the one most recipes mean. It is used by the bar spoon or the 7.5ml measure as a modifier, and on its own as a digestif.
Common uses
- modifier in the Hanky Panky and other stirred drinks
- with cola in Argentina's Fernet con Coca
- a digestif, neat
Buying & storage
Keeps more or less indefinitely: Alcohol is preserving it. An open bottle keeps for a very long time, though aromatics do fade slowly.
Buying: Fernet-Branca is the reference; other fernets are often softer and sweeter
Storage: keeps for years once opened, store upright away from light
By the numbers
How cocktails use Fernet
Counted from the 2 published CocktailHQ recipes that include it. Measures are per serve.
Its job in the glass
- Recipes
- 2 — the 82nd most used of 137
- Role
- base in 1; bitter element in 1
Taste, on a 0–5 scale
The same scores CocktailHQ uses to judge whether a swap keeps a drink balanced.
- Sweetness
- 1
- Acidity
- 0
- Bitterness
- 5
- Intensity
- 5
Swaps that don't work
- Campari: Campari is bitter-orange and markedly sweeter; it gives none of fernet's menthol, and the drink turns into a Negroni relative.
Used in fewer than 3 recipes, so no technique split or partner list is drawn — a pattern needs more drinks than this.
In depth
Understanding fernet
How it is made, where it comes from, what it pairs with, and how it behaves in an alcohol-free drink.
Origin
An Italian amaro style; Fernet-Branca has been made in Milan since the nineteenth century.
Recipes
Cocktails containing this ingredient
Swap it
Possible substitutions
Explore