Fernet

Fernet is known as the bartenders’ best friend.  As I was looking up some information I came upon a pretty amazing fact; “San Francisco alone accounts for 25% of U.S. Fernet consumption”.

Fernet was brought about in 1845 by Bernadino Branca.

What he created was a grape distilled spirit as the base, and 27 other spices are rumored to be included in the mix.  Blended together, they create a thick, bitter liquor from these herbs and spices.

Supposedly included in the distillation are: gum myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, saffron, codeine, mushrooms, fermented beets, coca leaf, gentian, wormwood, zedoary, cinchona, bay leaf, absinthe, orange peel, calumba, echinacea, quinine, ginseng, St. John’s Wort, sage, peppermint oil, red cinchona bark and galanga.