Episode 142

Fernet Duet

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Fernet Duet

Episode 142

What’s shakin, cocktail fans?

Welcome to Episode 142 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around, we chat with Nick Fisher, who runs the wildly popular Cocktail Chemistry YouTube Channel. We’re talking almost a million subscribers popular. This ain’t no joke. Of course we talk about how his channels came to be and how he goes about creating his videos, but we do have an overarching focus in this interview: Fernet.

Many of you know it as the bartender’s handshake, or that thing you tried once and really hated, but regardless of your affinities or aversions, the fact remains: Fernet is one of the most important and least understood categories of bitter liqueurs on the planet. Nick recently published a video where he conducted a comparative tasting of 9 different Fernets from around the world, and that is what we’re here to de-brief.

In this amaro-driven conversation with Nick Fisher of Cocktail Chemistry, some of the topics we discuss include:

How Nick started his incredibly popular YouTube Channel and how he organizes his videos by subject to appeal to different audiences
Why he decided to subject himself to a comparative tasting of nine different domestic and imported Fernets
Where Fernet fits into the larger world of Amari and herbal liqueurs, and why it’s a deceptively difficult category to define
Where in the world Fernet is the most popular, and how the people of Argentina have created their own signature method of drinking Fernet and coke.
We also do a comparative tasting of two different Fernets from Nick’s video to give you a cross-section of different tasting notes, we talk about the flavor science supporting Fernet’s complexity, and we also discuss the merits of using really nice whiskey in cocktails.

You can learn more by visiting CocktailChemistryLab.com and by following Nick’s work on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Featured Cocktail: The Industry Sour

This episode’s featured cocktail is The Industry Sour. To make it, you’ll need:

In this amaro-driven conversation with Nick Fisher of Cocktail Chemistry, some of the topics we discuss include:

How Nick started his incredibly popular YouTube Channel and how he organizes his videos by subject to appeal to different audiences
Why he decided to subject himself to a comparative tasting of nine different domestic and imported Fernets
Where Fernet fits into the larger world of Amari and herbal liqueurs, and why it’s a deceptively difficult category to define
Where in the world Fernet is the most popular, and how the people of Argentina have created their own signature method of drinking Fernet and coke.
We also do a comparative tasting of two different Fernets from Nick’s video to give you a cross-section of different tasting notes, we talk about the flavor science supporting Fernet’s complexity, and we also discuss the merits of using really nice whiskey in cocktails.

You can learn more by visiting CocktailChemistryLab.com and by following Nick’s work on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Featured Cocktail: The Industry Sour

This episode’s featured cocktail is The Industry Sour. To make it, you’ll need:

1 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Simple Syrup

Combine all these ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Give em a good, hard shake for about 15 seconds until the drink is thoroughly chilled and appropriately diluted, and then strain into a stemmed cocktail glass and enjoy.

If this formulation looks familiar to you, well, that’s because this is a riff on The Last Word, which follows these exact same ingredient ratios, but swaps out the Fernet for Gin and the Simple Syrup for Maraschino Liqueur. Ounce for ounce, the Industry Sour is a little less boozy with two non-alcoholic ingredients, but the complexity is arguably greater because you’re looking at an Amaro with over 27 herbs and spices, instead of a gin, which generally has anywhere from 5-15 key botanicals.

If you’re familiar with The Last Word format, you can think of the Industry Sour as its deeper, darker cousin. The Fernet Branca plays surprisingly well with the Green Chartreuse because where I think of chartreuse as being fresh, foresty, and chlorophyllic, the Fernet flavor profile bookends those flavors with intense earth and bitterness on the one hand, and piercing menthol on the other. Will it be a challenge for your palate? Most definitely, but we can’t think of a better way to celebrate two of the world’s most iconic cocktail mixers than by combining them in one potent sipper.

Show Notes

Fernet is an intriguing spirits category because it is ostensibly subsumed under the broader Amaro category, but with wide variation within the sub-category of Fernet, one might wonder if it is at risk of splintering off completely in some situations. In general, Fernets tend to be more boozy and more bitter than most Amari, but there is a wide range of different proofs, sweet/bitter levels, and botanical bills available on the market, with some being very mild and desserty, and others being highly mentholated and bitter.

Fun Fernet Facts

Fernet Branca was one of the few alcoholic beverages permitted to be sold in some parts of the United States during Prohibition. This led to its ascendance in places like San Francisco, where it remains popular to this day.
It is alleged that Fernet Branca uses up to 75% of the world’s saffron supply. However, this fact is hard to verify.
Argentina consumes more Fernet than any other country, and most of it is consumed as Fernet & Coke. The drink is assembled in a modified 2L plastic soda bottle with a ratio of 70% cola to 30% Fernet. It is then enjoyed communally as a passed common cup.

Fernet Resources

Amaro – Brad Thomas Parsons
Cocktail Chemistry Calculator
Fernet Branca Website
Fernet Leopold Product Page
Fernet Francisco Website
Fred Jerbis Importer (Oliver McCrum Wines & Spirits) – upon contacting their sales team, we learned that this spirit is available in the following markets: California (Oliver McCrum Wines & Spirits), Minnesota (The Wine Company), New York (PM Spirits), Nevada (Vin Sauvage and Crooked Wine Company), North Carolina (Proof Wine & Spirits), Oregon (Estelle Imports), Washington (Moda Beverage).

Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail

The Negroni is the cocktail format I have the most fun playing around with. I will say, though, that after doing this Fernet video, I came across the Industry Sour (see above), and it is fantastic.

If You Were a Cocktail Ingredient, What Would You Be?

I’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth, and I’m from Seattle originally, so I’d have to go with a coffee liqueur.

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

I’ll have to go with Hemingway Daiquiris in Cuba with Ernest Hemingway because he had a good palate for cocktails and he has some of the most interesting stories of anyone ever.

What is a Common/Traditional Cocktail Ingredient You’ve Never Tasted?

I’ve never had Midori. I think, for obvious reasons, I want to stay away from intensely artificial colors/flavors. But I’m coming around to it a bit from a visual standpoint.

What is an Uncommon or Controversial View You Hold in the Spirits/Cocktail Space?

Using really nice whisk(e)ys in an old Fashioned. I get a lot of Reddit/YouTube comments chastising me for using something like a 12 year Yamazaki in an Old Fashioned, but my standpoint is: garbage in, garbage out. If I’m putting something really nice in the drink, the better the juice, the better the product will be. I probably wouldn’t do it in a whisk(e)y sour, but I’ll do it in an Old Fashioned.

Fernet Duet

Featured Cocktail: The Industry Sour

Featured Cocktail: The Industry Sour

Show Notes

Fun Fernet Facts

Fernet Resources

Lightning Round

Favorite Cocktail

If You Were a Cocktail Ingredient, What Would You Be?

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

What is a Common/Traditional Cocktail Ingredient You’ve Never Tasted?

What is an Uncommon or Controversial View You Hold in the Spirits/Cocktail Space?

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