We met here for the first time, the womanizer Fernet I had heard so much about,” romanticizes Yasmin Simeonova, an architect from Macedonia working in Buenos Aires. Fernet-Branca is a bitter, aromatic herbal liqueur that was created in 1845 by Bernardino Fernet. It is made from a secret recipe of over 27 different herbs and spices, including saffron, myrrh, aloe, rhubarb, chamomile, and gentian root. The herbs and spices are macerated in alcohol and then aged in oak barrels for a minimum of one year. After three years in Buenos Aires, I now have a very strong and passionate relationship with Fernet,” she says.

Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. Totally disgusting,” she confesses, letting out a “bleargh” and lowering her eyebrows, still outraged by the memory. Although the bar displays an array of spirit and wine bottles, Chico sells on average 70 glasses of Fernet a day. He claims that the central Argentine city of Cordoba alone consumes more Fernet than all of Italy, largely because of its strong Italian heritage. Juan Chico, manager of BARTOK bar and restaurant in the upscale Palermo neighborhood in Buenos Aires, says Fernet is the most widely consumed liquor in the restaurant.I’m a product of the U.S. university system, meaning I spent the better part of four years of my life drinking nauseatingly sweet grain alcohol mixed with Kool-Aid,” says Emily Sarah, managing partner of a financial advice company in Buenos Aires. After that she wouldn’t “get her nose close to a bottle of Fernet for many years,” preferring gin and tonic.

Digliardi, who moved to Buenos Aires in 2008, recalls his grandfather drinking Fernet as a digestif with a glass of hot water. Typically, the initial tasting is a hostile experience, but the drink eventually wins over its audience.

To some palates, the incredibly bitter Italian liquor is worse than cough syrup. Bizarrely though, in Argentina it’s so popular that the country now consumes more than 75% of all Fernet produced globally. And since the drink is traditionally mixed with Coca-Cola in an ice-filled glass, it also contributes to making Argentina one of the planet’s highest Coke consumers. What does Fernet Branca taste like? “Imagine a Negroni’s nightmare and you’re not far off,” says Frank Fellows, a chef who’s had more shots of Fernet Branca than you’ve had hot dinners. Frank is the Frank behind Frank’s Vegan Kitchen and one of the many pan shakers out there who enjoys a Fernet at the end of every service. “The first time I drank Fernet was after my first meal at St John Bread & Wine,” Frank tells Mob, “the chef told me it would help after I’d inhaled so much bone marrow.” Speaking as a man who has eaten too much bone marrow on more than one occasion, I can confirm that chef was right. When psychologist Florencia Martinez, a native of Gualeguaychu in Argentina’s Entre Rios province, first sipped it, the verdict was straightforward: she poured it away in horror. The flavour is overwhelmingly bitter, medicinal and herbal, dark and oily - its popularity endures and its especially popular in Argentina where 75% of the entire production is consumed.

According to official courses, the Fernet Branca recipe is made of a mélange of 27 herbs, roots and spices. The exact ratio of those ingredients remains a closely guarded secret but some of the most notable include rhubarb, camomile, cinnamon, peppermint oil, and saffron. It’s that combination of peppermint oil and saffron which gives Fernet its toothpaste-adjacent menthol flavour. Some sourcesclaim that the Branca family is responsible for an estimated 75% of the world’s saffron consumption, controlling the market price of it like the spice mined on Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s Dune.It had been two years since I’d seen anyone drink Fernet in Italy,” says Italian nightclub promoter Giovanni Digliardi, who did a double take the first time he stepped into an Argentine bar and was immediately offered a “Fernecola” – Fernet mixed with Coke. At night, especially during weekends, youngsters and older people alike roam the streets with their containers of mixed drinks. Trying it out was like a kiss, a bitter kiss that burns your tongue and makes your eyes close in disgust.” Fernet owes its unconventional taste to a top secret recipe that involves about 40 different herbs including saffron, rhubarb, cardamom, myrrh, chamomile, aloe and gentian root. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.