A Jigger of Blog

I have a strange confession to make. While I’ve enjoyed Fernet Branca for a while at craft cocktail bars, I only recently bought my first bottle for home use. Worse still, once I had a bottle, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. It hasn’t been hot enough to make me want something like a Fernet Swizzle and a lot of the recipes from the Savoy Cocktail Book had either some ingredients that I was missing (IBF Pick-Me-Up Cocktail) or just didn’t seem that interesting to me (Yodel Cocktail or Fernet Branca Cocktail).

Thanks to the glories of the internet, I did find something posted by Jamie Boudreau that both seemed like a great use of Fernet Branca and would hit the note I was looking for on a cool, rainy spring day in the Mid-Atlantic.

Toronto Cocktail

2 oz rye (Rittenhouse 80)
0.25 oz Fernet Branca
0.25 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir in an ice filled mixing glass and strain into a cocktail glass. Flame an orange peel and drop the zest into the drink

This is a pretty cool drink. It’s a rye Old Fashioned, with a little Fernet added and served up instead of on the rocks. It could also be read as a de-fruited King Cole Cocktail. The Fernet adds a great bit of vegetal spice to the rye and really takes it beyond a simple rye Old Fashioned.

What I really loved about the Toronto Cocktail is that it gets around what I (and many others) view as the biggest challenge with an ingredient like Fernet Branca: finding balance and allowing to play a role, but not dominate, other ingredients in the drink. The Toronto Cocktail does it marvelously, which is why I can see myself enjoying this one in the future too.

So readers, what are you favorite cocktails that include Fernet Branca?

Update:

In the comments, Frederic of Cocktail Virgin points out that the Toronto Cocktail is not by Jamie Boudreau, but is a classic from the early 1900s.  I think my confusion came from Boudreau’s post, but oh well, my apologies. I’ve updated the post to reflect this change. Also, doing a bit more research on the Toronto, I’d say this is a pretty good example of how to not make a precise, well-balance cocktail. For those not paying attention, recipes should be followed precisely and when using ingredients like Fernet Branca, if it says 1/4 ounce, don’t just rush ahead and assume adding 1/2 an ounce will make it taste better. Stirring involves stirring, not shaking slowly.