Fernet Branca

Bartenders call it the industry handshake — the shot poured at the end of a long shift, the one that separates the curious from the committed. Fernet-Branca is the most uncompromising amaro of them all, made in Milan by the Branca family since 1845 to a recipe so secret that only the company president is said to know it in full.

Twenty-seven botanicals are involved, sourced from four continents: aloe, gentian, rhubarb, chamomile, myrrh and saffron among the ones the family will admit to. They're macerated and aged in oak, which rounds off some of the ferocity without ever taming it. At 39% it means business.

The nose alone is a statement — menthol, eucalyptus and dark bitter herbs, medicinal in the best sense. The palate is intensely bitter and cooling at once, mint and pine over a deep, earthy, almost saline bitterness, with a finish that goes on and on and leaves your whole mouth tingling. It is not a drink that meets you halfway. It expects you to come to it.

Traditionally a digestivo, taken neat and cold after a heavy meal to settle everything down. Once it clicks, nothing else quite scratches the same itch.

How to Serve

Neat, straight from the freezer, in a small chilled glass after dinner. For the classic Argentine serve, mix it long with cola over ice — the Fernet con Coca. A dash also transforms a Hanky Panky.

Where to Drink It

Tayer + Elementary in Old Street, where the bartenders live for this stuff. Bar Termini in Soho for a digestivo done right. Black Rock in Shoreditch for late-night bitter conversions.

Food Pairings

Forget food pairing — this is the thing you drink after the food, when a rich, meat-heavy dinner needs settling.