Fernet Branca is an herbaceous amaro from Italy that has become something of a symbol among craft bartenders. Think of it as the quaffable equivalent of wearing an arm band and curling your mustache. It also is rumored to have magical hangover-curing properties.
A couple of bars in San Francisco have a Fernet tap—Fernet is huge there; watch this video if you don’t believe it, (but don’t blame us if the song becomes irrevocably lodged in your brain)—and there’s at least one place in Boston that has one. In Seattle, star-tender Jamie Boudreau has toyed with the idea of a Fernet tap at his bar Canon. But as far as we and Passenger owner Derek Brown know, the Fernet tap recently installed at the bar he owns with his brother Tom is the first in the Washington area.
Enjoy, but do so with restraint. Fernet’s other magical power is that it can make the world start spinning very suddenly.
