Fernandito
Argentine bitter, fizzy, convivial.
Fernet-Branca and cola over ice: two ingredients for Argentina's best-loved drink. The intense, minty bitterness of fernet softens into the sweetness of cola, in a long drink made for sharing.
- IBA · New Era
- Long drink
- Built
- Glass
- Rocks glass
- Method
- Built
- Strength
- Light
- Time
- 1 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Ice
- Cubes
Ingredients
Measures for 1 serving
-
Fernet-Branca
50 ml
-
Cola
top up
Proportions
How to make
- Fill a double old fashioned glass with ice.
- Pour the Fernet-Branca.
- Top up with cola.
- Stir gently.
The story
Origins
LegendA story passed down, not confirmed by the sources.
Fernet reached Argentina with Italian immigration, and Fratelli Branca has produced it locally for decades: today it is the only country outside Italy where Fernet-Branca is made. The pairing with cola is unanimously tied to the province of Córdoba, but its exact origin is poorly documented. One legend places its birth over half a century ago in a bar in Cruz del Eje; other versions point to the 1950s or the 1970s, naming Oscar 'el Negro' Becerra. The drink boomed in the 1980s among Córdoba's university students, later backed by Branca's advertising campaigns. In 2020 the IBA listed it as the Fernandito, the first official Argentine drink.
Taste profile
- Bitter
- 4 out of 5
- Herbal
- 4 out of 5
- Sweet
- 3 out of 5
- Bubbly
- 3 out of 5
