This is the rob blatt blog.

I was listening to my new favorite podcast, Beer School, and the topic of Fernet-Branca was this awesome drink that is very rarely found anywhere in the US outside of San Francisco. The following is from the SF Weekly:

Hemingway hated it, Hunter Thompson lampooned it, and Sean Penn told an interviewer that it treated him to the best shits of his life.

I don’t think I really need to say much more than that, do I?

Fernet Branca is a bitter, aromatic spirit made from 27 herbs and spices, including myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and saffron, with a base of grape alcohol.

That one’s from Wikipedia. So the real goal would be to find a local bar that serves it because I’d like to see what, if anything, a bartender would have to say about it. Remind me to ask Phil at the theatre next time I’m there.

Apparently it was the only alcoholic drink still imported to the US legally after the 18th amendment was added to the Constitution because it was imported as a medicine. While not an alcohol drink, Moxie soda started as a medicine too.

Moxie was said to cure ailments ranging from softening of the brain to “loss of manhood.” In 1884, it was sold in carbonated form and merchandised as an invigorating drink, which claimed to endow the drinker with “spunk”.

From Wikipedia. I think the combination of these two could create a very awesome, very powerful drink that I will claim to use for medicine. Apparently Moxie was first marketed as a medicine in Lowell, MA. That explains the fasicination with the soda at the Sugar Shack in Lowell, which is now the back eating room of Suppa’s Pizza (order the Meat Stick if you ever go there).

Anyway, I now need t find myself some Fernet-Blanca and some Moxie soda and have myself a drink. I’ll have to look it up online if it already has a name. If it doesn’t, perhaps I’ll get to name my first drink, much like Tape named the “DJ on Acid”.

The Fernet-Branca and Moxie:

1/3 Fernet-Branca
2/3 Moxie Soda

Pour into ful glass of ice, serve with a straw.