by Shaun Layton | Fernet Branca may be known as a “bartender’s handshake” among local cocktail connoisseurs, but the medicinal Amaro is more of a mainstream dram in cities like San Francisco. It’s so popular there that local tipplers Max Rudsten and Ben Flajnik – who actually started their friendship over shots of Fernet – got together with Master Distiller Farid Dormishian to create Fernet Francisco.

What makes it so unique is its use of local botanicals — twelve Bay Area botanicals to be exact. Like all Amari, the recipe is a secret, but from what I gather there’s rhubarb, chamomile, mint, and orange peels in there, all blended with grape-based brandy and neutral grain spirit. The result is a bitter yet floral sip with Cynar-like herbaceousness. If you ever get your hands on a bottle, try it as pictured above…

THE FRANCISCO | 2oz Fernet Francisco, top with ginger beer, slice of orange, ice cubes in a tumbler.

My guess is this will become a local standby in San Francisco bars, but it would be great to see some make its way up the coast to Vancouver. And with the distillery boom we have going on in BC right now, it would be even better to see one or more of the newcomers take a swing at Amaro using botanicals from across the province. Call it Fernet British Columbia. Who’s up first?

MORE CIVIC IMPROVEMENT IDEAS