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Food

Fernet-Branca Now Has Its Own Craft Beer and It Sounds Pretty Good

If you like bitters, bitter beer, and bitter people rolling their eyes when you say you like Fernet and craft beer, this brew is for you.
Foto von Fernet-Branca via Facebook.

New year, new beer.

With everyone from metal bands to Tom Green to yours truly getting their own signature craft brews, it's not often that a new one comes on the market and sounds interesting beyond its pop culture fingerprint.

But one new brew has emerged from a dark pond of secret herbs and interbred with barley, malt, and bubbles to create Fernetic, which, as one might guess, is a Fernet-Branca-inspired craft beer.

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Its flavor is described as "deep and brooding, with a strong aromatic character," which, ironically, is probably how most Fernet drinkers think of themselves. Like its namesake, Fernetic's herb, root, and spice mix is largely secret, but it does include rhubarb root, peppermint, saffron, wormwood, angelica, star anise, and "14 others," according to the brand.

READ MORE: We Haven't Reached Peak Craft Beer

The beer is a collaboration between Chicago's Forbidden Root botanic brewery and Eduardo Branca, the sixth-generation heir to the Fernet-Branca throne. The goal of their alliance was to translate the "Fernet-Branca experience into beer form while maintaining drinkability and beer character."

Just to be clear, this isn't Fernet-infused beer—it's a 8.4 percent ABV black ale that pays homage to the 145-year-old digestivo recipe, with some similar flavor notes.

And what happens when Millennial enthusiasm for Fernet collides with Millennial enthusiasm for craft beers? Answer: a lot of Millennial enthusiasm on social media. No surprises there.

So, if you like bitters, bitter beer, and bitter people rolling their eyes when you say you like Fernet and craft beer, this brew is for you.