Industry Sours with The Mischief Maker AND Katie Silver

Fernet Branca and Green Chartreuse combine with lime juice and simple syrup to make the best fernet cocktail. An industry favorite liquor, this is the cocktail to ease you into this cult favorite.

If you bartend or you're out a lot, drinking and exchanging shots of Fernet Branca is a handshake in liquor form. Let’s be honest, Fernet is not for everyone. It’s a cult favorite in the bartending community. It’s the liquor you get into when you (the avid drinker) have worked your taste through every flavor. The brain immediately registers bitter as a poison. So, much like Negronis… you have to ease your way into them. My journey was Aperol Spritzes in Rome and then Negronis. Then every amaro. Even now, I do shots of Fernet if given… but it’s not an all the time for me. HOWEVER, Katie Silver not only knows all about Fernet, she makes a mean cocktail and has won multiple awards for it. The girl is talented, and this cocktail, I can envision drinking one, and maybe thinking about it, and having three or so in a conversation 😂. Best use of fernet ever! Not that i’d ever do such a thing. Another fun fact, Fernet and Coke (Fernandito, Fernando, Fernet con coca) is basically the unofficial drink of Argentina. It can also be used to replace bitters in cocktail recipes.

Katie started her alcohol journey in bourbon, then moved to scotch, had gin throughout, but for her it was love at first sight with the botanical spirit Fernet. Some of the botanicals in Fernet (made in 1845) include myrrh, rhubarb, peppermint, chamomile, cardamom, aloe (which Katie said is the flavor a lot of people are registering a distaste for), and especially saffron, with a base of distilled grape spirits.

Green Chartreuse (the 130 alpine herb formula made in 1605 by Carthusian monks in Grenoble, France) is so hard to get ahold of now. The botanicals in that include cinnamon, mace, lemon balm, dried hyssop flower tops, peppermint, thyme, costmary, arnica flowers, genepi, and angelica root.

I hate it, because when she came over last night, the phone died. We lost the huge amazing history lesson on Fernet, Why Castle and Key has the BEST gin (move over Beefeater 😅😂), Bourbon opinions, and more. We will just have to redo it, because it was great. OR maybe Katie just has to come over more. Ok, I digress! Here is the recipe.

Industry Sour

Equal Parts. You can start with how much juice is in your lime when you juice it and do that exact amount for the rest of the ingredients.

Katie does 3/4 oz for each ingredient if she is measuring, that way it will fit in a coupe glass.

Ingredients

3/4 oz Fernet Branca

3/4 Green Chartreuse

3/4 simple syrup (we used a rich simple 2 cups Demerara sugar to 1 cup water cooked on the stove until the crystals dissolve then cool and bottle)

3/4 oz. Fresh squeezed lime juice.

Add all of the ingredients to your cocktail shaker and scoop ish of ice to fill or quite a bit. Shake until cold. Strain. Double strain if you’re feeling fancy since it’s a shaken cocktail and also contains citrus.

Here to keep it funky for your Friday and switch it up 😂. I'll send a Gold Rush cocktail your way soon, along with a Side Car, and if I can ever get to baking some Baklava and maybe Oatmeal Cake and Mamaw’s Peanut Butter Fudge.

Happy Friday!

Alex