The Angry Wine

I came across a recipe in the Mar/Apr 2012 issue Mutineer Magazine in their section called Drink Night Cocktails. Under the Theme of "W(H)INE was a cocktail called "She Said We Should Be Friends" by SeanMike Whipkey of scofflawden.com. Here is the recipe as listed in the magazine:

- 4 oz Dark Red Wine
- 2 oz Fernet-Branca
- 1/4 oz aromatic Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing fresh ice

Since I had two lovely and beautiful Fernet-Branca drinkers sitting at the Bleecker Street Bar (you know who you are) I decided to make them said cocktail. John was also in attendance so I had each of them try the drink. I used a Pinot Noir as the dark red wine portion of the drink. All three gave me a nasty look after tasting the drink. The name Angry Wine was coined after I told them what was in the drink.

Fernet-Branca is described by the website Rome File as being:

a dark, syrupy alcoholic drink similar to an amaro, with a flavour that's best described as being a cross between medicine, crushed plants and bitter mud. The exact recipe of Fernet-Branca is a secret but the producers, Fratelli Branca Distillerie, do say that it contains 27 different herbs and spices taken from four continents. Among the known ingredients are aloe, gentian root, rhubarb, gum myrrh, red cinchona bark, galanga and zedoary. The rumoured ingredients include saffron.

The bartender who created this recipe describes his motivation for creating it:

(Refering to the name of "She Said We Should Be Friends") This is a lament that many a gentleman has had, and as I sat during the night, drinking a rather good glass of red wine, it hit me that the herby, bittery goodness that is Fernet Branca might match well with the red wine.

I sent SeanMike a tweet asking him what red wine he had used in the recipe. I'm waiting to hear back from him. Perhaps I used the wrong wine or wrong measurements. I'll update the post if and when I hear back from him.

Until then. Happy Drinking
Sisco Vanilla

For Further Reading
- Click Here to access the article Fernet Branca from the Alta Cucina Inc. Website for another description and recipes containing Fernet Branca