Fernet con Coca is an Argentine cultural icon

Fernet-Branca, the famously bitter and divisive digestif liqueur, is produced in Italy. But its adopted home is Argentina, particularly the Córdoba province, where the spirit has become a cultural icon. Argentina consumes more than 75 percent of all Fernet-Branca produced worldwide. Nearly 30 percent of that consumption occurs in Córdoba, whose residents drink more Fernet-Branca than everyone in the entire country of Italy.

The mix of choice is Fernet con Coca, or Fernet and Coke, which contrasts the bitter, earthy intensity of Fernet-Branca with the sweetly herbal flavor of full-sugar Coca-Cola. Advertisements have compared the drink’s role in Argentina’s culture to the tango, placing it at the top of the country’s cultural pantheon. The cross-cultural pairing of Italian booze with American soda makes a deliciously satisfying, if bittersweet, case for a globalized world.