fernet con coca

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| caption1 = Fernet-Branca advertisement from 1910, depicting an allegorical representation of Argentina, in honor of the Centennial celebrations

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| caption2 = Fernet-Branca advertisement published in magazine Caras y Caretas in 1915, promoting its digestive benefits

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Fernet was introduced to Argentina by Italians during the great European immigration wave to the country of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a period in Argentine history characterized by vast economic growth and rapid social change.{{Cite web |last=Petovel |first=Pablo |date=January 6, 2013 |title=Todo lo que hay que saber sobre el fernet |url=http://www.diaadia.com.ar/cordoba/todo-lo-que-hay-que-saber-sobre-fernet |access-date=June 16, 2020 |website=Día a Día |location=Córdoba, Argentina}}{{Cite web |date=August 13, 2009 |title=Argentina, spopola il Fernet |url=http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news//18251/Argentina--spopola-il-Fernet-.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112065505/http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news//18251/Argentina--spopola-il-Fernet-.html |archive-date=January 12, 2016 |access-date=June 16, 2020 |website=Libero |language=it}} The popularity of fernet in Argentina is representative of the lasting influence Italian immigrants had in the broader consumer tastes and culture of the country.{{Cite journal |last=Zucchi |first=John |year=2019 |title=Migrant Marketplaces: Food and Italians in North and South America by Elizabeth Zanoni (review) |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/729927/summary |journal=The Americas |publisher=Cambridge University Press. Project MUSE |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=535–536 |doi=10.1017/tam.2019.55 |access-date=June 16, 2020 |s2cid=198722041|url-access=subscription }} Over many years, fernet consumption expanded in an unprecedented way throughout the Argentine territory, although this process is still "confusing and poorly documented".{{Cite web |last=Vecino |first=Diego |date=July 8, 2011 |title=Fernet: una historia de amor argentina |url=http://www.conexionbrando.com/1387961-fernet-una-historia-de-amor-argentina |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727170951/http://www.conexionbrando.com/1387961-fernet-una-historia-de-amor-argentina |archive-date=July 27, 2017 |access-date=June 16, 2020 |website=Brando |publisher=La Nación |language=es}} In 1941, Fratelli Branca opened its first and only production plant outside Italy in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Parque Patricios, which indicates that already at that time the fernet market in Argentina was considerable. Another underground plant was opened in 1982 in Tortuguitas, Buenos Aires Province.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} Before the combination with cola became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s, fernet was traditionally consumed in the country as an apéritif and digestif, and was either drunk as an after-dinner shot, mixed with soda water or as part of a carajillo de fernet, in which some dashes of the bitter are added to a cup of coffee.{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=Jonathan |date=March 18, 2016 |title=How One Company Turned Grandpa's Booze into Argentina's National Drink |url=http://fortune.com/2016/03/18/fernet-branca-argentina/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022032525/http://fortune.com/2016/03/18/fernet-branca-argentina/ |archive-date=October 22, 2018 |access-date=June 17, 2020 |website=Fortune}}{{Cite web |last=McKirdy |first=Tim |date=September 19, 2018 |title=Argentina's Beloved, Two-Ingredient Cocktail Transcends Age, Class, and Economic Turmoil |url=https://vinepair.com/articles/argentina-fernet-coke-cocktail-recipe/ |access-date=June 17, 2020 |publisher=VinePair |location=New York City}}

File:Publicidad de Fernet Branca de 1920.jpg in 1920, showing a family having soda water and fernet, representing the bitter as a staple in homely life]]

Although the exact origin of the cocktail is poorly-documented and "somewhat shrouded in mythmaking",{{Cite web |last=Shockey |first=Lauren |date=January 26, 2020 |title=The history of Argentina's most popular hangover cure |url=https://theweek.com/articles/887156/history-argentinas-most-popular-hangover-cure |access-date=June 17, 2020 |website=The Week}} it is generally agreed that it originated in Córdoba Province,{{Cite web |date=May 3, 2013 |title=Branca reconoce que la mezcla de fernet con Coca nació en Córdoba |url=https://www.lavoz.com.ar/ciudadanos/branca-reconoce-que-mezcla-fernet-con-coca-nacio-cordoba |access-date=June 16, 2020 |website=La Voz |language=es}} and is heavily associated with its capital of the same name, Argentina's second most populous city. Some sources say that the cocktail already existed in the 1950s, as a "gentler" variation of the common combination of fernet and soda water, while others affirm that it was invented in the 1970s by Oscar "el Negro" Becerra, a drummer and bartender from Cruz del Eje, a city in the province's northwest.{{Cite web |last=Pardo |first=Daniel |date=June 30, 2017 |title="Sabe a remedio": el día que intenté aprender a tomar fernet, una de las bebidas favoritas en Argentina |url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-40452909 |access-date=June 16, 2020 |publisher=BBC Mundo |language=es}} Another version suggests the drink was invented in Argentina's northern provinces.{{Cite web |date=December 9, 2016 |title=Fernet: el aperitivo que prendió en "en la villa y en torneos de polo" |url=https://www.elpais.com.uy/el-empresario/fernet-aperitivo-prendio-villa-torneos-polo.html |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=El Empresario. El País |location=Uruguay |language=es}} Fernet con coca began to grow in popularity in Córdoba city during the 1980s, in the period that followed Argentina's return to democracy. Although "theories swirl about who sparked fernet's explosion", most point to the city's large population of university students. By the end of the decade, Fratelli Branca's marketing director noticed the drink's growing popularity in Córdoba and launched a series of national advertising campaigns actively encouraging the combination with Coca-Cola,{{Cite web |last=Bruce-Gardyne |first=Tom |date=February 14, 2017 |title=Fernet-Branca: a brand history |url=https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2017/02/fernet-branca-a-brand-history/ |access-date=June 17, 2020 |website=The Spirits Business}} at first in an "implicit" agreement with The Coca-Cola Company and, between 1994 and 1997, as an official co-branding campaign. Fratelli Branca head of marketing since 1992 Hernán Mutti told Fortune in 2016: "We had to convince Argentina that this was the way to drink fernet: to be shared between friends. It was being drunk behind closed doors; it wasn't a friendly product." The company then "did everything to get people to try fernet and cola on any occasion", promoting the drink with samplings at bars and events and in popular seaside towns along the coastline of the Atlantic, targeting people under the age of 25. The tastings were accompanied by advertising connecting Fernet-Branca to distinctive national landscapes, such as Patagonia's Perito Moreno glacier. The campaign is considered one of the most successful marketing strategies in the country's recent history, as it managed to "capture a still incipient consumption in a specific place in the country to popularize it and impose it in the daily life of Argentines."

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| quote = "[The myth of fernet con coca{{'}}s popularization], at the end of the 20th century, works as an inversion of the civilizing flow the Argentine state had consolidated a century before: the dark and quarrelsome mix of Italian liquor and soda made its way from the periphery to the center and prevailed. And with it, an emotional economy of ethyl pleasure was also imposed, which harmonized with the end of the period and replaced the Menemist champagne{{refn|group=nb|The oxymoronic phrase "pizza and champagne" (Spanish: "pizza con champagne") is a common icon and metaphor of the Argentine 1990s, as its combination of high and low culture represents the "frivolous" splurging spirit of the era, as well as the phenomenon of consumption and revaluation of working class practices and aesthetics by the upper classes during the era of Menem's liberal economic policies and convertibility plan.{{Cite web |last=Peker |first=Luciana |date=March 2, 2007 |title=El champagne por la ventana |url=https://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/las12/39-3222-2007-03-02.html |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=Las 12. Página/12 |language=es}}{{Cite journal |last=Fair |first=Hernán |date=May 1, 2011 |title=La función de los medios masivos de comunicación en la legitimación de las reformas de mercado.Consideraciones a partir del caso argentino durante el primer gobierno de Carlos Menem (1989–1995) |url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3871/387136365004.pdf |journal=Revista SAAP |language=es |publisher=Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Político |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=93-130 |issn=1666-7883 |access-date=June 25, 2020}}}} with the post-convertibility fernet."

| source = – Diego Vecino, Brando, 2011.

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In addition to the effective advertising campaign, the popularity of the drink has been linked to other coinciding phenomena: the diversification of the Argentine market for alcoholic beverages and the modernization of cuarteto, a style of popular music from Córdoba that expanded to Buenos Aires during the 1980s and 1990s, spearheaded by singer Rodrigo's success.{{Cite web |last=Abella |first=Francisco |date=February 24, 2018 |title=Tragos criollos |url=https://ladiaria.com.uy/articulo/2018/2/tragos-criollos/ |access-date=June 21, 2020 |website=La Diaria |location=Montevideo, Uruguay |language=es}} Furthermore, between 1990 and 2010 the habits of Argentines were transformed as a result of a tumultuous political and economic life, with BBC Mundo's Daniel Pardo writing: "First came the splurge, opulence, and cheap dollar of Carlos Menem's presidency, then a terrible economic crisis in 2001 that triggered poverty, and then three left-wing governments that, in the midst of an export boom, enriched (or subsidized) the poor." Branca brand ambassador Nicola Olianas told the Spirits Business in 2017 that he "has obviously contemplated how to replicate the success in other markets, but wonders whether the conditions in Argentina were somehow unique, with the long-established distillery and the millions of emigré Italians". By the year 2000, consumption had already consolidated in cities such as Tucumán, Mendoza and Buenos Aires, and continued to grow despite the economic crisis of 2001. On the contrary, since 2002 fernet's production and marketing underwent intense transformations, establishing itself as "one of the most striking phenomena in the entire region", making way for women and young people as new consumers and cementing its popularity at bars, parties, asados and gatherings. In Buenos Aires alone, the drink's sales grew by 115% between 2001 and 2008. By 2012, 40 million liters of fernet were produced per year, twice as much as in 2007.{{Cite web |last=Villavicencio |first=Katherine |date=October 28, 2012 |title=El Fernet gana el nicho joven y se expande en consumo y producción |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/el-fernet-gana-el-nicho-joven-y-se-expande-en-consumo-y-produccion-nid1521121 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=La Nación |language=es}} According to a 2011 governmental report, fernet consumption in Argentina grew 251% during the 2000s, far ahead of beer's 60%.{{Cite web |last=Ablin |first=Amalie |date=March 2011 |title=El mercado del fernet |url=http://www.alimentosargentinos.gob.ar/HomeAlimentos/AyB/bebidas/Informes/Fernet_2012_03Mar.pdf |access-date=June 16, 2020 |publisher=Área de Industria Alimentaria – Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca |language=es |issue=12}} Another study reported that during the period of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's presidencies—between 2004 and 2015—fernet consumption increased 405%, noting that "the kirchnerist decade could also be called 'the fernet decade'." Fernet production in Argentina has been falling consistently since 2015, as part of a widespread economic downturn that began during Mauricio Macri's presidency.{{Cite web |last=Carrillo |first=Cristian |date=June 29, 2019 |title=No se salva ni el fernet |url=https://www.pagina12.com.ar/202416-no-se-salva-ni-el-sfernet |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=Página/12 |language=es}} Between 2015 and 2019, the Argentine production of fernet and bitters fell from 56.4 to 44.3 million annual liters.{{Cite journal |date=March 2020 |title=EPI. Estadísticas de Productos Industriales |url=https://www.indec.gob.ar/ftp/cuadros/economia/epi_03_20.pdf |language=es |publisher=INDEC |page=23 |issn=2545-7152 |access-date=June 19, 2020}}

File:Fernet+Coke.jpg

Fernet con coca is a long drink, usually served in a tall tumbler such as the highball.{{Cite web |date=June 9, 2020 |title=Cócteles y cristalería: mirá las mejores recetas |url=https://www.mendovoz.com/relax/2020/6/9/cocteles-cristaleria-mira-las-mejores-recetas-85858.html |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=MendoVoz |location=Mendoza, Argentina |language=es}} Simple in composition, the two-ingredient cocktail comprises just its eponymous ingredients and ice. The result is a black concoction with a "velvety", gold-tinted foam, and a complex and bittersweet taste that features competing and complementary flavors. The exact proportions of each ingredient are debated, and people prepare the cocktail according to personal taste. A popular measurement is three parts fernet and seven parts cola.{{Cite book |last=Ventura |first=Marco |url=http://www.branca.it/dati/pagine/Panorana_BrancaArgentina250412.pdf |title=A Buenos Aires c'è un conte filosofo che si è bevuto la crisi con un Fernet |date=April 25, 2012 |work=Panorama |pages=106–11 |language=it |access-date=June 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029195413/http://www.branca.it/dati/pagine/Panorana_BrancaArgentina250412.pdf |archive-date=October 29, 2013}}{{Cite web |title=Branca & cola |url=https://www.branca.com.ar/trago/branca-cola/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809161157/https://www.branca.com.ar/trago/branca-cola/ |archive-date=August 9, 2019 |access-date=June 16, 2020 |publisher=Fratelli Branca Destilerías |location=Argentina |language=es}} An early Cordoban version of the drink called "90210"—a possible reference to the 1990s TV drama— calls for nine-tenths of fernet, two ice cubes and one tenth of cola. The International Bartenders Association recipe—first published in 2020—calls for 50 millilitres Fernet-Branca poured into a double old fashioned glass with ice, filled up with cola.{{Cite web |title=Fernandito |url=https://iba-world.com/new-era-drinks/fernandito/ |access-date=June 16, 2020 |publisher=International Bartenders Association}}

Fernet-Branca and Coca-Cola are by far the preferred brands and market leaders, although several other local bitters have emerged since the drink's popularization, which include "premium" and cheaper versions,{{Cite web |last=Marchetti |first=Nicolás |date=October 15, 2015 |title=Eligieron el mejor fernet de Argentina y no es el que estás pensando |url=http://vos.lavoz.com.ar/comer-y-beber/eligieron-el-mejor-fernet-de-argentina-y-no-es-el-que-estas-pensando |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417070354/http://vos.lavoz.com.ar/comer-y-beber/eligieron-el-mejor-fernet-de-argentina-y-no-es-el-que-estas-pensando#!/web/20180417070354mp_/https://vos.lavoz.com.ar:80/ |archive-date=April 17, 2018 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=Vos. La Voz |language=es}} as well as "artisan-made" fernets,{{Cite web |last=Proietti |first=Luciana |date=February 15, 2016 |title=Por la ruta del fernet: los productores artesanales avanzan en todo el país |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/por-la-ruta-del-fernet-los-productores-artesanales-avanzan-en-todo-el-pais-nid1870583 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=La Nación |language=es}} and ready-to-drink versions of the cocktail.{{Cite web |date=January 30, 2016 |title=En Córdoba ya fabrican fernet con cola en lata |url=https://www.lavoz.com.ar/cordoba-ciudad/en-cordoba-ya-fabrican-fernet-con-cola-en-lata#!/web/20170725203326mp_/https://www.lavoz.com.ar/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725203326/https://www.lavoz.com.ar/cordoba-ciudad/en-cordoba-ya-fabrican-fernet-con-cola-en-lata#!/web/20170725203326mp_/https://www.lavoz.com.ar/ |archive-date=July 25, 2017 |access-date=June 16, 2020 |website=La Voz |language=es}} Over the years, fernet products in Argentina have been "lightened" in relation to the traditional amari of Italy, as they are now intended for consumption with cola—reducing their bitterness, alcohol content and "syrupy texture".

La Voz explained a typical preparation of fernet con coca: "It carries two or three ice cubes and a variable measure of fernet and cola. It is recommended to serve it with an inclination of 45 degrees and in a long glass so that the soda does not lose gas. The foam should expand to overflow the glass and then contract and stay within the circumference of the glass. On the contrary, if it drips between the sides, the soda was served too quickly and the drink will lose its character, its perfect condition." Some people dump an extra measure of fernet just as the foam is about to leak out of the glass, so that it lowers and does not spill, a practice known as coronado (meaning 'crowned').{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}} Walkers commonly make a viajero (meaning 'traveller' in Spanish), using half-cut plastic bottles of Coca-Cola as containers for communal drinking and to carry the cocktail.

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|caption=The exponential growth in production the Argentine fernet industry experienced from 1990 to 2015, measured in millions of liters produced.{{Cite web |title=Estadísticas: Amargos, bitters y fernets |url=http://www.alimentosargentinos.gob.ar/contenido/sectores/bebidas/estadisticas/amargos_prod.html |access-date=June 18, 2020 |publisher=Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca – República Argentina |language=es}}{{Cite journal |date=June 2016 |title=EPI. Estadísticas de Productos Industriales |url=https://www.indec.gob.ar/ftp/cuadros/economia/epi_06_16.pdf?_ga=2.229395484.166261945.1592527970-1424755757.1592527970 |language=es |publisher=INDEC |page=19 |issn=2545-7152 |access-date=June 18, 2020}}

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Despite being a relatively modern phenomenon, fernet con coca has managed to cement itself culturally,{{Cite web |last=do Rosario |first=Jorgelina |date=January 14, 2014 |title=Cuál es la bebida alcohólica que más creció en consumo en la última década |url=https://www.infobae.com/2014/01/14/1536883-cual-es-la-bebida-alcoholica-que-mas-crecio-consumo-la-ultima-decada/ |access-date=June 20, 2020 |publisher=Infobae |language=es}} and is now regarded as a national symbol and cultural icon of Argentina, as well as the country's "unofficial national drink".{{Cite news |last=Rodríguez |first=Juliana |date=September 2, 2013 |title=En la Córdoba argentina se bebe fernet |url=https://elviajero.elpais.com/elviajero/2013/07/21/actualidad/1374397578_451940.html |access-date=June 17, 2020 |newspaper=El País |language=es}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEhmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |title=Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas |date=October 11, 2016 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=978-160-774-748-2 |page=54 |access-date=June 17, 2020}}

It is mostly consumed in Argentina, but the cocktail can also be found in some of its neighboring countries, such as Uruguay and Bolivia. Despite its popularity, many Argentines consider fernet con coca to be an acquired taste, and its flavor often repulses foreigners. Some relate the success of the cocktail in the country to a general fondness for the bitter taste in Argentine culture, exemplified by the widespread consumption of maté and non-alcoholic bitters such as Terma.{{Cite web |last=Ríos |first=Sebastián A. |date=April 13, 2019 |title=El sabor amargo, ¿la nueva pasión de los argentinos? |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/lifestyle/amargo-la-nueva-pasion-argentinos-nid2237410 |access-date=June 21, 2020 |website=La Nación |language=es}}{{Cite web |last=Sainz |first=Alfredo |date=November 16, 2016 |title=Fernet: cómo el aperitivo menos pensado se convirtió en la bebida que más crece |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/negocios/fernet-como-el-aperitivo-menos-pensado-se-convirtio-en-la-bebida-que-mas-crece-nid1956501 |access-date=June 21, 2020 |website=La Nación |language=es}}

Fernet's popularity extends beyond differences in age, sex or social class, and currently is the third most popular alcoholic beverage in the country, behind wine and beer.

The popularity of the cocktail has made Argentina the consumer of 75% of all fernet produced globally, as well as one of the world's highest Coca-Cola consumers, drinking about four times the global average.{{Cite web |last=Lahrichi |first=Kamilia |date=March 14, 2017 |title=Argentina loves its Fernet, a bitter Italian liquor |url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/fernet-alcohol-argentina/index.html |access-date=June 16, 2020 |publisher=CNN}}

With its long history in the country, the Fernet-Branca brand has achieved a "cultlike" and "almost mythical" status among Argentines. It is by far the most popular fernet brand sold in Argentina, having 79% of the market share, followed by Vittone with 11%, Capri with 7% and 1882 (known as "milocho") with 3%.{{Cite web |last=Valleboni |first=Cecilia |date=June 23, 2017 |title=Quién se ha tomado todo el fernet |url=https://www.forbesargentina.com/negocios/quien-ha-tomado-todo-fernet-n300 |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=Forbes Argentina |language=es}} According to Branca, only 5% of fernet sold in Argentina is drunk on its own, and the rest is used for mixing, largely with cola.

Fernet con coca has been used as a novelty flavoring in ice cream,{{Cite web |date=October 16, 2015 |title=Un heladero creó el helado de fernet en Córdoba |url=https://www.elliberal.com.ar/noticia/215145/heladero-creo-helado-fernet-cordoba |website=El Liberal |location=Santiago del Estero, Argentina |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=December 8, 2018 |title=Helados de crema vs. de agua: de qué lado estás |url=https://www.infobae.com/tendencias/masmariana/2018/12/08/helados-de-crema-vs-de-agua-cual-gana-la-batalla-de-favoritos/ |access-date=June 18, 2020 |publisher=Infobae |language=es |quote=... innovaciones tales como el helado de fernet o de palta.}} and alfajores, a local confection.{{Cite web |date=March 15, 2018 |title=En Córdoba crearon un alfajor con sabor a fernet |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/lifestyle/en-cordoba-crearon-un-alfajor-con-sabor-a-fernet-nid2117223 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=La Nación |language=es}} Some companies sell canned "fernet con coca foam" that can be used as a dessert topping or filling.{{Cite web |date=May 2, 2019 |title=Espuma de fernet: cómo es el nuevo producto y 5 ideas para usarlo |url=https://www.lanacion.com.ar/lifestyle/espuma-fernet-como-es-nuevo-producto-5-nid2240840 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=La Nación |language=es}}

Three-quarters of the amaro{{'}}s sales are concentrated in "the Interior" provinces, that is, the portion of the Argentine territory that is not part of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.{{Cite web |last=Pardo |first=Daniel |date=July 26, 2018 |title=Argentina: En qué se diferencian los porteños de Buenos Aires del resto de los argentinos (y cómo influye eso en los famosos estereotipos del país) |url=https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-44877648 |access-date=June 21, 2020 |publisher=BBC Mundo |language=es}} Fernet consumption per capita increases between 15% and 18% in the Northwest, which includes the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, Catamarca, La Rioja and Santiago del Estero, as the region has a greater historical tradition of herbal liqueur drinking. However, the epicenter of fernet con coca drinking in the country is its home province of Córdoba, which represented almost 30% of national consumption—about three million liters of fernet a year—in 2013. The drink is considered an "emblem" of the province, and a fundamental part of its distinct cultural identity and heritage.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwoq2d5F_PY |title=ADN cordobés |date=October 13, 2017 |last=Markic |first=Mario |type=TV show |language=es |publisher=TN on YouTube |minutes=25:18 |access-date=June 21, 2020 |first2=Roberto |last2=Colmenarejo |work=En el camino}} Córdoba prides itself on setting its own cultural trends, and fernet con coca has become one of its biggest icons along with rallying and cuarteto music.{{Cite web |last=Gilbert |first=Jonathan |date=June 30, 2015 |title=Argentine City Aims to Stand Out With Rebellious Spirit (and Coke) in a Cup |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/world/americas/argentine-city-aims-to-stand-out-with-rebellious-spirit-and-coke-in-a-cup.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703070123/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/world/americas/argentine-city-aims-to-stand-out-with-rebellious-spirit-and-coke-in-a-cup.html |archive-date=July 3, 2015 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=The New York Times}} The popularity of fernet among Cordobans has been linked to the local custom of consuming herbal medicines such as burro, boldo and peperina. Writing for The New York Times in 2015, Jonathan Gilbert felt that the preference for fernet in Córdoba "demonstrates the extent to which [its inhabitants] revolt against the prevailing cultural and political trends in Buenos Aires, whose inhabitants are called porteños".

Several recording artists, especially from Córdoba, have made reference to the cocktail in their works. In the 1990s, rock band Vilma Palma e Vampiros from Rosario released a song named after the cocktail, which featured the lyrics: "I do not want to end up in a cell without my fernet con coca".{{Cite web |date=August 30, 2016 |title=Cocktail Culture Is Officially Sweet on Bitter Fernet-Branca |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-30/fernet-branca-is-the-bitter-darling-of-the-cocktail-world-now |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=Bloomberg News}}{{Cite web |last=Martínez-Carter |first=Karina |date=December 30, 2011 |title=Fernet: The Best Liquor You're (Still) Not Yet Drinking |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/fernet-the-best-liquor-youre-still-not-yet-drinking/250381/ |access-date=June 19, 2020 |website=The Atlantic}} Fito Páez names the drink in his song "Las cosas que me hacen bien", off his 2020 album La conquista del espacio.{{Cite web |last=Catalán |first=Matías |date=March 13, 2020 |title=Fito Páez repasa canción por canción su nuevo disco "La Conquista del Espacio" |url=https://www.rockandpop.cl/2020/03/fito-paez-repasa-cancion-por-cancion-su-nuevo-disco-la-conquista-del-espacio/ |access-date=June 21, 2020 |publisher=Rock & Pop |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es}}

{{Portal|Argentina|Drink}}

• Argentine cuisine
• Argentine culture
• Italian diaspora
• List of cocktails
• List of national liquors
• South American cuisine

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{{Commons category}}

• {{url|www.fernet1882.com|Fernet 1882}} {{in lang|es}}, official website
• {{url|www.fernetbranca.com/en|Fernet-Branca}}, official English website
• {{url|www.branca.com.ar|Frateli Branca Destilerías}} {{in lang|es}}, official Argentine website

{{IBACocktails}}

Category:Argentine alcoholic drinks

Category:Cocktails with cola

Category:Cocktails with bitters

Category:Córdoba Province, Argentina

Category:Two-ingredient cocktails