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For those visiting the Italian city of Milan, the trip is usually about business. Though the city’s gracefully gothic cathedral and the square surrounding it are sites well worth seeing (and visiting the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping center to spin around on the floor atop a painted bull’s testicles--supposedly bringing good luck to all who do it--is a draw), most visitors are there for the fashion, auto, chemical, or other industries that now dominate. As Milan’s economy is bustling (if it were a country all on its own, it would be the 28th largest economy for countries worldwide), this business orientation for travelers is to be expected. However, what might not be expected are the cocktail pilgrimages to the city. For Milan is also home to one of the world’s most beloved (if not the most beloved) digestifs: Fernet-Branca. And the Branca distillery is still in the middle of this busy city.
This mid-city placement is rare for a liqueur or spirits brand, but the Branca company is very aware and attached to its lineage. As Bernardino Branca created the first batch of Fernet-Branca in Milan in 1845 (in conjunction with a Swedish Dr. Fernet and as a remedy for malaria and cholera patients), it only makes sense that the current head of the company, Count Niccolo Branca, keeps the distillery in the middle of the city. If you want to have a truly memorably summer adventure, and have a deep abiding love for Italian amaros (those herbal, spiced, and boasting-various-degrees-of-bitterness after-dinner drinks of which Fernet-Branca is possibly the best known), then taking a pilgrimage to Milan to visit the distillery should be on your wish list. If you can’t afford to make the journey this year, then perhaps you should just be sure your liquor cabinet is stocked with Fernet-Branca, and with its lesser known sibling Branca Menta.
You’ll want both because Fernet-Branca while a favorite (of mine and many other folks around the globe) is not an automatic hit in summer. Sure, after a large plate of risotto alla Milanese (the famous saffron-flavored Milanese dish) followed by a traditional pork cassouela you may need a Fernet-Branca to ease that full feeling no matter how high the temperature may have risen. But on a normal hot summer day, it’s Branca Menta that rises to the occasion.
Which only makes sense, as Branca Menta was created in 1965 to stand as a slightly lighter, sweeter, variation, one ideal for hot days and for those ladies and gentleman who aren’t always ready to hop up to the more bitter and power-packed Fernet-Branca. Don’t get me wrong, Branca Menta does still contain an herbally backbone. It’s made from straight Fernet-Branca (which contains over 40 natural ingredients, including such globe-trotting items as gentian root, rhubarb, myrrh, cinchona bark, galanga, saffron, and others) combined solely with pure peppermint oil, sweetening, and a care in construction that many products only dream about. But it’s these little additions that make Branca Menta more attuned to summertime frolicking, especially when it’s combined with a little bubbly into a simple highball or combined with a few other ingredients into a refreshing cocktail.
So, if you can’t actually make it to Milan this year (though maybe you should plan for next year?), why not bring a little of Milan home? Invite a few friends over in their newest summer wear, whip up one of the following Branca Menta mixes, and have a fashion show in your backyard. Or watch a little soccer on the TV (which you’ve brought outside—hey, it is summer after all) while you snack on a plate of salty Grana Padano cheese and crackers and do your sipping. It won’t exactly be the real thing, but it’ll sure be a good time.
Branca Menta Highball
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Branca Menta
Chilled club soda
Orange slice for garnish
1. Fill a highball glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Add the Branca Menta.
2. Fill the glass almost to the top with club soda. Stir well. Squeeze the orange slice over the drink adn then drop it in the glass.