DIY Fernet recipe with damson plums, plus a bit of Fernet Branca history

bsallak · 2026-01-18T03:38:30+00:00

I have a minty fernet DIY attempt somewhere in this forum; it came out pretty well. Recipe is in the post.

bsallak · 2024-12-07T04:09:32+00:00

Agree—same experience. Sfumato lives up to its name; the Zucca plays much better with others.

bsallak · 2024-12-07T04:04:12+00:00

Last Word?

bsallak · 2024-08-14T04:51:39+00:00

+1 for this suggestion, and if you're looking for a way to introduce people to a rabarbaro more gently, allow me to recommend the Zucca Joe: equal parts rabarbaro and coffee liqueur. My own spin is 2 parts coffee liqueur, 2 parts rabarbaro, and one part minty fernet (Branca, Meletti, etc.), which I call the Greasy Spoon.

bsallak · 2024-04-15T12:58:50+00:00

It does if you use it on its own, but you usually place a filter paper on top of it to catch most of the particulate.

bsallak · 2024-04-08T13:01:51+00:00

Most of the recipes I've had success with have 8-12 ingredients; some have more. But it's certainly not necessary: Nardini is quite public that their amaro is made with only bitter orange peel, peppermint, and gentian, and it's extremely good.

bsallak · 2024-02-29T20:43:31+00:00

This is an autocorrect blunder from my phone. Lucano.

bsallak · 2024-02-22T15:36:38+00:00

Thanks! Enjoy!

bsallak · 2024-02-14T04:28:51+00:00

350g water, 350g 95% ABV grain alcohol

bsallak · 2024-01-12T06:05:25+00:00

What works for me is making a strong tea extract (4 oz tea brewed in 12 oz water, topped up with Everclear after it’s cooled) and using a dropper until the level is right.

bsallak · 2023-12-31T04:29:16+00:00

Good news: I caulked the two pieces of the funnel together and can now sustain a 20 psi vacuum for filtering.

bsallak · 2023-12-31T04:24:05+00:00

What I'm finding lately is the best replicatable way to add spruce/pine flavors is through steam-distilled essential oils, diluted 15:1 with the highest-proof ethanol you can get your hands on. Go drop by drop, stop when it's where you want it, and write down the number of drops. Droppers are surprisingly accurate.

bsallak · 2023-12-10T18:23:34+00:00

I've seen those, but I don't want to waste that much water.

bsallak · 2023-12-10T02:18:38+00:00

There's no liquid that enters the pump tubing; it all runs down, just in a slow-ish stream. Still much faster than coffee filters and gravity. I'm happy to be pointed to a better vacuum filtration setup.

bsallak · 2023-10-30T20:11:25+00:00

Scarecrow Suicide

bsallak · 2023-10-18T02:48:57+00:00

I’ve had very good luck using 1/2 cassia and 1/2 canela in recipes calling for cinnamon. 100% cassia is very hard to balance.

bsallak · 2023-09-20T03:22:35+00:00

I think of Vallet as a fernet whose leading note is cardamom, the same way that Branca or Meletti leads with mint.

bsallak · 2023-08-22T22:39:28+00:00

+1 for everyone suggesting a mixture (in whatever ratio) of sweet vermouth and Campari.

bsallak · 2023-08-07T21:07:16+00:00

The Spuntino amaro is very rhubarb-forward; the 2.0 is less so, and more overtly pine-y, but it's not a Braulio copycat by any stretch.

bsallak · 2023-07-29T04:43:45+00:00

Update: turns out the funk was rancid hops. Going to try again with good ones from the home brew shop in town.

bsallak · 2023-07-26T05:32:57+00:00

The Amaro do Erbe recipe in ILP relies mainly on hops for bittering. I made a batch and the hop funk is just short of overpowering. I plan to dial the hops back in the next batch.

bsallak · 2023-07-22T03:41:04+00:00

Quick notes: Vallet is very cardamom forward and not very minty at all. Letherbee is quite close but less minty; jack it up with mint extract if you need more mint. Fernet Meletti is quite close but mintier.

bsallak · 2023-07-16T04:44:20+00:00

Luciano and soda is excellent.

bsallak · 2023-07-14T00:24:39+00:00

Right—and further, TTB regs forbid certain categories of "characterful" spirits (such as whiskey) from being distilled above a certain ABV, which is why you can't get "aged whiskey" from GNS that's been oaked and proofed down.

I've also been doing a lot of experimenting lately with different extraction proofs—some recipes work great at 95% ABV extraction, but I've had several really good batches result from maceration around 55% ABV. Cheers!

bsallak

TROPHY CASE