Make a Dark, Tropical Cocktail With Mexican Fernet

Last Wednesday, in an act of bored desperation, I went live on Instagram and mixed a few cocktails for an audience of 10. I made a pickletini, then I mixed some shitty rosé with a blackberry shrub, then I just started pulling random bottles from my bar cart and demanding the viewers “give me a liquor” on which to build a drink. Among those bottles were pineapple rum, Mexican fernet, and peach liqueur.

The next morning, I had a DM from a bartender friend of mine who had seen the carnage. It simply said “1.5 pineapple, 0.5 fernet, 0.5 peach.” “That’s a 3-ingredient happy hour!” I said. “Try it first before you thank me,” he replied.

I have now tried it, and am I am ready to thank him, for it is a very good drink. The baking spices and bitterness in the Mexican fernet temper the sweetness of the pineapple rum and peach liqueur, giving the simple drink a surprisingly complex, decidedly tiki flavour profile.

It’s a dark drink that looks much more foreboding than it tastes, but there is something tumultuous about it. If I had to pick a weather phenomenon to describe it — which no one is asking me to do — I would choose “impending tropical storm.” There’s clearly trouble brewing, but it feels kind of fun and exhilarating. To make it, you will need:

• 45mL pineapple rum
• 15mL Mexican fernet (such as Fernet Vallet)
• 15mL peach liqueur

Pour everything into a stirring glass filled with ice and stir to chill and dilute. Strain into a coupe and garnish with whatever fruit or zest you happen to have on hand.