Fernet-Branca

Tastes precisely like cough syrup.

Rating: 15/23 N: Mint that's really closer to straight menthol mixes with some rich, mellow, herbal flavor and a balanced sweetness that has a faint suggestion of caramel, kind of like cola, but without that oppressive Jagermeister metallic quality. P: It's less immediately minty than I'd expected, with bitter, herbal richness leading over a light layer of cola. Then, mint and spiciness come out. As it progresses, I get bittersweet chocolate and medium roast coffee. At points, I get hints of a rich, bitter (but not tart), juicy, dark fruitiness. It's a much more balanced profile than I'd recalled. I gradually start to notice a bit of spices (largely cinnamon). The complexity is decent, but for better or for worse the individual flavors generally don't stand out too much, aside from the mint and maybe one element of the bitter profile. F: The mint lasts for ages and it overlays a bitterness that increasingly reminds me of dark roast coffee with some chocolate. It's a pretty uninteresting finish, but it's reasonably tasty. I'm surprised by how much more I like this now than I did before. It's not amazing, but aside from perhaps being a bit too minty, the profile is good. I think that the flavors are a bit too subtle as well to the point that they get muddled, but I can sit here and enjoy contemplating this just fine. I haven't actually tried this in a cocktail (all I had was a sample) and I do worry that it may not be that effective as a mixer because - aside from its mintiness, which would be a problem in many cocktails - it is more subtle and subdued than, say, Campari is. It seems like some sort of bitters might be better in many cocktails. Putting this all together, I'm looking at a 14 to 17 based just on sipping. I think right now I'm going with 15, but a 16 would be possible in the future for sure.