Elements: Branca Menta

Not only was opera singer Maria Callas one of the world’s most renowned and influential sopranos, she can also be credited for the existence of Branca Menta, Fernet-Branca’s minty younger sibling. The story goes that before every performance, La Divina enjoyed the venerable amaro with a bit of mint syrup. Naturally, her legions of fans wanted to copy her, which pushed Fratelli Branca Distillerie to bottle and sell Branca Menta in 1965. At a gentle 30 percent ABV, and perked up with Piedmontese peppermint, the minty liqueur is a refreshing go-to, either sipped on its own, as a frappe, or with some club soda.

One might assume that since both liqueurs are made from the same proprietary recipe of more than two dozen herbs and spices—a polarizing mix of flavors for some—the sweeter, peppermint-laced Branca Menta would be even more challenging to incorporate into cocktails. But many bartenders have become adept at picking out the amaro’s notes to pair with other flavors, making for beautifully layered complexity in drinks. Finding that Branca Menta complements honey and orange flower water, Harry Chin, lead bartender of MW Restaurant in Honolulu, combined the three ingredients in his variation on Audrey Saunders’ Quick Little Pick-Me-Up shooter. Today, his Tea Tree Sour is his default bartender’s choice option for guests who want something citrusy and refreshing.

Other bartenders sub in Branca Menta as a more robust alternative to crème de menthe. When Los Angeles bartender Gabriella Mlynarczyk, author of Clean + Dirty Drinking: 100+ Recipes for Delicious Elixirs, Made With & Without Booze, created her take on the classic Stinger cocktail, she reached for a bottle of Branca Menta because “the crème de menthes that were on the market were super-sweet and fake-tasting,” she says. And in her recipe, the amaro gives “the cocktail some depth and base notes, as well as bitterness and aromatics.”

As a modifier, the amaro adds minty sweetness, herbaceousness, and chocolate notes. In his Snow Flurry coffee cocktail, Chris Hewes of Nella Kitchen & Bar in Los Olivos, California, uses Branca Menta as a counterpunch to the earthy notes of espresso. “It blends perfectly with the oat-milk orgeat, not overpowering the drink with sweetness,” he adds. “It has a delicate balance of mint, allowing for a refreshing style of cocktail.”