Argentine Sweets

[TomAtAlki]

Don't forget the ice!

Ja, Ja, we were just in Hawaii, and the wine was so bad, I always asked for ice.
Nancy

 

[Ries]

I have a Fernet+Cola from time to time, but I'd never buy Fernet myself - it is quite expensive and anyway its taste gets lost in a tons of Coke.

I find this pretty funny.
Here, in the United States, a bottle of Fernet is forty dollars where i live. Thats 600 pesos.
To me, its dirt cheap in Argentina. In fact, in Buenos Aires, several of my favorite beers cost more for a bottle than Fernet does.
I happen to like Fernet, in Coke, but also in a variety of other cocktails. But then, I like bitter drinks- I drink Gueze, for example, make lots of my own kombucha with ginger and very little sugar, and like picklebacks with my bourbon.
I always bring back a liter of Fernet in my checked luggage when I fly north. Drink Fernet and cokes in mason jars, here on the farm.

The Argentines, however, eat more kilos of white sugar per person than almost anybody else on earth, except maybe the Mormons.
I can live without most of it, except for maybe some helado from Jauja.

 

[Ries]

amusing link here-
http://www.bubblear.com/watch-it-cnn-mess-with-fernet-and-feel-the-argentine-burn/

I particularly like this Argentine rejoinder- "Latinos have turned into Grade B Gringos".

 

[Redbeanz]

Ries, what are picklebacks?

 

[Girino]

amusing link here-
http://www.bubblear....argentine-burn/

I particularly like this Argentine rejoinder- "Latinos have turned into Grade B Gringos".

I tried to read the article, but I couldn't stand the quotes mentioned. Sorry. -_-

I have no idea about the price of Fernet in Italy (after all, if 75% of Fernet is consumed in Argentina, it might as well be the cheapest available), I made that comment because I thought about more refined drinks that cost less or the same and that I appreciate more.

 

[Ries]

I wonder which "more refined drinks" you are talking about.
Me, I drink bourbon and scotch, and in Argentina, they are unbelievably expensive, and most of the good stuff is not even available.
I drink good beers, and, as mentioned, a single bottle of beer from a small local microbrewery can easily be more than a 750ml bottle of Fernet.
I sometimes drink gin, or tequila, or campari- and all of those cost more than fernet, usually much more.

I am allergic to wine, so I know nothing about that.

So, in short, all of the drinks I enjoy that are more refined than Fernet cost more, in many cases, ten times as much.

Oh- there is Amargo Obrero- although, by definition, its a workers drink, even less "refined" than fernet- I like to drink it, on ice, on hot afternoons, and it is, indeed, cheaper than fernet...

guess I am just not refined.
I have been making killer cocktails from bourbon, the home made ginger liqueur I buy from the woman who sells it at the San Telmo mercado, and a dash of fernet, or, sometimes, campari, over ice with a squeeze of lime- they make me feel refined, but I am sure I am not really.

 

[Dada]

I like fernet pure as it is, don't understand how someone can enjoy spoiling it with coke. But it's ok, as long as they drink it themselves and don't touch my glass. A bottle of fernet here in the nearest chino in San Telmo is 32 pesos, sweet

What I find hard to find here is coffee without sugar in it

 

[Ries]

yes, I often drink fernet straight, with maybe an ice cube or two, in January.

 

[Girino]

I like fernet pure as it is, don't understand how someone can enjoy spoiling it with coke. But it's ok, as long as they drink it themselves and don't touch my glass. A bottle of fernet here in the nearest chino in San Telmo is 32 pesos, sweet

What I find hard to find here is coffee without sugar in it

In the Coto where I shop it costs about 90 pesos for 750 ml! I can see that online it costs even more.
With 90 pesos I can drink a decent wine or an artisanal beer. That's what I consider more refined than a digestive diluted in Coke, which tastes like bitter coke and it is barely alcoholic.
I have no high expectations, I live very well with a gin tonic now and then - still have my bottles bought in Europe. I am still unable to find Gordon's or Hendrik gin here, I saw them at the duty free shop in Ezeiza, but never outside.

Back to Fernet - I can see my 20-something brother in law easily drinking a whole bottle of Fernet (in Fercola) on a given night, so I am surprised Argentines would spend 90 pesos for a bottle of Fernet when there are cheaper option to get drunk with faster. I mean, they have a precio cuidado for beer at 13 pesos the bottle,...

 

[Girino]

I like fernet pure as it is, don't understand how someone can enjoy spoiling it with coke. But it's ok, as long as they drink it themselves and don't touch my glass. A bottle of fernet here in the nearest chino in San Telmo is 32 pesos, sweet

What I find hard to find here is coffee without sugar in it

In supermarkets, I found only Cabrales with no sugar added, but if you go directly in shops and have the coffee ground on the spot, you will have them without sugar, as well.