2011-06-14

Fernet Branca, the booze that wasn't

The drink's numerous medicinal claims came in handy during the American prohibition; as a medicine, Fernet-Branca was still legal.

Alcohol is great for factoids - it's as if the intoxication works on a distance, obfuscating facts, increasing tolerances, and reducing people's abilities to tell the believable and probable apart from what's less so. The idea above could be a typical case of such an urban legend. Or maybe not..?

Working through the usual sources, I've yet to find evidence such as advertisements about the italian wonder drug, people referring to "prescriptions", etc. So far, all I've found is this - which perhaps does the trick still.



In a list of new incorporations, dated March 28, 1924, the Branca brothers wagered $10,000 on "drugs". Indeed.

1 kommentar:

Jesper sa...

Tja, varför inte? Det var ju trots allt under förbudstiden som dom stora apoteksbolagen växte till sig.
Mödrar försökte introducera sina döttrar till apoteksägare. Wahlgrens från Chicago hade 20 butiker 1920. 1933 när förbudet kom till ett slut hade dom 520 apotek!
Nästan vem som helst kunde få ett recept på medicinsk "rye" (råg whisky med andra ord) för $3 i avgift. Tillät för en flaska whisky var 10:e dag.