Spotted any of us with a little black box around Shanghai lately? The DRiNK team was on a hush-hush mission to deliver more surprises from the Drink Magazine Bar Awards to this year’s winners and nominees. Besides the glory of being recognised by their peers – and a pretty sweet silver or gold trophy for those who won – our DMBA winners each received a specially designed pin, and every nominee was inducted into the Fernet-Branca family with a Challenge Coin, minted just for this year’s DMBA honourees. 

With our first round of delivery completed, we’re proud to show off these two little gifts we hope will celebrate the brotherhood and pride of China’s growing bar industry. 

Nope, Chase wasn’t proposing to anyone in the office – this glistening piece of silver art in a black velvet box is the 2017 DMBA winner’s pin. Designed and handcrafted in the UK, there are only 17 of these in circulation in the world this year. 

What was also nestled in the box was a Fernet-Branca Challenge Coin, made just for this year’s DMBA. Known around the world as the throw down for a bartenders’ handshake, the liquid with its bracing bitterness has become the most cherished and shared rituals for bartenders all around the world. To express their gratitude and membership to this bitters-loving club, Fernet-Branca took inspiration from military tokens signifying camaraderie. Each year, the Distillerie Fratelli Branca bestows a small number of bartenders with a Fernet-Branca coin as a symbol of their induction into this hallowed group of industry insiders. 

Not sure how the coin works? See our Fernet-Branca Coin 101 below: 

Fernet-Branca Coin 101 

- Most of the coins are designed for cities or countries, but a rare few are made for special occasions like the Tales of the Cocktail, Speed Rack, and now, the Drink Magazine Bar Awards.

- Coin holders can present the coin in any bar for a shot of Fernet-Branca, and the bartender on shift who fails to produce his/her own coin has to buy the round. That’s one reason to always keep it close. Steve Schneider from Employees Only always keeps a spare in his cash register, but some bartenders in the US have even gone so far as to tattoo it on themselves to make sure they’re never caught out! 

- But of course, to keep things fair, you can only challenge other bartenders who own a coin.

- The coins are meant to be traded with other bartenders, so if you come across a rare one like the Las Vegas original designed by Fernet-Branca sales rep Tore Kragerud and his brother Bret, or –ahem– one from a certain Chinese bartending awards body, beg or borrow it. We’re sure you’ll get plenty of bragging rights for adding a rare coin to your collection.

While delivering the pins and coins to our winners, we found out that they’re not only great at making cocktails and delivering drinking experiences, but also fantastic coin models. See how they throw it down here.

 Proper ways to use the coin: