Who is “they” and what exactly is cokermeister?
“They” is the amiable folks from Argentina, and “cokermeister” is a beverage with equal parts Jagermeister and Coke. The beverage is not quite as amiable. But allow me to back up a moment.
One evening we; my brother, my friend Matt, and I were hatching ideas. Unlike the chicken whose “ideas” are incubated under the butt of an old hen, our ideas are incubated under the weight of cigarettes, gin, and erratic conversation. I’ll let you judge who is more successful, the chicken or the three of us.
Anyways, years ago Matt had a party. The party had come to an end, like all parties do, after a successful evening of socializing. Only two had to leave because offense was given. Top notch. In the incandescent glare of early morning bulbs and reflections from so many glass cups and bottles I surveyed the disarray. Looking between my empty glass, my brother, Matt, and the island of half full bottles and discarded drinks and lion cakes, we decided it was still early enough (3am) for one more.
I don’t know whose idea it was, perhaps it was communal, and I don’t know who drank it first (maybe we all had straws like a soda fountain date from the fifties) but cokermeister was born; equal parts coke and Jager. It tastes kind of all right. How you’d imagine I guess.
The cokermeister cleared the path for another classic, the Makermeister, which I will not discuss here.
How does this relate at all to our trip to Buenos Aires?
Well, the first night we arrived we walked Florida a few times, got cash from the ATM, had empanadas, and thanks to our friends who are residents, tried the mixed drink of choice among the porteños; Fernet y coca.
Fernet itself is a liquor made with countless spices and has a very herby smell and flavor. It is somewhere between Jagermeister and Cynar. It is good on ice and everyone in bars orders it with coke. It is available at nicer liquor stores in the states, usually for less than $20.
Because of it’s similarities to Jagermeister I shouted upon sipping “It’s exactly like Cokermeister!”
Fernet y Coca
Indeed it was, gemma told me. Then we dropped the conversation because the actual evening of Cokermeister’s creation turned out horribly, ending with bruised knees and bruised egos and hate notes stabbed into walls with bic pens….
We had been like three Dr. Frankenstein’s unleashing an unloved bastard child upon the world (of course the creation had three dads…. but whatever). And like Dr. Frankenstein, I had been reunited with my child on the other side of the world, but whereas his monster and he engaged in a battle upon the ice ending in death, my monster and I engaged in a sensual tango among the beauties of Buenos Aires.
But I love Borges 
)
