A classic Italian vermouth first created in 1870 in Turin.

Punt E Mes was created in the same bar that birthed the very first commercial vermouth, Carpano, nearly a hundred years earlier in 1786.

In the late 19th century, vermouth was extremely popular, and customers would specify the exact style they wanted, altering between different herbs and botanicals, and sweet or bitter wines. At the time, Carpano’s bar was a favourite of stockbrokers working in the nearby Turin Stock Exchange (Turin was the Italian capital for a time).

The story goes that after a particularly bad day at the office when some crucial shares fell by a point and a half, brokers piled into Carpano to drown their sorrows. One disappointed businessman ordered a bittersweet vermouth with “punt e mes”, a point and a half of bitterness. The order of a point and a half of bitterness seemed apt given the day’s events, and the drink caught on. Indeed, its popularity was such that stockbrokers would order the drink using the old fashioned stock broking hand signal a thumbs up for one, and a horizontal hand movement for a half.

Punt e Mes is a more bitter style of red vermouth, with some Campari-like qualities and is produced using over forty different spices and herbs, including orange peel, cinnamon and quinine (which provides the bitterness).

The result is an aromatic, spicy vermouth with notes of stewed fruit, tobacco, red pepper flakes, dried cranberries, orange zest, pine, wine tannins, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.

A big flavour in a cocktail, this is superb in Negronis alongside spicy gin, and even better when paired with a good quality rye to create a spice-bomb Manhattan.

• Distillery / brand
  Punt E Mes
• Country
  Italy
• SKU
  035107