🥃 Punt e Mes

Punt e Mes is an Italian bittersweet vermouth from Turin, made by Fratelli Branca Distillerie of Milan. According to the producer, it dates to 1870 and the Carpano vermouth shop in Turin. The name, from the Piedmontese dialect, means “a point and a half”: one part vermouth to half a part cinchona, the bitter bark.

History. The producer tells that a stockbroker at the Carpano factory in Piazza Castello, Turin, talking about shares that had risen a point and a half, ordered his usual vermouth with an extra half dose of cinchona. Regular customers then ordered it with a gesture: a raised thumb (punt) and a hand drawing a horizontal line in the air (mes). This is a story told by the producer, not a document. In the 1960s Carpano hired the Turin-born creative Armando Testa to renew the brand's image; his logo of a sphere resting on a half-sphere is still used.

Taste and serving. According to the producer, the drink is dark red with streaks of vermilion, with aromas of aromatic herbs, cinchona and cloves; it is sweet at first, then bitter orange zest and cinchona, ending sweet. It is served neat, on ice or with soda, and used in cocktails such as MI-TO: 3.5 cl Punt e Mes and 3.5 cl Bitter stirred over ice, with an orange peel.

Why this matters to you. Vermouth is an aromatised wine, not a spirit drink: in the EU it has alcohol added and gets its taste from Artemisia (wormwood), at 14.5% to under 22% ABV (Regulation (EU) No 251/2014). Check the strength on the label. The WHO reminds that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.