Punt e Mes is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 vermouth

Vermouth

Vermouth is a fortified wine flavored with various dry ingredients. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced around the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Italy and France...

. It is dark brown in color and has a bitter flavour. Punt e Mes literally means "point and a half" in Piedmontese

Piedmontese language

Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken by over 2 million people in Piedmont, northwest Italy. It is geographically and linguistically included in the Northern Italian group . It is part of the wider western group of Romance languages, including French, Occitan, and Catalan.Many European and...

. It has been said that it owes its name to a sudden raise of the stock market (naturally, of a point and a half) which greatly benefitted the Carpano distilleries, which then created the vermouth brand to commemorate the occasion. Alternatively it may refer to the flavor being characterised as one ”point” of sweetness and half a point of bitterness.

It can be used as a substitute for regular rosso vermouth in such drinks as the Americano

Americano (cocktail)

The Americano is a cocktail composed of Campari, sweet vermouth, and club soda. The cocktail was first served in creator Gaspare Campari's bar, Caffè Campari, in the 1860s. It was originally known as the "Milano-Torino" because of its ingredients: Campari, the bitter liqueur, is from Milan and...

, Manhattan

Manhattan (cocktail)

A Manhattan is a cocktail made with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Commonly used whiskeys include rye , Canadian whisky , bourbon, blended whiskey and Tennessee whiskey. The cocktail is often stirred with ice and strained into a cocktail glass, where it is garnished with a Maraschino cherry...

 and Negroni

Negroni

The Negroni cocktail is made of one part gin, one part sweet vermouth, and one part bitters, traditionally Campari. It is considered an apéritif.-History:...

. Punt e Mes has a strong, distinctive flavour, half-way between regular rosso vermouth and Campari

Campari

Campari is an alcoholic apéritif obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit in alcohol and water. It is a bitters characterized by its dark red color....

. Punt e Mes was made by the Carpano

Antonio Benedetto Carpano

Antonio Benedetto Carpano was an Italian distiller, famous for having invented Vermouth and consequently the apéritif....

 family from Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 until 2001, when Distillerie Fratelli Branca

Fratelli Branca

Fratelli Branca is a distillery based in Milan, Italy. Fratelli Branca makes an amaro digestif, Fernet Branca, and recently bought Punt e Mes....

 of Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

bought them.