In 1870, in the same Carpano family shop where vermouth had already been invented, on the corner of Via Viotti and Piazza Castello, a sales representative ordered a special vermouth. Until then, the drink had tended to be sweet. But he asked for a vermouth laced with half a dose of cinchona. Punt&Mes (literally: "a point and a half"), the bitter version of the speciality, was born. It soon reached all parts of the world and became an essential element in the preparation of various cocktails, such as the famous Manhattan, invented in 1874 in New York.