Carpano Antica Formula

Vanilla, spice, dried fruit, fuller body. Antica Formula was the first commercial Italian vermouth (1786) and remains the benchmark for Negronis and Manhattans.

Carpano Antica Formula is a sweet Italian vermouth built on white wines from Romagna, Puglia and Sicily. The recipe was created in Turin in 1786 by Antonio Benedetto Carpano. Wormwood from Piedmont and the Aosta Valley gives vermouth its defining bitter thread.

Vanilla beans, saffron and other plants are extracted by hot infusion or cold extraction. Some ingredients take months to prepare, then the assembled vermouth rests for further refinement. Expect vanilla first, followed by citrus, dried fruit, cloves, bitter orange and cocoa. Drink it over ice with an orange slice, or give it a central role in a Manhattan or Negroni. It is full and sweet enough to work after dinner too.