Dr. Melfis medicine is a negroni-sour mashup from brooks reitz at melfis in charleston, south carolina. Its a negroni for beginners, as reitz describes it a great way to show off the magic of the classic flavor combination, without the heavy hand of an all-spirits mix. Since campari is the aperitif of choice in a negroni, it makes sense to use it (or a similarly-bitter option) here, too. Aperol is much sweeter and gives the drink a candy-like quality that we occasionally enjoy, though we concede that it does miss the point a bit.