Americanto

I found this simple recipe for an Elisir Novasalus cocktail on the Haus Alpinez website. If you don't know what Novasalus is, think of it as a more bitter Fernet Branca. How is this possible, you ask? Think of it like being punched in the face by an angry old Italian man who has his fists full of birch bark and sap--that's how its been described to me. 

I can only find it in the little airline bottles right now, but I'll have to get more. It has a way of blending into cocktails that puts Fernet to shame, and I think it is because there's no menthol. But it is black and bitter and has the effect of making this drink a lot like a Black Manhattan without the whiskey. This is really drinking like and Italian.

• 1.5 oz. Cocchi di Torino
• .25 oz. Elisir Novasalus
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• orange twist
  

Build drink in an Old Fashioned glass with a large ice cube and twist the orange peel over the glass and drop it in.