The Corpse Reviver is a family of cocktails intended to give you a little hair of the dog when you’ve had a tough time from having too much fun the night before. So, before we get too deep into the #2, I guess the first thing is to ask what the hell a Corpse Reviver #1 is, right? Well, it first appeared in 1930, in The Savoy Cocktail Book by Mr. Harry Craddock of the Savoy Hotel, London. You’re in luck because I have a copy right here…

From the book:

Corpse Reviver (No. 1)

1/4 Italian Vermouth

1/4 Apple Brandy or Calvados

1/2 Brandy

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

–To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.

Funny, it sounds pretty good to me, but ask any bartender, including myself, to whip one of these up and they’ll probably have to turn to the googs for the specs. It should also be note that Craddock’s recipe recommends shaking this and not stirring.

Within the same cocktail tome, right after #1, comes numero dos:

Corpse Reviver (No. 2)

1/4 Wine Glass Lemon Juice

1/4 Wine Glass Kina Lillet

1/4 Wine Glass Cointreau

1/4 Wine Glass Dry Gin

1 Dash Pernod

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

–Four of these taken in quick succession will unrevive the corpse again.

Yes, the specs in the Savoy Cocktail Book are a little odd. If you look at #1 it only has 1/4, 1/4, etc. whereas the #2 says 1/4 Wine Glass ____. There is no explanation in the book. I guess you just have to assume and finagle it all yourself. At any rate, the #2 is an equal parts cocktail anyway and so it doesn’t really matter what you’re choosing to measure with…

Oh and Mr. Craddock’s note at the end? Four of these? Jesus these guys really did it back in the day…

For the record here, Harry also had something curious in his back pocket called the Fernet Branca Cocktail:

1/4 Fernet Branca

1/4 Italian Vermouth

1/2 Dry Gin

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

–One of the best “morning after” cocktails ever invented. Fernet Branca, an Italian vegetable extract, is a marvelous headache cure.

It’s not the first mention of Fernet Branca as a hangover cure. Actually, my first glimpse of the dark magic was back in 2004 by way of Chef Fergus Henderson’s first cookbook, The Whole Beast: nose to tail eating with a Bourdain introduction. At the very end of the book, right before the index, we have this:

Miracle

–Here is a cure for any overindulgence, taught to me by my wise father.

2 parts Fernet Branca

1 part creme de menthe

ice

Mix together and drink. Do not be put off by the color.

–Be careful: this is so effective you can find yourself turning to its miraculous powers with increasing regularity. Do not let the cure become the curse.

Sidebar over…

So, some more history here by way of word of mouth. The “Kina Lillet” portion of the Corpse Reviver #2 is important to focus on because it is said this recipe no longer exists. Yes, Cocchi Americano is supposedly a substitute for the original Kina Lillet but at this point who would really know if it was or not? I suppose that’s the rub. No one alive at this point could tell you whether or not Kina Lillet tastes like it did back in 1930. Maybe there’s some surviving bottles? I don’t know.

Corpse Reviver #2

.75 oz. London Dry Gin

.75 oz. (small) Grand Marnier

.75 oz. Kina L’Aero D’or

.75 oz. (large) Fresh Lemon Juice

4 Dashes Absinthe

Shake, strain into cold, small coupe.

Try this and thank me later. It’s really, really delish.

The key component here is the Tempus Fugit Kina L’Aero D’or. (golden flight?). A newish product from the liqueur masters in Switzerland. It may be harder for the average human to procure some of this, but it’s well worth the sticker price as they make the best stuff out there.

The Corpse Reviver is one of the great equal parts cocktails out there and still holds up better than the Last Word, which to me remains a little jarring. A close contender is the Naked and Famous, but to my palate, the #2 reigns supreme. It’s just a matter of having the proper ingredients. In the past I’ve used orange curacao or Leopold’s Orange and Cocchi Americano to mixed results. I think a stronger, more syrupy orange liqueur like Grand Marnier or Cointreau is key and the choice of your absinthe dash will always give the cocktail a slightly different taste if you want to try different variations.