Cocktail · Spirit-forward
Corpse Reviver No. 2
Gin, Cointreau, Lillet, lemon, absinthe rinse — the hangover cure that causes them.
How to order it: Equal parts, ice cold. 'Four taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.'
Flavor profile
The recipe
- ¾ oz gin
- ¾ oz Cointreau
- ¾ oz Lillet Blanc
- ¾ oz lemon juice
- Absinthe-rinsed coupe
The story
Corpse revivers were a nineteenth-century category of morning-after restoratives, less a recipe than a promise. The one that survived is No. 2, codified by Harry Craddock in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book: gin, Cointreau, Lillet, lemon, and a whisper of absinthe, with Craddock's deathless warning that "four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again." Number 1, a brandy-and-Calvados affair, never inspired the same devotion. The drink endures because it is perfectly balanced and faintly dangerous, tasting brighter and more innocent than anything containing absinthe has a right to, which is precisely Craddock's joke.
Adjacent pours