Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: The Corpse Reviver

Welcome back and happy Friday drinkers. After a week of traveling, I’m finally back mixing drinks at my home bar. I did bring back a couple new additions to my drinking arsenal: Port Askaig 8, a Single Malt from Islay; and Brighton Gin, a small batch gin from Brighton. I’ll review those later on. For this week, I’m mixing up a (reported) hangover cure: The Corpse Reviver #2 from the Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails Book:

1 oz. Gin

1 oz. Cointreau

1 oz. Lillet Blanc

1 oz. Fresh lemon juice

1-3 drops (not dashes) Absinthe or Pastis

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Drop a stemless cherry into the bottom of the glass.

For the gin, I used the supply of Bombay Sapphire, and instead of the Lillet, I used Vermouth Blanco. The first taste I get is sour. With all parts being equal, the lemon stands out the most in the drink. Not so much overpowering, but it’s the flavor that hits your palate the first, and does tend to linger.

After the lemon/sour flavor, I definitely get gin, with a little hint of orange from the Cointreau. The cherry doesn’t do much until you get close to the end, it adds a little sweetness to cancel out some of the strong lemon sour taste. I recommend a good brandy soaked cherry or Luxardo cherry as opposed to the regular maraschino cherry I used.

The drink was invented at the turn of the twentieth century as a hangover cure, hence the “reviver” name. By the time prohibition came and went multiple variations of the drink existed, but the #2 version seems to have had the most staying power. I’m not sure what sort of hangover curing properties it has, but I’m certainly willing to give it a shot the next time I wake up, and feeling like only the sweet release of death will make me feel better.

(Banner image found here)