The Corpse Reviver

I’ve long been an admirer of spirit-forward cocktails: rye Manhattans, bone-dry Martinis, Negronis edited to be heavier on the gin and lighter on everything else. For the most part, the closest fruit ever gets to my drinking glass is as a wedge of lime perched on the lip of a gin & tonic. 

But there comes a time when the zippy brightness and acid kick of a citrusy cocktail is appreciated, and it’s typically when I’ve had one too many of the aforementioned spiritous drinks the night before. On such occasions, the first drink of the day is pre-ordained: The Corpse Reviver.  

The more serious cocktail scholars among us will point out that the drink I’m about to describe is technically the Corpse Reviver No. 2, and part of a family of pre-prohibition drinks that had little in common save for their prescribed usage as hangover cures. That may be historically accurate, but these other-numbered Corpse Revivers have become so obscure that this iteration deserves the title solely today (that being said, the Corpse Reviver No. 1—composed of Cognac, Calvados and sweet vermouth—is a fine tipple in fall). 

It's a drink made of four equal parts, which is somewhat rare, yet at its heart is just another variation of the “sour” family of cocktails, broadly defined as a mixture of base liquor, citrus juice and sweetener. In this case, the base liquor is London dry gin, lemon is the citrus, and the sweetener comes from both the orange liqueur and (on a drier and more floral note) Lillet Blanc, a French aperitif wine with a light, floral character.   

However, there is a fifth element to the cocktail, although its presence is ethereal. Before the aforementioned ingredients are shaken together with ice, the coupe glass that will serve as its host should be rinsed with absinthe. This ghostly coating manages to pay big flavor dividends in the glass, as its remaining presence is enough to imbue the tart, refreshing drink with a phantom note of licoricey aniseed, elevating the fruity but bracing mixture to another level of complexity.  

It may not raise the dead, as advertised, but it’s enough to inspire the spirit after an excess of indulgence the night before, and that in itself can be a small miracle.  

Corpse Reviver

22ml London dry gin 

22ml orange liqueur  

22ml Lillet Blanc 

22ml lemon juice 

Absinthe, for rinse 

Add gin, orange liqueur, Lillet and lemon juice to a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled (about 10 seconds), then double strain into a chilled coupe glass previously rinsed with absinthe.