Time for a Drink: Corpse Reviver #2
Let's get this weekend started right. Here's a cocktail from Paul Clarke to kick things off. Need more than one? That kinda week, eh? Here you go. Cheers!
Drinks such as the Manhattan have recipes that are so engaging and enduring that the cocktail moves straight from inception into the classic column; others, such as the Harvey Wallbanger, enjoy a brief flare of popularity then mostly disappear. Then you have the undead: the drinks that enjoy a certain degree of fame for years or even decades then succumb to changing tastes and disappear from view, only to pop up again on the cultural radar long after being presumed dead.
Enter the Corpse Reviver #2. Part of a class of “corpse reviver” cocktails—so named because of their purported ability to bring the dead (or at least painfully hungover) back to some semblance of life—this drink was a staple of bar manuals back in the 1930s, only to fall off the map in the last half of the 20th century. Then, thanks in large part to cocktail historian Ted Haigh (aka “Dr. Cocktail”), the Corpse Reviver #2 was rediscovered by a generation of 21st century cocktail geeks.
High time, too. Delicately balanced, not too powerful, with a lingering, mysterious flavor, the Corpse Reviver #2 is enjoying a well-deserved second wind.
Corpse Reviver #2
Adapted from Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh
Ingredients
1 ounce gin
1 ounce Lillet
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce Cointreau
1 drop absinthe or pastis
Procedure
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker; fill with ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
Of course, there are different (though similar) recipes for the Corpse Reviver #2; visit Kaiser Penguin to see a taste test of several versions.
View other entries from Cocktail Concoctions.
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1 Comment:
Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle Restaurant Critic, in his review of the Tipsy Pig restaurant today enjoyed this cocktail.
Here is a portion of his review:
At times when the place is busy, which is just about always, expect long waits between courses. Waiting gave me a good opportunity to look around, soak in the ambience and enjoy a cocktail. On one visit, I ordered the Corpse Reviver No. 2, which wasn't on the menu, but was familiar to our waiter. A few minutes later, the bartender came over and asked about it; He wasn't familiar with the drink so we turned to our iPhones and came up with a recipe, which he made perfectly - a balanced blend of lemon, gin, Lillet, Cointreau and a generous splash of absinthe.
Halcyon at 9:40PM on 04/29/09