Corpse Reviver No. 2 cocktail is good enough to rattle your bones

Thumbing through the Savoy Cocktail Book in search of recipes for classic cocktails always pays off.  This time no thumbing was required.  During a quiet evening scanning the Twitter-feed while sipping a Corpse Reviver cocktail, a tweeter mentioned that their favorite cocktail was the Corpse Reviver No. 2.  Such an occurrence cannot just be coincidental, it must be kismet: my next Savoy experiment was set.  Fortunately, the Savoy is in alphabetical order and the recipe did not take long to find.  The Savoy can be rather ambiguous on quantities.  In the case of the Corpse Reviver No. 2 it calls for “1/4 glass” each of four ingredients, which could be as much as 1 to 2 ounces each.  That seemed a little much, so quantities were instead determined by the quantity of juice in half a lemon.  Either use the measures given below (based on my lemon), or use as much of each ingredient as you got out of your lemon half… your choice.

The recipe just calls for “Dry Gin”.  There were bottles of Bombay Sapphire® and Hendrick’s® Gin in the bar, and it was a tough decision, but combining Hendrick’s with the Lillet had worked in the Depth Charge, so the Hendrick’s won out.  Feel free, however, to use your Gin of choice.  As mentioned in that post, the original Savoy recipe includes Kina Lillet, which had quinine in it, but is no longer made (add a dash of Angostura® Bitters if you’re picky).  And finally, Grand Marnier was substituted for Cointreau®, so use that or your favorite orange liqueur.  While the Corpse Reviver No. 2 is not my new favorite cocktail, it has definitely won a spot in my heart and will be a frequent caller at my house.

Corpse Reviver No. 2

3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice

3/4 oz Kina Lillet

3/4 oz Grand Marnier

3/4 oz Hendrick’s Gin

1 Dash Absinthe.

Add the ingredients to a shaker half full of ice.  Give it your best shake until you feel it’s ready.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.   If you object to naked cocktails, feel free to select a suitable garnish.