Bracing and citrus-forward, the Corpse Reviver #2 sets gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice in four equal parts over a whisper of absinthe, and it comes out far more elegant than its morbid name suggests. Lemon and orange liqueur give it a bright, tart snap, the Lillet rounds the edges with a soft bittersweet wine note, and the absinthe hangs a faint anise perfume over the chilled coupe — dry, aromatic and dangerously easy to drink.
Garnish: Orange Peel
Shaken · Coupe · Up
add
Add the gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, lemon juice, and a dash of absinthe to a shaker.
add
Fill the shaker with ice.
shake
Shake well until thoroughly chilled, about 10–15 seconds.
strain
Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
garnish
Express an orange twist over the surface and add or discard to taste.
The drink comes from an older family of Corpse Revivers, hair-of-the-dog restoratives for the morning after, and no inventor of the No. 2 is on record. Harry Craddock wrote it down in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, adding a dry caution that four drunk in quick succession would leave the corpse unrevived once more. It is commonly connected with the American Bar at the Savoy in London, though that link is loose and some of its sibling recipes have since been lost. The original called for Kina Lillet, for which Lillet Blanc now stands in, and the International Bartenders Association counts the drink among its official cocktails.