This time out Clinton Cawood raises the question of the lesser known Corpse Reviver.
Nothing like a little brandy and vermouth to blow the cobwebs away. That’s the thinking behind this Corpse Reviver, first of its name and forever in the shadow of the far more prolific gin-based No.2. Unfair, really, as this punchy drink is just as likely to get the job done.
The earliest-known recipe comes from Harry Craddock’s 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book, although the drink is thought to have been invented by Frank Meier of the Ritz Bar in Paris. Craddock’s spec pairs two parts brandy with one part each of calvados and Italian vermouth. Since then, some have favoured the addition of a dash or two of orange bitters, or a touch of absinthe – whatever gets the corpse revived, although the absinthe is a nice link to the drink’s more famous sibling, with which it has nothing else in common.
Times have certainly changed since the drink’s origins a century ago, not least Craddock’s instruction to shake it, which no self-respecting bartender would be caught dead doing today.
He also adds a note that the Corpse Reviver No.1 is “to be taken before 11am, or whenever steam and energy are needed”, when clearly this is an after-dinner drink. To each their own.
Corpse Reviver No.1 (adapted from The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930)
Glass: Coupe / Nick & Nora
Garnish: Orange twist
Method: Stir ingredients over ice and strain.
50ml cognac
25ml calvados
25ml sweet vermouth
Dash of absinthe or orange bitters