The following is an extended version of the article that appears in our March 2021 issue.
Corpse Reviver No. 2 (Photo via Getty Images)
In a time when health care was equal parts herbal lore and sorcery, a concoction called a “corpse reviver” might mean anything — depending on the mixer’s magic.
By the early 20th century, though, Harry Craddock’s “The Savoy Cocktail Book” touted the cocktail as something “to be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.” Read: a brazen claim for a hangover remedy.
Corpse Reviver No. 1 = two parts brandy, one part Calvados (apple brandy), one part rosso vermouth
Corpse Reviver No. 2 = equal parts gin, dry Curacao, Cocchi Bianco, lemon juice and a splash of absinthe
Corpse Reviver No. 3 – equal parts brandy, Fernet Branca and creme de menthe, stirred
‘Hair of the Dog’
At Mt. Defiance Distillery in Middleburg, hyperlocal absinthe finds itself in Cocktail Coordinator Duncan Coltharp's mashup of the two Craddock classics. Dubbed Corpse Reviver No. 1.5, it uses the distillery’s own rum, apple brandy and sweet vermouth.
Inspired by a neoclassic descendant of the Corpse Reviver No. 2, Gaelan Rose of Crafted serves the Inflight Reviver, a blend of amaro, ginger and scotch, meant to soothe the dispirited stomach.
The less familiar and less prevalent Corpse Reviver No. 3 was introduced decades later.
Someone very familiar, however, is Jessica Bradley, who creates a playful variation of the Corpse Reviver’s third iteration at Grandstaff & Stein. Her secret? Rinsing the glass with apple cider vinegar to awaken the senses.
Corpse Reviver No. 1.5
Duncan Coltharp, @MtDefiance
When absinthe finally became legal in the U.S. in 2007, it was only a matter of time before someone in Virginia started distilling it. Fortunately, that person was Peter Ahlf. The absinthe coming out of Mt. Defiance is a tribute to the category, distilled with botanicals mostly grown in their own garden, including the wormwood.
Which, by the way, won’t make you hallucinate or see the green fairy. That’s just leftover propaganda from a mid-19th-century lobbying war by the faltering wine industry against the wildly popular absinthe. An exact parallel to the story of cannabis, but with classist instead of racist overtones.
And the campaign worked just as well, too — 150 years later, and people still associate absinthe with poison and witchery.
Nowadays, though absinthe’s name has been cleared, Virginia ABC law still prohibits distillery bars from using more than one outside spirit in their tasting room cocktails. But that didn’t stop Mt Defiance Cocktail Coordinator Duncan Coltharp from flexing his mixological creativity to come up with this concoction that’s structured like a Corpse Reviver No. 2 but also cleverly incorporates all three components of the Corpse Reviver No. 1, using mostly their own ingredients.
Mt. Defiance’s sweet vermouth is fortified with their own apple brandy, so that’s two of the three. And instead of Cointreau, he uses Pierre Ferrand dry curacao, which is made with brandy.
Then because they have no gin, he uses Mt. Defiance white rum. But he garnishes with juniper berries, as a nod to the subbed-out spirit. Add some lemon juice and rinse liberally with absinthe, et voilà!
3/4 ounce Mt. Defiance white rum
3/4 ounce Pierre Ferrand dry curacao
3/4 ounce Mt. Defiance sweet vermouth
3/4 ounce lemon juice
2 barspoons Mt. Defiance absinthe
Combine everything except the absinthe in a shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Add the absinthe to a chilled coupe. Strain the cocktail over the absinthe. Garnish with three juniper berries.
Inflight Reviver
Gaelan Rose, @CraftedRVA
Bartender and consultant Gaelan Rose had his first Corpse Reviver No. 2 at the bygone Greenleaf's Pool Room and has kept it as a go-to ever since. But the first craft cocktail he really fell in love with was one of its descendants, the neoclassic Paper Planes (equal parts bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino and lemon juice).
In tribute to the medicinal roots of amari, absinthe, and ginger — and emblematic of the powerful Mr. Potato Head theory of mixology — Gaelan came up with this ginger-spiced mashup of Corpse Reviver No. 2 and Paper Plane that he calls the Inflight Reviver.
Instead of rinsing the glass, he floats the absinthe atop crushed ice, which releases its aromatic bouquet as the ice melts and the green fairy settles closer and closer to the straw, awakening with the water.
3/4 ounce ginger-infused Monkey Shoulder scotch
3/4 ounce Amaro Montenegro
3/4 ounce Aperol
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce absinthe
Optional garnish: candied ginger
Combine everything except the absinthe in a shaker. Add one ice cube and shake vigorously until you can’t hear it. Pour over crushed ice in a tumbler or tiki cup. Float absinthe on top.
For ginger-infused scotch: Peel and thinly slice a finger-size piece of fresh ginger per pint of spirit. Steep overnight and strain through cheesecloth when it tastes ready.
Mint Condition
Jessica Bradley, @BooksellersRVA
“I bring this corpse to life using Fernet Branca’s delicious but often overlooked younger sister, Branca Menta,” Bradley says. “That plus the slightly bitter Cocchi Rosa can settle an upset stomach after a night of indulgence.”
Though it’s traditionally stirred, Bradley suggests shaking this version to open up the dense minty amaro. Finishing with a lively bouquet of cider vinegar adds an uplifting savory touch that rounds out the drink.
And if you squint just right, you realize her variation is an homage to/mashup of No. 1 and No. 3 — with Cocchi Rosa as vermouth and apple cider vinegar honoring the Calvados.
1 ounce brandy
1 ounce Branca Menta
1 ounce Cocchi Rosa
1 dash Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit bitters
Rinse apple cider vinegar
Combine everything except the vinegar in a shaker. Add ice and shake. In a chilled coupe, pour a splash of cider vinegar and coat the inside before dumping the excess. Fine-strain the cocktail into the glass. Twist a lemon peel over the surface and garnish.
Paul Blumer is a writer and emeritus craft bartender.
