The story behind the booze: Corpse Reviver (part 2)

Halloween is a time for everything pumpkin, and also everything spooky. The festivities don't have to stop at spooky decorations and costumes. There are so many cocktails with spooky names and origins, but it doesn't get much spookier than Corpse Reviver.

The Corpse Reviver is a cocktail that has been around since the mid to late 1800s, and although it has changed over time the name has been worth keeping around. Like many other cocktails, it has a very interesting history and continues to resemble the same cocktail as the original.

Most people think of the Corpse Reviver #2 from Harry Craddock's "The Savory Cocktail Book" when imagining the cocktail, but few remember there were versions before that one. In the mid-1800s the term Corpse Reviver included many different types of mixed drinks, most known as hair of the dog recipes.

Asking for a Corpse Reviver was less like asking for a specific drink, and more a way to tell your friends you had a crazy night out on the town.

Halloween cocktails don't get spookier than the corpse reviver

While the genre of drink was known to be popular in the mid-1800s, the first official recipe of a Corpse Reviver was documented in 1871. It was found in "The Gentleman's Table Guide" by E. Ricket and C. Thomas. This suggests filling a wineglass half with brandy, half with maraschino, and adding two dashes of Boker's bitters.

In Craddock's "The Savory Cocktail Book" he includes a recipe for both the Corpse Reviver #1 and #2. He notes after Corpse Reviver #1 that it is "To be taken before 11 a.m. or whenever steam and energy are needed." There seems to be some humor and some truth behind this statement.

In the era of the original Corpse Reviver, more alcohol was truly the only hangover cure, but Craddock seemed to have put some of his own humor into it as well.

The Corpse Reviver #2 came along with Craddock's immigration to Savoy from America in 1920, shortly after the beginning of prohibition. He quickly became a well-respected bartender. Although he had many accomplishments as a bartender, his legacy was his recipe book "The Savory Cocktail Book."

This book includes almost 40 years of cocktail recipes, including many of his own creations.

In this cocktail book is his remade Corpse Reviver (#2). This is a more in-depth cocktail, and very different than the original Corpse Reviver. It includes rinsing the glass with absinthe, and equal parts gin, lillet blanc, orange liqueur, and lemon juice. Craddock stated in his book, "Four of these in quick succession will unalive the corpse," showing a bit of that bartender humor.

Like many other cocktails, the Corpse Reviver has had its fair share of change over the years. It also has a rich history. There are so many spooky cocktails people think of when they think of Halloween.

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