Corpse Reviver #1

If you’re into cocktails, you’ve probably come across the Corpse Reviver #2, a tasty mix of gin, Lillet, orange liqueur, lemon juice, and a rinse of absinthe. It’s not uncommon on classic cocktail lists, and it’s a delicious drink. While sipping on one, however, you likely realized that the name implies the existence of a Corpse Reviver #1. Until recently, I didn’t know much about this mysterious predecessor – I had looked it up once, long ago, and filed it away under “sounds a bit weird” and “relatively unpopular.” But after finally trying it, I can happily report that the first is untrue, and the second unfair.

The recent pandemic has had the positive effect of popularizing the virtual cocktail class, and I have enjoyed taking part in many over the past year. (Oh my god, has it been a year?) Just recently, Boston.com has begun doing a weekly Cocktail Club hosted by Jackson Cannon, who invites a guest bartender every week to talk about a different base spirit and make two simple cocktails with it. A few weeks ago, the spirit of choice was Calvados, and one of the cocktails was the Corpse Reviver #1.

I was surprised by the choice. And I was really surprised by how much I liked it!

The Corpse Reviver #1 recipe is simple: equal parts Calvados or apple brandy, Cognac, and sweet vermouth. It’s a bit reminiscent of a Manhattan, but fruitier and more delicate. Cannon’s guest bartender, Ted Kilpatrick, commented that the drink has an almost “winelike complexity,” which I think is a great descriptor. It’s a fantastic addition to your lineup of spirit-forward, slow-sipping drinks. It certainly doesn’t deserve to live in its younger sibling’s shadow – if only because it’s so different that it makes little sense to compare them.

Since I’ve only discussed apple brandies in passing, this might be a good time to quickly review your options for this and other apple brandy cocktails. In many of my earlier recipes, I used Laird’s Applejack when an apple brandy was called for, because it was affordable and easy to find. However, today’s Applejack is not a pure apple brandy and has some grain spirit mixed in. Laird’s makes a fantastic Bonded Apple Brandy that I now keep in my bar instead. There are now a number of other American distilleries making their own apple brandies as well. Calvados is an apple brandy made in specific regions of France. Two brands I’ve had recommended to me are Busnel (currently in my bar) and Daron. Kilpatrick said that he finds American apple brandies lack some of the nuance and layers of French brandies. I can’t make too many sweeping statements about the comparison as I haven’t tried many different bottles, but comparing the Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy and the Busnel Vieille Reserve VSOP Calvados reminded me of comparing a rye with a bourbon – the Laird’s was spicier and drier, whereas the Calvados had more fruity sweetness. Either one will do in this recipe, but feel free to adjust the equal parts measurements to your taste.

History: In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a “corpse reviver” was a drink used to cure a bad hangover. The term dates back to at least 1861, when it was printed in Punch magazine. Everyone had their own corpse reviver recipe, much like everyone has their own recommended hangover cures today. (Mine is water, Advil, and a nap – terribly unexciting but marvelously effective.) Various recipes for drinks called a Corpse Reviver have appeared in print over the years, but it was in Harry Craddock’s 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book that the #1 and #2 as we know them first appeared.

So what do these two drinks have to do with one another, besides the fact that they’re both supposedly effective at curing hangovers? Probably nothing. In the virtual class I mentioned above, Cannon speculated that Craddock used the Corpse Reviver was something of a catchall category for drinks that didn’t fit any other template. But it certainly does seem like Craddock found this cocktail to be revitalizing – below the recipe, he writes, “To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.”

Corpse Reviver #1

1 oz. Calvados or apple brandy
1 oz. Cognac or brandy
1 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass.