Two parts booze, one part US history: the Corpse Reviver

Lauren Steele

August 5, 2022

After some well-heeded advice, editor Lauren Steele searches for the origins of a cocktail with a story almost as old as America itself.

Ordering a cocktail becomes decidedly more pleasurable when you know what you’re ordering.

Admittedly, before 2019, I thought I knew what I was ordering when sidling up to a bar, but I didn’t really know. Fortunately, a thoughtful bartender (and friend) named Ivan passed down some advice that stuck with me, even four years later:

“If you are ever in a situation where you don’t know what to order, ask for a Corpse Reviver #2. Everyone will think you know what you’re doing.”

I met Ivan at a notoriously high-brow ski resort in Utah, where I live. There, he judiciously tended the bar, tolerated the come-ons from wealthy divorcées, and occasionally bagged up an extra Wagyu burger with fries at the kitchen’s close for me as a surprise. (As mentioned, very thoughtful.) He was fascinated with the art of mixology, even entering competitions and attending a camp for bartenders. He read Maslow and Kerouac. And he knew the historical irony of ordering a Corpse Reviver.

The garbled nature of the Internet, and history itself, makes it slightly challenging to sift through where the actual origins of the Corpse Reviver lie. But according to my best research, it looks something like this.

A December 1861 edition of the magazine Punch is the first place Internet scholars have found the words “corpse reviver” used to describe a drink’s back-to-life qualities. An 1871 recipe for a Corpse Reviver printed in the Gentleman’s Table Guide called for a wine glass to be filled half with brandy, half with Maraschino, and topped with two dashes of Boker’s bitters. Other recipes call for brandy, vermouth, gin, Cointreau, Lillet blanc, cognac, Calvados, and other botanical mixers and juices.

New York City Deputy Police Commissioner watching agents pour liquor into sewer. — New York City Deputy Police Commissioner John A. Leach, right, watching agents pour liquor into a sewer following a raid during the height of prohibition. Photo: Library of Congress Prohibition Archive

Early on, a Corpse Reviver was designated not as a recipe, but as a type of drink. Today, the Corpse Reviver is a family of cocktails with a handful of recipes, myriad ingredients, and varying proportions. But at its beginning, the Corpse Reviver recipe didn’t matter much as long as the subsequent beverage could rouse one back from a hangover to a state of verve. So, the clever (if not macabre) name. And, the medicinal quality.

That quality sure did come in handy during Prohibition in the US.

You see, for as much as the US touts freedom, there have been more than a few instances when it has taken away folks’ freedoms. The country’s “noble experiment,” as it was called, was cemented by the 18th Amendment—making the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol illegal. At midnight on January 17, 1920, the country went dry. Not a glass of beer would be sold (legally) for the next 13 years.

This called for American bon viveurs to get creative. And they did.

“Four of these taken in swift succession will un-revive the corpse again.”

According to the Smithsonian, the US Treasury Department authorized physicians to write prescriptions for medicinal alcohol during the country’s dry years. Licensed doctors with pads of government-issued prescription forms recommended their patients (the ones willing to pay an extra fee, namely) take regular doses of booze to stave off a number of ailments—cancer, indigestion and depression among them. “Presumably, doctors were doing examinations and diagnoses, but it was mostly bogus,” says Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

For those who couldn’t afford the $3 or $4 it cost each time to get a prescription or a refill from a willing doctor, there were ways (read: booze cruises, speakeasies) to drink. But often, the liquor available wasn’t high quality. Bartenders masked the taste of the bad booze with juices and mixers. Thus, a new taste for cocktails was born. And quickly, the act of mixing a good drink became an art.

Barrels of confiscated liquor in a building. — During American Prohibition—which lasted from 1920 to 1933—the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of alcohol was federally prohibited. States made good on their new law by confiscating and dumping liquor, wine, and beer found by law enforcement and specialized task forces. Photos: Library of Congress Prohibition Archive

A man holds up a glass of moonshine. — During American Prohibition—which lasted from 1920 to 1933—the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of alcohol was federally prohibited. States made good on their new law by confiscating and dumping liquor, wine, and beer found by law enforcement and specialized task forces. Photos: Library of Congress Prohibition Archive

Harry Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930 (three years before the end of Prohibition in America), became an institutionalized tome that kept alive dozens of pre-Prohibition drinks which otherwise would have been lost to memory. In its pages, you can find today’s most popular corpse-reviving recipe: the Corpse Reviver #2.

As recorded by Liquor.com, this variation calls for gin, Lillet blanc, orange liqueur and fresh lemon juice. “That delicately balanced combination is doled out in equal parts, shaken with ice, and served in a glass that has been rinsed with absinthe, a technique that adds aromatics and only a hint of anise flavor to the drink,” the recipe reads. The only thing that’s missing is the footnote (ahem, warning) provided in Craddock’s original print: “Four of these taken in swift succession will un-revive the corpse again.”

On December 5, 1933, at 3:33 p.m., Utah’s constitutional convention unanimously endorsed the 21st Amendment, repealing the 18th Amendment. Utah’s say was the deciding vote in favor of overturning nationwide prohibition, ending the country’s dry era after 13 years.

According to Deseret News, the news immediately launched what newspapers called nationwide drinking celebrations. That same day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the 18th Amendment’s repeal and reportedly celebrated with a famous toast: “What America needs now is a drink.”

The recipe for the Corpse Reviver cocktail. — Some have said that if the Corpse Reviver had a motto, it would be “cheers to the hair of the dog that bit you.” Photo: Adrian Scottow/Flickr

It took years (and a few drinks) for me to discern just how clever—and richly layered—Ivan’s guidance was.

Under a local bar that serves $2 shots and beers to college kids packed in tightly between the yellow-painted walls, I make my way down a set of stairs to a speakeasy that too many people know about.

Through the door, I hear a not-too-ironic throwback record playing. The fireplace is crackling. Dusty books line shelves. Portraits of people I’ll never know hang on the walls, next to a taxidermied mount of a mythic jackalope. I sit at the bar and without even looking at the menu, I order a Corpse Reviver #2. Only this time, I truly do know what I’m doing.

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Lauren Steele

Lauren's body of work includes stories on just about everything – from skiing in the untouched mountains of Kyrgyzstan to Chilean national fùtbol champs to hanging out with the Wu-Tang Clan. She has written and edited for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Outside, Rolling Stone, Vice, Men’s Journal, Complex, and WIRED. She is a contributing editor for Adventure.com.