
Cocktail· London Dry
Corpse Reviver #2
The Corpse Reviver #2 is a shaken pre-Prohibition cocktail of equal parts London dry gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc, and fresh lemon juice, served up in an absinthe-rinsed coupe with an orange peel. The recipe appears in Harry Craddock's 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, with Craddock's warning that 'four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.' The absinthe rinse is essential; without it the drink tastes flat.
Ingredients
- 0.75 oz London dry gin
- 0.75 oz Cointreau
- 0.75 oz Lillet Blanc (or Cocchi Americano)
- 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice
- Absinthe, to rinse the glass

Built for shaken drinks
The Shaken Set
Boston Shaker · Hawthorne Strainer · Jigger
Method
- Rinse a chilled coupe with absinthe and discard or set aside the excess.
- Combine gin, Cointreau, Lillet, and lemon juice in a shaker.
- Add ice and shake hard for 12 seconds.
- Double-strain into the absinthe-rinsed coupe.
- Express an orange peel over the surface and drop it in.
Garnish
Orange peel
Pro tip
Cocchi Americano is the closest available substitute to the original Kina Lillet; modern Lillet Blanc works but lacks the quinine bitterness of the pre-1986 formula.
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