How to Make the Classic Cocktail Built to Wake the Dead

Now, today we're going to make a classic drink that belongs to a family of cocktails that were supposed to wake you from the dead, or at the very least, cure a nasty hangover. Now, the drinks were known as Corpse Revivers, and today we are making Corpse Reviver No. 2. Now, this No. 2 version is a gin drink, so the first thing that you're going to need is going to be some of that. I'm using Beefeater today. You're just going to want to make sure you're using like a London Dry-style gin, something that's clean, crisp, and juniper forward. The next ingredient is going to be Cointreau. This is a foolproof triple sec, and it's going to add some orange and citrusy notes to the drink. You're also going to need some lemon juice, so today we're going to be using one fresh lemon, and you're going to need some Cocchi Americana. This is an aromatized wine. The original Corpse Reviver No. 2 used Quinoa Lillet, but that's no longer made, and this is about as close as we can get. And finally, the last ingredient is going to be my favorite, absinthe. Now, don't worry, we're not going to use a lot of absinthe. It's just to rim the glass and kind of give an aroma to the drink. And even if you don't like the flavor of absinthe, which is anise and fennel, you might actually really enjoy the way all of this comes together. Now, that's it. Let's get these out of the way, and we'll get started making this classic. So, this is a shaken cocktail, and it's pretty easy to make, and it's all equal parts with the exception of the absinthe rinse. So, we're going to start with our mixing tin, and we'll just begin by adding some of our ingredients here. So, I'll start with the gin, and we're going to add three quarters of an ounce of gin. Then we'll move on to our Cointreau. Again, this is going to give it that kind of deeper orange flavor that this drink is really known for. We're going to add three quarters of an ounce of that, and then we'll go ahead and move on to the aromatized wine, which I got open nice and easy there. We're going to add three quarters of an ounce of Kochi. Kind of a theme going on here. And finally, we'll go ahead and move on to our lemon juice. So, cut that bad boy in half, and we're looking for the same amount of lemon juice. So, squeeze that in. We'll go ahead and add three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice right to the tin. Next, we'll just go ahead and ice it up. So, we'll fill the shaker tin up with ice there, and then we'll give it a shake. We're going to chill this thing down for about eight to ten seconds. So, let me get it nice and cold. Okay, there we go. Nice and chilled and diluted, and I've got a nice little coupe glass here that is frozen. We'll go ahead and add our absinthe now. Now, you could use a little spray or an atomizer, but I'm doing this the old-fashioned way. So, we'll just drizzle a little bit of absinthe in there and give the glass a swirl. I actually like a lot more absinthe than my corpse survivors, but to each their own. Go ahead and dump that out, and then we've got a nice rinse of absinthe in the glass. That's not going to offend your palate, but it's going to add to the aroma of the cocktail. I'm going to strain the cocktail out. All righty, now that is gorgeous. All we have to do is garnish it, and usually just garnish it with a cherry. So, grab one of these, if I can get one out, and let a little bit of that syrup drain off, and just pop it right in. And there you have it. That is a corpse survivor number two. Oh, man. You guys, that is one of my favorite cocktails of all time, honestly. I love the way the citrus and the absinthe work together. You don't really taste the absinthe as much as it sort of just permeates with aroma. The gin comes through, but the drink is way softer than you might think. It doesn't really taste strong, so you've got to be kind of careful with it. It can be kind of sneaky. Anyway, that's it, guys. That is the corpse survivor number two. I hope you give it a shot, and let me know what you thought about today's episode. Maybe go down in the comments below, leave a little message, and don't forget to hit like and subscribe if you haven't already. And until next time, I guess we are on to the next drink. Cheers.