Corpse Reviver No. 2

Wayfinder

A Corpse Reviver No. 2 is 30ml each of London Dry gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and fresh lemon juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe rinsed with absinthe, with lemon peel expressed over the top. About 2.9 UK units. The four measures are the IBA’s. The IBA puts a dash of absinthe in the shaker; we rinse the glass with it, which leaves the scent with less of the anise. Lillet Blanc stands in for the Kina Lillet of older recipes; accounts differ on whether that was a more bitter wine. Harry Craddock printed it in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, beside a No. 1. Under the No. 2 he added a warning: four taken in swift succession would unrevive the corpse again.

ShakenAperitifClassic

Glassware: Coupe Glass

Garnish: Lemon peel expressed over the drink and rested on the rim

Ingredients

Serves

London Dry Gin

30ml

A London Dry at 40% ABV. Its juniper keeps the drink dry against the Cointreau and the wine.

Cointreau

30ml

At 40% ABV, it brings orange and most of the sugar. A cheaper triple sec tastes sweeter and thinner at a quarter of the drink.

Lillet Blanc

30ml

A Bordeaux aromatised wine at 17% ABV, the figure on Pernod Ricard’s product page. We keep an open bottle in the fridge and use it within the first month. Cocchi Americano, which Punch’s recipe gives as the alternative to Lillet, makes a more bitter drink in our experience.

Fresh Lemon Juice

30ml

Squeezed the same day. It is a quarter of the drink and its only acid.

Absinthe

1 barspoon, for the rinse

Swirled round the chilled glass and poured away. The IBA shakes a dash into the drink; a rinse gives the scent with less anise.

Instructions

Chill a coupe in the freezer and squeeze the lemon juice the same day.

Pour a barspoon of absinthe into the coupe, turn it to coat the inside and pour out the rest.

Add the gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice to a shaker.

Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.

Double strain into the rinsed coupe.

Express a strip of lemon peel over the drink and rest it on the rim.

Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification for the four measures; absinthe as a glass rinse and lemon peel garnish are ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.

Expert Tip

Rinse, then pour it out. A barspoon of absinthe in the chilled coupe, turned until it coats the whole bowl, then tipped away. The film left behind scents every sip. A pool left in the bottom makes the last mouthful taste of anise and nothing else. Keep the Lillet in the fridge. It is a wine, and in our experience it fades within about a month once open. At a quarter of the drink, a tired bottle dulls everything. Measure all four. With equal parts nothing leads, so an extra splash of lemon or Cointreau tips the balance. Use a jigger, not an eye.

The story

Behind the Corpse Reviver No. 2

Flavour Profile

CitrusAniseFloralDryAromatic

The Savoy, 1930

Harry Craddock printed the Corpse Reviver No. 2 in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, alongside a No. 1, and Difford’s Guide quotes the line under the No. 2: “four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.”

Craddock, whom the Oxford Companion says the Savoy installed at the helm of its American Bar in 1925, published his revivers in the Savoy Cocktail Book five years later. The name was older than his book: the Companion says a corpse reviver appears to have been served at an American-style bar in Piccadilly in the late 1850s, and the Gentleman’s Table Guide of 1871 lists one of brandy, maraschino and Boker’s bitters, so the phrase had been attached to more than one recipe before his.

Four Equal Parts

Underneath, it is a sour: spirit, citrus and sweetness. The sweetness comes in two forms. Cointreau brings sugar and orange; Lillet Blanc brings a lighter sweetness with wine and a trace of quinine. Together they let the lemon run at a full quarter of the drink without turning it sharp.

The gin is the backbone. Thirty millilitres is a modest measure of spirit for a shaken drink, which is why it drinks light, and why the absinthe on the glass carries so far.

Kina Lillet and What Replaced It

Older recipes call for Kina Lillet, a Bordeaux aromatised wine with a marked quinine bite. In 1986 the house reformulated it and sold it as Lillet Blanc, the bottle on the shelf now and the IBA’s choice. Accounts differ on whether the quinine was reduced: Difford’s Guide says it was cut sharply, DrinkBoy says the level never changed.

Cocchi Americano, from Piedmont, lists cinchona bark among its ingredients on Cocchi’s own page, and CLASS calls Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano both more than acceptable substitutes for the vanished Kina Lillet. In our experience it carries more quinine and makes a drier, more bitter drink. Both are right; they make different drinks.

Our Build Against the IBA’s

The IBA’s Corpse Reviver No. 2 beside ours

Gin

IBA: 30ml
Ours: 30ml London Dry

Cointreau

IBA: 30ml
Ours: 30ml

Lillet Blanc

IBA: 30ml
Ours: 30ml

Lemon juice

IBA: 30ml fresh
Ours: 30ml, squeezed the same day

Absinthe

IBA: A dash, in the shaker
Ours: A rinse of the glass, poured away

Glass

IBA: A chilled cocktail glass
Ours: A chilled coupe

Garnish

IBA: Orange zest
Ours: Lemon peel, expressed

UK units

IBA: About 2.9
Ours: About 2.9

Element	IBA	Ours
Gin	30ml	30ml London Dry
Cointreau	30ml	30ml
Lillet Blanc	30ml	30ml
Lemon juice	30ml fresh	30ml, squeezed the same day
Absinthe	A dash, in the shaker	A rinse of the glass, poured away
Glass	A chilled cocktail glass	A chilled coupe
Garnish	Orange zest	Lemon peel, expressed
UK units	About 2.9	About 2.9

How to Serve It

Cold and up, in the rinsed coupe with the lemon peel on the rim, before a meal. At about 2.9 units it drinks lighter than it is, which is the point of Craddock’s warning.

For the brandy and Calvados sibling, make a Corpse Reviver No. 1; for gin, Cointreau and lemon without the wine, a White Lady; for another equal-parts drink, a Last Word.

Make it

Make it at home

The Spirit

Gin

Gin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.

Learn more

Master the Techniques

When and why to double strain a cocktailin Shaken or stirred? When to shake or stir a cocktail

Go further

More to explore

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in a Corpse Reviver No. 2?

30ml each of London Dry gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and fresh lemon juice, shaken hard and double strained into a chilled coupe that has been rinsed with absinthe. Lemon peel is expressed over the top. The four measures are the IBA’s.

Where does the Corpse Reviver No. 2 come from?

Harry Craddock printed it in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, beside a No. 1. Under the No. 2 he wrote that four taken in swift succession would unrevive the corpse again. The phrase is older: the Oxford Companion says a corpse reviver was served at an American-style bar in Piccadilly in the late 1850s.

How does the absinthe rinse work?

A barspoon of absinthe goes into the chilled coupe, is turned to coat the inside and is poured away. The film left behind scents every sip without adding much anise. The IBA instead shakes a dash into the drink, which gives a stronger anise note.

Lillet Blanc, Cocchi Americano or Kina Lillet?

Difford’s Guide says Kina Lillet, named in older recipes, was reformulated in 1986 and became Lillet Blanc. Accounts differ on whether the quinine was reduced: Difford’s Guide says it was, DrinkBoy says it was not. Lillet Blanc is the IBA’s choice and makes a softer drink. Cocchi Americano carries more quinine, so it gives a drier, more bitter one.

How does the No. 1 differ from the No. 2?

Nearly everything. Our No. 1 is cognac, Calvados and sweet vermouth, stirred and served without citrus: dark, short and spirit-led. The No. 2 is gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and lemon, shaken: bright, sour and lighter. The two appear together in the Savoy Cocktail Book.

Why equal parts?

With all four at 30ml, none leads. The gin gives backbone, the Cointreau sugar and orange, the Lillet wine and a trace of quinine, and the lemon the acid that holds them. Move one by even 5ml and the balance shifts, so measure each.

What garnish goes on a Corpse Reviver No. 2?

The IBA gives orange zest. We express lemon peel, which repeats the lemon in the drink and keeps it sharp; orange peel leans it towards the Cointreau. Either is right. A cherry is a common bar habit and adds nothing the drink needs.

How strong is a Corpse Reviver No. 2?

About 2.9 UK units: 1.2 each from 30ml of gin at our working figure of 40% ABV and 30ml of Cointreau at 40% on Cointreau’s own nutrition page, and 0.5 from 30ml of Lillet Blanc at 17%, the figure on Pernod Ricard’s product page. The rinse is poured away. UK units are ABV times millilitres divided by 1,000; the Chief Medical Officers’ guideline is no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days.

Sources.

Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.

Difford’s Guide, “Corpse Reviver No.2 (Savoy Recipe)” (secondary source quoting the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930): ¼ wine glass each of lemon juice, Kina Lillet, Cointreau and dry gin, one dash of absinthe; “Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again”; the Gentleman’s Table Guide of 1871).
IBA, “Corpse Reviver #2” (official specification: 30ml each of gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and fresh lemon juice, 1 dash absinthe; garnish with an orange zest).
Pernod Ricard, “Lillet” (owner’s brand page: Lillet Blanc, 17% ABV).
Difford’s Guide, “Kina Lillet” (secondary source: reformulated in 1986, the quinine “dramatically reduced”, “Kina” dropped from the name).
DrinkBoy (Robert Hess), “Lillet blanc” (secondary source: says the quinine level never changed and the 1986 reformulation only improved batch consistency).
Cocchi, “Cocchi Americano” (maker’s page: 16.5% vol.; cinchona bark among the botanicals; drink within a month of opening).
Cointreau, “Nutritional information” (maker’s page: Cointreau 40% alcohol per volume).
The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Dinah Sanders), “Corpse Reviver” (secondary source: a drink at an American-style bar in Piccadilly in the late 1850s; later a generic term for a morning drink; Craddock’s 1930 recipes).
The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Anistatia R. Miller and Jared M. Brown), “Craddock, Harry Lawson” (secondary source: installed at the helm of the Savoy’s American Bar in 1925; compiled the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930).
E. Ricket and C. Thomas (1871), Internet Archive, “The Gentleman’s Table Guide” (primary source: No. 92, Corpse Reviver, half a wineglass of brandy, half a wineglass of Maraschino, two dashes of Boker’s bitters).
Punch, “Corpse Reviver No. 2” (secondary source: 1 ounce Lillet, or Cocchi Americano).
CLASS (Clinton Cawood), “Classics: The story of the Corpse Reviver #2” (named-author trade press: with Kina Lillet gone, Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano are both more than acceptable substitutes).