Corpse Reviver No. 2

Corpse Reviver No. 1

The Corpse Reviver No. 1 appeared in Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, presented alongside its more famous sibling as part of a loosely connected family of restorative drinks designed, at least in name, to address the consequences of the night before. Where the No. 2 went on to become one of the most ordered classic cocktails in contemporary bartending, the No. 1 retreated into relative obscurity. That obscurity is undeserved. Three ingredients: cognac, Calvados, and sweet vermouth in equal parts. The combination of two aged fruit spirits alongside vermouth produces a drink that is richer, warmer, and considerably more complex than its short ingredient list suggests. The cognac provides the backbone. The Calvados brings apple, dried fruit, and a faint earthiness that shifts the drink away from anything a straight cognac build could achieve. The vermouth binds and softens both. It is a stirred drink in the Manhattan family, built for slow consumption rather than quick service. Those who order it expecting something bright and citrus-driven because of the name will be surprised. Those who approach it as a serious, spirit-forward after-dinner drink will find it entirely at home in that role.

Last Word

The Last Word is one of the great equal-parts cocktails: gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and fresh lime juice in identical measures, shaken and served up. No component leads and no component follows. Each of the four is assertive enough to dominate a lesser recipe, and the fact that none dominates this one is the drink’s central achievement. It originated at the Detroit Athletic Club around 1915, documented by Ted Saucier in his 1951 book Bottoms Up and attributed to vaudeville performer Frank Fogarty, who allegedly introduced it to the club. It disappeared almost entirely during and after Prohibition and was rediscovered in the early 2000s by Seattle bartender Murray Stenson, who found it in Saucier’s book and put it on the menu at the Zig Zag Café. From there it spread through the craft cocktail world and has not left. The revival was deserved. Green Chartreuse brings herbal intensity, maraschino brings cherry sweetness and a faint bitter almond note, fresh lime brings tartness, and gin holds it together. Each sip reveals a different component leading depending on where in the glass you are. It is a drink worth paying attention to.

Aviation

The Aviation is a gin sour with a sky in the glass. Hugo Ensslin published the original recipe in his 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks, the first known printed source: gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette, and fresh lemon juice. The crème de violette gives the drink its defining characteristic, a pale lavender colour between blue and grey, the colour of an early morning sky at altitude. For most of the twentieth century crème de violette was virtually impossible to source outside specialist suppliers, and the ingredient disappeared from most published versions. Bartenders made the drink without it for decades, a perfectly good gin sour with maraschino that lacked the colour and floral dimension the original was built around. When Rothman and Winter relaunched their crème de violette for the American market in 2007, the original recipe was restored and the drink found a new generation willing to seek out the correct ingredients. The Aviation with crème de violette is a different drink from the one without it. The violet brings a floral softness no other ingredient replicates, sitting between the maraschino’s cherry complexity and the lemon’s tartness. The colour alone is worth the effort of finding the bottle.