Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail

Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail Story

The reigning champion of eye openers, less a category of cocktail than a method of consuming alcohol, the refreshingly botanical Corpse Reviver #2 first appeared in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. Eye openers were the mid-1800s equivalent to hair of the dog, a hangover antidote meant to get one going after a long night of drinking. Craddock can be credited with canonizing the less celebrated #1 along with the notorious #2 as proper cocktails, meant to be served up and imbibed quickly. Kina Lillet, the long extinct fortified wine called for in the original recipe, can be substituted with Cocchi Americano, an Italian aperitif wine that adequately replicates the bitter quinine notes found in the the original cocktail.