Corpse Reviver at North Coast Café
The cocktail we didn’t plan to make our signature
People sometimes ask why our signature cocktail is a Corpse Reviver. It’s a fair question. It’s not a drink you see everywhere and it’s not something most people arrive intending to order.
The honest answer is that we didn’t go looking for a signature cocktail. This one just stuck.
Where does the Corpse Reviver come from?
The Corpse Reviver dates back to the early 1900s. It turns up in a few old cocktail books, usually described as something restorative rather than indulgent. At the time, cocktails weren’t really an evening thing. They were often taken earlier in the day and they tended to be fairly direct.
The version most people know now, the Corpse Reviver No. 2, was written down by Harry Craddock in The Savoy Cocktail Book. It’s an equal-parts drink, which means there’s nowhere to hide. If it’s warm, rushed, or heavy-handed, it doesn’t work.
That probably explains why it never became especially popular.
Why we kept coming back to it
We tried a lot of drinks when we started serving cocktails in the evenings. Some were more familiar. Some were easier to like straight away.
The Corpse Reviver was the one that people didn’t rush through. It tends to slow things down a bit. People notice it, then order another one another time, rather than immediately asking what else you can make.
From our side of the bar, it also made sense. It’s precise. It rewards paying attention. And it suits the way we work here, where everything is done by hand and there’s nowhere to hide behind speed or volume.
How we serve it
We keep things cold and we don’t dress it up. That’s really it.
This isn’t a drink that benefits from tinkering or showing off. It needs balance and care, not personality. When it’s made properly, it tastes clean and settled, not sharp or showy.
We’re not trying to improve it. We’re just trying not to mess it up.
Ingredients
Method
Chill a 'nick and nora' or coupe glass and lightly rinse it with absinthe, discarding the excess.
Add equal parts Gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and freshly squeezed lemon juice to a shaker filled with ice.
Shake firmly until very well chilled.
Strain into the prepared glass.
Serve straight up.
Notes: This is an equal-parts cocktail, which means balance matters. Everything should be properly cold, measured carefully, and kept clean. There’s nowhere to hide if it’s rushed, heavy-handed or worse …. warm!
Afternoon or evening
Despite the name, the Corpse Reviver works surprisingly well in the late afternoon. It’s not heavy and it doesn’t knock you sideways. It’s more of a reset than a treat, something that marks the shift out of the day.
In the evening, it still fits. Especially when things are quieter and people aren’t in a hurry. It’s a drink for sitting with rather than photographing or talking about too much.
