Many of us have had an episode where we are abruptly woken up and simultaneously whiplashed back into a reality of consequences and pain, peppered with vague memories that make you cringe, which in turn makes your head throb even more. Your overall unease about thrusting yourself into the day is almost crippling. Now imagine…the solution to that is a full-blown booze bomb.
The first-ever mention of a Corpse Reviver in literature dates back to good ol’ 1861 in the British magazine, Punch. In the article a man is described as drinking three stiff drinks in a row, one being a Corpse Reviver, and breaks into drunken song and dance. This suggests that the cocktailing, wig-wearing folks of the 1800s might have been knocking these back for a good while. A few years later, E. Ricket and C. Thomas published The Gentleman’s Table Guide, where they officially declare the recipe as “Half wine glass of brandy, half glass of Maraschino, and two dashes of Boker’s bitters.” This is the original Corpse Reviver, the #1. Not going to lie, that sounds like a real proper glass of “sit your ass down and get through the gut’s churn of the century.” But that’s just me.
In the 1920s, Harry Craddock was all about curing what ailed his patrons with highly involved cocktails, making many hail him as one of the best bartenders ever to man the stick. His insane list of cocktails was immortalized in The Savoy Cocktail Book, which dons 750 smacking cocktails designed to get those knees knocking together and the heart cockles mighty warm. This is the first mention of the much better tasting and more modern Corpse Reviver #2 in literature and was allegedly created by Harry while he was writing this list. The Corpse Reviver #2, and another cocktail called the White Lady (or the Karen), are the two most notorious cocktails to come from this vast list of elixirs. They are both very similar in their build, but the Corpse Reviver #2 packs waaaay more of a punch and traditionally contains higher quality ingredients.
The theory goes that even the most hungover human can stomach this. A sweet lush orange and lemon candy goodness, with a bit of licorice that makes even the shittiest gin get its act together, forms this rich, cohesive cocktail experience. Obviously, these are a lot easier to drink if you are a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed drinker looking to fuel the night with these cøckz. One will quickly lead to three and you will soon be in a flurry of gin, absinthe, and sugar-fueled chaos. You will wake up with that familiar feeling…oh no.
What if you could tap into those same flavors and memories, without the pain? It’s a new era. Our thinking—after many cocktail induced hangovers from the bowels of hell—was that we could crush these cocktails if it wasn’t for the huge amounts of sugar and booze. Henry Craddock himself noted in the recipe, “Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.” He must’ve had some brutal regulars. With Zaddy’s Corpse Reviver, it’s all of the flavor, with none of the punisher in tow. Instead of slapping you in the face with absinthe and Lillet, we recreated these flavors using fennel, nutmeg, and coriander. This concoction may recall times spent with the true Corpse Reviver #2, but it won’t leave you as a corpse. We want you to live! LIIIIIIVVVE!!!!
Zaddy's is distributed throughout California by RNDC
