Scofflaw
Instructions
Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail glass, garnish
Notes
Drink (Boston) uses 1-3/4 rye, 3/4 vermouth, 1/2 lemon, 3/8 grenadine, 1 dash Angostura Orange
'Tis Pity She's a Corpse
A Short History of the Corpse Reviver
Nineteenth century drinking culture was, in many ways, quite alien to what is socially acceptable today. The local saloon was more like a coffee shop – where (mainly) men socialized and drank throughout the day. Many people started and ended their day with a drink, and took them to waken the appetite, digest meals, or “whenever steam and energy are needed”. Many drinks in the middle of the 19th century reflect the notion of the energy and verve a quick stiff drink would give the imbiber: “flash of lightning”, “pick me up”, “refresher”, “invigorator” and our primary subject, the “corpse-reviver”.
The first reference I can find of a drink called a Corpse Reviver is in Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper (London) on October 23rd, 1859 in which a theater reviewer describes Tom Taylor’s new play Garibaldi:
Suddenly, the reader will surprised to hear, every man jack of the company of troopers gets excessively drunk and incapable on a couple of enormous stone jugs of some American drink (possibly “corpse reviver” or “gone ‘coon”)…
One of the most interesting things about the search for the early Corpse Reviver is the lack of American sources that reference the drink. The earliest mentions are in London newspapers and magazines, and though they’re always very careful to call them “American drinks”, throughout the latter half of the 19th century, it is almost always European sources who give reference to the Corpse Reviver. Which makes a lot of sense, because no less than the celebrated Jerry Thomas introduced this drink to wild acclaim in London.
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Much more delicate than I expected and definitely has celery notes. I added a pinch of salt which brought it out a bit more.
The bar lists Dominic as the creator on their menus:
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bourbon-and-branch-san-francisco?select…
I wrote Dominic to ask what the OG recipe was (he made an emoji comment of approval on my Instagram post) but sadly got no reply.
With respect to the question about using straight maple syrup, the only way to fix it after other ingredients have been added would be to add an equal volume of water (as the syrup) then go back and add all of the other ingredients (except maple syrup) a second time. [This would be doubling the recipe to two drinks of course.] As Craig said, the 1:1 dilution of a maple syrup (or honey) improves pouring/measuring. Even more importantly it improves mixing. Undiluted commercial heavy syrup or honey has a tendency to stick to the bottom of the mixing glass or shaker and never makes it into the cocktail. During prep the ice makes the syrup/honey even more viscous and the sugar solubility plummets. So the drink ends up short of sugar because a portion of the undiluted syrup/honey sticks to the wall of the mixing vessel and never makes it to the drink.
The negative to dilutions of syrups and honey is that the very high original sugar content keeps them shelf stable (mostly.) When diluted, they are more likely to go bad after a time, even in the refrigerator. Even undiluted maple syrup sometimes goes bad in a warm cabinet--a black growth can start on the top. From what I can see in bottles, a small amount of water evaporates during the warmer periods, then condenses on the walls during cooler cycles, but this water doesn't dissolve quickly into the thick syrup. The thin water layer with dissolved sugar allows bacteria to grow. I have been getting around this problem by adding a very small volume of 100 proof vodka. The small amount of alcohol is more volatile, concentrates in the vapor space and condenses with the water, preventing bacteria growth.
Curated to replace dead link with Wayback Machine archive link. Added bar, location, and approximate year it was created. Also changed type from unknown to authentic.
I think 1:1 syrup just means dilute it with an equal part of water. Makes it more easily pourable and measurable.