http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2008/10/bourbon-corpse-reviver-no-2.html

But i have to agree, dropping the sweetness of the cointreau and slightly upping the pastis really punched it up and gave the drink that “wow” i was expecting from all the press.

next time i’ll try with the full oz of lemon juice to see how that balances, although i’ll need to move to a larger glass — your recipe barely fit in my cocktail glass. well, for the first couple sips, anyway!

I certainly don’t think you’re an oafish caveman! It’s just always seemed to me that the ingredient involved in said “dash” always seemed to be something you didn’t want to over-use…

…and well, I’m a geek.

And while I’m pimping my co-author’s excellent recipes, I’d be amiss if I didn’t link to the Lillet Tomlin, which I’ve not yet tried (but can’t wait to.) I also like Lillet by itself on the rocks with an orange slice, often with a dash of orange bitters (or Peychaud’s, which lends an interesting character.) I’ve done a bit of experimenting with splashing Lillet into a Martini, but I need to do some more tinkering on that one.

And, on my most recent trip to the Pegu Club, I had a fantastic Twentieth-Century Cocktail, which St. John followed up with a Nineteenth-Century (Old Forester bourbon, Lillet Rouge, lemon juice, and crème de cacao), invented by Pegu Club alumnus (and Death & Co. honcho) Brian Miller. He also served a Twenty-First Century (invented by PDT’s Jim Meehan) to my friend: Tequila, crème de cacao, lemon, and a dash of Pernod. It was far smoother than I’d have expected, with a very long cacao-anise finish.

I hadn’t realized that Lillet got reformulated — is this when it turned from Kina Lillet into modern Lillet, or were there actually two reformulations? How different was Kina Lillet from modern Lillet? and how does this affect the Vesper?

1872 Company founded
1887 Lillet formula created
1895 Lillet launched in Bordeaux
1895 In the US and West Indies “Lillet Export Double Quinine” marketed as a tonic wine
1909 Two products available in Europe, Kina Lillet and Sauternes Lillet
1920 “Lillet Dry” created and introduced in England, “to suit English tastes, especially when mixed with gin.”
1962 Lillet Rouge created
1985-86 Lillet modernized its manufacturing facilities and Lillet Blanc reformulated, “…fresher, fruitier, less syrupy, less bitter…”

My impression is the Kina Lillet was phased out and that Lillet Blanc was, more or less, the Lillet Dry created to suit English tastes and mix well with gin.

There’s some controversy about what the proper Lillet is to use in a Vesper. I believe it was Graham Greene who maintained it was a typo that Fleming called for Kina Lillet in a Vesper, saying it made the cocktail far too bitter. I’m a bitter guy, and I like a little quinine zip in my Vesper. Plus, Greene was a complete David Embury acolyte, so anything that wasn’t 90% pure booze probably didn’t trip his trigger.

What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on that “Lillet Export Double Quinine” from the 19th century!

Who else saw Dr. Cocktail himself make a cameo in the movie “Superbad?”