The cocktail assumed a life of its own in Europe, where dozens of ersatz “American drinks” did the rounds. An anonymous writer for a Boston journal bristled at “an American restaurant totally misrepresented at the Paris Exposition” the frustrated drinker fared no better in London, where he opined that American drinks “have names strange enough but the fact that certain decoctions are called ‘brandy-smashes’, ‘mint juleps’, and ‘sherry cobblers’, scarcely justifies the invention of the Haymarket ‘corpse-reviver’”. Passing through Paris in 1867, Mark Twain was perplexed to find “American bars” that could not even prepare an order for “whiskey straight”, and his was not a lone voice. Some of these so-called “American drinks” mystified connoisseurs of the genuine article. Cocktails symbolised America, and cocktail bars featured prominently in the American exhibits at both the London Exposition of 1862, and the Paris Exposition of 1867 - if only the same could have been said for the Shanghai Expo of 2010. By the 1860s transatlantic potions were appearing in a few London bars, and Jerry Thomas himself had crossed the pond to demonstrate mixology. Victorian England, while content with sherry, ale and hot flips, had a fascination for exotic American beverages. The price of soft power can be awfully steep. Just as Chinese travellers today must grit their teeth and deal with General Tso’s Chicken, so travelling Americans in the 19th century suffered the Corpse Reviver. Well-meaning American diners doing their bit for international relations at the Ming Garden, Centerville, Missouri, would be astonished to learn Crab Rangoon was noxiously foreign to their hapless Chinese homestay.

But should you be Chinese, the joy of discovery will be tempered by keen foreboding, because put a Chinese restaurant outside China and it inevitably takes all sorts of culinary liberties. Travel anywhere, from London to La Paz, and you can always find a Chinese restaurant. Sometimes a nation comes up with a cultural export so successful it develops a life of its own. Seamus Harris charts the journey of a stiff re-animator. Garnish with a cherry if you’d like.Few classics have suffered more from THEIR export than the mighty Corpse Reviver. Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail (martini) glass. Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.Sounds like the perfect drink choice for the biggest bad mojo day of the year. It was supposed to wake people up and get them ready to face that difficult day ahead. This drink was created by Frank Meier at the Ritz Bar in Paris back in the 1920’s specifically to help those that had had too much to drink the night before. But if that’s not enough to get you to peek outside, I just happen to have the perfect thing to help you take that big step – a cocktail (it is Friday after all) called the Corpse Reviver. So rather than avoid that black cat or those ladders, why not grab a rabbit’s foot, throw some salt over your shoulder and head out with your head held high. I know, I know, you just want to pull the covers up over your head and pretend this day doesn’t exist.

Reviver drink