Whisky & Ember recipe · Heard on Cocktails & Crime

Necromancer

Absinthe in the lead, with elderflower, Lillet Blanc and lemon.

By George Logue

Serves
1
Time
About 5 minutes, with the glass already chilled
Glass
Chilled coupe, served up
Flavour
Sour / tart
A Necromancer: a pale yellow-green drink served up in a stemmed coupe with a lemon twist, on a dark bar.

The build

Tools for this drink

Ingredients

mlozIngredient
22.5 ml0.75 ozAbsinthe
22.5 ml0.75 ozElderflower liqueur (St-Germain)
22.5 ml0.75 ozLillet Blanc
22.5 ml0.75 ozFresh lemon juice
1 dashGin (a dash is about 1 ml)

Method

  1. Add the absinthe, elderflower liqueur, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice to a shaker with ice. Add one dash of gin.
  2. Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
  3. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Express a lemon twist over the surface.

Notes and tips

  • Absinthe is the base spirit here, not an accent, so expect anise from the first sip to the last.
  • Elderflower brings sweetness against the lemon, and Lillet Blanc brings the soft wine character the Corpse Reviver No. 2 also relies on.
  • The single dash of gin is small but deliberate: it adds a thread of juniper under the anise. Dash size varies by dispenser, so keep the same bottle when you compare.
  • Double straining means pouring through the Hawthorne strainer on the tin and a fine-mesh strainer held over the glass.

Measures and method as published on this site. There are no substitution notes for this drink yet.

About this drink

The Necromancer is built the same way as the Corpse Reviver No. 2 on this site: four equal measures and one dash. Here the roles change. Absinthe takes a full measure, and gin becomes the single dash.

Liquor.com credits the Necromancer to New York bartender Mayur Subbarao, as a riff on the Corpse Reviver No. 2 [1]. He created it at Louro, a restaurant in New York’s West Village [2]. We have not found a reliable creation date, so we do not give one.

Heard on Cocktails & Crime

In episode 1, The Green Fairy on Trial, George tells the story over a Necromancer. It follows a 1905 murder case in Switzerland and the campaign against absinthe that followed. Content note: the episode discusses domestic violence, the murder of children, and suicide.

Listen on the Cocktails & Crime page

Sources
  1. 01Necromancer / Liquor.com
  2. 02Necromancer at Louro / Food Republic

Keep going

Corpse Reviver No. 2

The same four-measure shape, with gin in the lead and absinthe as the dash.

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Brands are named because they are part of the published recipe. Whisky & Ember has no commercial relationship with any brand named here and receives no payment for naming it. Please drink responsibly.