Underhill-Lounge

Aviation Cocktail

1/3 Lemon Juice. (3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice)
2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin)
2 Dashes Maraschino. (1/2 tsp. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur)
[2 Dashes Creme de Violette] (1/2 tsp. Rothman and Winter Creme de Violette Liqueur)
(1/2 teaspoon Rich Simple Syrup)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (Garnish with cherry.)

In one of the Savoy Cocktail Book’s more famous typos or mistakes, Craddock (or the editors) left the Violette out of the recipe for the Aviation Cocktail.

This is the earliest recipe from Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 “Recipes for Mixed Drinks.”

Aviation Cocktail

1/3 Lemon Juice
2/3 El Bart Gin
2 dashes Maraschino
2 dashes Creme de Violette

Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve.

The Savoy and Ensslin Aviations are a pretty sharp tonics. Very sour with only those few little dashes of sweetener.

Generally, if you order an Aviation in a bar today, you’re more likely going to get something like this recipe from Gary Regan:

Aviation Cocktail

2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full with ice and add all of the ingredients. Shake for approximately 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Like Embury’s Apple Jack Rabbit Cocktail, this is getting a bit far from the original recipe for me. Depending on the Maraschino you’re using, this may also really be overkill on that ingredient. Especially if you’re using Luxardo, too much Maraschino is not a good thing. It will completely dominate a cocktail in a not very pleasant manner.

So I propose the solution above. Don’t skip the violette, don’t overdo the Maraschino, and add a bit of simple syrup to mellow this very tart Savoy Cocktail Book recipe.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.