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 VioletteShake 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 juiceINSTRUCTIONS:
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.
As a young’un who really found his palette on the super-dry maraschino (typo) formula, I’ve got to admit I LOVE IT. I find the assertive savoriness (with the right gin) in this drink (under Harrington’s 1 1/2 gin to 1/2 maraschino to 3/4 lemon juice, with Aviation gin) is just the thing to bring me to bat.
And, yes, I’m still trying to get my teaspoon oriented correctly for the amount of creme d’violette I can handle.
I’ve found the Aviation to be one of the more challenging cocktails to get right. The Luxardo Maraschino, especially, can be a tough ingredient, especially as the sole sweetener in a drink. It is hard to find that spot where it is sweet enough, but not overwhelming the other ingredients. Violet liqueurs also significantly vary in sweetness. With the ingredients I’m using above, the three half teaspoons of sweetener seems to work best for both myself and most people I’ve made Aviations for. Making the cocktail with just the half teaspoons of R&W Violette and Luxardo Maraschino is a bit lean, even for me.
[...] have tried various recipes for the Aviation and found that the best one is as written here by Erik Flannestad of the Underhill Lounge. His [...]
[...] The first recipe for the Aviation to see print was in Hugo Ensslin’s book Recipes for Mixed Drinks printed in 1916. I, sadly, do not have a copy, but Erik came to the rescue by posting the recipe on his site. [...]
[...] La primera mención de la receta del Aviation fue realizada en el libro de Hugo Ensslin “Recipes for mixed Drinks” (Recetas para bebidas mezcladas) edición impresa en 1916. Como no tenemos el libro en cuestión, otro compañero del blog “Underhill-Lounge” hizo una investigación ardua y puedes ver la receta en su website aqui. [...]
[...] started off with Erik Ellestad’s approximation of the original recipe. The resulting Aviation is much less sweet than some of the [...]
[...] time we go we wind up having a highly average experience. (And what’s up with offering an Aviation w/o Creme de Violette anyway?) If there’s someone out there feels they can help us manifest an exemplar evening [...]
[...] i’m the only blog that hasn’t done an AVIATION cocktail yet, i thought it about time. truth be told, i think the Crème de Violette tastes rather [...]
[...] is pretty tart, which is mighty fine with me but not so much for some folks. Erik Ellestad recommends adding 1/2 teaspoon of rich simple syrup to this version to help take the edge off the lemon, and [...]
[...] de Violette. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t quite have the “magic” of an Aviation. Making it for modern drinkers, I usually throw a quarter to a half an ounce of simple in there [...]
[...] on the “Sensation Cocktail” from The Conceirge regarding the never ending “Aviation Debate“. I see from your link that you credit Gary Regan with the 2oz gin, 1/2 each of Maraschino [...]
[...] comments on the Nomenclature/Aviation/Sensation [...]