Aviation Cocktail – Does it take flight?

Aviation Cocktail

The Aviation cocktail has had a fascinating little trip through time. In its earliest iteration it was a blend of gin, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, and creme de violette. Creme de violette is a liqueur that gives the Aviation its distinctive blue or purple colour. 

It also has a very floral flavour. The challenge with floral flavours is that f they are not very carefully balanced they quickly become soapy. A violet flavoured liqueur is challenging with gin, because gin usually contains some amount of floral botanicals. It doesn’t take long for this to become too much.

There is no evidence I’m aware of, at least, that shows this is the reason it was removed, but eventually creme de violette is dropped from the recipe. By the 1930s the Savoy Cocktail Book published the recipe without creme de violette.

Again, I don’t know if this is related, but eventually creme de violette is discontinued. Essentially, this killed off the cocktail altogether. For the next 50 years it wasn’t possible to make this cocktail in its original form.   

In the early days of the classic cocktail revival it was a cocktail a lot of people got excited about. And then lost interest in. In the early 2000s someone revived creme de violette just like everything else. When creme de violette became available commercially again, every bartender got excited about making this sky blue cocktail.

It was a big deal. The Aviation cocktail inspired a gin. Unfortunately, a lot of not great versions of the Aviation crossed bar tops around the world. And, then the questions started. Is it better without creme de violette? Why did we think it was so great in the first place? Can we make it better?

Make it Better

A cocktail is a problem. You can solve it. When questions like this present themselves they are worth investigating. It is usually the sign of a drink that is ripe for messing around with. If you are looking for a drink to play with or perfect this is a great place to start.

Classic Cocktail Recipes – Aviation

The Aviation is a beautiful cocktail named for it’s sky blue color. The drink’s signature color comes from the creme de violette. The violet liqueur wasn’t available in North America for many years and this classic drink nearly vanished. In recent years,

  • Glass: chilled coupe
  • 2 oz. gin
  • 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 oz. maraschino liqueur
  • 1/4 oz. creme de violette
  • Garnish: cocktail cherry
  1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
  2. Fill shaker with gin, lemon juice, maraschino and creme de violette and shake well.
  3. Strain into chilled coupe glass and garnish with a cherry.

Creme de violette is a very floral liqueur and a little goes a long way. You may want to take it easy if you’re not familiar with it. Many people simply make the Aviation without it.

For an interesting variation try adding a little grapefruit juice.

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