Rethinking the Aviation Cocktail
Last night I wandered into one of my favorite local cocktail spots and ordered an Aviation, that tasty, well-balanced drink with gin, maraschino and fresh lemon juice. A few minutes later, when a nearly purple cocktail was placed in front of me, I assumed there had been some mistake. But when your bartender quotes Gary Regan as to the authenticity of your purple Aviation, it’s hard to argue.
It seems the original Aviation included the little used and hard to find liqueur, Creme de Violette. Gary Regan notes that a 1916 recipe called for two parts gin, one part lemon juice and a couple dashes each of maraschino and Creme de Violette, which “makes for a very sour drink indeed.” Instead, Regan proposes using three parts gin and one part each of the liqueurs and the lemon juice.
While I still love the Aviation sans Violette, or with a more moderate proportion of the liqueur, this new-to-me concoction is quite good. Plus, it gives the drink a more intense purplish hue.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
1/2 ounce Creme de Violette
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
Shake with ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
4 comments
From a woman’s perspective, I prefer the one with the violette. It’s slightly sweeter and pretty.
Two points on the Aviation from my perspective.
First, it isn’t an Aviation without the Violette. My understanding is once Violette was no longer an available product, recipe book editors/authors simply deleted it from the recipe. Very similar to how rye was replaced with blended Canadian Whiskey or bourbon.
Second, be careful with the amount of Violette. While Gaz’s recipe is less sour than the 1916 recipe, .5oz of Violette may be too much for most people. It is for me. I like the coloring aspect with a slight flavor nuance rather than a cocktail that tastes like a French whore.
Cheers!
Yeah, the .5oz of Violette is pretty intense; I wanted to show Regan’s recipe as is, but I prefer it with closer to a teaspoon, which still gives it some flavor and a grayish-purple hue.
It’s interesting to search around for Aviation recipes, and note that nearly all recipes prior to 2007, when Rothman & Winter’s Creme de Violette became available in the U.S., exclude the liqueur.
[...] doing a bit of light reading on the Aviation cocktail, I came across a drink created by Gary Regan that he dubbed the Moonlight [...]
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