Some cocktails never really leave us. The Martini, Old Fashioned, Mojito and Margarita have somehow managed to remain permanently lodged in our collective cocktail consciousness.
Those, ofcourse, are the classics. We also have the party cocktails like the Dawa, Bloody Mary, the Pina Colada and the AMF (if you know you know.)
Then there are the others that were once famous, made their way onto bar menus and were enjoyed by generations of drinkers, only to quietly disappear from the scene.
The Aviation was almost one of them. Today, the pale purple gin cocktail is enjoying something of a revival, particularly among bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts who like digging through the history of drinks. But for several decades, the Aviation was difficult to make in its original form because one of its defining ingredients, crème de violette, had virtually disappeared from the market.
So yes, there was a time when one of the world’s classic cocktails was essentially grounded. – which is a shame really because the Aviation is a beautiful drink.
Floral without tasting like perfume, tart without making you wince and sweet enough to round everything off without turning the cocktail into liquid sugar.
If you have been following our Last Word, Bees knees, Hanky Panky, Jungle Bird and Daiquiri explorations, you will know that we have developed a soft spot for cocktails that have interesting stories hiding behind them.
The Aviation has one of the best. At its heart, it is a gin based sour.
The classic version combines gin, fresh lemon juice, maraschino liqueur and crème de violette. The result is a chilled cocktail with citrusy, floral and slightly sweet flavours, usually served straight up in cocktail glass.
And let’s talk about the colour, which makes it so unique.
When made with crème de violette, the Aviation can take on a delicate lavender or pale blue purple hue that makes it look rather more complicated than it actually is.
The gin brings the botanical backbone. Lemon provides acidity, maraschino liqueur adds sweetness and a subtle cherry character, while crème de violette contributes the floral notes and distinctive colour.
If you get the proportions right, the result is surprisingly elegant. If however, you get them wrong, you could end up drinking something that tastes like a bottle of perfume.
The Aviation Has Been Around Since 1916
The Aviation first appeared in print in Hugo R. Ensslin’s 1916 book, Recipes for Mixed Drinks.
Ensslin was the head bartender at New York’s Hotel Wallick and is widely credited with creating the cocktail. His original recipe called for gin, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur and crème de violette.
The early 20th century was fascinated by aviation. Flight was still a relatively new technological wonder, and the idea of humans taking to the skies had captured the imagination of the public.
The Aviation was therefore named during an era when simply getting into an aircraft felt futuristic and glamorous.
Then the Aviation Nearly Disappeared
One of the most important ingredients in the original Aviation was crème de violette, a floral liqueur made using violets.
The problem was that crème de violette became increasingly difficult to find and by the middle of the 20th century, the liqueur had disappeared from the US market. That created a rather unfortunate problem for the Aviation: you could still make a drink using gin, lemon and maraschino, but you could no longer easily make the original cocktail.
Even Harry Craddock’s famous 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book omitted the crème de violette from its Aviation recipe.
That version used gin, lemon juice and maraschino liqueur, leaving out the very ingredient responsible for much of the drink’s distinctive colour and floral character.
Then Crème de Violette Came Back
The Aviation’s revival is a reminder that sometimes “dying” cocktails just need someone to find the missing ingredient.
In 2007, Minneapolis based importer Haus Alpenz began bringing Rothman & Winter crème de violette from Austria into the US – and the timing couldn’thave been better.
The craft cocktail movement was gaining momentum, bartenders were digging through old cocktail books and forgotten classics were suddenly interesting again.
With crème de violette available once more, bartenders could finally recreate the original Aviation more closely. And just like that, this nearly forgotten cocktail started appearing on bar menus again.
What Does an Aviation Taste Like?
If you are expecting something aggressively sweet because of its pretty colour, you are in for a rude shock. A good Aviation is bright, tart, floral and gently sweet.
The lemon gives it that familiar sour cocktail freshness, while the maraschino softens the acidity and adds a subtle fruitiness. The crème de violette is where things get interesting.
Used carefully, it gives the cocktail a delicate floral character. But if used enthusiastically, it can make the drink taste like you have accidentally poured your grandmother’s perfume into a coupe glass.
This is one of those cocktails where a little really does go a long way.
How to Make the Aviation Cocktail
You don’t need an elaborate home bar to make one, although crème de violette may require a little more hunting than your usual bottle of gin.
Ingredients
- 45 ml gin
- 15 ml fresh lemon juice
- 15 ml maraschino liqueur
- 7.5 ml crème de violette
- Ice
- Lemon twist or cocktail cherry, for garnish
Method
Start by chilling your coupe or cocktail glass.
Add the gin, fresh lemon juice, maraschino liqueur and crème de violette to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake well for about 10 to 15 seconds. You want the drink properly chilled and slightly diluted, because that dilution is part of what brings the ingredients together.
Strain into the chilled glass.
Finish with a lemon twist or, if you prefer, a cocktail cherry.
And there you have it.
A cocktail that looks delicate but has considerably more character than its colour might suggest.
One thing about the Aviation is that it’s not the kind of cocktail where you freestyle too much.
Fresh lemon juice is important because the acidity gives the cocktail its backbone. Bottled lemon juice can taste flat and harsh in comparison. You also want to be restrained with the crème de violette. Different brands vary in intensity, so it is worth starting conservatively and adjusting once you understand the bottle you are using.
And please chill the glass.
A warm glass is one of those tiny things that can make an otherwise good cocktail feel disappointingly ordinary.
The goal is a drink that is cold, bright and smooth, with the floral notes sitting behind the gin and citrus rather than fighting for attention.
There is something particularly satisfying about rediscovering a cocktail that almost disappeared. We have seen the same thing with other classics.
The Last Word spent decades largely forgotten before bartenders rediscovered it and helped turn it into one of the defining cocktails of the modern craft cocktail movement.
The Hanky Panky survived through cocktail history partly because it was preserved in books, even though it was nowhere near as familiar to ordinary drinkers as the Martini or Old Fashioned.
And then there is the Daiquiri, which has never really disappeared but somehow remains surprisingly underappreciated, particularly outside the cocktail crowd.
The Aviation belongs in that same fascinating category of drinks that remind us cocktail history is much bigger than the usual list of ten classics we see everywhere.
Sometimes the best drinks are the ones sitting quietly in an old book, waiting for somebody to notice them again.
