Aviation
Gin, maraschino, lemon and a whisper of violet — a pre-Prohibition sour that spent fifty years incomplete because one ingredient vanished.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a coupe.
Add the gin, maraschino, lemon juice and crème de violette to a shaker.
Fill with ice and shake hard for 12-15 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe and garnish with a cherry.
A thoughtful finish
- A quarter-ounce of violette is plenty. It is there for the colour and a floral top note, not to make the drink taste of parma violets.
- Maraschino is not sweet cherry syrup — it is a dry, funky, almost nutty liqueur. Use a real one and measure it carefully; it will bully the gin if you over-pour.
- Double strain. The drink's pale lavender colour is the point and ice shards spoil it.
Common mistakes
- Pouring the violette with a free hand, which turns the drink purple and perfumed.
- Substituting crème de violette with parfait amour or a violet syrup, both of which are much sweeter and will unbalance it.
- Using cherry liqueur in place of maraschino. They are entirely different products.
A few good questions.
What does the IBA spec say?
The IBA lists gin, maraschino and lemon juice only — 4.5cl, 1.5cl, 1.5cl — with no crème de violette, following the Savoy rather than Ensslin. Both builds are defensible. The violette version is the original and the one most craft bars now serve.
Can I make it without crème de violette?
Yes, and for most of the twentieth century that is what an Aviation was. It is a cleaner, sharper drink — still good, just no longer lavender.
Why is my Aviation brown?
Too much maraschino relative to everything else, or a maraschino that has oxidised in an old open bottle. It should be very pale lilac or straw.
Is the drink named after flying?
Almost certainly — it was created in the years when powered flight was new and glamorous, and the pale sky colour fits. There is no documented statement from Ensslin explaining it.
Variations
- Blue Moon — Crème de violette in place of the maraschino.
- Moonlight Cocktail — An Aviation with a heavier violette pour.
- Water Lily — Equal parts gin, violette, orange liqueur and lemon.
- Casino — Gin, maraschino, lemon and orange bitters.
Where it comes from
1916 · New York City · Hugo Ensslin · Hotel Wallick
Hugo Ensslin, head bartender at the Hotel Wallick in New York, printed the Aviation in Recipes for Mixed Drinks in 1916, with crème de violette in the build. When Harry Craddock put the drink in the Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930 he left the violette out — possibly because it was already hard to get in London — and because the Savoy was the more influential book, generations of bartenders made a violette-free Aviation. Crème de violette effectively disappeared from the American market for decades and only returned in the mid-2000s, which is when the full original build came back into circulation.
Sources
- Hugo Ensslin, Recipes for Mixed Drinks, 1916 (book)
- Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book, 1930 (book)
- IBA Official Cocktails list, current (standards body)
Strength. About 1.82 US standard drinks at an estimated 26.8% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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