It’s a little strange to finally come across a classic drink that doesn’t have much controversy surrounding it. The Aviation Cocktail, though, seems to be just such a recipe. There are two primary versions, defined simply by the inclusion or omission of the violet liqueur crème de violette, and we know exactly where and when each one comes from. Other than that, it’s just a matter of getting the ratios of gin, lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur right, and you’re good to go.
Aviation Cocktail History – Who Invented It?
For once, there’s really no debate about who invented this classic tipple: Hugo Ensslin, a bartender at the legendary Hotel Wallick in New York City, came up with the Aviation cocktail recipe in the early 1900s. Supposedly, the drink took its name from the pale, sky-blue color imparted by the combination of crème de violette and lemon juice, but that very well may have been made up after the fact. He first published it in his 1916 book Recipes for Mixed Drinks, and the rest is history.
The drink gradually spread from bar to bar, mostly thanks to the popularity of Ensslin’s book, and eventually became a pretty well-known standard in the big cities of the East Coast. In 1930, though, a guy by the name of Harry Craddock came along and made things a bit more complicated.
In Craddock’s iconic Savoy Cocktail Book, a compendium of Jazz-Age drinks from the Savoy Hotel that’s a bestseller even today, the Aviation cocktail appears without its iconic crème de violette. It was a reasonable omission—America was just emerging from a decade of Prohibition, so it was still pretty difficult to come by many of the more obscure ingredients necessary for turn-of-the-century drinks.
The Savoy version of the Aviation caught on, and up until recently it was pretty much the only one you could get. Thanks to the cocktail renaissance of the last decade or two, though, Ensslin’s original has resurfaced and made a bit of a comeback. Both drinks are delicious and totally valid, so it’s really a matter of personal preference—and, you know, having the name make sense.
How to Make a Perfect Aviation Cocktail
The Aviation is a pretty simple drink, all things considered. All you need is some gin, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette if you’re going to use it, and a maraschino cherry for garnish.
Gin
While the Aviation is a citrus-forward cocktail, the gin still plays a pretty important role in the overall flavor profile. A nice, aromatic London Dry gin is the standard choice, and you can never go wrong with Beefeater or Tanqueray, but feel free to branch out and experiment with something like Plymouth or even a modern American gin (St. George Spirits Terroir Gin is pretty fantastic in all kinds of recipes).
Lemon Juice
We’ve beaten it to death around here, but you should always use fresh-squeezed lemon juice in your Aviation—and frankly, for all of your cocktails. Lemon juice (or any citrus, for that matter) from concentrate or a grocery-store bottle just doesn’t do justice to a well-balanced recipe, and it’s not like squeezing it is all that much work anyway.
Maraschino Liqueur
There are two leading brands of maraschino liqueur that you can get just about anywhere: Luxardo and Cherry Heering. They’re both excellent, and more or less interchangeable (this is where we duck to avoid the empty bottles angrily hurled our way by aficionados). As always, feel free to experiment with some craft competitors, especially if they’re local—we love hearing about good alternatives that might not be available in our neck of the woods.
Crème de Violette
Since crème de violette was all but unavailable in the United States from the end of Prohibition until the mid-2000s, you’re not going to have many options at your local liquor store. Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette is the most popular around these parts, but hopefully more competition will start popping up in the next few years.
The Cherry
In some ways, the cherry you use to garnish an Aviation cocktail might be the most important part of the drink. Partly, it comes down to aesthetics: a dark, sultry fruit sitting in the bottom of your Martini glass makes for a striking visual, especially as the residual syrup gives it a sweet little shadow.
More importantly, though, the cherry does impart a bit of flavor to the drink, and we’ve really never been fans of the way the bright neon-red ones taste. They’re pretty cloying, garish, and generally give off an air of preservatives that has no place in a craft cocktail. Instead, you can use any number of artisanal maraschino cherries, the most popular and widely-available of which are made by Luxardo themselves. Seriously, we dare you to try one of those and then go back to the cheapo jar.
Sticking to these ingredients, you’re pretty much guaranteed to mix an excellent Aviation Cocktail that would make both Ensslin and Craddock proud. It’s simple, elegant, and absolutely delicious.
Photo: Didriks via Flickr
