Aviation Cocktail

2 oz Gin (London Dry)
1 oz Lemon juice
2 ds Maraschino Liqueur
2 ds Crème de Violette
Instructions

Shake. strain, up.

Notes

Ensslin's recipe is 2 parts London Dry gin, 1 part lemon juice, 2 dashes each Maraschino and Creme de Violette, with no garnish. Ted Haigh, in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails has this as 2 1/2 oz gin, 3/4 oz lemon juice, and 2 or 3 dashes of Maraschino - it omits the creme de violette, which is a transcription error from Ensslin to the Savoy Cocktail Book. This can be made more floral with more violette and sweeter by reducing the lemon juice.

Cocktail summary
Aviation Cocktail
Wikipedia public domain
Posted by Dan on
Created by
Hugo Ensslin, Hotel Wallick, New York, NY
Year
1916
Is an
authentic recipe
Reference

Recipes for Mixed Drinks, Hugo Ensslin, pg. 7

Curator
4 stars
Average
4 stars
(104 ratings)
YieldsDrink
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From other users
  • Gin- sour, floral
  • Reduce lemon juice to 1/2 ounce.
  • 1/6/13
  • I did 2oz gin (Solveig), .5oz+ lemon, .5oz Maraschino, 1tsp CdV. Happy with taste and color.
  • Violette, for blue tint, or nothing. Creme Yvette makes it red.
  • Very happy with: 2 oz gin, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/3 oz maraschino, 1/4 oz créme de violette. — ★★★★★
  • I prefer 2oz gin, 1/2oz each maraschino/lemon and 1-2 barspoons violette with a cherry
  • Dates to 1930. Except for addition of creme de violette, this is version in Gary Regan's "Joy of Mixology." 4:1:1
  • current preferences: 2 oz gin 0.75 oz lemon 2 t (0.33 oz) maraschino 1 t violette 0.25 oz simple
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Comments
A G commented on 6/16/2020:

After experimentation, happy with 2oz Sipsmith, 1/2oz each of lemon juice and Luxardo Maraschino, and 1/4oz  Tempus Fugit Liqueur De Violettes.  Only downside to last ingredient is the pink rather than blue tint.

While not strictly canonical, I've settled on using 2 oz gin, .75 oz lemon & .25 each maraschino, creme de violette & parfait amour (Marie Brizard).  The parfait amour gives it the nice purple color everyone seems to want from the drink, but without the overwhelming violet floral taste that using .5 oz CdV yields.

I prefer the D & C version of this. Their specs are 2 oz gin, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz Maraschino, 1/2 tsp crème de Violette, 1/4 simple syrup. I prefer to up the Violette to a full 1/4 oz.

Definitely recommend ignoring this ratio; way too lemon dominant. 7:2:2:1 Gin:Lemon Juice:Maraschino Liqueur:Crème de Violette worked well for me.