The Original Aviation

* 2 ounces gin
* 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
* 1/3 ounce maraschino liqueur
* 1/6 ounce crème de violette
* Maraschino cherry for garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake until cold, and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

The Aviation is another one of those cocktails that everyone makes a little bit differently. This recipe was taken from Jay Hepburn’s Oh Gosh!, titled The Original Aviation.

This recipe replaces an earlier one I had on this page from The Art of the Bar, which omitted the crème de violette. Also using one part lemon juice to two parts gin, this was an extremely tart drink, with the lemon juice completely overpowering the other flavors. In an attempt to fix this, I first tried adding a little more maraschino liqueur. When this didn’t quite do it, I decided to take the edge off the lemon juice by adding a splash of simple syrup and mixing it again. While the result was still very much a lemon drink, this tempered the tartness and made it more drinkable, with a more pronounced maraschino flavor.¹

1. This maraschino flavor should not be confused with that of maraschino cherries — maraschino liqueur is made by distilling cherries along with their crushed pits, with the result then sweetened with cane syrup and aged. It’s slightly bitter and is not nearly as sweet as imagined by people who aren’t familiar with the liqueur.