The Aviation—not to be confused with Aviator gin, though one could create one with it—is a surprisingly lavender-colored cocktail that delivers a tantalizing mix of the botanicals of gin and the citrus of lemon, tempered with maraschino and crème de violette liqueurs.
Hugo R. Ensslin, head bartender of Hotel Wallick in New York, created the Aviation. The recipe first appears in print in Ensslin bartender’s guide, “Recipes for Mixed Drinks,” published in 1916, just three years before Prohibition forced the hotel to close. Ensslin’s mix called for a 2-to-1 ratio of El-Bart gin and lemon juice, plus two dashes of maraschino liqueur and two of crème de violette.
