The Aviation was unearthed by Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead, who wrote about it in 1998 in Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century. The influence of this book, which was one of the first to examine the anthropological significance of cocktails, cannot be overstated during this pivotal moment in American gastronomy. Unlike popular drinks of this time, classic cocktails such as the Aviation shared philosophical and gustatory affinities with New American Cooking, which was reshaping the fine dining landscape from San Francisco to New York City. Inspired by American chefs, who were exploring new culinary traditions, bartenders began researching their history, which led them back to cocktail books like Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book, where Harrington’s version of the Aviation (without violette) originates. Years later, David Wondrich found the first printing (with violette) in Ensslin’s recipe book—one of the last published before Prohibition.
This recipe’s first printing is in Hugo Ensslin’s 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks.
Like so many “lost” ingredients that were distributed after demand for pre-Prohibition cocktails surged, I have to credit Craddock, who published it without crème de violette: the cocktail tastes like soap if you’re not judicious with the quantity. That said, the name likely obliquely references the color of the sky, so you lose that connection when you omit it.
Ingredients
Preparation
Shake with ice, then fine-strain into a chilled coupe.
Recipe notes
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