Thanks again to Trade for sponsoring this one, check them out in the link below. Any other classic cocktails I should be trying to improve on? Trade: cen.yt/TradeHowToDrink5 Curiada: bit.ly/ShopAviation Twitch: bit.ly/2VsOi3d H2D2: bit.ly/YTH2D2 twitter: bit.ly/H2DTwit instagram: bit.ly/H2dIG Blog: bit.ly/H2DBlog Patreon: bit.ly/H2DPatreon Gear: amzn.to/2LeQCbW Aviation: th-cam.com/video/g2IVh4lr1HA/w-d-xo.html Aviation Revisited: th-cam.com/video/ZkC50vRcJ1k/w-d-xo.html
I had never even heard of creme de violete??? Before this video. It sounds lovely. I wish that site were able to ship to Michigan. I would buy several bottles.
If you've never watched your videos with subtitles, you should have a look....."if your not to into the flavour of 'crime too violent'" Recently discovered you videos and really enjoying them. Thanks
Here's one for you to try that I came up with years ago when I was bartending, it's a riff on the aviation that I called the Twickenham Belle. 1½oz London dry gin ½oz St. Germain ¼oz Cointreau ½oz lemon juice 2 dashes lavender bitters (I used Scrappy's) Shake and strain into chilled coupe.
Dont know if it makes it a different drink but 3/4 oz creme de violet 2 oz vodka (not a fan of gin) 1/4 oz simple syrup 3/4 - 1 ounce lemon juice shaken garnish with lemon peel and cinnamon strained into a coup
I started making the Aviation using Rothman's Creme de Violette, but since it has become available I'm a real fan of using Creme Yvette. (It does make the drink pink, rather than blue.) Yvette is violet-based, but also includes berries, honey, orange peel, and vanilla. This adds more complexity, and a little more sweetness.
The best aviation I've ever had actually used a combination of violette and yvette, I've yet to experiment with it myself but it acheived the correct color for an aviation while still getting those lovely berry sweet notes from the yvette, the drink was super tasty. In the best way possible, it had jolly rancher vibes, while maintaining complexity
@@MrPaperTigerr it is possible to build off of an excellent cocktail. Getting stuck on this idea of every cocktail can't be changed is creating it's own issues.
"I used to shoot five videos a day, how did I do that?" by being drunk as fuck on camera. Go back and watch some of those early episodes. Things were wild.
There was a time when men were sophisticated, mature and intelligent. This is a fine example of our present downturn. The inability to convey a thought without dropping an F speaks volumes.
@@321southtube who's to say a man can't be all you said, and vulgar when there's no need not to be? Grammatically correct and contextually apt usage of "curse" words is actually a potential indicator of high intelligence. additionally, there's a time and place for everything, and you're not the judge of those "when's" and "where's"🤷♂️
@@321southtube you are on a youtube video, commenting on a thread about a man getting absolutely sauced on camera while trying to make a mixology video. . . sophisticated, mature, and intelligent arent things you should expect in this regard. And i can think of much better examples of our present downturn than vulgarity in the written word.
I don't know if the "soap" flavor of violet is a cilantro like genetic thing, but I suspect it's more likely a strong association instead. Flavor biases are heavily association based, after all. Many western culture people associate violet scent with hand soaps due to violet scented (especially liquid) soaps being common, so that flavor becomes "soap like." For me personally, same goes for the flavor of fresh ginger--for some reason I associate it with hand soap or body wash, so it always reminds me of soap when I taste it. For years I thought it was similar to cilantro genetic thing, but then I forced myself to analyze it and realized the flavor _itself_ is fine and not soapy at all, but the mental association is too strong, so I think of liquid soap when I taste it. Similarly, I have some friends from India who absolutely can't stand jasmine tea, because jasmine is a decorative flower they use in some scented basins... That tea consequently tastes off, as if someone's been using left over basin water. Like accidentally spilling your potpourri into a drink.
I do often wonder if in a couple generations we're gonna get a similar abandonment of vanilla, because of how often it shows up in hand lotions and candles. Like, there's gonna be kids who have no memory of flower water toiletries at all, but for whom a vanilla latte smells like gramma's bathroom, right? 2050: vanilla is dead, long live rosewater!
@@jessielefey I can see that happening for the few people that somehow never encounter vanilla in foods. It is quite ubiquitous though... Although there may be cultures where it isn't as common? I wonder if for them it already tastes like a hand cream or something :D ...like eating shea butter or something :P I think, in general, that association works if you at first encounter a scent as exclusively a non-food item (like ginger for me, violet for a lot of people in general, etc.).
@@jessielefey Yet another reason to push back against all these hygiene products that are given fruity or spice scents! I don't want my shampoo to smell like a desert and I don't want my food to develop an association with bathroom smells!!
One word - fabuloso. I used this to clean our shower once, undiluted. Now lavender doesn't just taste like soap, it smells like soap too. I literally don't enjoy lavender at all anymore.
A college friend of mine back in the mid 2000s liked these. His solution to the lack of sweetness was to add a splash (He never measured anything) of concord grape juice to the mix along with a dash of the violette. It preserved the color while adding, in his words, "A sort of wine-note that I like." Just a thought.
A variation that has been picking up steam in NYC at the bigger name cocktail bars has been a sort of hybrid between an aviation and a water lily, keeping the original aviation spec (roughly) but adding triple sec to balance some of the tartness. PDT and Dead Rabbit come to mind that serve this version by default. Doubke Chicken Please has also found an alternative way to mute the tartness: clarified milk. This version, while incredibly smooth, does somewhat mute the flavors a bit. That said, the result is absolutely fucking poundable, like you could chug that shit, it's unreal. I also had a phenomenal version that used Empirical spirit's Symphony 6 instead of gin as the base spirit, and added a splash of Dolin Blanc at Drink in Boston.
I use Empress 1908 gin and meyer lemons. The drink is super purple instead of pink-ish (YMMV depending on your CdV) and the lemons are sweeter and lend to the juniper flavor better.
@@The56CREW I love the flavor of Empress, but I'm very into tea. Can't say I'm enough of an expert in what makes a gin quality to comment on that, but I love the tea and herbal flavors in it.
Aviation is actually one of my absolute favorite cocktails of all time, and needs no improvement imo. I actually add a little extra violette, because I truly adore florality in cocktails!
People who hate this are insane. 2oz Beefeater, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 3/8 oz maraschino, 3/8 oz rothman winter Violette. This drink is a ripper. Tart and floral. One of my favorites as well.
@@Dmoralize Thank you for using Beefeater. The most "gin" tasting of dry gins, and a workhorse in the bar. Your ratios are exactly how I make my Aviations.
I can appreciate that people think it's "Soapy" - I know this because I love it so much, that I've played with the ratios so aggressively that I have made some truly ridiculous drinks.... One thing I'd encourage is throwing an Egg White in there... It enhances the "Cloud-i-ness" of the Aviation!
In Rochester NY we have a local distillery that makes a Lilac Gin and it makes for an absolutely fantastic aviation with the rest of the specs the same (in my opinion at least)
That's exactly what I used when I made them last month. :) Next I want to pick up the Lockhouse Sakura Gin we have here in Buffalo NY and see how that works.
I've run into Lavender Gin. That plus a touch of simple syrup would really knock this drink out of the park for my wife (if she wasn't growing a tiny human).
Amateur cocktail enthusiast: I have the 'cilantro tastes like soap' gene and still love violette. The Aviation is my husband's favorite cocktail of all time and he usually has me double the violette. Probably half of the drink requests that I get from people at my home bar are for an Aviation, so this episode is particularly fascinating. I'm always looking for another excuse to break out the chartreuse and absinthe...
I'm 18. I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life. But these videos are so fun I've watched nearly al of them at this point. I dont know why I find this so fun.
Aviations are one of my favorite drinks, I let my lemons sit out for a couple weeks so the skin gets hard, the juice is much sweeter and less tart that way. Also its not the most common herb but if you have access to lemon basil you can make a simple syrup with it, drop the lemon juice to .5 oz and put 1/4 oz of lemon basil simple in the drink. Much easier to drink, adds herbal flavor, cuts the acidity and you get a much more complex lemon flavor. Its awesome.
Any chance we can get you to do an episode with Max Miller from Tasting History on his new show Drinking History? I feel like we'd get some cool background on some fun drinks with ya'll
The Aviation is one of my absolute favorite cocktails of all times. To balance the acidic taste, instead of adding sugar I usually reduce the lemon juice to half on ounce.
Man, what a coincidence! Just made an Aviation and sat down to enjoy it when a notification popped up announcing this episode of how to drink! Actually use ½ once creme de violet in mine, as I really like the taste. Maraschino cherry I have as a side snack as I feel the the sirup discolors the cocktail to the point it is unappetizing. Have no yellow chartreuse at hand… but could experiment with absinthe next time. Thanks for the vlog and your continuing effort to enlighten us on How To Drink 🖖
Cara Devine recommends washing the syrup off the cherry before dropping it in the bottom of the drink, which I've done a few times and seems to work well
I use the Death & Co recipe, but because I misread it the first time, I also use 1/2 oz of the Creme de Violet. It is probably my favorite cocktail at this point… maybe competing with the Margarita Negra?
Ok, update: made the Aviation with the Absinthe (Pernot) variation. Wend easy on the Creme de Violette and washed my Maraschino cherry as advised by Ian. Results: first off, the cherry still discolors the Aviation to a grayish dark turquise :-/ so will stick to having the cherry’s as a side dish :-). The Absinth is not verry upfront, but then I was perhaps a bit restrained measuring it. I do find the hint of anise interesting but there is a trade-off to the freshness of the original. Will keep this Absinthe version in my notes as it seems to grow on me (sipping whiles writing this)… Keep safe, stay healthy!
It's pretty entertaining to watch this with closed captions on and seeing Crème de Violette get translated as "a crime too violent." I feel like that pretty much sums up the opinion of people who greatly dislike the Aviation.
I never knew any of my grandparents, but I imagine this cocktail is what a really nice grandma would taste like, if she were a cocktail. It's always been my favourite cocktail, and a test of a good bar if they have creme de violet on hand.
You did it, Greg! This variation is great. I love the addition of the yellow chartreuse. And the Monkey 47 is brilliant. I mean, you could pour M47 into motor oil and I might enjoy it, but still. However… I might have found an even better option. Empress 1908! This not only LOOKS the part, by adding a second ingredient for color, but the flavor profile is even more nuanced, really accentuating the maraschino. I also used honey syrup instead of simple, which I think complements the honey notes in the chartreuse.
I still make these a lot for myself and my wife actually. One of our favorite gin cocktails. Our favorite part is the tartness of the lemon. The Luxardo is so sweet already, as long as you balance the luxardo you can get it to a very good tart/sweet place.
Just wanted to say a quick thank you for giving me a great passion for mixology through your awesome channel! Been watching your videos for almost a year and a half now and I’m constantly learning more from you and I just wanted to say I appreciate what you do and please keep up the amazing work!! 🍸🙏
This is one of my favorite drinks! I prefer it with 1/2 an ounce of simple, my dad prefers it without any simple. It’s kinda fun using Empress 1908 Gin to play with the color and change the overall taste of the drink.
My French teacher (from France) in college actually taught me about the violette liqueur, we just mixed a bit with white wine, like a kir. Delicious. Thanks for featuring this!
I've always loved flower-based flavors and the Aviation is one of my favorites because of it! There used to be a place in Seattle that made a variation on it called the Captain Handsome with absinthe for the glass, lime, and limoncello, which seems to be the same direction you were going in here!
My wife loves this cocktail, and has for years. Here's the spec she likes, and my preferred spec, which is *so easy* to remember: .5 oz. -or- 15 ml. Lemon Juice .5 oz. -or- 15 ml. Maraschino Liqueur .5 oz. -or- 15 ml. Creme De Violet (Giffords, as you use) 2 oz. -or- 60 ml. Plymoth Gin My ratios dial back the lemon (0.75 oz. is a *lot* of lemon) and dial up the sweetness (my wife and I both love Creme De Violet). Using Plymoth instead of a London Dry also adds to the complexity factor in a way that I find most other gins can't. Plymoth is sweet-ish on the palate compared to most gins out there. Could you dial back the Creme De Violet? Of course you could, but I agree with your assessment that it's "part of the cocktail". In any case, very cool that you re-visited this cocktail. I will probably play around with the Yellow Chartreuse variant, as that spirit is one of my faves.
This is the same thing I do. I can still see the call for a little simple syrup, but then it would be even more drinkable and probably a little dangerous
Tried that one and ended up upping the Creme de Violette and dwindling both Maraschino and lemon juice. I'll likely move toward a ration of both lemon juice and Maraschino being equal to the amount of Creme de Violette I put in. Not huge on having either of those two prominent in the drink.
The monkey makes PHENOMENAL G&T's... I can't bring myself to serve it any other way. It's soooooooo good! I do love an aviation, and I'll definitely be trying your improved version.
I discovered this cocktail in a bottle at my grocery store a couple weeks ago. I thought "screw it, why not? I've never had one before." And I loved it! Stoked to try making one at home
Zeitgeist! My visiting cocktail friend and I happened to independently rework our favorite ratio just last night. We hit on dialing back the maraschino to 1/4 oz and adding 1/4 oz of St. Germain - adds extra sweetness, smooths out that funkiness, and amps up the floral notes a bit. Definitely more balanced, to our palates, but we also tend to like them on the tart side anyway...
Nice episode. My take: It's floral, so roll with it! Go 2-1-1 gin-lemon-creme de violette plus one barspoon of simple. Ends up much more balanced and better color too. Also, stirring instead of shaking yeilds a deeper color as well.
I actually upped the amount of Creme de Violette and Maraschino to .75 and dropped the lemon to .5 (ish I don't measure to closely) because it was so acidic and it's now my favorite drink.
The Aviation has been my White Whale ever since I first got into cocktails. Conceptually, I adore it, but every time I've had one made for me at a bar, even some of the BEST bars on the east coast, I always got this like... it's gross, but I get that "expecting milk and tasting root beer" effect, where my brain didn't know what to do with that color and that flavor together. When I make it myself, I do a 1.5 oz gin, .5 oz lemon juice, .5 oz maraschino, .5 oz Creme de Violette (Rothman's or Bitter Truth), .25 oz simple syrup, and egg white. I actually leave out the cherry garnish and give it a lemon twist and a few dashes of orange bitters. The egg white REALLY makes the whole thing come together! The whole Creme de Violette thing is so funny, too. I'll drink it half-and-half with some seltzer or even just on the rocks, but my wife makes a poopy face like you wouldn't believe if she gets too close to the bottle :D
Love your channel Greg. I appreciate how you make cocktails and usually do your own spin on them as well. I made the Field Landing for my step dad since he loves Aviation’s and he loved this version even better. Not a lot of recipes using creme de violette!
If you actually like the floral elements, upping the creme de violette makes it more purple, sweeter, and more violet-forward. Hendrick's also does a lot to play with the florals and fits better than anything else. I've also made a vodka variant with the Ketel One grapefruit and rose vodka that was really interesting with the rose and violet combo.
Greg! Use less lemon juice :) I do mine with a 1/3oz of lemon, 1/4 of Mar, and a 1/4oz of violet. Fill in the rest with a nice gin. That it is a very light blue and doesn't require any additional sweetness and the balance is very nice.
This is one of my favorite drinks! The best gin I've had for this drink is Back River Gin from Maine which has some spicy notes that make it more complex. I also add a bar spoon of absinthe.
I use 1/2 oz of creme de violet. I tried it also with a touch of honey syrup & some cherry bitters so it doesn't lose the nuances of the Luxardo. The egg white adds a silky smoothness that's delightful!
We have experimented quite a bit on aviations and found just simply using Roku Gin with the base recipe does wonders. It's so good, we have one or two a month now.
Our local bar got a frozen drink machine and started doing frozen aviations and OMG were they amazing. We also didn't feel like buying Creme de Violet, so we have been making these with hibiscus simple syrup and it's lovely.
Honestly, I still really like this drink, but normally I use a sweeter, old tom gin to help with the tartness... admittedly, I use old tom as my standard instead of London dry, purely because of my sweet tooth. Questionable tastes can lead to happy accidents, I suppose?
I think I need to try this out. I Broker's in mine specifically because it's a little lighter on the juniper and slightly more floral. Gonna have to break out the Hayman's.
One thing that helps the Aviation out immensely is using Empress Gin; it's already got the purple color and is a bit more sweet and herbal. Using that instead of a dry gin both helps make up for the lack of simple syrup (though I still put in 1/4oz because I prefer sweeter) and gives it the perfect Aviation color. Other things I've done is deliberately add a little more maraschino syrup from the cherries and let that add sweetness, or use a meyer lemon instead, which softens up the tartness. Can't stress trying it with Empress enough, beautiful result.
I have been debating picking up a bottle of that Empress. I think you've convinced me. Aviations are my favorite cocktails and I love the herbal gins. (I also get generous with the maraschino syrup). I haven't tried it with a meyer lemon though.
Since I've learned almost all of my mixology from you, I use your specs for the Aviation (my tie for favorite cocktail with the Mai Tai), but I use about ¾ of an ounce of Maraschino instead of the ½. I think the ¾oz adds enough sweetness to the drink without changing it too much. Plus, I like Maraschino. Personally, I don't want to change the flavor profile any. I find the Aviation to be extremely unique among cocktails and an absolute joy to sip on.
Honestly I think the Aviation is an exclusive cocktail, and easily on my favorite top 3 cocktails. I've added my own spin on it by adding a splash of my homemade ginger/rosemary simple syrup. I love it.
I’ve only seen this once in (at a place in CT), but another variation on this drink was to essentially turn it into a spirit forward stirred drink - essentially almost a gin old fashioned with creme de violette. I’m not sure if it’s a take for everyone, but it was tasty
I love using Wigle Whiskey Genever style Gin in the aviation - it’s so much fuller and rounder a flavor than with a London Dry gin. The Aviation is my all time favorite cocktail. Can’t live without it. Edit: Standard Spec - 2oz Wigle Whiskey Genever Style Gin 1/2oz Luxardo Maraschino 1/4oz Rothmann & Winter creme de violette 3/4oz Lemon Juice
Literally my favorite drink! Now I use very specific choices for my version. Scant 3/4 Lemmon juice, 3/4 luxardo, 1/2 rothman & winter creme de violette, 2oz Beefeaters. Shaken and strained into a martini glass with a single lux cherrie. I also sometimes add 1/4oz of creme de cacao.
I fell in love with this and it turned me from a Gin hater into a Gin lover. As you said with the acid, I changed it up a little bit. I dialled down the lemon juice to 1/4 oz. With the Crème de Violette I go a hair over 1/4 oz. Another way to try this for a different flavour profile-and a lot are going to shake their heads because of the citrus-is stir it, don't shake it. Nice variation.
I had the best Aviation of my life at a local Italian place. Garnished with a cherry and a twist of orange. Very complex, much more citrus forward, almost like a flower and fruit garden.
I am one of those for whom cilantro tastes like a mixture of soap and burnt plastic, but I love violet flavour. It is quite common here in Sweden in candy and lozenges. You can even get lozenges that taste like violet and salty licorice, which strikes me as a very Swedish combination. I have yet to have an Aviation or creme de violette at all but I definitely want to try it at some point. Also what you said about the standard spec not having enought sweetness is not unique to this drink. That is why people started adding a sugar rim to Sidecars, because it is simply just not a very good balanced recipe to begin with. I am very sensitive to citric acid so I always have to adjust old sours recipes in order for them to be palatable.
As a fellow violet-loving Swede, I quite enjoy a good Aviation! Proper Creme de Violette is not available from Systembolaget from what I've seen, so that stopped me from trying this drink for a while, but The Bitter Truth's Violet Liqueur (nr. 86474) has worked out quite well for me since I found it!
I also love the violet flavour (probably since I'm also Swedish then) but have always had the problem with the original aviation recipe being to tart and also a bit bitter on the back end. For me the recipe by David Kringlund here on YT finally gave me the balanced Aviation I always hoped for. The amount of gin is halved and both liquors upped so it's totally unconventional proportions but amazingly balanced without being cloyingly sweet, at least to me.
Since you are the only one mentioning soap. Here are my 2 cents. It tastes like soap, because USAmerican's only know violet, lavender, certain herbs as soap. So it tastes like soap because people only know it as soap. I love these herbs in ice creams, desserts, teas. They are lovely and often very mild.
I like to make the Aviation with Hayman's Old Tom Gin. The added sweetness of Hayman's interpretation of old Tom kicks up the flavor profile and makes it quite lovely.
The Aviation is one of the few gin cocktails that I enjoy, not the biggest fan of gin. But I do love this drink and I enjoy Violette. I created a drink for my bar that took inspiration from this drink and to follow the floral notes and its very creatively called "Camomile Aviation" - 40ml Method and Madness Irish Gin infused with Camomile Tea - 15ml Cointreau - 5ml Lavender Sryup - 20ml Lemon Juice Shaken, servued up with a cherry. The violette is lost but the idea was to push froward other floral notes.
Just made myself a Field Landing and it has been a while since I've had an Aviation which I recall not enjoying in the slightest, but this variation is really starting to grow on me. Much tastier. Thinking of trying it using some Whitley Neill rhubarb gin next. Stay tuned
@@steelmagnum ah, okay. Interesting. I bought the ingredients for an Aviation, or so I thought. I couldn't find maraschino liqueur, so I bought a bottle that said cherry liqueur, and somehow managed to get something that tastes more like a cherry whiskey. 🙄
A lot of people who don’t like creme de violet usually are just people who hate floral flavors. They’re more familiar with florals being a scent, not a taste so they think it tastes soapy. I personally love floral flavors and had my introduction to florals with Rose and orange blossom. If you want to get into florals try mixing these flavors with fruit, it really helps!
We use rothmans creme de violette .5 lemon .5 maraschino liqueur .5 creme de violette 1.5 gin. This is the only way I’ve ever had it and you have now made me curious on expanding my horizons with new takes on the drink. Cheers!
I've been wanting to make an Aviation since I first heard of it a couple of years ago. I had found Maraschino liqueur, but not Creme De Violet until a few days ago. I like the drink both with and without Creme De Violet. I even liked a Blue Moon, which has only Creme De Violet. I like tart, so equal amounts Maraschino and Creme De Violet seems about right. BTW, I also love cilantro.
I like the tart, clean, taste of an aviation, it's refreshing & floral, so too much sweetness feels perfumey. I prefer adding a touch of elderflower liqueur and absinthe, & a candied violet flower for garnish.
This is inspiring! I like aviation in practice (fond of violet + gin), except I actually really don't like cherries so I always skip the maraschino. Definitely like with more aromatic, and with absinthe :3
I use the recipe on the hang tag that came on my bottle of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur. Biggest difference is they don't mix the creme de violette in the body of the drink but instead "float" it at the end which actually sinks to the bottom. This gives you an ever evolving drink as you drink it. It starts off very tart and then gets much sweeter as you get down to the violette. I really like it that way.
I made an Aviation for the first time about 2 wks ago and found it to be much too sour. The lemon was overpowering everything. I took some suggestions from some of the commenters and tried it again last night. It was amazing!! So I started off with 2oz of Hayman's Old Tom Gin, 1/2oz of fresh lemon juice, 1/2oz of Creme de Violet, 1/2oz cherry liqueur, 1/2oz of Elderberry flower liqueur, and ice and stirred into a mixing glass. Shaking dose cause it to lose it's purple color. Poured into a chilled glass with a cherry sitting on the bottom. It was one of the most amazing drinks!!! An instant classic for me now!!! Hope someone else tries this. You won't be disappointed. It's still tart, but not overly tart. Semi-sweet and well balanced IMO. Cheers!
Love an Aviation! If I have people over who aren’t fans of Violette though I often sub it for Saint-Germain. Not as subtle, but it keeps the floral notes going on and helps add some sweetness.
This is my go-to drink and I'm always playing with the ratios. Though I guess I've always made mine with simple syrup. Though this video has me considering switching out the maraschino for St Germaine and really lean into the floral profile. Something to experiment with!
I often mix up a gin sour with creme de violette and st. Germaine, along with lemon, simple, and egg white. Yields a very mellow drink but a very tasty one. I don’t think you’d be disappointed with the experiment.
I'm team "no simple syrup," but a big fan of St. Germaine. There's a cocktail called Bella Luna that's totally what you're talking about: I think the formal specs are 2oz gin, 3/4oz lemon juice, 3/4oz St Germaine, 1/2oz creme de violette, 1tsp simple syrup. But, I personally prefer 2oz gin and 1/2oz each of lemon juice, St. Germain, and creme de violette-- which uses more floral sweetness vs. citrus sharpness (and removes the need for extra sugar). I'd be curious to hear what you think :-)
@@haley_ish That was quite close to what I tried (I used 1 oz of lemon and 1/4 of creme de violette) and it was quite good. Next one I'll try closer to your recipe, but so far, so good! I would also love to try this with Nolet's Silver gin, as it's a lovely dry gin with more floral notes. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@timboerger2240 That sounds excellent! I used Hardshore gin, which is very herbal, and it added some nice balance and complexity. But now that you mention it, I have some Deviation citrus rose gin that would totally lean into the floral citrus flavors. I’ll have to try that next! :-)
i usually use only a half oz of lemon juice, along with a quarter oz of elderflower liquor! it really brings out the violette and any sort of floral component in your gin. it also gives a little more sweetness, but more complex than just the simple.
My wife tried this one night at a favorite restaurant years back, and it's responsible for me getting into mixology, simply because I wanted to learn how to make it for her. That being said, I use different specs for this: 2 oz gin .5 oz lemon juice .25 oz Creme de Violette .25 oz Luxardo Maraschino I've tweaked specs in various ways, and never liked it vaguely as much, because with these proportions, you get a weirdly sparse yet flavorful cocktail, and you can really taste all four components in their own way. Have tried it with simple syrup, and it has absolutely ruined it for me, as it sort of muddles up the middle of things, and you just can't taste the individual parts of the cocktail as well.
The Aviation has become my cocktail of choice for making at home over the last year+. I've experimented quite a bit with it. I would say the reason the drink was so "single note" was because too much lemon juice is in it's classic recipe. This is a carefully balanced drink and you'll miss much of what makes it good if things are out of whack. I've found the better recipe is: 2oz gin, half oz each of lemon juice, CdV, and luxardo. I also recommend stirring over shaking; too cold and it loses a lot of complex taste (but this is optional). Your CdV also will change the taste quite a bit: Rothman & Winter is a sugary punch; Tempus Fugit gives a nice strawberry note to the flavor; I don't recommend Bitter Truth (it has no taste to me); and Giffard (which was used here) I highly recommend, as I find it to be perfectly balanced between taste and fragrance. Also, I've found a great gin that complements this drink: Barr Hill gin. It's juniper and honey and that honey gives a light sweetness without it becoming over powering.
I use a half ounce each of lemon juice, maraschino, and creme de violette, along with 1.5 oz of Aviation Gin. It cuts the sour and is a very strong floral flavor (but I love violet flavor!)
My go to aviation recipe 2oz Hendricks gin 1/2 lemon juice 1/2 Bitter Truth creme de violet 1/4 simple syrup 1 bar spoon of luxardo cherry syrup Makes it a really dark blue almost purple but i love the taste of creme de violet
To sweetness cocktail, I also use an old Tom Gin, as opposed to a London dry gin. Makes it more drinkable from the get-go. I also usually do 3/4 of an ounce of luxardo with 1/4 ounce of crème de Violet
Here's an Aviation variant that I spun up for a party that I am a huge fan of: The Aerial Ace 1.5 oz raspberry infused gin (I used Artanical, a local gin from AR) .25 oz St. Germain .25 oz Raspberry Liqueur .75 oz lime juice For my standard spec I use something closer to Imbibe's recommendations: 2 oz. London dry gin .75 oz lemon juice 1 barspoon maraschino .25 oz barspoon crème de violette .25 oz simple syrup The aviation is hands down my favorite cocktail and my go-to when I am craving something familiar! I recently got to try a version of it in Chicago using Bitter Truth's creme de violette and it was awesome!
We found a great variation on the aviation at a local cocktail bar that they called the Amethyst. They subbed Lillet for the Maraschino and added about 1/2 oz of simple syrup. A little sweet, but floral and fun!
So, Greg- the real trick to making one of these look nice and getting a better flavor out of the mixture is actually to *not* shake the creme de violette. What I do is shake everything else, and put the violette in the glass ahead of time. I find the color and flavor to be much more vibrant and pleasant that way. We make them all the time at home, and they're wonderful.
Lawbird in Columbus has made a variation called Flight to Narita which adds plum wine and rum, both of which do a lot to round out the acidity. But it doesn't get overly sweet.
Thanks again to Trade for sponsoring this one, check them out in the link below. Any other classic cocktails I should be trying to improve on?
Trade: cen.yt/TradeHowToDrink5
Curiada: bit.ly/ShopAviation
Twitch: bit.ly/2VsOi3d
H2D2: bit.ly/YTH2D2
twitter: bit.ly/H2DTwit
instagram: bit.ly/H2dIG
Blog: bit.ly/H2DBlog
Patreon: bit.ly/H2DPatreon
Gear: amzn.to/2LeQCbW
Aviation: th-cam.com/video/g2IVh4lr1HA/w-d-xo.html
Aviation Revisited: th-cam.com/video/ZkC50vRcJ1k/w-d-xo.html
I had never even heard of creme de violete??? Before this video. It sounds lovely. I wish that site were able to ship to Michigan. I would buy several bottles.
If you've never watched your videos with subtitles, you should have a look....."if your not to into the flavour of 'crime too violent'"
Recently discovered you videos and really enjoying them.
Thanks
Ya know...I don't mind the commercials when the guy himself writes and directs the thing. Makin' the cha ching. Nothin' wrong with 'dat.
Here's one for you to try that I came up with years ago when I was bartending, it's a riff on the aviation that I called the Twickenham Belle.
1½oz London dry gin
½oz St. Germain
¼oz Cointreau
½oz lemon juice
2 dashes lavender bitters (I used Scrappy's)
Shake and strain into chilled coupe.
Dont know if it makes it a different drink but
3/4 oz creme de violet
2 oz vodka (not a fan of gin)
1/4 oz simple syrup
3/4 - 1 ounce lemon juice
shaken
garnish with lemon peel and cinnamon
strained into a coup
Greg: I don't believe in waste.
Also Greg: spills liqour in slow mo for a living
I refused to give a thumbs up to this 'cause it was at 69 likes.
I am (emotionally) a child ...
Now's your oppertunity, it's back down to 68
It’s not waste, it’s just flavour for the beavers when the bar top gets thrown out.
I just posted the same thing, saw yours, deleted mine and upvoted yours...
He licks it up between shots
Lol not gonna lie I miss the ones when he did 5 in a day, those 4th and 5th episodes were gold because he was so apple sauced
LOL Greg is not as young as he use too be
@@tspooner01 tell that to a functional alcoholic
@@tspooner01 Spoken like someone who doesn't get drunk every day for years.
@@tspooner01 interesting theory but deeply incorrect
The truth is he still records these in mass, but he can now hold his liquor better.
I started making the Aviation using Rothman's Creme de Violette, but since it has become available I'm a real fan of using Creme Yvette. (It does make the drink pink, rather than blue.) Yvette is violet-based, but also includes berries, honey, orange peel, and vanilla. This adds more complexity, and a little more sweetness.
I bet replacing the marachino with st germain would work nicely
The best aviation I've ever had actually used a combination of violette and yvette, I've yet to experiment with it myself but it acheived the correct color for an aviation while still getting those lovely berry sweet notes from the yvette, the drink was super tasty. In the best way possible, it had jolly rancher vibes, while maintaining complexity
Then it’s not an aviation anymore.
@@MrPaperTigerr its a riff on the aviation
@@MrPaperTigerr it is possible to build off of an excellent cocktail. Getting stuck on this idea of every cocktail can't be changed is creating it's own issues.
"I used to shoot five videos a day, how did I do that?"
by being drunk as fuck on camera. Go back and watch some of those early episodes. Things were wild.
It was a whole different show back then.
There was a time when men were sophisticated, mature and intelligent. This is a fine example of our present downturn. The inability to convey a thought without dropping an F speaks volumes.
@@321southtube who's to say a man can't be all you said, and vulgar when there's no need not to be? Grammatically correct and contextually apt usage of "curse" words is actually a potential indicator of high intelligence. additionally, there's a time and place for everything, and you're not the judge of those "when's" and "where's"🤷♂️
@@321southtube you are on a youtube video, commenting on a thread about a man getting absolutely sauced on camera while trying to make a mixology video. . . sophisticated, mature, and intelligent arent things you should expect in this regard.
And i can think of much better examples of our present downturn than vulgarity in the written word.
@@321southtube if this show were a real tavern I’d slide you down bar, you nerd.
"I used to do 5 a day, I don't know how I did that." You were sloshed by the third one, Greg.
I don't know if the "soap" flavor of violet is a cilantro like genetic thing, but I suspect it's more likely a strong association instead. Flavor biases are heavily association based, after all. Many western culture people associate violet scent with hand soaps due to violet scented (especially liquid) soaps being common, so that flavor becomes "soap like."
For me personally, same goes for the flavor of fresh ginger--for some reason I associate it with hand soap or body wash, so it always reminds me of soap when I taste it. For years I thought it was similar to cilantro genetic thing, but then I forced myself to analyze it and realized the flavor _itself_ is fine and not soapy at all, but the mental association is too strong, so I think of liquid soap when I taste it.
Similarly, I have some friends from India who absolutely can't stand jasmine tea, because jasmine is a decorative flower they use in some scented basins... That tea consequently tastes off, as if someone's been using left over basin water. Like accidentally spilling your potpourri into a drink.
Ah like people from Europe when they try root beer. Wintergreen is used in cleaners there.
I do often wonder if in a couple generations we're gonna get a similar abandonment of vanilla, because of how often it shows up in hand lotions and candles. Like, there's gonna be kids who have no memory of flower water toiletries at all, but for whom a vanilla latte smells like gramma's bathroom, right?
2050: vanilla is dead, long live rosewater!
@@jessielefey I can see that happening for the few people that somehow never encounter vanilla in foods. It is quite ubiquitous though... Although there may be cultures where it isn't as common? I wonder if for them it already tastes like a hand cream or something :D ...like eating shea butter or something :P
I think, in general, that association works if you at first encounter a scent as exclusively a non-food item (like ginger for me, violet for a lot of people in general, etc.).
@@jessielefey Yet another reason to push back against all these hygiene products that are given fruity or spice scents! I don't want my shampoo to smell like a desert and I don't want my food to develop an association with bathroom smells!!
One word - fabuloso. I used this to clean our shower once, undiluted. Now lavender doesn't just taste like soap, it smells like soap too. I literally don't enjoy lavender at all anymore.
A college friend of mine back in the mid 2000s liked these. His solution to the lack of sweetness was to add a splash (He never measured anything) of concord grape juice to the mix along with a dash of the violette. It preserved the color while adding, in his words, "A sort of wine-note that I like."
Just a thought.
A variation that has been picking up steam in NYC at the bigger name cocktail bars has been a sort of hybrid between an aviation and a water lily, keeping the original aviation spec (roughly) but adding triple sec to balance some of the tartness. PDT and Dead Rabbit come to mind that serve this version by default.
Doubke Chicken Please has also found an alternative way to mute the tartness: clarified milk. This version, while incredibly smooth, does somewhat mute the flavors a bit. That said, the result is absolutely fucking poundable, like you could chug that shit, it's unreal.
I also had a phenomenal version that used Empirical spirit's Symphony 6 instead of gin as the base spirit, and added a splash of Dolin Blanc at Drink in Boston.
This was the drink that originally got me into cocktails and I'm so happy this episode came out
same! this and the Ramos Gin Fizz.
@@paulinedavis8372 Your arms must be like steel cables.
Me too.
same!
@@HeyItsMrE Its only a sometimes drink! Though I just got back from Nola and missed my opportunity to have one!
I use Empress 1908 gin and meyer lemons. The drink is super purple instead of pink-ish (YMMV depending on your CdV) and the lemons are sweeter and lend to the juniper flavor better.
I use empress a lot, it really isn't that great of a gin but by golly it looks amazing
@@The56CREW I love the flavor of Empress, but I'm very into tea. Can't say I'm enough of an expert in what makes a gin quality to comment on that, but I love the tea and herbal flavors in it.
@@PwntVision hey man that's the only part that's actually important! Cheers 🍻
Aviation is actually one of my absolute favorite cocktails of all time, and needs no improvement imo. I actually add a little extra violette, because I truly adore florality in cocktails!
People who hate this are insane. 2oz Beefeater, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 3/8 oz maraschino, 3/8 oz rothman winter Violette. This drink is a ripper. Tart and floral. One of my favorites as well.
@@Dmoralize Thank you for using Beefeater. The most "gin" tasting of dry gins, and a workhorse in the bar. Your ratios are exactly how I make my Aviations.
I’m the same. Can’t agree more
I can appreciate that people think it's "Soapy" - I know this because I love it so much, that I've played with the ratios so aggressively that I have made some truly ridiculous drinks....
One thing I'd encourage is throwing an Egg White in there... It enhances the "Cloud-i-ness" of the Aviation!
I always cut the lemon juice back to .5 oz
In Rochester NY we have a local distillery that makes a Lilac Gin and it makes for an absolutely fantastic aviation with the rest of the specs the same (in my opinion at least)
That's exactly what I used when I made them last month. :) Next I want to pick up the Lockhouse Sakura Gin we have here in Buffalo NY and see how that works.
Rochester gang
I've run into Lavender Gin. That plus a touch of simple syrup would really knock this drink out of the park for my wife (if she wasn't growing a tiny human).
I'm close by. What's the distillery?
@@lateral1385 Black Button
Greg we all remember what five episodes a day looked like. Like a lot of fun.
Amateur cocktail enthusiast: I have the 'cilantro tastes like soap' gene and still love violette. The Aviation is my husband's favorite cocktail of all time and he usually has me double the violette. Probably half of the drink requests that I get from people at my home bar are for an Aviation, so this episode is particularly fascinating. I'm always looking for another excuse to break out the chartreuse and absinthe...
To me, violet tastes like purple jelly beans. Thanks for the tip to double the amount.
Very similar drink to the aviation, but using green chartreuse: the last word. Might be a good use for your excess chartreuse :)
I'm 18. I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life. But these videos are so fun I've watched nearly al of them at this point. I dont know why I find this so fun.
Aviations are one of my favorite drinks, I let my lemons sit out for a couple weeks so the skin gets hard, the juice is much sweeter and less tart that way. Also its not the most common herb but if you have access to lemon basil you can make a simple syrup with it, drop the lemon juice to .5 oz and put 1/4 oz of lemon basil simple in the drink. Much easier to drink, adds herbal flavor, cuts the acidity and you get a much more complex lemon flavor. Its awesome.
Let them sit out somewhere at room temp?
Any chance we can get you to do an episode with Max Miller from Tasting History on his new show Drinking History? I feel like we'd get some cool background on some fun drinks with ya'll
he mentioned on stream that he has spoken with max miller about a possible collab
The Aviation is one of my absolute favorite cocktails of all times. To balance the acidic taste, instead of adding sugar I usually reduce the lemon juice to half on ounce.
Man, what a coincidence! Just made an Aviation and sat down to enjoy it when a notification popped up announcing this episode of how to drink! Actually use ½ once creme de violet in mine, as I really like the taste. Maraschino cherry I have as a side snack as I feel the the sirup discolors the cocktail to the point it is unappetizing.
Have no yellow chartreuse at hand… but could experiment with absinthe next time.
Thanks for the vlog and your continuing effort to enlighten us on How To Drink 🖖
Cara Devine recommends washing the syrup off the cherry before dropping it in the bottom of the drink, which I've done a few times and seems to work well
I use the Death & Co recipe, but because I misread it the first time, I also use 1/2 oz of the Creme de Violet. It is probably my favorite cocktail at this point… maybe competing with the Margarita Negra?
I bump up the creme de violette to 1/2 oz as well. Have to have a good one, though.
I'm weird and rinse the cherry off so there's no concern about the syrup tainting the drink.
Ok, update: made the Aviation with the Absinthe (Pernot) variation. Wend easy on the Creme de Violette and washed my Maraschino cherry as advised by Ian. Results: first off, the cherry still discolors the Aviation to a grayish dark turquise :-/ so will stick to having the cherry’s as a side dish :-). The Absinth is not verry upfront, but then I was perhaps a bit restrained measuring it. I do find the hint of anise interesting but there is a trade-off to the freshness of the original. Will keep this Absinthe version in my notes as it seems to grow on me (sipping whiles writing this)… Keep safe, stay healthy!
It's pretty entertaining to watch this with closed captions on and seeing Crème de Violette get translated as "a crime too violent." I feel like that pretty much sums up the opinion of people who greatly dislike the Aviation.
"if I point my mind"
I"m just imaging Greg has a mind palace for booze and he moves around like an acolyte of Dionysus
What an amazing comment
I never knew any of my grandparents, but I imagine this cocktail is what a really nice grandma would taste like, if she were a cocktail. It's always been my favourite cocktail, and a test of a good bar if they have creme de violet on hand.
Awh 💙
Recommendation: make the coffee that genera W.R. Monger requests at the end of monsters vs aliens
I would agree, but only BWGs would enjoy it
You did it, Greg! This variation is great. I love the addition of the yellow chartreuse. And the Monkey 47 is brilliant. I mean, you could pour M47 into motor oil and I might enjoy it, but still.
However… I might have found an even better option. Empress 1908! This not only LOOKS the part, by adding a second ingredient for color, but the flavor profile is even more nuanced, really accentuating the maraschino. I also used honey syrup instead of simple, which I think complements the honey notes in the chartreuse.
this channel is the most sincere and relaxing thing i can find on youtube
I still make these a lot for myself and my wife actually. One of our favorite gin cocktails. Our favorite part is the tartness of the lemon. The Luxardo is so sweet already, as long as you balance the luxardo you can get it to a very good tart/sweet place.
Just wanted to say a quick thank you for giving me a great passion for mixology through your awesome channel! Been watching your videos for almost a year and a half now and I’m constantly learning more from you and I just wanted to say I appreciate what you do and please keep up the amazing work!! 🍸🙏
Ver. 4.2. Bumped the violet up a tad and used some strong, homemade lemonocello & lemon. Very nice!
This is one of my favorite drinks! I prefer it with 1/2 an ounce of simple, my dad prefers it without any simple. It’s kinda fun using Empress 1908 Gin to play with the color and change the overall taste of the drink.
You could add some lemon juice to that if going sour side and turn that blue back purple
My French teacher (from France) in college actually taught me about the violette liqueur, we just mixed a bit with white wine, like a kir. Delicious. Thanks for featuring this!
I've always loved flower-based flavors and the Aviation is one of my favorites because of it! There used to be a place in Seattle that made a variation on it called the Captain Handsome with absinthe for the glass, lime, and limoncello, which seems to be the same direction you were going in here!
My wife loves this cocktail, and has for years. Here's the spec she likes, and my preferred spec, which is *so easy* to remember:
.5 oz. -or- 15 ml. Lemon Juice
.5 oz. -or- 15 ml. Maraschino Liqueur
.5 oz. -or- 15 ml. Creme De Violet (Giffords, as you use)
2 oz. -or- 60 ml. Plymoth Gin
My ratios dial back the lemon (0.75 oz. is a *lot* of lemon) and dial up the sweetness (my wife and I both love Creme De Violet). Using Plymoth instead of a London Dry also adds to the complexity factor in a way that I find most other gins can't. Plymoth is sweet-ish on the palate compared to most gins out there. Could you dial back the Creme De Violet? Of course you could, but I agree with your assessment that it's "part of the cocktail".
In any case, very cool that you re-visited this cocktail. I will probably play around with the Yellow Chartreuse variant, as that spirit is one of my faves.
This is exactly how I do it as well.
This is the same thing I do. I can still see the call for a little simple syrup, but then it would be even more drinkable and probably a little dangerous
Tried that one and ended up upping the Creme de Violette and dwindling both Maraschino and lemon juice. I'll likely move toward a ration of both lemon juice and Maraschino being equal to the amount of Creme de Violette I put in. Not huge on having either of those two prominent in the drink.
The monkey makes PHENOMENAL G&T's... I can't bring myself to serve it any other way. It's soooooooo good! I do love an aviation, and I'll definitely be trying your improved version.
I discovered this cocktail in a bottle at my grocery store a couple weeks ago. I thought "screw it, why not? I've never had one before." And I loved it! Stoked to try making one at home
I've never had a bottled cocktail I thought was good except for a bottled Old Fashioned. What brand was your bottled Aviation?
Had an aviation once where they actually used a bit of pisco in it. Honestly best one I’ve had
You piqued my interest enough that I'm picking up a bottle of pisco. Thank you, stranger.
Hey! I'm from Perú! THAT I can afford! Nice tip! But Yellow Chartreuse? Impossible in this economy (Perú is having it tough). I'll try it, thanks!
I'm from Chile and I never thought of this. Do you remember if the pisco was in addition to the other ingredients or replacing something?
Zeitgeist! My visiting cocktail friend and I happened to independently rework our favorite ratio just last night. We hit on dialing back the maraschino to 1/4 oz and adding 1/4 oz of St. Germain - adds extra sweetness, smooths out that funkiness, and amps up the floral notes a bit. Definitely more balanced, to our palates, but we also tend to like them on the tart side anyway...
Nice episode. My take: It's floral, so roll with it! Go 2-1-1 gin-lemon-creme de violette plus one barspoon of simple. Ends up much more balanced and better color too. Also, stirring instead of shaking yeilds a deeper color as well.
I actually upped the amount of Creme de Violette and Maraschino to .75 and dropped the lemon to .5 (ish I don't measure to closely) because it was so acidic and it's now my favorite drink.
The Aviation has been my White Whale ever since I first got into cocktails. Conceptually, I adore it, but every time I've had one made for me at a bar, even some of the BEST bars on the east coast, I always got this like... it's gross, but I get that "expecting milk and tasting root beer" effect, where my brain didn't know what to do with that color and that flavor together. When I make it myself, I do a 1.5 oz gin, .5 oz lemon juice, .5 oz maraschino, .5 oz Creme de Violette (Rothman's or Bitter Truth), .25 oz simple syrup, and egg white. I actually leave out the cherry garnish and give it a lemon twist and a few dashes of orange bitters. The egg white REALLY makes the whole thing come together!
The whole Creme de Violette thing is so funny, too. I'll drink it half-and-half with some seltzer or even just on the rocks, but my wife makes a poopy face like you wouldn't believe if she gets too close to the bottle :D
Love your channel Greg. I appreciate how you make cocktails and usually do your own spin on them as well.
I made the Field Landing for my step dad since he loves Aviation’s and he loved this version even better. Not a lot of recipes using creme de violette!
One of my favourites. I love stuff that tastes like flowers. I will rep for Turkish Delight all day.
Monkey has been my favorite gin for close to 5 years. Improves any gin cocktail tremendously
What does it taste like?
If you actually like the floral elements, upping the creme de violette makes it more purple, sweeter, and more violet-forward. Hendrick's also does a lot to play with the florals and fits better than anything else. I've also made a vodka variant with the Ketel One grapefruit and rose vodka that was really interesting with the rose and violet combo.
Greg! Use less lemon juice :) I do mine with a 1/3oz of lemon, 1/4 of Mar, and a 1/4oz of violet. Fill in the rest with a nice gin. That it is a very light blue and doesn't require any additional sweetness and the balance is very nice.
This is one of my favorite drinks! The best gin I've had for this drink is Back River Gin from Maine which has some spicy notes that make it more complex. I also add a bar spoon of absinthe.
My brother-in-law made me one of these and it was delightful. He upped the lemon a bit more and used a sweeter gin and it was lovely.
This is one of my favorite cocktails to make when I want to impress company. Learned it from you, of course.
I use 1/2 oz of creme de violet. I tried it also with a touch of honey syrup & some cherry bitters so it doesn't lose the nuances of the Luxardo. The egg white adds a silky smoothness that's delightful!
We have experimented quite a bit on aviations and found just simply using Roku Gin with the base recipe does wonders. It's so good, we have one or two a month now.
Our local bar got a frozen drink machine and started doing frozen aviations and OMG were they amazing. We also didn't feel like buying Creme de Violet, so we have been making these with hibiscus simple syrup and it's lovely.
Honestly, I still really like this drink, but normally I use a sweeter, old tom gin to help with the tartness... admittedly, I use old tom as my standard instead of London dry, purely because of my sweet tooth. Questionable tastes can lead to happy accidents, I suppose?
I think I need to try this out. I Broker's in mine specifically because it's a little lighter on the juniper and slightly more floral. Gonna have to break out the Hayman's.
One thing that helps the Aviation out immensely is using Empress Gin; it's already got the purple color and is a bit more sweet and herbal. Using that instead of a dry gin both helps make up for the lack of simple syrup (though I still put in 1/4oz because I prefer sweeter) and gives it the perfect Aviation color. Other things I've done is deliberately add a little more maraschino syrup from the cherries and let that add sweetness, or use a meyer lemon instead, which softens up the tartness.
Can't stress trying it with Empress enough, beautiful result.
I have been debating picking up a bottle of that Empress. I think you've convinced me. Aviations are my favorite cocktails and I love the herbal gins. (I also get generous with the maraschino syrup). I haven't tried it with a meyer lemon though.
Since I've learned almost all of my mixology from you, I use your specs for the Aviation (my tie for favorite cocktail with the Mai Tai), but I use about ¾ of an ounce of Maraschino instead of the ½.
I think the ¾oz adds enough sweetness to the drink without changing it too much. Plus, I like Maraschino.
Personally, I don't want to change the flavor profile any. I find the Aviation to be extremely unique among cocktails and an absolute joy to sip on.
I have it exactly the same way and it's perfect with the extra maraschino.
Honestly I think the Aviation is an exclusive cocktail, and easily on my favorite top 3 cocktails. I've added my own spin on it by adding a splash of my homemade ginger/rosemary simple syrup. I love it.
I love to use honey syrup in an aviation or a bit of creme de violet in my bees knees. Feels very thematic. Bees and flowers
Ooh!
Of you first shake everything without the Violet and then add it and only stir, the colour pops a lot better.
I’ve only seen this once in (at a place in CT), but another variation on this drink was to essentially turn it into a spirit forward stirred drink - essentially almost a gin old fashioned with creme de violette. I’m not sure if it’s a take for everyone, but it was tasty
Also, I had an Aviation one time where the bartender substituted creme de violette for lavender simple syrup and it was fantastic.
I love using Wigle Whiskey Genever style Gin in the aviation - it’s so much fuller and rounder a flavor than with a London Dry gin. The Aviation is my all time favorite cocktail. Can’t live without it.
Edit: Standard Spec -
2oz Wigle Whiskey Genever Style Gin
1/2oz Luxardo Maraschino
1/4oz Rothmann & Winter creme de violette
3/4oz Lemon Juice
i'd like to add the suggestion of zuidam old style jenever in that
it's dope
@@Dafoodmaster yeah - genever style gin is the way to go for this cocktail for sure
@@Crittbeast though my national pride can't bear calling jenever a style of gin, i agree
Literally my favorite drink! Now I use very specific choices for my version. Scant 3/4 Lemmon juice, 3/4 luxardo, 1/2 rothman & winter creme de violette, 2oz Beefeaters. Shaken and strained into a martini glass with a single lux cherrie. I also sometimes add 1/4oz of creme de cacao.
Monkey 47 is a big Gin in my house super excited to see it come out on this show finally, it is actually a German gin funny enough.
I fell in love with this and it turned me from a Gin hater into a Gin lover. As you said with the acid, I changed it up a little bit. I dialled down the lemon juice to 1/4 oz. With the Crème de Violette I go a hair over 1/4 oz. Another way to try this for a different flavour profile-and a lot are going to shake their heads because of the citrus-is stir it, don't shake it. Nice variation.
Looking back through your vids, I'm surprised to see that a "How to Fix!" series isn't already a thing 'cause it seems like a fun very natural fit!
I had the best Aviation of my life at a local Italian place. Garnished with a cherry and a twist of orange. Very complex, much more citrus forward, almost like a flower and fruit garden.
I am one of those for whom cilantro tastes like a mixture of soap and burnt plastic, but I love violet flavour. It is quite common here in Sweden in candy and lozenges. You can even get lozenges that taste like violet and salty licorice, which strikes me as a very Swedish combination.
I have yet to have an Aviation or creme de violette at all but I definitely want to try it at some point.
Also what you said about the standard spec not having enought sweetness is not unique to this drink. That is why people started adding a sugar rim to Sidecars, because it is simply just not a very good balanced recipe to begin with. I am very sensitive to citric acid so I always have to adjust old sours recipes in order for them to be palatable.
As a fellow violet-loving Swede, I quite enjoy a good Aviation! Proper Creme de Violette is not available from Systembolaget from what I've seen, so that stopped me from trying this drink for a while, but The Bitter Truth's Violet Liqueur (nr. 86474) has worked out quite well for me since I found it!
I also love the violet flavour (probably since I'm also Swedish then) but have always had the problem with the original aviation recipe being to tart and also a bit bitter on the back end. For me the recipe by David Kringlund here on YT finally gave me the balanced Aviation I always hoped for. The amount of gin is halved and both liquors upped so it's totally unconventional proportions but amazingly balanced without being cloyingly sweet, at least to me.
Since you are the only one mentioning soap. Here are my 2 cents.
It tastes like soap, because USAmerican's only know violet, lavender, certain herbs as soap. So it tastes like soap because people only know it as soap.
I love these herbs in ice creams, desserts, teas. They are lovely and often very mild.
I like to make the Aviation with Hayman's Old Tom Gin. The added sweetness of Hayman's interpretation of old Tom kicks up the flavor profile and makes it quite lovely.
Love love the Aviation. It doesn't need to be saved in my opinion.
The Aviation is one of the few gin cocktails that I enjoy, not the biggest fan of gin. But I do love this drink and I enjoy Violette.
I created a drink for my bar that took inspiration from this drink and to follow the floral notes and its very creatively called "Camomile Aviation"
- 40ml Method and Madness Irish Gin infused with Camomile Tea
- 15ml Cointreau
- 5ml Lavender Sryup
- 20ml Lemon Juice
Shaken, servued up with a cherry.
The violette is lost but the idea was to push froward other floral notes.
Just made myself a Field Landing and it has been a while since I've had an Aviation which I recall not enjoying in the slightest, but this variation is really starting to grow on me. Much tastier. Thinking of trying it using some Whitley Neill rhubarb gin next.
Stay tuned
What is in a Field Landing?
@@BrittanyPiperLipstickShotgun The variation on the Aviation that Greg made by adding simple and yellow Chartreuse
@@steelmagnum ah, okay. Interesting. I bought the ingredients for an Aviation, or so I thought. I couldn't find maraschino liqueur, so I bought a bottle that said cherry liqueur, and somehow managed to get something that tastes more like a cherry whiskey. 🙄
@@BrittanyPiperLipstickShotgun Cherry heering by any chance?
@@steelmagnum could be...
A lot of people who don’t like creme de violet usually are just people who hate floral flavors. They’re more familiar with florals being a scent, not a taste so they think it tastes soapy. I personally love floral flavors and had my introduction to florals with Rose and orange blossom. If you want to get into florals try mixing these flavors with fruit, it really helps!
I love the drink just as it was first made in the beginning of the episode. It's not broken so it doesn't need to be fixed.
We use rothmans creme de violette
.5 lemon
.5 maraschino liqueur
.5 creme de violette
1.5 gin.
This is the only way I’ve ever had it and you have now made me curious on expanding my horizons with new takes on the drink. Cheers!
I've been wanting to make an Aviation since I first heard of it a couple of years ago. I had found Maraschino liqueur, but not Creme De Violet until a few days ago. I like the drink both with and without Creme De Violet. I even liked a Blue Moon, which has only Creme De Violet. I like tart, so equal amounts Maraschino and Creme De Violet seems about right. BTW, I also love cilantro.
I like the tart, clean, taste of an aviation, it's refreshing & floral, so too much sweetness feels perfumey. I prefer adding a touch of elderflower liqueur and absinthe, & a candied violet flower for garnish.
This is inspiring! I like aviation in practice (fond of violet + gin), except I actually really don't like cherries so I always skip the maraschino. Definitely like with more aromatic, and with absinthe :3
I use the recipe on the hang tag that came on my bottle of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur. Biggest difference is they don't mix the creme de violette in the body of the drink but instead "float" it at the end which actually sinks to the bottom. This gives you an ever evolving drink as you drink it. It starts off very tart and then gets much sweeter as you get down to the violette. I really like it that way.
It's a bit tongue in cheek but I like to use aviation gin when I make this just plays nice in my head
I've been waiting for someone to say that 😂
I made an Aviation for the first time about 2 wks ago and found it to be much too sour. The lemon was overpowering everything. I took some suggestions from some of the commenters and tried it again last night. It was amazing!! So I started off with 2oz of Hayman's Old Tom Gin, 1/2oz of fresh lemon juice, 1/2oz of Creme de Violet, 1/2oz cherry liqueur, 1/2oz of Elderberry flower liqueur, and ice and stirred into a mixing glass. Shaking dose cause it to lose it's purple color. Poured into a chilled glass with a cherry sitting on the bottom. It was one of the most amazing drinks!!! An instant classic for me now!!! Hope someone else tries this. You won't be disappointed. It's still tart, but not overly tart. Semi-sweet and well balanced IMO. Cheers!
Loved this episode, but I really hope we get maybe another "drinks and the news" episode soon
Love an Aviation! If I have people over who aren’t fans of Violette though I often sub it for Saint-Germain. Not as subtle, but it keeps the floral notes going on and helps add some sweetness.
The italicus might be a good option for the aviation as well. Maybe a flavored gin would be a nice option as well?
I like it stirred instead of shaken because the violette doesn’t get broken up as much and is smoother in mouth feel and taste
This is my go-to drink and I'm always playing with the ratios. Though I guess I've always made mine with simple syrup.
Though this video has me considering switching out the maraschino for St Germaine and really lean into the floral profile. Something to experiment with!
I often mix up a gin sour with creme de violette and st. Germaine, along with lemon, simple, and egg white. Yields a very mellow drink but a very tasty one. I don’t think you’d be disappointed with the experiment.
I'm team "no simple syrup," but a big fan of St. Germaine. There's a cocktail called Bella Luna that's totally what you're talking about: I think the formal specs are 2oz gin, 3/4oz lemon juice, 3/4oz St Germaine, 1/2oz creme de violette, 1tsp simple syrup. But, I personally prefer 2oz gin and 1/2oz each of lemon juice, St. Germain, and creme de violette-- which uses more floral sweetness vs. citrus sharpness (and removes the need for extra sugar). I'd be curious to hear what you think :-)
@@haley_ish That was quite close to what I tried (I used 1 oz of lemon and 1/4 of creme de violette) and it was quite good. Next one I'll try closer to your recipe, but so far, so good!
I would also love to try this with Nolet's Silver gin, as it's a lovely dry gin with more floral notes.
Thanks for the suggestion!
@@kylecornman6292 Love sours, so I have to give that a whirl someday.
@@timboerger2240 That sounds excellent! I used Hardshore gin, which is very herbal, and it added some nice balance and complexity. But now that you mention it, I have some Deviation citrus rose gin that would totally lean into the floral citrus flavors. I’ll have to try that next! :-)
The Aviation is my favorite drink and the cocktail that I built my bar around, and the recipe I always go off of has simple included.
I've never heard of this drink but think I'll give it a try! (Edit after finishing the video: Maybe call this one the Aviation First Class? )
i usually use only a half oz of lemon juice, along with a quarter oz of elderflower liquor! it really brings out the violette and any sort of floral component in your gin. it also gives a little more sweetness, but more complex than just the simple.
My wife tried this one night at a favorite restaurant years back, and it's responsible for me getting into mixology, simply because I wanted to learn how to make it for her. That being said, I use different specs for this:
2 oz gin
.5 oz lemon juice
.25 oz Creme de Violette
.25 oz Luxardo Maraschino
I've tweaked specs in various ways, and never liked it vaguely as much, because with these proportions, you get a weirdly sparse yet flavorful cocktail, and you can really taste all four components in their own way. Have tried it with simple syrup, and it has absolutely ruined it for me, as it sort of muddles up the middle of things, and you just can't taste the individual parts of the cocktail as well.
I love aviations! I learned about them in New Orleans. I understand where people get the soapy tasty but I like it!
The Aviation has become my cocktail of choice for making at home over the last year+. I've experimented quite a bit with it. I would say the reason the drink was so "single note" was because too much lemon juice is in it's classic recipe. This is a carefully balanced drink and you'll miss much of what makes it good if things are out of whack. I've found the better recipe is: 2oz gin, half oz each of lemon juice, CdV, and luxardo. I also recommend stirring over shaking; too cold and it loses a lot of complex taste (but this is optional). Your CdV also will change the taste quite a bit: Rothman & Winter is a sugary punch; Tempus Fugit gives a nice strawberry note to the flavor; I don't recommend Bitter Truth (it has no taste to me); and Giffard (which was used here) I highly recommend, as I find it to be perfectly balanced between taste and fragrance. Also, I've found a great gin that complements this drink: Barr Hill gin. It's juniper and honey and that honey gives a light sweetness without it becoming over powering.
I use a half ounce each of lemon juice, maraschino, and creme de violette, along with 1.5 oz of Aviation Gin. It cuts the sour and is a very strong floral flavor (but I love violet flavor!)
I had my first Aviation just the other day! I had never seen it on menus before. And now I have a new found respect for it
My go to aviation recipe
2oz Hendricks gin
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 Bitter Truth creme de violet
1/4 simple syrup
1 bar spoon of luxardo cherry syrup
Makes it a really dark blue almost purple but i love the taste of creme de violet
I just tried using .25oz Lillet as an addition. Seemed to sweeten it up and balance it out without adding the complexity of Chartreuse.
Great episode!
To sweetness cocktail, I also use an old Tom Gin, as opposed to a London dry gin. Makes it more drinkable from the get-go. I also usually do 3/4 of an ounce of luxardo with 1/4 ounce of crème de Violet
Here's an Aviation variant that I spun up for a party that I am a huge fan of:
The Aerial Ace
1.5 oz raspberry infused gin (I used Artanical, a local gin from AR)
.25 oz St. Germain
.25 oz Raspberry Liqueur
.75 oz lime juice
For my standard spec I use something closer to Imbibe's recommendations:
2 oz. London dry gin
.75 oz lemon juice
1 barspoon maraschino
.25 oz barspoon crème de violette
.25 oz simple syrup
The aviation is hands down my favorite cocktail and my go-to when I am craving something familiar! I recently got to try a version of it in Chicago using Bitter Truth's creme de violette and it was awesome!
I prefer an Aviation with either Crème Yvette or Parfait Amour. The Yvette dials down on the violet. If you use PA, use a very light hand.
We found a great variation on the aviation at a local cocktail bar that they called the Amethyst. They subbed Lillet for the Maraschino and added about 1/2 oz of simple syrup. A little sweet, but floral and fun!
Man, I miss those Chowards. Not so much the violet ones, but my Mom LOVED the guava ones. Always had them in the house somewhere.
So, Greg- the real trick to making one of these look nice and getting a better flavor out of the mixture is actually to *not* shake the creme de violette. What I do is shake everything else, and put the violette in the glass ahead of time. I find the color and flavor to be much more vibrant and pleasant that way. We make them all the time at home, and they're wonderful.
Lawbird in Columbus has made a variation called Flight to Narita which adds plum wine and rum, both of which do a lot to round out the acidity. But it doesn't get overly sweet.