Aviation Cocktail

Serve straight up in a cocktail or martini glass.  The Aviation Cocktail was created by Hugo Ensslin, head bartender at the Hotel Wallick in New York, around the early 1900’s.  Ensslin’s recipe called for 1½ oz. El Bart gin, ¾ oz. lemon juice, 2 dashes maraschino liqueur, and 2 dashes crème de violette, a violet liqueur which gives the cocktail a pale sky-blue color.  Others have left out the difficult-to-find violet liqueur.

The gin sour, the Blue Moon and the Moonlight cocktail are all of similar breeding.