Before we travel back in time, here's a practical gift: the complete ingredient shopping list to build this drink at home. Now, the legend.
The Aviation first appeared in Hugo Ensslin's 1916 book "Recipes for Mixed Drinks," created at the Hotel Wallick in New York. Its pale sky-blue color, given by the rare liqueur crème de violette, was meant to evoke the dawn of the age of aviation, the era when the Wright Brothers had just conquered the sky and flight was still the most glamorous idea in the world.
When Harry Craddock republished the recipe in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), he dropped the violette (because the liqueur had become impossible to find after Prohibition), and for decades the Aviation flew without its signature color. It was only the 2007 return of crème de violette to the American market that restored the cocktail to its original, evocative shade.
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