Name: Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe)
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 52.5 ml Gin; 15 ml Maraschino liqueur; 7.5 ml Crème de violette; 15 ml Lemon juice; 7.5 ml Chilled water

Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe)
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Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe) image

Glass:

Photographed in an Urban Bar Plain Retro Coupette 15cl

Ingredients:
1 ³⁄₄ oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
¹⁄₄ oz	Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette Liqueur
¹⁄₂ oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₄ oz	Chilled water omit if using wet ice

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.
Prepare garnish of lemon zest twist (& optional sugar rim).

How to make:

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish:

EXPRESS lemon zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe) lifestyle image

Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe) lifestyle thumbnail

Cocktail of the day:

17th December 2025 is The aeroplane's birthday

Review:

Citrusy, floral gin with a lightly sour finish.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Blue Moon
Clean Aviation (vodka-based)
Takumis Aviation

History:

An adaptation of Hugo R. Ensslin's Aviation Cocktail from his 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks by yours truly.

AVIATION COCKTAIL
1/3 Lemon Juice
2/3 El Bart Gin
2 dashes Maraschino
2 dashes Crème de Violette
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve.
Hugo R. Ensslin, 1916

More cocktails by Hugo R. Esslinn

Nutrition:

One serving of Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe) contains 173 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
21.06% alc./vol. (42.13° proof)
20.5 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 59 comments for Aviation Cocktail (Difford's recipe).
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Jon Pidwerbecki

24th November at 00:53

Wonderful as prescribed. The proper dilution with a little added water fully develops the wonderful drink. I’m cautious of lemons and limes as the consistency varies greatly. I’m a shaker for this drink and drop one Lexardo cherry in the bottom with a small amount of cherry syrup as a nest. No need to stir

Bob Cook

23rd November at 14:26

This recipe has the virtue of going light on the creme de violette (personally, I could go even lighter). Some of the comments suggest adding a little simple syrup, but the maraschino liqueur makes it sweet enough for me. Also, using lime juice instead of lemon juice is an interesting variation.

Tuber Magnatum

24th August at 22:22

I ove this cocktail but this time tried as per suggestion of others of adding some rich simple syrup. For me 2.5ml / .5 tsp struck a great balance with the lemon. I wonder though if one uses the optional sugar rim if that would negate the need for the syrup. Will try this next time. (As an aside, for those looking for the lovely light blue hue of the sky, I can't recommend Bitter Truth's Crème de Violette highly enough!)

Chris Krummes

22nd July at 02:35

Try it stirred instead of shaken. Totally changes the flavors and you get a beautiful purple hue.

Frederic D.

2nd June at 22:06

I just made a riff on the Aviation from Sother Teague's book, "I'm Just Here for the Drinks": 1 Oz gin, 1 Oz Becherovka, 0.5 Oz lemon, 0.25 Oz Maraschino, 2 dashes ginger bitters.
I really enjoyed this drink. The gin is still present, particularly on the swallow. The clove and cinnamon notes of the Becherovka show up in the mid-palate, the Maraschino does nor dominate at all. I might consider adding 0.25 Oz of simple syrup to better suit my palate, as I think the Becherovka is a bit less sweet than Violette, but overall it is a very good variation.

Frederic D.

2nd June at 22:10

Follow up: 1 teaspoon of 2:1 simple really brought out the baking spice notes in this drink, and would bump its rating a notch or two for me.

1 reply

Mark

24th April at 01:41

While I like bone dry cocktails I do find the addition of a teaspoon of rich simple syrup a better crowd pleaser. Call it sacrilegious, but most people do prefer it just a tad bit sweeter. Also using the Bitter truth violet liqueur gives it a stunning aquamarine hue, just as long as the lemon juice isn’t too yellowish.

John CARR

26th March at 12:41

Tried the suggested water dilution with dry ice, which did open up the flavours, but lost intensity of the violette in particular. Although it’s not the freshest bottle so could bed influencing. I’d go 5ml max myself.

John CARR

19th March at 14:09

A while since I have visited this recipe, and so many visitors in between: devotees at the altar. Something quite special with the combination of sour sweet, herbal and citrusy. Regarding the soul. I ran out of lemon peel so used light sprays of lime and lemon as garnish.

david77

20th February at 18:46

I like the base spirit to standout in my cocktails. So I increased the gin to 2 parts, and decreased the maraschino and creme de violet liquors to 1/4 parts each (equal parts). I also stirred instead of shaking in order to preserve the violet color that is lost in shaking. Stirring also seems to produce a richer flavor. I also dropped a Maraschino cherry on the bottom of my glass. It made for a nice after cocktail treat 😋.

Helen Clipsom

19th January at 23:58

A favourite of mine but (oh the sacrelige) I used to make it with parma violets gin (either Imaginaria or Miss Mollies, can't remember now) in the creme de violette measure, plus a teaspoon of the liquid from a jar of maraschino cherries as well as the maraschino liqueur.

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