Name: Ad Astra
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 50 ml Gin; 10 ml Maraschino liqueur; 10 ml Crème de violette; 5 ml Lemon juice

Ad Astra
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Glass:

Photographed in a Speakeasy Martini 5.75oz

Ingredients:
1 ²⁄₃ fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
¹⁄₃ fl oz	Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette Liqueur
¹⁄₆ fl oz	Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill a MARTINI GLASS.
Prepare garnish of castor oil.

How to make:

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

Garnish:

Garnish with one drop of castor oil floated on cocktail.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Ad Astra is a Latin phrase meaning "to the stars", an apt name for this spirituous and complex riff on a classic Aviation.

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History:

Created by Ben Simpson of Smoke & Oakum Manufactory Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand and the name behind Gunpowder Rum. Ben shared his "spin on the old Aviation cocktail" with us in May 2019, saying, "Somewhere along the line I got it into my head that the Aviation was, at heart, a martini variant (I think I even found some gin/maraschino type cocktails to back my argument). For this reason, the lemon juice is vastly reduced, and the drink is stirred.

"To this idea, I added the suggestion that the washed-out purple colour of crème de violette in the finished drink references aviation fuel (or 'Av-Gas' as they used to call it when I did my basic flight training). Then I kept making stuff up as I prepared the drink: the spinning of the ice within the mixing glass is similar to the action of the rotary engine that dominated the early years of flight, with the mixing spoon being the propeller shaft. Finally, the drop of castor oil on top harks back to the use of this in rotary engines to keep the whole hot, spinning mass from seizing. Unfortunately, the result was a slipstream saturated with castor oil, including both the plane and the pilot (hence the image of the leather trench coat-wearing pilot wiping his goggles with his silk scarf)."

Nutrition:

One serving of Ad Astra contains 160 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
27.09% alc./vol. (54.18° proof)
20.3 grams of pure alcohol

More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails

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 comments for Ad Astra.
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John CARR

9th January at 13:46

A light and delicate aviation. Recommended. The title presumably refers to the RAF (and other commonwealth Air Force’s) motto Per ardua ad astra (through adversity to the stars).

Astrid Welch

9th May at 01:09

I thought it was "Per aspira ad astra"

1 reply

Tuber Magnatum

7th July 2024 at 22:43

Enjoyed this but curious why this is stirred notwithstanding the creators explanation. I have always worked under the premise that drinks with citrus are shaken. (Mind you, I'm not beholden to this; I have been known to shake a Negroni a la Stanley Tucci and even a Martini, or should I say a "Bradford"!). As I didn't have castor oil and didn't really feel like using mineral oil, I just expressed a good amount of lemon zest oil to create the requisite "oil slick".

Miguel Perales

17th June 2023 at 23:55

A fairly floral and “delicate” cocktail. The Violette is prominent and this is a fairly balanced cocktail

Frej Isaksson

5th May 2022 at 19:39

One of the better violette cocktails I have tried. I think it should be fine strained though, both for taste and visuals.

Simon Difford

6th May 2022 at 09:00

Agreed. I've added a note in brackets above.

John Hinojos

10th April 2022 at 00:08

This is a very, very good cocktail. Especially great as an aperitif. A little sweet, but it does work. Perfect amount of herbal influence.

Michiel 261

8th January 2022 at 15:21

Works great as a gin tonic too. I poured right over ice and added 120 ml tonic water.

Calvin Grant

17th December 2021 at 04:26

Tempis Fugit Spirits Liqueur de Violettes and Maraska Maraschino Liqueur with Beefeater really shine in this one. New favorite "martini" with just enough sour.

Calvin Grant

9th May at 02:36

This time Tanqueray 47.3%, Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette, Maraska. No soap detected!

Melissa Demian

23rd September 2021 at 21:14

I feel the thing with crème de violette is that it sort of has to be allowed to stand out, otherwise you get a cocktail that just tastes soapy, like what violets dream of when they're in the bath. This less sour Aviation does just that. Great stuff, will probably never make a standard one again!

Chris Scott

31st October 2020 at 23:54

A great take. Less sour, more gin forward.

Stephen Murray

20th May 2020 at 21:01

What a strange take on the original Aviation. A less saour more fragrant version it's more like a fragrance than a drink. If I score some more castor oil and add it to my bottle list on here it'll increase the amount of cocktails by one.