Created in the early twentieth century by Hugo Ensslin whilst working as the head bartender at New York's Hotel Wallick, the Aviation cocktail is an easy to make classic gin sour cocktail, named appropriately after the drink's hue.

First published in Ensslin's 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks, the original recipe called for, '1/3rd lemon juice, 2/3rds gin, 2 dashes of Maraschino and 2 dashes of Crème de Violette' however by 1930 Harry Craddock, in his influential Savoy Cocktail Book, dropped the Crème de Violette.

By the 1960's Crème de Violette had vanished form the market and so the Aviation cocktail was relegated to the history books until around 2007 when a new importer brought in an Austrian Crème de Violette into the US and the old classic was brought back to life.

A modern alternative to the Crème de Violette is Crème Yvette, a French liqueur made from four berry fruits who's production ceased in 1969 but brought back in 2010 to feed mixologists hunger for the classic liqueur.

When making an Aviation beware! Go easy on the Crème de Violette, otherwise your cocktail will end up tasting like a sack of dried flowers.