Availability:
The Aviation
One of the most searched-for cocktails on the internet, the Aviation was created around 1911 by Hugo Ensslin, head bartender at the Hotel Wallick in New York. Fist referenced in Ensslin’s 1916 publication “Recipes for Mixed Drinks” its name is derived from its subtle blue hue, harnessing the romance of an era when aviation was a sport and adventure, not merely a mode of travel.
- Use 50ml of high quality London Dry gin (see suggestions below)
- 25 ml of fresh lemon juice
- 2 dashes Luxardo Maraschino liqueur and
- 2 dashes crème de violette. Method: Add all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass (or coupe-style glass). Garnish with maraschino cherry (or a lemon twist).
OUR SUGGESTIONS FOR A BETTER AVIATION...
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G.E. Massenez Creme de Violettes (Violet) Liqueur (500ml)Alsace, FRANCE$46. 99Bottle$563.88 DozenABV: 25%Uncompromising on quality, G.E. Massenez is today universally acclaimed for his 'eaux de vie' (fruit brandies) such as wild Rasperry and Williams Pear as well as his crème liqueurs. The company has won many awards at international exhibitions. 25% alc/vol
No tasting notes available.
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Garden Grown Gin (700ml)New South Wales, AUSTRALIA$94. 99Bottle$1139.88 DozenABV: 42%Note: the title of this product has changed from 'Distillery Botanica' to 'Garden Grown Gin'. It's the same liquid, produced in the same way, to the same recipe, by the same people. Garden Grown Gin is produced at Distillery Botanica and employs a process known as enfleurage, a thousand-year-old technique. Traditionally it applies to flower petals - these are placed on glass trays containing a wax or animal fat called a 'corps'. This corps which is highly purified with no odour or water remaining absorbs the flavour and fragrance from the flowers. Every 24 hours the petals are removed from the tray and replaced with fresh ones. This may be repeated dozens of times per tray. The trays are stacked so that the tray on the top can trap the rising fragrance from the flowers on the tray below. Once saturated with aromatics, the corps is referred to as the "pomade" (the most highly saturated pomade is called "pomade No. 36" because the frames have been charged with fresh flowers 36 times, the maximum during enfleurage). The next step is to break up the pomade in the presence of high strength neutral spirit which takes up the natural flower oils and leaves the spent fat behind. At Garden Grown Gin, the aim is to extract the purest perfume from their chief botanical, Murraya, without the use of heat. This makes the delicate flower come alive with cues of jasmine, honeysuckle and orange blossom. Distiller, Phillip Moore adds, "the gin also includes a rose enfleurage using an old fashioned Tea Rose from our garden. It is known as the Duchess de Brabant. Our garden also supplies Chamomile flowers which when distilled immediately on picking have a delicious apple character with a delightful bitter finish. To carry on the perfume allusion of enfleurage we also use orris root which is used in Chanel No 5. In perfume and gin orris is a fixative which creates harmony and also slows down the evaporation of the more volatile aromas. Orris has its own violet aroma. It enters the palate very sweetly and adds a richness and viscosity all over. On the finish it contributes a high quality bitter and an earthiness which is almost pastry like". Tasting note: Crystal clear, shows good viscosity. Pure and ultra fresh with a juniper and black pepper base overlaid by sweet floral top notes. Aeration offers suggestions of orange blossom, rose petal and muted lavender and later hints of incense candles. Creamy yet vibrant entry with a seamless integration of juniper / herbal / floral / wax-like notes. Concludes tongue tingling, peppery, fresh, long. Delicate and multi-layered. Beautifully composed. 42% Alc./Vol.![1028289_1.jpg]()
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Luxardo Maraschino Cherry Liqueur (700ml)ITALY$69. 99Bottle$839.88 DozenABV: 32%A benchmark elixir from Luxardo, a family owned company founded in 1821. This liqueur is produced by distilling Marasca cherries before maturation in unconventional Finnish ash casks. It pours a viscous water-like colour with tenacious cling to the glass and boasts a spice rack bouquet with penetrating, lifted aromas of cherry juice over secondary notes of fennel, spearmint, anise, sour dough bread and faint glace cherry. The thick, glycerous palate offers decadently rich flavours of sweet ripe cherry above marzipan and a layer of sweet spice. Silky throughout with super texture and a long aftertaste of cherry confectionary and marzipan. It's a world class liqueur. 32.0% Alc./Vol.
Other reviews.... The bouquet is lovely, balanced, properly astringent, ripe and juicy with scents of cherry stone and cherry juice. The palate entry is decadently sweet and textured with vibrant tastes of cherry compote and cherry preserves at midpalate. The finish is svelte, moderately syrupy and downright delicious. An outstanding liqueur: use it in an Aviation Cocktail. - 90-95: Superb/Highly Recommended - wineenthusiast.com
"Clear and bright, this cherry-flavored liqueur has an aroma more reminiscent of an eau de vie than a liqueur. On the palate, however, its texture is creamy and viscous. Its flavor is sugary up front, with an underlying heat, and a vibrant cherry flavor that shines through. While it might prove a bit too thick and sweet to drink on its own, it's obvious why this liqueur plays an essential supporting role in classic cocktails like the Last Word and Aviation." 92 points - distiller.com
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Luxardo The Original Maraschino Cherries (400g)ITALY$19. 99Bottle$239.88 DozenA straw covered bottle of Luxardo's Maraschino Liqueur is an icon in bars and it's also the company's benchmark. The base ingredients are obtained from the marasca cherry, a sour variety cultivated by Luxardo.
A jar of these candied delights offer dense and chewy cherries with a sweet-tart flavour. They’ll take your Manhattan or Shirley Temple to new heights and are also delicious over ice cream or cheesecake. Note - may contain cherry pits.
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Peureux Griottines in Kirsch (sour cherries) Jar (350ml)FRANCE$36. 99Bottle$443.88 DozenABV: 15%Grandes Distilleries Peureux was founded by Auguste Peureux in 1864 in Fougerolles at the foot of the Vosges mountains. Known as the leader in fruit brandies and Eaux de Vie in France, one of their stand out products is their famous Griottines. These wild sour cherries are macerated in liquor and Kirsch, and retain a lovely bite while being packed full of flavour. If you're looking to elevate your Manahattan or Aviation there's no grander option than with these Griottines. As served in the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz, Paris.
Note - may contain cherry pits.
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Sipsmith London Dry Gin (700ml)London, UNITED KINGDOM$79. 99Bottle$959.88 DozenABV: 41.6%Sipsmith was established in London in 2009. The first copper-pot based distillery to start up in London in 189 years, it is one of only four gin distilleries located within the city limits. Situated on a residential street in West London on the site of a former microbrewery, it's also the site which later became the office of famous beer hunter and whisky writer, Michael Jackson.
Sipsmith's first two spirits are a Barley Vodka and a London Dry Gin (a Sloe Gin is expected soon). These are produced in small batches of fewer than 300 bottles from an English Barley mash that is created off-site. The company employs a German swan-necked copper-pot still. Referred to as 'Prudence' by the proprietors, she's caricatured on the brand's labels as a stylized pot-still with a swan’s neck and head.
Sipsmith’s London Dry Gin is made using 10 botanicals from around the globe: Macedonian juniper berries, Bulgarian coriander seed, French angelica root, Spanish liquorice root, Italian orris root, Spanish ground almond, Chinese cassia bark, Madagascan cinnamon, Sevillian orange peel and Spanish lemon peel. If the botanicals seem rather commonplace by contemporary Gin standards, the company vouches for their freshness, which, as we’ve been told by the producers of Australia’s successful West Winds brand, is an often underestimated factor in Gin production. Quite simply, the fresher the ingredients, the more potent the flavour infusion will be. Companies producing Gin on a grand scale, such as Beefeater or Gordon’s simply can’t secure the quantities of botanicals required in fresh form for year round production. Water purity is also considered key.
Geraldine Coates, who has written books about gin and runs the website ‘Gintime’, also considers the size and flexibility of new micro-distilleries like Sipsmith to be their real point of interest."It means they are producing the equivalent to caviar as opposed to tuna fish," she explains. "Small batch runs mean they can make many different varieties. They could even, theoretically, take on commissions for certain flavours. And bartenders in the UK love new types of spirit to play with."
Tasting note: Pours crystal clear with a slight viscosity evident. The nose offers a restrained elegance - fresh juniper is the initial focus followed by hints of citrus peel, lavender and rosemary. A soft entry leads into a light to medium bodied mid palate that's gently spicy, almost creamy in texture and building in concentration with flavours of juniper and citrus lozenge. Perfect balance. Finishes pristine, persistent and refreshingly dry. An understated and stylish gin straight up that also adds a creaminess to G&Ts. 41.6% Alc./Vol.
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Dodd's Kew Organic Gin (700ml)London, UNITED KINGDOM$89. 99Bottle$1079.88 DozenABV: 46%A collaboration between Dodd's Gin and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Seasonal harvested flora from the garden is hand selected and transported to the distillery near Tower Bridge, just minutes from the City of London, before being distilled in Dodd’s 140 litre copper alembic. Two types of organic Juniper are used (Bulgarian and Tuscan) as well as five types of citrus – lemon, lime, pink grapefruit peel, orange peel and bergamot peel. From the Kew Gardens a range of botanicals have been foraged including santolina, rosemary, lavender flower, galangal and passion flower. The gin is crafted from four individual distillations, grouped according to botanical character, which are then married together to create a "quintessential London gin". Tasting note: Brilliant clarity. Drier styled aromas are increasingly intense with fresh piney juniper, citrus oils, white pepper. Air contact accents the woody, juniper / chamomile tea-like notes and adds a hint of liquorice root. Mildly oily delivery with ripe juniper / juicy citrus zest followed by gently bitter peel, lemon tart and vibrant peppery warmth lingering in the aftertaste. Classic London Dry.46% Alc./Vol.![East London Liquor Co. Ltd Classic London Dry Gin (700ml)]()
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East London Liquor Co. Ltd Classic London Dry Gin (700ml)London, UNITED KINGDOM$79. 99Bottle$959.88 DozenABV: 40%The signature gin from the East London Liquor Company, a distillery based in Bow Wharf, and founded in late 2012 by Alex Wolpert. Made with 100% British wheat spirits and infused with lemon, grapefruit peel, coriander, angelica root, juniper berries, cubeb berries and cardamom. Distillation takes place in a state of the art 450 litre copper pot still, custom designed and hand built in Germany by Arnold Holstein. The company employs a "one shot method" - that is, they don’t macerate the botanicals prior to distilling, rather, once the still is loaded with ingredients and base spirit, it’s gently heated up and the process begins. Jamie Baxter, whose other projects include Chase Gin and Burleigh’s Gin, kickstarted the production.
The gin pours with a viscous, crystal clear appearance and yields a generous perfume of ripe lemon, light cardamom and coriander becoming sweet lemon meringue-like in later inhalations. It's full and nicely rounded in the mouth with a silky, mildly oily texture and a burst of juniper, lemon barley sugar and pepper that finishes long, balanced and fresh with hints of cardamom in the fade. This immensely appealing spirit also boasts a concentration that defies its low ABV. 40% Alc./Vol.
Other reviews.... 4.5 Stars - www.diffordsguide.com
...There’s a strong note of cardamom on the nose, which is less prominent once tasted. ELLC London Dry Gin is smooth to taste, with lemon and grapefruit peel providing fresh citrus upfront. The coriander seed adds touch of spice, while cubeb berries and cardamom anchor the gin. - www.ginfoundary.com
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Finn's Gin (750ml)UNITED STATES$99. 99Bottle$1199.88 DozenABV: 45%Finn's is produced by the Chicago Distilling Company (founded in 2010) and is made from a corn based neutral spirit which they buy in to macerate botanicals such as Sichuan peppercorn, dried orange peel, green cardamom, hibiscus, juniper, coriander, cassia and cubeb. Following maceration, Finn's is re-distilled to recover the clear gin spirit. Tasting note: Brilliant, crystal clear appearance with aromas of lemon sorbet, juniper, sawn pine and subtle liquorice root. Palate features very pure, soft flavours of lemon tart, background piney juniper and a fresh grassy finish. Shows good length. Endlessly mixable gin with enough personality to enjoy on its own. 45% Alc./Vol. Gold Medal 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition & Gold Medal 2014 American Craft Spirits![0000050555_1.jpg]()
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Spring Gin Uppercut Gin (700ml)BELGIUM$120. 00Bottle$1440.00 DozenABV: 49.6%Dangerously drinkable at this high abv, A high proof gin inspired by traditional European restorative spirits aimed at invigorating the imbiber. Ingredients include Damiana leaf (helps with headaches and constipation), Strawberry leaf (rich in vitamin C and good with digestive ailments), Liquorice root, (used for sore throats) and Vervain herb (said to be good for teeth and gums). Very limited stocks. Tasting note: Brilliant clarity, bright and silvery; follows through with a big, peppery, piney-juniper gin bouquet backed by lemon sorbet / verbena. Creamy, semi-sweet entry maintains extraordinary purity and poise through to the mid palate stage where barely discernible peppers mingle in a cascade of citrus oil and juniper. Glides to the finish, concluding fresh, mildly peppery, herbal, piney with hints of liquorice late in the fade. Dangerously drinkable at this high abv, but also marries beautifully with tonic. Great gin. 49.6% Alc./Vol.
but also makes for a deliciously creamy G&T.
