It's National Aviation Day

August 19th is National Aviation Day. I'll be honest. The only reason I really know this is because I work on a travel web site. I was assigned to write a blog post today about National Aviation Day and I swear all I could think about was the Aviation cocktail. I even managed to sneak in a link to the recipe.

I already had plans to meet my friend Robin for happy hour today, and as I wrote about Aviation Day, we IM'd about Aviation cocktails. You may remember Robin - she's the one who I got schooled with about cocktails and who generally has pretty awesome taste when it comes to food and everything else. We both LOVE the Aviation cocktail.

So tonight, we planned to meet at the restaurant that will live in infamy as "the booze cruise." That's another story, but what we DO remember from that night is that it began with cocktails. The restaurant has since opened a wine bar next door and we just assumed they would serve cocktails too and the Aviation would be readily available. Sadly, it was not. We had a nice evening and some very tasty food and sparkling wine, but alas, no cocktails.

Thankfully, my home bar is stocked! Since I've been experimenting with cocktails and studying the art of cocktail making, I had all the ingredients on hand to make the Aviation when I returned home.


The Aviation
2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur, preferably Luxardo
1/4 ounce Crème de Violette
Combine the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake to chill well, then strain into a cocktail glass. Drizzle the Crème de Violette into the glass and garnish with a lemon twist or a maraschino cherry.