Aviation Gin

[Mayur]

Gentle Gulletarians,

I bought a bottle of Aviation gin this evening. I'd been holding off due to mixed reports (and a terrible tasting), but I figured what the heck. I've tried everything I could make with this baby, and failed to come up with anything decent. Granted, I've had a limited bar to work with (not at home at the moment). Any suggestions on what might work?

So far:

-Straight tasting (black pepper and nothing else; you think Tanqueray tastes bitter/acrid?)

-The Martini (ick; too black-peppery to be believed)

-The Improved Holland Gin Cock-Tail (wrong; pepper + sugar just bad)

-The Aviation minus violette (hey, I said I wasn't home!) (not great, too sharp)

-The Hemingway Daiquiri variant (traditional proportions with gin instead of rum; the best of the lot, but still pretty awful)

-The Elder Fashion (fuggetaboutit)

[eje]

Hmmm... Well, I don't really think Tanqueray tastes bitter/acrid, so not sure what to do with that, and to the best of my knowledge there's no black pepper in the Aviation Gin.

Along with a pretty standard and fairly limited bill of gin botanicals, they do include Lavender, which is a bit odd.

But, I find it to be a pretty mildly flavored gin. Maybe you've been drinking too much Sapphire and Tanq 10 (feeble attempt at good natured ribbing...)

I don't think it works in every cocktail, but I kind of like it in ATTY cocktails:

1 1/2 oz Aviation

3/4 oz Dry Vermouth

1/2 tsp violette

1/2 tsp absinthe

Stir, strain, lemon twist.

edit - uh, ooops! That was supposed to be vermouth in there, not double gin.

Edited March 2, 2008 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

Hmmm...  Well, I don't really think Tanqueray tastes bitter/acrid, so not sure what to do with that, and to the best of my knowledge there's no black pepper in the Aviation Gin.

Along with a pretty standard and fairly limited bill of gin botanicals, they do include Lavender, which is a bit odd.

But, I find it to be a pretty mildly flavored gin.  Maybe you've been drinking too much Sapphire and Tanq 10 (feeble attempt at good natured ribbing...)

I don't think it works in every cocktail, but I kind of like it in ATTY cocktails:

1 1/2 oz Aviation

3/4 oz Gin

1/2 tsp violette

1/2 tsp absinthe

Stir, strain, lemon twist.

←

botanicals on their own might have a certain type of bitter among the many but i dont' see it as a negative. a master of wine i served recently told me my carbonated new zealand sauv blanc was bitter and thats probably why wine makers don't produce them. the wine on its own is immensley popular and never called bitter... all i did was add gas. the bubbles brought out the herbal nature of the wine... i find it delicous and it was either loved or feared... bitter and acrid can stick out when something is really dry... bubbles in a wine can make it seem drier. balance it and you can create heaven on the tongue.

if you know what botanicals are in something you can create a flavor map. you may not know the intensities which is key to a full understanding but you can get a rough idea of the over all goal of a botanical formula...

the botanicals in bombay and bombay saphire are printed on the side so you can use Harold McGee's tables from "on food and cooking" to create an aid in describing the formulas. they are delicately full flavored with little redundency. bombay saphire might not be intense but on paper it looks like a very elegant full flavor spectrum botanical formula only really redundent in the fresh, piney, and citrus sectors... i wish saphire had more intensity because it looks like a really advanced formula.

its interesting to look at a popular blend like herbs de provance and see how redundent its woody botanicals are... i used the formula and made a pretty unique but fun dry vermouth from it... the woody vermouth contrasted nicely in drinks that were gonna get a spoonful of something sweet like marashino, or a fruit liqueur...

[eas]

In an Aviation Cocktail, you do get a really nice garden effect between the lavender and violet notes. It's among my favorite Aviation variations.

At Elettaria, Lynnette and Brian have a drink on the menu with the Aviation Gin, as below.

Quimby Fizz

Aviation Gin, Lime, St Germain, Lime Curd, Orange Bitters, Egg White, Soda

[Mayur]

Hmmm...  Well, I don't really think Tanqueray tastes bitter/acrid, so not sure what to do with that, and to the best of my knowledge there's no black pepper in the Aviation Gin.

Along with a pretty standard and fairly limited bill of gin botanicals, they do include Lavender, which is a bit odd.

But, I find it to be a pretty mildly flavored gin.  Maybe you've been drinking too much Sapphire and Tanq 10 (feeble attempt at good natured ribbing...)

Nah, more like Stoli cosmos...

Of course, I wasn't referring to an actual use of black pepper, but the front-of-the-tongue "bite" that the botanicals convey. (Sadly, I do find Tanqueray somewhat over-bitter, and I've never really liked it. I understand that I'm different from most of the cocktail community in that regard.) Lavender doesn't really explain it; I'm wondering whether some of the missing botanicals provide a balance I'm used to that isn't here, meaning the gin strains in an unusual direction for me, taste-wise.

Thanks for the recommendations, guys! I'll have to wait until I'm home to make any of these (no violette, food-ish ingredients, or even decent citrus available, beyond the 1 lime I stretched to make the aviation/hemingway).

[Dave the Cook]

I've only tasted Aviation at Tales of the Cocktail, but I don't recall black pepper in the profile.

Before passing judgment, it seems fair to try Ryan Magerian's recipe for an Aviation-based Aviation, I think. I posted this after Tales:

Ryan Magarian, one of the developers of Aviation, gave a short talk about the product in yesterday's gin seminar at Tales of the Cocktail. A couple of interesting points:

• Aviation was formulated, among other things, to be a sipping gin -- as far as I know, the only gin to make this claim. This accounts for the slightly sweet flavor, especially in the finish, where the sarsparilla shows up. (Nearly everyone else noted lavender first; maybe I'm flower-imparied, but to me, the cardamom was predominant -- after juniper -- and then the nice root-beer aftertaste.)
  
• As for the Aviation cocktail, Ryan was insistent that this gin required Maraska, not Luxardo, maraschino. Then he gave this formula:
  2 oz. gin
  3/4 oz. Maraska maraschino
  5/8 oz. Lemon juice
  

Discussion of the recipe ensued. You can find it here.

[bostonapothecary]

I've only tasted Aviation at Tales of the Cocktail, but I don't recall black pepper in the profile.

Before passing judgment, it seems fair to try Ryan Magerian's recipe for an Aviation-based Aviation, I think. I posted this after Tales:

Ryan Magarian, one of the developers of Aviation, gave a short talk about the product in yesterday's gin seminar at Tales of the Cocktail. A couple of interesting points:

• Aviation was formulated, among other things, to be a sipping gin -- as far as I know, the only gin to make this claim. This accounts for the slightly sweet flavor, especially in the finish, where the sarsparilla shows up. (Nearly everyone else noted lavender first; maybe I'm flower-imparied, but to me, the cardamom was predominant -- after juniper -- and then the nice root-beer aftertaste.)
  
• As for the Aviation cocktail, Ryan was insistent that this gin required Maraska, not Luxardo, maraschino. Then he gave this formula:
  2 oz. gin
  3/4 oz. Maraska maraschino
  5/8 oz. Lemon juice
  

Discussion of the recipe ensued. You can find it here.

←

being a modern creation i wonder what their analytical approach was to making the formula. i've never had it but on paper it seems like homer simpson's car of the future...

i've found that more or less no matter what you create there is always some ingenuity (a cocktail) that can make it drinkable or even look good... wine is the same way... i came across a difficult wine tonight that most of the staff didn't like. it wasn't a "sipping wine" and couldn't stand alone. if you gave it the right food it would become high performance... anyone would like it. i can only break out that bottle when i'm gonna show it off with the right pairing (venison!)...