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The Aviation is a stunning early 20th-century classic that takes its name from its distinctive pale blue-violet color — the same hue as the sky viewed from a high-altitude flight. Created around 1916 by Hugo Ensslin at the Hotel Wallick in New York and popularized by Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book, it combines gin with maraschino liqueur, fresh lemon juice, and the hard-to-find crème de violette that gives it its signature color. The result is a floral, complex, and perfectly balanced cocktail — flirtatiously fragrant, tartly citrusy, and subtly nutty all at once. It fell into obscurity when crème de violette disappeared from the US market, but its mid-2000s revival has cemented its status as a craft cocktail essential.