Happy Hour Tuesday: Rometti Aviation

Happy Hour Tuesday!

What do Time Square and Hugo Ensslin have in common? The answer comes in a martini glass and is dearly loved by all the cocktail enthusiast in the world: it’s Aviation, a gin based cocktail that traces back to the era of airshows and flight races. Aviation is “from the ’20s, and tastes like spring”, as The Blacklist‘s character Raymond Reddington states during a dinner with FBI agent Elizabeth Keen.

Made with dry gin, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur and Creme de Violette, the first recipe for Aviation appears in Ensslin’s 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks. Later on in 1930 another version of Aviation appears in the well-known Savoy Cocktail Book, this time without the Creme de Violette. The distinguishing blue/purple color given by such ingredient was now gone, and became impossible to replicate once Creme de Violette completely disappeared from the market shelves in the ’60s, slowly leading Aviation to the oblivion. Only in 2007 Rothman and Winter reintroduced Creme de Violette in the United States, and the past seven years have brought the original Aviation back onto out cocktail lists!

Although many of you might still stick to the recipe without the Creme de Violette, Rometti Limoncello feels like it’s necessary to include it in the ingredients of our Rometti Aviation version: the floral taste and sky color make Aviation a unique, mysterious drink that seems to take us back to the sophistication of those year.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz Aviation American Gin
1 tsp Crème de violette
1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur
1/2 oz Freshly pressed lemon juice
1/4 oz Rometti Limoncello

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake well, strain into a well-chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with brandied cherry, or a slice of lemon if you prefer.

~Enjoy!

 

Image from 2eat2drink.com

Happy Hour Tuesday: The Corsican

Happy Hour Tuesday!

If you are not Italian or French you may not know that Corsica is a small island located to the West of Italy or to the South-East of France, thus a territory that in the past has been fought over between these two countries. Today Corsica belongs to France and it’s also called Island of Beauty, as it offers a variety of sceneries, from its beautiful beaches where scuba diving is almost a must, to its great trails along the mountains.

The Corsican Cocktail, similarly to the inner nature of the island, mixes a bit of French and a bit of Italian: the aperitif Lillet Blanc with Rometti limoncello. Given the refreshing, zesty taste of limoncello, these two ingredients marry well together since Lillet Blanc contains wine, orange peel and quinine. Their flavors combined make a remarkable, balanced, modern drink, not extremely bitter and with a moderate sweetness. In addition to Lillet Blanc and Rometti Limoncello, eldelflower syrup and club soda are added, which increment the sweet, floral taste that makes this cocktail an enjoyable treat for every occasion.

Ingredients:
3 ounces Lillet Blanc, chilled
7 ounces Rometti limoncello, chilled
3 1/2 ounces elderflower syrup
1 3/4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 (10-ounce) bottle club soda, chilled
6 lemon twists (optional)

Combine the Lillet, Rometti limoncello, elderflower syrup, and lemon juice in a large measuring cup or medium bowl. Using a funnel, transfer to a 3-cup-capacity bottle (or 750-ml bottle) with a tightfitting lid and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
When ready to serve, pour about 4 ounces of the mixture into a chilled cocktail glass and top with about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 ounces of the club soda. Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired, and serve. (Alternatively, you can combine all of the ingredients except the lemon twists in a 5-cup punch bowl and serve immediately.)

~Enjoy!

Recipe from http://www.Chow.com

Image from OHSOBEAUTIFULPAPER.COM