Friday, June 1, 2012

Cocktail Hour: Aviation

I have been in a bit of a cocktail rut - lacking inspiration, I have just skipped cocktail posts lately. That all ended yesterday when Dale Degroff's The Craft of Cocktail arrived in my mailbox.  A few folks have recommended this book to me once I started posting cocktails.  It is like an inspired Joy of Cooking for drinks - every classic cocktail is in here, and many variations too.  It is organized alphabetically, rather than by type of drink or type of alcohol, and the drinks include both very fancy classy stuff and some cheesy classics (can't wait to make a "Suffering Bastard" which I remember reading on Chinese food menus as a kid!)  When I started flipping through the book yesterday I became overwhelmed, there are 200 pages of cocktail recipes in here!  I decided to go with something that I have enjoyed at restaurants, that is a little unusual and cool but not too hipster (that is another great thing about the book, although I like the movement for ultra homemade, special, farm to glass cocktails, this book is more about cocktails you would get a beautiful hotel bar rather than served in an ironic bar in Brooklyn).  Without further ado, I give the Aviation  - just three ingredients and a perfect slow sipped cocktail to get your summer going.

 
 The Aviation, adapted from Dale Degroff's The Craft of Cocktail
3 ounces gin
1 and 1/2 ounces maraschino liquer
1 and 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice
lemon peel twist

Directions:
  1. In a cocktail shaker with ice combine the gin, maraschino and lemon juice.  Shake until combined.
  2. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with lemon peel.

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