The Great Aviation Cocktail Experiment

[00:00:00]Welcome back everybody. It's me, Anders.

[00:00:02]It's good to see you. Today we're talking about gin and we're making an aviation shin. Jin has become one of the most experimental genres in the world of spirits. It's no longer that super piny drink your grandma was drinking 50, 60 years ago. I mean, you can still get that super piny gin, but you don't have to. There's so many more options now.

[00:00:22]And I have got three bottles of this contemporary gin right here in front of me. For those of you who have been around since the beginning of this channel, I covered the aviation a long, long time ago. And it's one of those cocktails that I've had a dilemma with.

[00:00:37]But my hope is that one of these three bottles, I won't say which one, it's a purple one. My hope is that it is going to fix all the problems I've had with the aviation. So, I'm excited to give this a go. This video is sponsored by Empress 1908 Gen, but 100% of the opinions that I will be sharing with you momentarily are my own. So, let's put these bottles to work. If you're new to the channel, hit that subscribe button for more sips, tips, and recipes. And let's go make the aviation to the bar.

[00:01:06]We did the aviation on this channel once before, a long time ago. And some of you might remember that video. And a lot of you have commented on that video, even now to this day, saying different ways I can make my aviation more purple. For those of you who aren't familiar with that video, that's what the the idea was. How do I make my aviation look purple? And we're going to experiment here with a couple things. But one of the things that a lot of people are saying is they said just use Empress Gin. And I kind of like thought, h maybe, you know, but today I'm going to give it a shot because Empress Gin, I never It's a gin. I get that, but I'm not used to purple gins. I'm sorry. I am a little bit of a um I'm not a purist.

[00:01:44]I'm really not a purist with that. But there's a part of me that thinks, wow, purple gin, like is it good? Like we're going to see today. So that's why I'm excited to make the aviation. But first, we should talk about what contemporary gins are. You've got all these old styles of gin, which I talked about in another video, and you can check that out if you want to. But about 30 years ago, distillers started making jin a little differently, called contemporary gin, also called modern jin, new western style, I think, new American style, even though they don't necessarily have to be made in America. This new style of gin came to be because there were a lot of craft distillers that started popping up. They all still have juniper in it because that's that's important in gin.

[00:02:22]Now you can get notes of cucumber, tea, fennel, mustard, all different flavors in your gin and it makes it a lot of fun. Honestly, it gives distillers a lot of freedom. It gives us bartenders a lot of freedom to experiment. So that's what I'm doing today is I'm going to experiment. I've got three bottles here and this obviously is not going to cover the wide range of contemporary gins, but it does help illustrate the different kinds of gins that you can make. So, the first one, their original 1908 gin, is juniper driven. So, this is more of a classic style. I'm going to use this in the first aviations that I make because I like a classic gin for my aviation.

[00:02:59]We'll we'll see if that changes. The second one is this purple one, which is noticeably different. I'll talk a little bit more about this later, which is really interesting. And then we've got the cucumber lemon gin, which, as you can guess, was made with cucumbers and lemons. Today, I'm going to be focusing on these two primarily for the aviation.

[00:03:15]Let's make some aviations. Yeah, I'll tell you what. I make a mean aviation. I love my aviation, but I make it a little differently. I'm going to be making this two ways simultaneously because I'm a talented bartender. I've got the shaking tin because I'm going to shake this drink, which is the way you're supposed to make an aviation sour style cocktail.

[00:03:35]You shake it up. Those tiny bubbles soften the lemon juice. And then I'm also going to stir it. Why? Well, I'll show you. I'm using the Empress original. This is going to be great for the aviation because not only is it a classic style gin, so it's juniper driven, also has some nice spice. It's got some citrus notes, but it also doesn't have any color, which is what we need for this experiment. So, 2 oz of gin in the shaking tin and 2 oz of gin in the mixing glass. Violet lor crucial in your aviation. It's purple and that's where that purple color comes from. And we are only adding a quarter of an ounce. Because if you add too much violet lour, the cocktail just tastes like soap and cocktails shouldn't taste like soap, but a little bit is really nice because it adds some floral notes and like I mentioned, makes it kind of purple. Mircino lour 1/4 oz as well. And then lemon juice. This is what makes it a sour cocktail. We're only adding half an ounce of fresh lemon juice. And then add ice and shake and stir at the same time if you can handle it.

[00:04:40]So get this going first because it's going to take a little bit longer to stir the cocktail than it is to shake it. Then we go like this with the other hand. Your non-dominant hand should do the shaking. That's what I always believe because the stir that takes technique and finesse.

[00:04:59]Haven't done that in a while. Proud of myself for still being able to do it.

[00:05:03]Chilled Coops. I like a cherry in my aviation. I like it right on the bottom of the glass. I think it looks nice and it's a little treat when you're done with your cocktail. First, we have the shaken the way you're supposed to do it. Then we have the stirred.

[00:05:24]Wow, that looks different.

[00:05:27]Good. The experiment's working. I'm going to express lemon oil across the top because I plan on drinking these and I like a little lemon across the top of my aviation. Well, would you look at that? We don't even have to take a sip right now because we can just admire the colors of these two cocktails. Both purple technically, but the shaken one is definitely a bit more of a muted gray color, which uh you know, you might think, well, that makes sense for an aviation because you know, you've got gray clouds. It's kind of a cloudy cocktail. So, that's one approach. But a lot of people anticipate a nice purple cocktail when they order an aviation.

[00:06:06]And years of working in a dark bar, I found that this one sold a lot more than this one. And people first drink with their eyes. Uh they they end up drinking with their mouth because it's bad news if you pour the drink in your eyes. But you look at it first and you see that bright purple color and you think that's an aviation. But we don't want to sacrifice taste. So we're going to make sure they both taste good. I'm going to start with the shaking which I think most people this is how they make it.

[00:06:34]Cheers.

[00:06:37]Tastewise that is that is really good.

[00:06:39]You know the shaking lightens up the cocktail and makes it soft. So you get the floral notes, you get the gin, that nice juniper is in there and then a brightness from the lemon. It's balanced. It's great. But let's try the stirred the stirred version. Look at it's beautiful, right? Look how pretty that is.

[00:07:01]So, this is how I've always made my aviation. And so, this is what I think of an aviation when I taste it. I'm like, yeah, I get the same flavors.

[00:07:10]Yeah, it's still balanced, but it is a little bit punchier. It's also a little bit heavier on the tongue, if that makes sense to you. Now, over time, the bubbles in this drink are going to dissipate. So, it could be that that purple color becomes a little bit stronger over time. And when we made this video, a lot of people started commenting, why don't you shake this cocktail without the creme to violet and then pour it into a glass and stir it with the creme to violet? And I suppose you could give that a shot. You could try that, but you do lose control of the dilution. It's going to be a little bit harder to balance out that cocktail. And you're also shaking and stirring. You're taking two steps to get to one cocktail, and I don't want to do that. Fun experiment. This is why I've always decided to stir this drink and abandon the age-old rule of you always shake a sour style cocktail. Someone wanted to say hi. Which one do you prefer? Uh, she doesn't drink them, but she does like the stirred one better, believe it or not. But now I'm curious.

[00:08:10]Let's try with the the the purple gin, the indigo gin, and see. I know that I'm not the first person to do this. I feel like when you have a gin that's this color, it begs to be mixed into an aviation.

[00:08:26]And I hear it. I hear it begging. The gin's begging at me. First, let's taste it. Let's talk about why it's purple, too. It is a a purpley color, but kind of a blue color, too. The color of this gin comes from pea flowers, specifically butterfly pea flowers. P E A not butterfly P E P A flowers. Now butterfly pea flowers contain natural pigments called anthocyanins. Specifically a type of anthocyanin called turnitins.

[00:08:58]Turnitins are sensitive to acid. So when we add lemon juice to this it becomes more of a true purple and if we keep adding acid lemon juice it'll start turning magenta and eventually pink. So it's a fascinating thing and it's 100% natural.

[00:09:21]That's really nice. Actually, I'm going to be 100% honest here. Or you could just say I'm going to be honest here.

[00:09:28]It's nice. It's kind of earthy. And I would say juniper is probably the the foremost flavor. So, it tastes like gin, but there is an earthiness to it. I imagine that's from the butterfly pea flowers. or it could also be from the specific tea blend that they use in making this cocktail. The tea blend is a black tea blend that is inspired by the Fairmont Empress Hotel out in British Columbia. They have a famous tea service. I want to see Turnitins in action. So, I'm just going to add a little bit of gin. I'm just going to add some citric acid to it and see if it changes color. Whoa.

[00:10:08]Now, I added a good amount of citric acid.

[00:10:11]It's not even all dissolving, but look at the color. That is not, you know, yellow lemon juice I'm adding to it.

[00:10:18]It's just the acid is changing. That's actually a really pretty color.

[00:10:22]That's pretty cool. I'm not going to taste this because it's just going to be like sour gin. But we can expect to have some fun, I think, in the aviation cocktail that we're about to make. Oh, and by the way, I'm shaking this because it is a sour style cocktail and I have faith that the color is going to hold up to the shaking. So maybe I This might be the last time I ever stir an aviation. 2 oz of gin, in this case, indigo gin, 1/4 of an ouncez violet lour, 1/4 of an ounce of the maroscino lour, and once again half an ounce of fresh lemon juice. Grab ice and shake.

[00:11:00]Got to add cherry. Plop and double strain into our cocktail glass.

[00:11:06]Whoa.

[00:11:08]Wow. That That looks like a different cocktail.

[00:11:13]Look at that. Now that is purple. Wow.

[00:11:18]Lemon oil across the top. Hit the sides.

[00:11:20]Discard. Here's the stirred cocktail.

[00:11:22]This is the one that I so so delicately worked to maintain a purple color.

[00:11:31]And it is far less purple than this one.

[00:11:33]That is really something.

[00:11:44]What' you expect? Tastes like an aviation. I get the violet lour.

[00:11:49]I get a little bit of that maroscino.

[00:11:51]The brightness from the lemon. The gin is it's definitely there. Right. So, you get the juniper, but there is like a some darker notes, and dark maybe isn't the right word, but it has added depth from I'm guessing the tea. I don't know that it's necessarily butterfly pea water or no, what is it called?

[00:12:09]Butterfly butterfly pee. So, there it is. Three aviations. Clearly, the most purple of the aviations was made with the indigo gin. But the question is, is this going to change how I make my aviations moving forward? And honestly, I don't know. I don't know. They all tasted good and I really like the flavor of the traditional gin. And if I'm at home, I don't know if I'm going to really care about the color quite as much. Now, if I'm at a bar or if you're at a bar and you're wanting to present a vivid cocktail, then the Empress Indigo is a good option. I also like that the color is natural. So, I think there are endless possibilities with this gin. I look forward to using it in the future.

[00:12:49]So, let me know in the comments down below how you like your aviation. If you need any of these bottles, grab them at House of Bitterbear. Also, as a quick aside, I'm working on another project called Gather and Set, which is a website that is a home for all of the recommendations that I usually put down in the description in one spot. It's evolving as we go along, but this is kind of like a soft launch, so you're in the know. Thank you, Empress, for sponsoring today's film. Thank you for watching. I will see all of you next time. Cheers.