Crème de Violette
A sweet liqueur flavoured with violet blossom, used in quarter-measures for colour and floral lift. It is the ingredient that vanished for half a century and took the Aviation’s colour with it when it went.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Delicately perfumed with gentle violet aroma, mild sweetness, and a clean floral finish. Fragrant without heaviness when used correctly.
Recommended Brands
Budget Choice
Monin Crème de Violette: lighter and cheaper, and enough for an Aviation
Premium Choice
Giffard Crème de Violette: more floral and more assertive, so pour less of it
Storage & Handling
Store upright in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. Ensure the cap is tightly sealed after use. Shelf-stable once opened.
Shelf Life
Unopened: Indefinite. Opened: Several years if stored correctly
Usage
A quarter-measure in an Aviation, where it supplies both the dusk colour and the floral finish. Beyond that it lifts gin-and-lemon builds generally, sitting where elderflower would be sweeter and rose would be louder.
The Aviation’s Sky
A quarter-measure of violet perfume turns a gin sour the colour of dusk, which is where the Aviation gets its name and its point. The floral finish and the colour arrive together, and neither survives without the bottle.
It is worth knowing that the shade is not fixed. Violet pigments shift with acidity, so the same measure reads more blue or more pink depending on how much lemon is in the glass, which is why the drink photographs differently from bar to bar.
Fifty Years Missing
Production faded in the middle of the twentieth century and the American supply vanished entirely, so the Aviation survived in books with an ingredient nobody could buy. Bartenders made it as gin, lemon and maraschino and it flew colourless for fifty years.
Imports resumed in 2007, and the drink was re-completed rather than reinvented. That gap is why older recipe books and newer ones disagree about whether the ingredient belongs, and why the drink has two accepted versions rather than one.
Violette and Parfait Amour
The two are cousins rather than twins. Parfait amour adds citrus and vanilla to the violet and drinks sweeter and murkier, and it is an older category with its own history.
An Aviation means violette. Substituting parfait amour gives a sweeter, cloudier drink with the floral note buried under vanilla, which is a different cocktail rather than an approximation of the one intended.
Dosing
Dose it as you would a flower water. Violet sits next to perfume in the flavour map, and a heavy hand makes soap where a light one makes sky. The same abruptness applies: the drink does not get gradually more floral and then tip over, it reads correct and then reads of soap.
Quarter-measures and less is the working rule. Beyond the Aviation it lifts gin-and-lemon frames generally, in the place where elderflower would be sweeter and rose would be louder, which is a narrow but genuinely useful gap to be able to fill. It also suits sparkling wine, where the colour survives the dilution better than the aroma does.
Pro Tip
Crème de violette should colour the drink, not define it.
Top Tips
- Quarter-measures and less. Violet sits next to perfume, and restraint is what keeps it on the right side.
- Add it for colour as well as flavour, and expect the shade to shift with the acid in the drink.
- Parfait amour is not a substitute. It carries citrus and vanilla and drinks sweeter and murkier.
Possible Substitutions
- Lavender liqueur (herbal-floral, more assertive)
Production Method
Produced by macerating or infusing violet blossoms or natural flavour extracts in neutral spirit, followed by sweetening to create a liqueur with pronounced aroma and colour.
History & Context
Crème de violette was widely used in late 19th- and early 20th-century European cocktail culture before falling out of favour for decades. Its revival in modern bartending followed the rediscovery of classic recipes such as the Aviation, where its floral aroma provides balance rather than sweetness. Today, it is treated as a precision modifier rather than a novelty ingredient.
Common Questions
Why does the Aviation need crème de violette?
For the colour and the floral finish that give the drink its name. Without it you have a perfectly good gin sour with maraschino, and the sky is missing. The shade shifts with the acidity, so it varies with the lemon.
What happened to crème de violette?
Production faded mid-century and the American supply vanished entirely, so the Aviation survived in books with an ingredient nobody could buy and was made colourless for fifty years. Imports resumed in 2007, which re-completed the drink rather than reinventing it.
Violette versus parfait amour?
Cousins rather than twins. Parfait amour adds citrus and vanilla to the violet and drinks sweeter and murkier. An Aviation means violette, and substituting parfait amour buries the floral note under vanilla and gives a different cocktail.
How much should you use?
Quarter-measures and less. Violet sits next to perfume in the flavour map, and restraint is what keeps it on the right side of that line. A heavy hand makes soap where a light one makes sky, and the fault cannot be corrected afterwards.