Latitude 42 Vodka · Recipe 10
Violet Hour
Dusk at the edge of spring.
Ingredients
- 55 ml Latitude 42 Vodka
- 15 ml crème de violette
- 25 ml fresh lemon juice
- 10 ml lavender simple syrup
- 1 egg white
Method
Shake (dry shake first). Serve in a Coupe. Garnish with Dried lavender sprig or edible violet.
Lavender simple syrup: steep 1 tbsp dried culinary lavender in warm 1:1 syrup, 10 min, strain. Restraint is mandatory — too much lavender tastes like soap.
The story
The Violet Hour — T.S. Eliot's phrase, borrowed from a Sappho fragment — describes the moment when daylight becomes something else entirely. The cocktail borrows the name for a drink that lives in the same liminal space: not quite a sour, not quite a martini, coloured by crème de violette and lavender into a shade of purple that looks like the sky fifteen minutes after sunset. Crème de violette is one of cocktailing's most misunderstood ingredients. In the Aviation, it plays a minor role. Here, supported by lavender syrup, it's the star.
Tasting note
Deep violet with a lavender-white foam. The floral notes are layered — violet candy on the nose, lavender honey mid-palate, clean lemon finish. A drink that changes colour and mood as you drink it.