A little while back, I installed this nifty little gadget on my Google homepage called “Today’s Reason to Drink.” Now I don’t need some hifalutin web doohickey to make my drinking decisions for me, but it has brought its share of interesting ideas.

This morning, I logged in at the office and was greeted with the announcement that today is National Aviation Day. For some silly reason, the powers that be created this holiday around flying rather than the much-hyped cocktail.

I guess we have two options then. We can either stumble into the local airport bar and save thousands of passengers from more drunk flying episodes, or we can tell the establishment where to stick it and celebrate in a truly revolutionary manner.

Now I can’t blame the altruistic of you from crashing hotel bars, but I would much rather kick back and enjoy one of the great classic cocktails that nearly disappeared. In April, the Drink Dogmatists gave an incredible run down of the history and preparation of the Aviation. Those guys have already done the work (and much better than I would have anyway) so check it out.

If you don’t want today’s history lesson just mix up a batch from Gary Regan’s Joy of Mixology:

2 oz. Gin
½ oz. Maraschino Liqueur
½ oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

Regan’s is a darn tasty drink, and really the easiest of the variations to make, but if you really want to kick it old school you’ve got to try a recipe with creme de violette. If you’ve got nothing better to do go all out with the molecular Aviation courtesy for Mr. Jamie Boudreau.