Creme de violette Cocktails

I have a bottle of creme de violette, and I got to wondering what I could do with it. A lot of recipes call for it in layered drinks (pousse cafes), but I've never been able to get the layering right. I just wanted something I could shake and drink.

The first cocktail I tried is called Arsenic and Old Lace: 1 1/2 oz gin (I used Bombay dry), 1/2 pastis (I used Herbsaint), 1/2 creme de violette, and 1/2 dry vermouth.

This cocktail is pretty sweet, and the Herbsaint comes through more than any other flavor. (Off on a tangent, Herbsaint works well drizzled on corned beef if you're slow cooking it; I tried that last week and it was great.) You can't taste the creme de violette at all; its main contribution seems to be in making the color of the drink a dirty river green-brown. I wouldn't bother with this one again.

The second one from Internet Cocktail Database is called an Atty Cocktail: 2 oz gin, 1/2 dry vermouth, 2 dashes creme de violette.

This one is just a very wet gin martini that's also slightly purple. The botanicals in the gin and vermouth cover up any flavors from the creme de violette.

So, to sum up, I think I'll have my bottle of creme de violette gathering dust for some years to come.