Southside Sips: Under the Greenwood Tree

Hey, you know what today is? Pi Day! No, not the I’ll-take-a-slice-a-la-mode-please pie day (that was Friday, Jan. 23, but you know, that’s also one of those fake-o National Holiday Calendar days that anyone can register and buy). Pi Day is an on-the-calendar real, live federally recognized day to celebrate math and science through the irrational, infinite number known as pi. It was created in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw, using March 14 because… well, pi’s first three digits are 3.14 etc. (get it?!).

The day was officially recognized by Congress in 2009, and it’s been a mathlete’s national holiday ever since.

When it comes to cocktails, sure, you can wing it all flare-bartender-like, as Mr. Tom Cruise did in the 1988 hit “Cocktail,” or you can pay homage to pi by being so very exact in your measurements (unless you’re highballing it, when it comes to drinks an eighth of an ounce truly makes a difference).

So in honor of Pi Day, we present to you this lovely sipper from Aviation Gin. “It’s fruity, it’s tangy, it’s sweet—but not in a ‘texts you 17 times in a row’ kind of way,” laughs its creator, Lance Mayhew. general manager at House Spirits Distillery in Portland, Oreg., where Aviation is made. The balance Mayhew is joking about, though, can likely be applied to the use of the undersung Scandinavian caraway-kissed spirit aquavit. Something we’ll celebrate any day. The Krogstad can be a bit of a pickle to find on the East End, but a most excellent substitute: Sagaponack Farm Distillery’s version ($55) which uses caraway, dill and cilantro right from the sixth-generation Foster farm and is aged six months in casks that previously held their lovely rye. The Aviation Gin, though? Abundantly available at most local liquor stores — yippee!

Employ some exacting, pi-perfecting measurement technique and mix one up this weekend. Cheers!