The Paper Plane: Why It's Having a Moment

The Paper Plane is the rare modern classic cocktail that deserves the title. Created by Sam Ross at The Violet Hour in Chicago in 2008, it is an equal-parts drink: three-quarters of an ounce each of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, and fresh lemon juice. Shaken, strained, and served up. It tastes like autumn in a glass, bittersweet and warm and perfectly balanced.

It belongs to a family, which is the fastest way to understand it. The Last Word, equal parts gin, maraschino, green Chartreuse and lime, came out of Detroit before Prohibition and was revived by bartenders in the 2000s. Phil Ward rebuilt it with rye and lemon as the Final Ward. Ross rebuilt it again with bourbon, Aperol and Nonino. Same skeleton, a century apart. The name comes from the M.I.A. song, which was inescapable the year he made it.

The drink flew under the radar for years because Amaro Nonino was hard to find outside major cities. As the amaro boom hit in the 2010s and liquor stores expanded their Italian spirits sections, the Paper Plane suddenly became makeable at home. Social media did the rest, with bartenders championing it as the cocktail they wished more people knew about.

What makes the Paper Plane brilliant is how it teaches drinkers about amaro. Amaro Nonino is the most approachable of the Italian bitter liqueurs, with notes of orange peel, saffron, and warm spice. In the context of the Paper Plane, it adds complexity without the intensity that scares amaro newcomers. The drink is essentially an amaro primer disguised as a bourbon cocktail.

The one thing to get right is the proof of the bourbon. Three-quarters of an ounce of a 40 per cent bourbon vanishes underneath the Aperol and the amaro, so use something at 45 to 50 and the whiskey stays in the conversation. Wild Turkey 101 and Old Grand-Dad Bonded both work and both cost less than the fashionable bottles. Shake ten to twelve seconds, fine strain into a chilled coupe, and leave the garnish off, because Ross specified none.

The equal-parts formula makes it a bartender favorite because it scales effortlessly. Need to make six? Same ratio, just multiply. No fussy measurements or half-ounce adjustments. It is one of those recipes that demonstrates how the best cocktails are often the simplest on paper but the most precise in execution.

On the amaro, the honest note. Nonino is a grappa-based amaro from the Nonino distillery at Percoto in Friuli, 35 per cent, and a bottle runs around forty pounds. That is a lot of money for one cocktail. Amaro Montenegro or CioCiaro will each make a good drink for half of it, though a different drink, softer and more orange-led. Buy the Nonino once you have made the cheap version enough times to know you want the real thing.

The Paper Plane has now appeared on menus from New York to Tokyo, and Amaro Nonino has become a staple rather than a specialty item at most well-stocked bars. It proves that the cocktail renaissance is not just about rediscovering old recipes but about creating new ones that feel like they have always existed. Sam Ross built something that will outlast trends.

https://www.liquor.com/recipes/paper-plane/