Modern ClassicsSpring

Paper Plane

Sam Ross, for The Violet Hour, Chicago, 2008

The Paper Plane is equal parts bourbon, amaro, Aperol and lemon, shaken and served up. Bitter orange meets bittersweet herbs and bright citrus, and the bourbon ties it together. It is easy to remember and easy to like, which is why it spread so quickly.

  • GlassMartini
  • MethodShaken
  • Ingredients4
Paper Plane

Ingredients

Making a batch?
Servings
Origami paper plane or a lemon twistGarnish
Total volume—

Directions

  1. Shake all ingredients with ice.
  2. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

ToolsJiggerShakerHawthorne strainerMartini glass

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History

Sam Ross created the Paper Plane for The Violet Hour in Chicago, where it debuted in 2008. His first version used Campari, but he found it too bitter and switched to Aperol within days. He named it after M.I.A.'s song "Paper Planes." The drink helped make Amaro Nonino a staple of cocktail bars.

Making a batch? Scale it for a crowd, add dilution water, and see how many bottles to buy.
Quick sizes
How are you making it? ⓘ Batching includes dilution water. Pre-batched cocktails need added water to replace the melt from stirring or shaking. We use Jeffrey Morgenthaler's standard: 18% for spirit-forward drinks, 25% for shaken.

What you'll need to buy

Based on 750ml bottles (25.4 oz), rounded up.

Bottle math, generally

750ml bottle25.4 oz
2 oz pours per bottle12 cocktails
1.5 oz pours per bottle16 cocktails
1 oz =29.6 ml
This recipe per 750ml of spirit—

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