The Paper Plane is a modern bourbon cocktail with a flawless balance of bittersweet flavors.


How to Make a Paper Plane Cocktail

The Paper Plane cocktail contains equal parts bourbon, lemon juice, the bitter orange aperitif Aperol, and the digestif Amaro Nonino Quintessentia. This bourbon cocktail tastes like a more complex [whiskey sour](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-whiskey-sour), with its sweeter ingredients wonderfully complementing the sourness of the lemon juice.

Award-winning bartender Sam Ross created the Paper Plane cocktail in 2007 at the Violet Hour bar in Chicago. Ross—already well-known for inventing another popular modern cocktail, [the Penicillin](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/penicillin-cocktail-recipe)—conceived of the drink as a contemporary riff on the prohibition-era gin cocktail the Last Word. For the drink’s Italian liqueur component, Ross originally used Campari but soon switched to Aperol once he brought the cocktail to New York’s Milk & Honey bar (now called Attaboy). Ross named the cocktail after the hit M.I.A. earworm “Paper Planes,” which he listened to on repeat during the summer he developed the drink.

The Paper Plane is a modern bourbon cocktail with a flawless balance of bittersweet flavors.


The Paper Plane cocktail contains equal parts bourbon, lemon juice, the bitter orange aperitif Aperol, and the digestif Amaro Nonino Quintessentia. This bourbon cocktail tastes like a more complex <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-whiskey-sour' target='_blank' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-whiskey-sour","linkCopy":"whiskey sour","category":null}'>whiskey sour</a>, with its sweeter ingredients wonderfully complementing the sourness of the lemon juice.

What Is a Paper Plane Cocktail?

Award-winning bartender Sam Ross created the Paper Plane cocktail in 2007 at the Violet Hour bar in Chicago. Ross—already well-known for inventing another popular modern cocktail, <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/penicillin-cocktail-recipe' target='_blank' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/penicillin-cocktail-recipe","linkCopy":"the Penicillin","category":null}'>the Penicillin</a>—conceived of the drink as a contemporary riff on the prohibition-era gin cocktail the Last Word. For the drink’s Italian liqueur component, Ross originally used Campari but soon switched to Aperol once he brought the cocktail to New York’s Milk &amp; Honey bar (now called Attaboy). Ross named the cocktail after the hit M.I.A. earworm “Paper Planes,” which he listened to on repeat during the summer he developed the drink.

What Are the Origins of the Paper Plane Cocktail?

Paper Plane Cocktail Recipe

The Paper Plane is a modern bourbon cocktail with a flawless balance of bittersweet flavors.

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How to Make a Paper Plane Cocktail