Name: Paper Plane
Total time: 4 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 22.5 ml Bourbon whiskey; 22.5 ml Amaro (e.g. Nonino); 22.5 ml Orange-red aperitivo; 22.5 ml Lemon juice

Ingredients

3/4 fl oz

Bourbon whiskey

3/4 fl oz

Amaro Nonino Quintessentia

3/4 fl oz

Bittersweet orange-red aperitivo

3/4 fl oz

Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

How to make

Glass

Prepare

Select and pre-chill a COUPE GLASS.

Prepare garnish of miniature paper plane skewered or pegged to rim (&/or lemon zest twist).

Method

SHAKE all ingredients with ice.

FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

Garnish with miniature paper plane skewered or pegged to rim (&/or lemon zest twist).

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Paper Plane contains 168 calories

Alcohol content:

1.2 standard drinks
16.73% alc./vol. (33.46° proof)
16.2 grams of pure alcohol

History

A riff on the Last Word created in 2007 by Sam Ross for The Violet Hour in Chicago, Illinois. He first made it with Amaro Nonino Quintessentia and Campari but switched Campari out for a less bitter aperitivo liqueur soon after creating the cocktail when he started making it at New York's Milk & Honey. Sam says, "This cocktail is named after the M.I.A. track that was blasting on repeat the summer we worked on the drink."

Gallery

Comments & Discussion

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Cassandra Adams Premium Member 4d

Works extremely well with Amaro di Angostura!

Brenda C 5d

I had my first Paper Plane (or Paper Airplane) at a brewery in eastern Iowa, a couple of years ago. Thought I had died and gone to heaven!
Sadly... it's not a well known cocktail and I've not come across a bar where they know how to make one. Many will not go off menu so I can't even get them to make one. Glad I'm mostly a home- cocktail drinker! (Cheaper that way anyways, LOL!!)

trendomexico Premium Member 5w

Each weekend, starting on friday: I sound a bell, and the bar is open in the office. Nobody can leave earlier just because is the last day, but the challenge is they can order and I can make anything they ask. 12 people, several hours. And then the weekend. Maybe I make around 40 recipes a week -hey is just my hobby- but of all those maybe I only remember, the Last Word, the Paper Plane, the Aviator, the Naked and Famous, and some classics. Thats the importance of the PP.

Heidi Della Pesca Premium Member 7w

Love the bitter notes in this LW riff. The aperol opens up the stage for the bourbon notes, and the amaro is just heaven in this. (To be fair, I'm already a nonino fan.) Really structurally tantalizing.

William Smith 11w

Enjoyable. I upped the bourbon a little; next time I think I will up it a more.

Emily Harwell Premium Member 14w

If you don’t like or can’t have bourbon, Absaroka Double Cask Gin 49 is a WONDERFUL alternative. I’m sure other barrel aged gins would be good. Absaroka is just very mellow and perfect for this cocktail.

Andre Derailleur Premium Member 15w

So Antoni makes a point: how does this "riff" have no ingredients in common with the 'Last Word" Is it just the proportions, because I am sure we could name dozens of other drinks with the same proportions.

Antoni Baltar 15w

First of all, I completely disagree: THIS IS NOT a Last Word riff. Are we saying that every single cocktail that has 4 ingredients in equal proportions, one of them lime/lemon juice, other one a strong spirit, is a Last Word riff? DEFFINITELY NOT. This one is a very different cocktail. In my (modest) opinion, what make this drink different is the use of two amari. Said this, I didn't have Nonino in hand, and a populr AI suggested Averna. Moreover, it suggested different proportions and bitters. So I went with :
1.75 oz bourbon (Buffalo Trace)
1.25 oz Aperol
1 oz Averna
1 oz lemon juice
2 dashes of Regan's bitters ( its election over Angostura orange, Scrappy's, Fee Brothers, Fee Brothers Gin Barrel Aged, Bitter Truth)
Excellent cocktail! And please, I'm a Last Word lover, and this cocktail has anything in common at all. Love U all, cocktail lovers

Simon Sedgley Premium Member 15w

Antoni, the recipe has just the one (not two) amaro. And to our taste, there is really no satisfactory substitute for Nonino Quintessentia. If pushed hard, we might substitute Amaro Nardini or, at a pinch, Ramazzotti but not the Sicilian Averna. While the comments here on this website are proof perfect that discerning drinkers abound, there is no such thing as a discerning AI. Better to trust to trial and error with your own taste buds. Cheers.

Bogdan Rabanca 25w

i was wondering is there a difference between a bittersweet aperitif and a vermouth amaro? or can i sub one for the other? they sound like they are both wine based and a little bitter.

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 25w

They are quite different ingredients and not interchangeable. Ingredient names in our recipes are hyperlinks to more information.

Werd Bmocsil 44w

Needed something to calm my nerves for Game 7 of the ALCS.
It's just crazy how good this easy drink is.
Next time I'll try subbing Amer Picon for Amaro Nonino, just because.