Paper Plane

Sam Ross’s first Paper Plane used Campari. He replaced it with Aperol after finding the drink “slightly too bitter” and short of sweetness, a deliberate adjustment that gave the cocktail its familiar formula.[1]

Today, the Paper Plane brings together equal parts bourbon whiskey, Amaro Nonino, Aperol and fresh lemon juice. The International Bartenders Association specifies shaking it with ice and serving it without a garnish.[4] Ross created it for The Violet Hour in Chicago while working in New York.[1][2]

How to make a Paper Plane

Four equal measures keep this recipe straightforward. The quantities below follow the International Bartenders Association, with a smaller serving that multiplies each ingredient by two thirds. The balance stays the same.[4]

Recipe card

Source: International Bartenders Association, proportionally scaled for the smaller serving.[4] The recipe is attributed to the IBA and has not been tested by this site.

Serves: one
Glass: chilled cocktail glass or coupe
Ice: for shaking
Garnish: none

1. Choose one quantity column and measure all four ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
2. Add ice and shake well.
3. Strain into the chilled glass and serve without a garnish.[4]

Difford’s Guide calls for fine straining into a chilled coupe; the IBA says to strain into a chilled cocktail glass.[3][4] Both methods are straightforward, with no special syrup or infusion required.

Use a measured serving, with water, food and breaks alongside it. Nobody need finish the glass, and these measures do not remove alcohol-related risks.

Ingredients and substitutions

Choose bourbon: it is the whiskey specified by both the IBA and Difford’s Guide.[3][4] Neither recipe requires a particular bourbon brand. Following the stated category is enough, without trying to reconstruct an undocumented first bottle.

The liqueurs are more specific. The IBA names Amaro Nonino and Aperol, not simply two bitter liqueurs.[4] Nonino takes a firmer line, saying that a drink without Amaro Nonino Quintessentia is not an original Paper Plane. That is the producer’s position, rather than an independent rule for every variation.[5]

Campari belongs to the drink’s history, not its current IBA specification. Using it returns to Ross’s documented original formulation, before he revised the recipe with Aperol.[1]

A miniature paper plane is optional, too. Difford’s suggests it or a lemon twist as a garnish, but Ross designed the cocktail without one, and the IBA lists none.[1][3][4]

Origin: a Chicago commission, a New York bartender

Ross created the drink for Chicago while working in New York. Robert Simonson places him at Milk & Honey when he devised it for The Violet Hour’s opening cocktail menu. Ross later served the drink at Milk & Honey and Little Branch.[1][2]

Story box

Verdict badge: the creation year

Claim: The Paper Plane was created in 2007.
Verdict: Disputed

What the record shows: Difford’s Guide and Simonson date the drink to 2007. Nonino’s producer account gives 2008.

Evidence against or gap: The accounts disagree. The summer 2008 menu reported by Punch records a menu appearance, not the precise creation date.

Earliest known source: Not established from the supplied material. Punch reports a summer 2008 menu, but that menu date does not date a source claiming when the drink was created.

Last checked: November 2026.

How the name travelled

A late-night voicemail gave the drink a slightly different name in Chicago. Punch reports that Ross sent Maloney the recipe by voicemail; Maloney misheard the name, and “The Paper Airplane” appeared on the menu.[1]

Ross intended a reference to M.I.A.’s song “Paper Planes”, plural. Difford’s quotes him saying the track was playing repeatedly while they worked on the cocktail.[3]

The recipe’s inspiration was the Last Word. Ross set out to make an equal-parts variation, using four readily obtainable ingredients and dispensing with special syrups, infusions and a garnish, according to Punch.[1][3]

The original and its later influence

The original recipe makes the revision clear. Simonson records equal quantities of bourbon, Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, Campari and lemon juice, shaken and strained into a chilled coupe.[2] Aperol was Ross’s deliberate change, not a correction of someone else’s mistaken ingredient.

The Paper Plane then helped shape another cocktail. Punch reports that Joaquín Simó was developing a Last Word variation when he tasted a Paper Plane at Milk & Honey. His Naked and Famous brought together mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime juice.[1] The connection is between the recipes’ development, not a suggestion that their ingredients are interchangeable.

For more ways to explore recipes by structure and ingredients, start with the whisky cocktails guide. For the Paper Plane itself, keep to the essentials: equal measures, the specified ingredients, ice, shaking and a chilled glass.[4]

Sources

1. Punch. How the Paper Plane Became a Modern Classic. Trade feature. https://punchdrink.com/articles/how-paper-plane-became-modern-classic-cocktail-recipe-milk-and-honey-nyc/
2. Robert Simonson, The Mix. The Violet Hour: An Appreciation. Trade commentary. https://robertsimonson.substack.com/p/the-violet-hour-an-appeciation
3. Difford’s Guide. Paper Plane. Online cocktail reference, edition checked November 2026. https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/3630/paper-plane
4. International Bartenders Association. Paper Plane. Official cocktail specification, edition checked November 2026. https://iba-world.com/iba-cocktail/paper-plane/
5. Grappa Nonino. Nonino Paper Plane Week. Producer’s account. https://www.grappanonino.it/en/news/nonino-paper-plane-week/

This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing published recipe specifications, trade reporting and the producer’s account; no site recipe test is claimed.

Last checked: November 2026