Paper Plane

Bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon in equal parts — Sam Ross at Milk & Honey (2007), named after M.I.A.'s Paper Planes, IBA Contemporary Classic.

The Paper Plane was created by Sam Ross at Milk & Honey in New York City in 2007 and named after Paper Planes, the track by M.I.A. from her 2007 album Kala that was one of the defining songs of the year. Ross, who also created the Penicillin cocktail — a split-base Scotch drink with honey and ginger that became one of the most imitated modern classics — built the Paper Plane on a strict equal-parts formula: one ounce each of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, and fresh lemon juice. The formula is remarkable for its self-balancing elegance: the bitterness of Aperol and Amaro Nonino, the sweetness of both liqueurs, the acid of the lemon, and the spirit weight of the bourbon cancel and amplify each other in precise ways that produce a cocktail with far more apparent complexity than its four-ingredient count suggests. Amaro Nonino Quintessentia, produced by the Nonino family distillery in Percoto in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy, is made by macerating herbs and botanicals in Nonino's own grappa, giving it a distinctly Italian gentian-and-mountain-herb character. Aperol, produced by the Campari Group in Padua since 1919, contributes sweet orange bitterness. The Paper Plane is now recognized by the IBA as a Contemporary Classic — an unusually rapid recognition for a drink created in the 21st century.