Bourbon cocktail

Paper Plane

Four equal parts that somehow behave.

Modern Classic Medium 4 min
★ 4.5 (121)
  • 25 ml Jigger The small side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 25 ml, with 50 ml on the other side. Bourbon
  • 25 ml Jigger The small side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 25 ml, with 50 ml on the other side. Aperol
  • 25 ml Jigger The small side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 25 ml, with 50 ml on the other side. Amaro Nonino
  • 25 ml Jigger The small side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 25 ml, with 50 ml on the other side. Lemon juice
  • 1 twist Lemon twist (optional)

Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.

What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.

Quick version

  • Shake equal parts of the four with ice and strain into a coupe.

Method

  1. Chill a coupe.
  2. Put the bourbon, Aperol, amaro and lemon juice in a shaker with ice.
  3. Shake hard for 12 seconds, then double strain into the coupe.
  4. Finish with a twist of lemon peel.

Serve it

  • Glass
    Coupe
  • Garnish
    Lemon twist
  • Base
    Bourbon
  • Paper Plane

    Sam Ross again, a few years after the Penicillin, and named after the M.I.A. song that was playing in the bar. Equal parts of four very different things sounds like a dare, and the reason it works is the amaro: it is sweet and bitter at once, so it holds the orange liqueur and the whiskey together without letting either of them win.

    Getting it right

    Amaro Nonino is the one that makes this the drink it is, and if you cannot find it, any medium-sweet amaro will get you close - Averna or Ramazzotti both work, and the drink will be darker and more herbal for it. Keep the lemon juice fresh and the parts genuinely equal; this is one recipe where eyeballing the measures does not work.

    Tasting notes

    Bitter orange and caramel, with a bright lemon edge and a long bittersweet finish. It tastes like a Negroni that has taken a very good holiday, and it is dangerously easy to drink.

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