Equal parts bourbon, Amaro Nonino, Aperol and lemon shake into a drink of remarkable balance — bittersweet and herbal against bright citrus, with the bourbon's warmth running underneath. It drinks like a Last Word rebuilt around whiskey, the amaro lending a soft herbal depth and the Aperol a glowing bitter-orange edge, served up, cold and unadorned.
Shaken · Coupe · Up
add
Combine bourbon, Amaro Nonino, Aperol, and fresh lemon juice in a shaker.
shake
Add ice and shake well until thoroughly chilled.
strain
Double-strain into a chilled coupe; serve up, no garnish.
Sam Ross devised the drink in 2008 at The Violet Hour in Chicago as a favor to his colleague Toby Maloney, with his mentor Sasha Petraske also involved, and borrowed its name from M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." Ross framed it as a take on the Last Word with whiskey swapped in for gin, and his first version used Campari until he judged it too bitter and switched to Aperol. In 2020 the IBA added it to its official roster of cocktails.