Drink · 4 min · Amounts not specified
Paper Plane
Equal parts bourbon, amaro, Aperol and lemon. A modern classic that is bitter, sour and sweet in exactly equal measure.
The sheet · 1 coupe · 4 min
mediumWhy tonight. Equal parts bourbon, amaro, Aperol and lemon. A modern classic that is bitter, sour and sweet in exactly equal measure.
What it needs
Nothing confirmed on your shelf yet — this list is the whole ask.
- bourbon
- amaro
- aperol
- lemon
Method
- Equal parts: ¾ oz each bourbon, Aperol, amaro and lemon. Shake hard, strain up.
- Amaro choice decides the drink — Nonino is the original and the softest; anything more bitter will need a touch more Aperol behind it.
- No garnish. This one does not need help.
- It is a modern classic that works because two of the four parts are bitter and two are not; change the ratio and it collapses in one direction or the other.
Technique coach
What the method is trying to make happen
Sequence, correction, heat and texture, equipment workarounds, scaling, and component reuse are available with this cook sheet.
An educational pour, not a reprint of a licensed spec. No allergen or alcohol-safety claim.
Cook or pour it, then edit the shelf if you emptied a bottle or used the last of something.
The technique underneath this
- VinaigretteDispersing fat into acid so it stays dispersed for as long as dinner takes, which is all it has to do.separates immediately · greasy · too sharp · dull
- Building a sourSpirit, citrus and sugar in a fixed geometry, then adjusted for how strong the particular bottle in front of you is.thin and sharp · cloying · spirit disappears · no foam
Going wrong while you cook it? Say what it is doing and the triage will tell you what is happening, the smallest move, and the instinct to resist.
Watch the technique behind this one
Third-party video. Opens in a new tab — nothing is embedded and nothing is fetched from a video platform until you click.
Reviewed video matched to this method, not to the cuisine. Opens in a new tab.
- Cocktail structureBasic Cocktails - How To Make An Old FashionedCocktail ChemistrySpirit, sugar, water, bitters — the original definition, built once so the shape is obvious.705K+ views at the September 2026 review. · Link checked 2026-09-08
- Syrups and citrusHow to Make Fresh Juice for CocktailsEpicuriousJuicing citrus fresh for drinks, and the plain reason bottled juice does not work.Link checked 2026-09-08
- Cocktail structureMartini vs. Martini with Educated Barfly | How to DrinkHow To DrinkTwo martinis side by side, so ratio and stirring time stop being abstractions.Link checked 2026-09-08
Why each of these is on the list
What the ingredients are actually doing
- bourbon
- Corn-sweet and vanilla-heavy from new oak, so it takes bitterness and citrus without being flattened.
- amaro
- Bitter herbal liqueur, and every bottle is its own recipe.
- aperol
- Bitter but gently, and sweeter and lower-proof than Campari, so it makes an afternoon drink rather than an evening one.
- lemon
- Acid you add at the end, not the start.
Missing one of them? The substitutions are written against those jobs rather than against a chart, so they say what each replacement costs this dish in particular.
Cooks from the same box
If you bought for this, you can already make these
Shares amaro, lemon
Gin and amaro
Gin and amaro with a squeeze of lemon. Two bottles, one glass, and a genuinely good drink in about thirty seconds.
Shares aperol, lemon
Aperol mezcal sour
Aperol's bitterness against smoke, with lemon holding them together. Egg white if you want it soft.
Shares aperol, lemon
Aperol sour
Aperol carries its own bitterness, so this needs less sugar than a standard sour. Egg white makes it look like sunset.
Shares bourbon, lemon
Final Word
A Last Word built on bourbon instead of gin, which makes it rounder and slightly sweeter.
Next
Cook it, then tell the shelf what you used.
The ranking is only as honest as the shelf behind it. Empty the cream, and everything that leaned on cream should stop being offered.