Bourbon-Based Cocktail Honored as 2025 Drink of the Year

This certainly deserves a toast.

A cocktail made with bourbon has been named one of Food 52’s “Drinks of the Year.” It’s nice to see it finally get some recognition, especially since the recipe was first crafted 20 years ago at a bar in New York City.

The pink “paper plane,” initially created at Attaboy in the Lower East Side, has risen in popularity. Its unique ability to perfectly balance bitter, sweet, and sour flavors is a big reason for its success.

“If you can get that balance right, it brings an oddly wonderful pleasure,” one bartender commented.

Sam Ross, the brains behind the paper plane, noted that despite its fame now, the cocktail is not originally from New York City. People have embraced its versatility, and it appeals to various gender and experience demographics across generations.

“It’s all about the combination; it doesn’t taste like any single ingredient,” Ross explained. “When you sip it, you realize you’re experiencing something really unique.”

Ross originally crafted this drink in 2007 for a bar in Chicago, which was previously known as Milk & Honey. He was inspired by a bottle of Amaro Nonno given to him by a friend and cleverly named the cocktail after Mia’s indie song “Paper Airplane.” Besides the bourbon and Italian liqueur, it includes equal parts aperol and lemon juice.

“I absolutely loved it from the start,” he said. “I created this drink wanting people to experience Amaro Nonno.”

Even though it debuted in Chicago, Ross playfully remarked that the cocktail has a “New York immigration card.”

The cocktail’s success not only put Ross on the modern cocktail map—where he’s also known for inventing the penicillin cocktail—but it also introduced Amaro Nonno to a wider audience globally, according to Franceca Valdeli Nonno, a sixth-generation distiller.

“The US is leading the way,” Bardelli Nonno noted. His family’s Grappa-based liqueur connects them with cocktail enthusiasts from Japan, Spain, Italy, and the UK.

The celebration is meaningful for Bardelli, as the spirit’s heritage traces back to his great-grandfather’s recipes from Friuli, Italy. “The paper plane mixes Italian and American cultures, and people are saying, ‘This is delicious! What are the other ingredients?'”

Ross emphasized that the drink’s popularity stems from its simplicity—requiring just four ingredients—and it’s “self-policing.” He believes that modern classics should be straightforward to make.

“All ‘modern classics’ need to be simplified. We’re not looking at complicated infusions or techniques that take forever,” he pointed out. “It’s crucial that these cocktails are user-friendly, especially if you’re making them at home.”

At Attaboy, Ross has witnessed a growing interest in paper planes among bartenders since the rise of social media. He believes that this drink’s versatility has kept it afloat over the years.

Ross is excited about introducing a new cocktail that combines mezcal, Campari, fresh ginger, lemon, and splits, hoping to create similar enthusiasm.

“It continues to amaze me,” he reflected on the enduring popularity of the paper plane. “There’s no specific target market for it.”

“When people think of whiskey cocktails, they often picture whiskey sours, Manhattans, or old fashioneds,” he noted. “Those are robust drinks. This is something different.”