A sweltering blanket of heat and humidity has descended over the Big Apple over the past several weeks causing me to experience a typical reaction, one of reaching for my go-to drink in such circumstances … the Daiquiri. The Daiquiri, either in normal or La Floridita incarnations, is for me an ideal candidate for consumption during bouts of heat (and frankly even when it’s not warm …). Just as Gatorade replenishes the body post heavy exertion or sports, the Daiquiri does much the same for me during a hot summer day – it revitalizes my senses, perks up my energy, cools me down and typically beckons for additional consumption.
When looking for a warm/hot weather drink I typically search a mental checklist of characteristics that when met, will help to tame the beastly fire:
- Refreshing – Does it provide that cascading wave of cooling calm that you expect of such a drink?
- Revitalization - Does it make or help you want to get up off your heat induced slumber and either go forth into the day with renewed vigor or at least get up off the couch and mix up a new one?
- Interestingly Different – Ok so this is not really a formal category but as a drink geek I like to think that I’m drinking more then Bud Lights on a hot summer day.
“Yes your Honor, I admit, in front of this court, that this check list is neither sophisticated nor absolute in terms of my warm weather preferences.”
So it was during this most recent bout of heat and humidity that I turned to additional sources of cocktail goodness for the aforementioned benefits and plenty of typical contenders to the Daiquiri’s “First in Line” status came forth. The Pegu Club … ah, this tart, citrusy goblet of gin magic created for weary English soldiers stationed in Rangoon is another great warm weather drink. The Michelada … yep, a heavy dose of lime juice, salt and a nice medium bodied Mexican beer is wonderful for sipping on a deck or while outside in the heat. The Division Bell, created by Phil Ward here in NYC, this drink is a new addition to our rotation providing a cornucopia of flavors wrapped up in a refreshing package that will soothe your heat induced cocktail desires. A Mai Tai … no explanation needed.
theSpeakista was looking to break out of a recent drinking funk and wanted to try something new for inspiration and it was a cocktail name scribbled in my notes for my Raines Law Room review that caught my attention and summoned me to grab my shaker and shake up one, or two or … A little research yielded enough information to know that while this drink is new to me (at least new as of three weeks ago), it is not new to the broad cocktail and drink community having made its rounds on a number of drink menus across the country. Originally created by Sam Ross while at Milk and Honey in New York I soon discovered that this drink meets all of the above warm weather drink criterion and is a great addition to our Warm Drink Line-up. Typical of most of my home base mixology endeavors I wanted to experiment with this one a little to see what might be learned from some simple ingredient substitutions. The below base recipe reflects what looks to be the original recipe and the ingredient substitutions used in the subsequent two variations are listed in the parentheticals.
Paper Plane (or Paper Airplane)
Recipe created and then adapted based on the original by Sam Ross while at Milk and Honey (sourced from Food and Wine Cocktails 2009)
• 3/4 oz bourbon (Buffalo Trace in the original and Lagavulin 16 year Islay Scotch in variation #3)
• 3/4 oz Aperol
• 3/4 oz Amaro Nonino
• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice (fresh grapefruit juice in variation #2)
Garnish: no garnish
Glass: coupe Tools: mixing glass and tin, Hawthorne strainer and fine mesh strainer
Assembly: Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice, shake well for at least 20 seconds until well chilled and double strain into the serving glass.
The verdict – Original Variation: hhhhhhmmmmm … “what heat” I say to myself as I stare outside my apartment post-mixing and I sip and sip and sip this little beauty. Tart and dry at the
forefront with a very slight hint of the bourbon spice in the background. What is absolutely amazing about this drink though is the lingering wonders of the two bitter or bitter like ingredients. One might think that pairing two equally flavorful and strong (yes, even the Nonino is a fighter, not a lover) amaro/liqueurs would be too much but they work, well, like they were made to be mixed in this drink. Aperol – funky, orangey, bitter, herbal … the Nonino – floral, herbal, rich, and bitter … paired nicely in this drink in equal proportions to yield a layer of bitter niceness that together with the dry, citrus notes lingers until you say “… ok, I’m ready for another!”
The verdict, variation #2: truth be told this was how I first sampled this drink several weeks back. Absent the required lemon juice but in possession of fresh grapefruit I thought sure, why 
not, how bad could it be? Actually, this is wonderful in its own right and another great example of how a small tweak to a recipe can yield something unique. What you notice first and foremost is that while the drink remains equally refreshing the tart profile of the original is replaced with a fantastic, lush sweetness. The sweetness from the grapefruit tames the bitters from the Aperol and Nonino and the bourbon comes forth more to create a nice spice note in the backdrop. Curious that every time I’ve tried this variation my first impression makes me think that I’m trying something with coconut in it – strange how this line up of ingredients can create this taste but no matter it is very, very nice.
The verdict, variation #3: ok, you got me … Islay. Islay is my weakness, I admit it and I haven’t been shy about. If I am ever to be in possession of the launch codes beware – if Islay is 
in front of me … this variation was really good as well. Chalk it up to tasting several in one day but there is something nice, something wholly unexpected about this simple change. As I found in the Tartan Daiquiri, Islay blends nicely with citrus. Tart flavors seem to serve as a nice counterpoint to the smoke and richness that is an Islay. Equally interesting is how bittering and herbal agents can have the same calming and blending interaction with an Islay and in this mix the Lagavulin is clearly a star but in the same way that a beautiful symphony blends great melodies into harmony. Smoky, tart, bitter, herbal … hhhhhhmmm … “yo, bartender theSpeakista needs a refill.”
theSpeakista’s Rating: 4 1/4 stars (out of 5) average across all three (go variation #2) It is fun to experiment. Some of the best experiments I have tried have been random encounters of recipes in blogs, books and other assorted resources. This little trip down “hot weather drink lane” was no different – see a random cocktail name listed, Google it up and there you go. The original Paper Plane is a fantastic drink that is most definitely in our rotation but by simply subbing in two different ingredients we have created two different drinks that are more then worth their weight in terms of repeating.
theSpeakista asks:
1. I hope you found the above interesting – what do you think of the Paper Plane?
2. Variations, you must have your favorite and/or most interesting?
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