Welcome To Wonkette Happy Hour, With This Week's Cocktail, The Airport 77!

The next best thing to flying Mom to the Bahamas for Mother's Day.

Fancy garnish optional.

Greetings, Wonketeers! I’m Hooper, your bartender. I decided to do a little spring cleaning of my liquor cabinet and found some inspiration for a Mother’s Day cocktail. The drink I started with was sour, complex, and heavy. The end result is a light, delicate, orange-forward drink — perfect for springtime. Let’s enjoy an Airport 77 for the holiday. Here’s the recipe:

Airport 77

1 ½ oz Pimm’s No. 1

1 oz. Hendrick’s Oaisium gin

1 oz Aperol

½ oz lemon juice

Shake all ingredients over ice and pour into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

My starting point for this drink was the Paper Plane, a craft cocktail that’s been a part of the mixology scene since 2008. The Paper Plane is equal parts bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonio, and lemon juice. I’d always wanted to try this classic, and I had all those ingredients on hand from other recent recipes. I did like it, but my other two taste-testers in the house (my wife and daughter) weren’t as enthused. The Paper Plane is doing a lot all at once. It’s the sort of drink you sip, ponder, and then sip again. That’s the kind of drink I like as a cocktail nerd, but I didn’t think the Wonketariat would enjoy it much. Time to do some substitutions.

The sticking point here was the Amaro. Amaros are darlings of the mixology set — bittersweet, herbaceous, and complex Italian apertifs that sneak into all sorts of recipes. Amaros aren’t necessarily heavy — Aperol is an amaro, and Aperol Spritzes are still quite popular at the country club bar. But amaros like Cynar and Averna are jet black and … chewy. You’ll spend a lot of time tasting them, shuddering a bit at the bitterness, and speculating on just what you’re tasting. I love them, but they aren’t for everyone.

I wanted to lean into the Aperol and lemon juice aspects of the cocktail, but not lose all the complexity. As I rooted through my liquor cabinet, I found a neglected bottle of Pimm’s No. 1. This liquor is used almost exclusively in a Pimm’s Cup, but it had some promise as an amaro substitute. Pimm’s is also herbaceous, but it’s much more fruit-forward and genteel than a bitter amaro. The idea of Pimm’s and Aperol in a glass together made a huge amount of sense to me. A quick taste test showed promise.

However, the bourbon wasn’t cooperating with the rest of the ingredients. It was sulking all alone in the final tasting notes of the drink, like a wallflower at the high school dance. I usually add some bitters to a glass to patch over problems like this, but that didn’t work here. Weird clove and allspice notes came forward in the drink, mutating it into something strange. Clearly, a new primary spirit was needed.

When in doubt, make the obvious choice. Hendrick’s gin is a delightfully English spirit, with cucumber and rose notes that lean right into the direction I wanted to take this drink. And Pimm’s No. 1 is gin-based, which makes it an even better pairing with the Hendrick’s. I started by using basic Hendrick’s gin, which was great. But Hendrick’s tropical offering this year, “Oasium,” brought some fantastic papaya notes to the drink that took it to another level.

Now I had to come up with a name for the cocktail. The Paper Plane has been riffed on endlessly by bartenders, with names like the Regional Airport, the Business Class, and the Winglet. As I mused on the issue, the answer struck me like a thunderbolt. This whimsical redheaded cocktail absolutely had to be named after The Airport 77s, the DC-based power pop power trio fronted by my cousin, Andy Sullivan. Better make two of these, Christine’s coming over.

Let’s talk ingredients:

Ingredient shot. The cocktail took flight shortly after this picture was taken.

Pimm’s No. 1: I’m really pleased with the idea of using Pimm’s as an amaro substitute. Pimm’s cooperates wonderfully with anything gin- or fruit-based. The Pimm’s Cup cocktail casts a long shadow, but I’m going to have to pull this liquor out for all sorts of light fruity drinks going forward.

Hendrick’s Oasium Gin: Hendricks always knocks it out of the park when it comes to distilling light, fruit-forward gins. Standard Hendrick’s is absolutely fine in this recipe, but splurging on the Oasium is a real treat. I’m already looking forward to the G&T’s I’ll enjoy with this bottle.

Aperol: Aperol has been marketing itself relentlessly as the prime ingredient of Aperol Spritzes. They even go so far as to put a color guide on the website, helping you judge the perfect hue of this champagne fizzer. Lately, I’ve been exploring other uses for this approachable, bittersweet orange liquor. I’ve tried some cheaper knockoffs as substitutions, but nothing matches the real deal.

Lemon juice: Always fresh. Bottled lemon juice resembles real lemon juice in the same way that airline food resembles a home-cooked meal.

In summary and conclusion, drink well, drink often, and tip your bartender — donate to Wonkette at the link below!

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We aren’t linking to Amazon anymore, because fuck that coward Bezos with a rusty bar spoon. Go listen to The Airport 77s instead! They’re a really fun, cool band that plays the best Dad-fueled power pop ever. Maybe they’ll make some merch if you ask them nicely!

You can find me on Bluesky at @samuraigrog!

OPEN THREAD! DRINK!