Naked and Famous Cocktail Recipe

Most modern classics in the cocktail canon are very few degrees of separation from New York City’s Death & Co, if they weren’t outright invented there. And long before the Aperol spritz revival, Aperol was making a splash alongside smoky mezcal in the Naked and Famous, a sunset-orange cocktail invented by Death & Co bartender Joaquín Simó in 2011.

When Simó developed the drink, which he’s referred to as a “more evolved, refined margarita” with its interplay of lime and agave, he never expected it would become his most popular creation.

Yet, despite the cocktail’s lore, Death & Co wasn’t the first place it was served. Simó began mixing it for industry friends—who took the drink and ran with it—before offering it to customers at the bar.

“Funnily enough, due to how we rolled out our menus at D&C, it was actually featured on the menu at the Teardrop Lounge in Portland, Oregon, and on the opening menu at Candelaria in Paris before it was on a D&C menu,” he says. “But obviously, that’s the bar that most people—rightly—attribute it to.”

Simó refers to the cocktail as “a bastard love child,” one that was “borne out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair between a classic Last Word and Sam Ross’s Paper Planes cocktail.” The name, Naked and Famous, comes from a 1994 Tricky Song that Simó loved as a teenager.

Over a decade later, it’s still “wildly popular” at Death & Co, says current D&C bartender Tyson Buhler. Even inconveniently so, at times. “The recent supply issues of Chartreuse certainly caused a little stress for our teams and guests,” says Buhler, “but as that has leveled out, the drink is flowing as strong as it ever has.”

Choosing the Right Ingredients for the Naked and Famous

The key to the drink, according to Simó, is choosing “a big, aggressively smoky and funky” mezcal, which is why his recipe calls for Del Maguey’s Chichicapa bottling (“pour cost be damned!”). As for modifiers, Simó went with Aperol and yellow Chartreuse, instead of Campari or green Chartreuse, because they are lower-proof and lower-intensity, ensuring that the complexity of the Chichicapa is not drowned out.

“I attribute its popularity to the balance and depth found in the drink: the fruity notes of Aperol and honeyed herbaceousness of yellow Chartreuse don’t result in a cloying one-note drink,” he says. “But rather, [they] harmonize beautifully to create a refreshing, citrusy drink that changes in flavors from attack through mid-palate and into a long finish.”

Unsurprisingly, the cocktail has become a bartender favorite, and in 2020 it was added to the International Bartenders Association’s official list of cocktails. Jordan Moton, bar program development manager at Bar Kapu in Bentonville, Arkansas, appreciates just how balanced it is.

“With it being an equal-part cocktail, it’s one that bartenders can easily remember and can whip out when you have a guest who doesn’t quite know what they want,” says Moton.

Bartender Derek Cram, director of bar logistics at Roma Norte in San Diego, echoes Simó’s belief that mezcal choice is especially important in the Naked and Famous.

“While mezcal is extremely versatile and works in a wide variety of applications, it’s important to understand the relative weight and balance of the mezcal you’re mixing with,” he says, noting that the Del Maguey Chichicapa that Simó calls for is robust, full-bodied and a whopping 48% ABV. “The cocktail only calls for 3/4 ounce of mezcal, so it needs to be assertive enough to stand up to the other flavors.”

Cram, who worked with Simó at NYC’s Pouring Ribbons and considers him a mentor, has found that most bars make the cocktail with a cheaper 40 to 42% abv mezcal to cut costs.

“While it still leads to a tasty cocktail, the razor sharp balance of Joaquín’s original recipe is lost,” he says. “So, if you’ve never had the pleasure of enjoying the cocktail as it was originally intended, do yourself the favor and spend a few extra dollars for Chichicapa.”

The Naked and Famous is one of a handful of modern classics that have contributed to the widespread embrace of mezcal cocktails. (The smoky Oaxaca Old-Fashioned, also a Death & Co creation, got the ball rolling in 2007.) Alba Huerta, award-winning mixologist and owner of Julep Houston, credits mezcal’s extreme variability as the reason it is so successful as a spirit in cocktails.

“Its complex flavor profile can differ significantly depending on the type of agave used and the region where it’s produced,” she says. “This diversity allows mezcal to impart a wide range of flavors—from smoky and earthy to fruity and floral—making it a great complement to different ingredients in cocktails.”

Variations on the Naked and Famous

The simple equal-parts cocktail is endlessly riffable. After all, it is itself a riff on the Paper Plane. “There is a certain allure with the equal parts cocktail for bartenders,” says Buhler. “It’s immensely challenging to balance four ingredients in equal measure, and the Naked and Famous does so with some very heavy hitters in mezcal and Chartreuse.”

Brandon Ristaino, co-founder and beverage director at the upcoming agave spirit-forward cocktail bar Jaguar Moon in Ventura, California, likes to takes the “tried-and-true methodology of the Mr. Potato Head substitutions” for the Naked and Famous, wherein “one can substitute in a spirit, liqueur, aperitif, digestif for another similar categorized spirit” to create endless potential combinations.

“With the Naked and Famous, you can sub in another aperitivo for Aperol, while paying attention to similarities and differences in abv, sugar content and flavor profile, like Bordiga or Liquore delle Sirene,” says Ristaino. “Or perhaps sub in another alpine spirit for the yellow Chartreuse like Alpe Genepy Herbetet.”

On the menu at Roma Norte, the Another Word cocktail is a citrusy, herbaceous mix between a Last Word and Naked and Famous. Cram “amps up the floral, herbaceous quality” of Puntiagudo Espadín with a quick eucalyptus infusion and Fred Alkemil Rosolio Bergamotto.

It’s worth noting that twists on the cocktail are sometimes born out of necessity. “Unfortunately, with the Chartreuse shortage over the past couple of years, bartenders are finding ways to still make this cocktail but are looking at different riffs, which is fun since the Naked and Famous is a blend of classic cocktails the Paper Plane and Last Word,” says Moton.

At Bar Kapu, Moton likes swapping in the red bitter Cappelletti in place of the Aperol, to make the cocktail even more bitter-forward, and “by adding a touch of yuzu juice, as we are a Japanese-influenced bar, and a hint of Velvet Falernum.”

Naked and Famous

By Joaquín Simó

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Published: September 27, 2024