Naked and Famous Cocktail Recipe
Equal parts mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime — smoke, herbs, bitterness and acid in exact balance.
- Category: New Era Drinks
- Glass: Coupe glass
- ABV: 24%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Mezcal22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Yellow Chartreuse22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Aperol22 ml (0.7 oz)
- Fresh lime juice22 ml (0.7 oz)
How to Make It
- Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice.
- Shake until well chilled.
- Double-strain into a chilled coupe.
Garnish
None
What it tastes like
It has a bitter backbone, the citrus acidity leads, smoke dominates the nose and it is layered, giving you something different each sip.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A stemmed, shallow coupe. The stem keeps your hand's warmth away from the drink, and the wide bowl carries the aroma to your nose. Served without ice.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Mezcal
- The Mexican spirit whose smoke comes from roasting the agave in a stone pit. It can stand in for tequila, but the smoke walks over everything else; starting half and half is the balanced move.
- Yellow Chartreuse
- The sweeter, honeyed, 40% version of the green. It can stand in for green Chartreuse, but the drink softens noticeably and loses its herbal bite.
- Aperol
- The orange aperitif, flavoured with bitter orange and rhubarb. It is Campari's gentler cousin: 11% alcohol, sweeter, far less bitter. Substituting Campari means adding sugar.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
The Story
Built by Joaquín Simó at Death & Co in 2011, splitting the difference between a Last Word and a Paper Plane.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Naked and Famous mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a coupe.
- How strong is a Naked and Famous?
- Roughly 24% ABV as served — in fortified-wine territory — plan it as a single drink.
- Can a Naked and Famous be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Naked and Famous hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.