Naked and Famous Cocktail Recipe

Before you start

Naked and Famous is an equal-parts sour that sits halfway between the Last Word and the Paper Plane. Mezcal brings smoke and roasted agave, Aperol adds orange and a light bitterness, yellow Chartreuse contributes honey, saffron and herbs, and lime ties it together. It tastes complicated, but it is a simple shake-and-strain build.

The mezcal you pick shapes the drink more than anything else. A gently smoky espadín lets the Chartreuse and Aperol show; a heavily smoked bottle can flatten them. Yellow Chartreuse is essential here. The green version is stronger and mintier and turns the drink into something else entirely.

Ingredients

• 22 ml (¾ oz) mezcal — a balanced espadín works well
• 22 ml (¾ oz) Aperol
• 22 ml (¾ oz) yellow Chartreuse
• 22 ml (¾ oz) fresh lime juice — strained
• 1 cup (about 150 g) ice cubes — for shaking

Method

1. Chill a coupe in the freezer for 10 minutes or fill it with ice water.
2. Squeeze and strain the lime juice. You need about 1 lime.
3. Add the mezcal, Aperol, yellow Chartreuse and lime juice to the shaker in any order.
4. Fill two-thirds with ice and shake vigorously for 10 to 12 seconds, until the shaker is frosted all over.
5. Empty the coupe and double-strain the drink into it. It should be a hazy pale orange with a fine layer of foam. No garnish is needed.

Tips for success

• Smell your mezcal before mixing. If it reads more like a campfire than agave, cut it to 15 ml and add 7 ml blanco tequila.
• Yellow Chartreuse supplies most of the sweetness. A bottle that has sat open for years still works, since it is high-proof and stable.
• Equal parts make scaling easy: for four drinks, use 90 ml of each and shake in two batches.

Substitutions

Mezcal

Blanco tequila makes a cleaner, unsmoked version that shows off the Chartreuse.

Yellow Chartreuse

There is no exact substitute. A honeyed herbal liqueur such as Strega is the closest, but it adds more anise and is sweeter.

Aperol

Campari makes a more bitter, deeper red drink. Use 15 ml Campari and add 7 ml simple syrup.

Variations

Naked and Famous on the rocks

Strain over a single large cube in a rocks glass and garnish with an orange twist.

Tequila and Famous

Use reposado tequila in place of mezcal for a vanilla-tinged, smoke-free version.

Troubleshooting

It tastes like smoke and nothing else

The mezcal is too heavily smoked. Swap in a gentler bottle or split the base with tequila.

It is too sweet

Your limes may be mild. Add 5 ml extra lime juice.

It tastes thin

The ice was wet or the drink sat too long after shaking. Use fresh ice and serve immediately.

Storage

Serve as soon as it is shaken. Fresh lime juice loses brightness within hours. Mezcal, Aperol and Chartreuse can be pre-measured into a bottle for a party; add lime when you shake each round.

Safety notes

Mezcal and yellow Chartreuse are both about 40% ABV or higher; with the Aperol, this drink holds roughly 1.2 U.S. standard drinks (about 14 g pure alcohol per standard drink). Legal drinking age only; never drink and drive.