The Naked & Famous may feel like a fixture but it's actually only 15 years old. Clinton Cawood tells its short but curious story.
If the DNA of the Naked & Famous looks familiar, that’s because it’s yet another cocktail descendent of the Last Word, and draws on inspiration from Sam Ross’s Paper Plane too, itself a riff on the Last Word.
Joaquín Simó famously describes it as “the bastard love child born out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair” between the two drinks.
He was working at New York’s Death & Co in 2011 when he combined equal parts of Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime juice, giving it the name of a track on Tricky’s 1996 album Pre-Millennium Tension.
Considering the absence of garnish, together with its global popularity in its 15 years of existence, it’s certainly lived up to that.
The twists don’t stop there, with Simó’s drink finding its way on to contemporary lists in various forms.
In London, there’s one on Nightjar’s menu, adding an olive oil fat-washed tequila and the bar’s in-house take on Chartreuse.
Portrait of Fame at Scarfes Bar, meanwhile, uses evaporated buddha’s hand and rhubarb alongside the original’s Aperol and mezcal.
Naked & Famous
(Joaquín Simó)
Glass: Cocktail
Garnish: None
Method: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.
25ml Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal
25ml Yellow Chartreuse
25ml Aperol
25ml Fresh lime juice