Naked and Famous
- 1 oz mezcal
- 3/4 oz Aperol
- 1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse (or Strega)
- 3/4 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.
We discovered the Naked and Famous in Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails though there are now also numerous videos on how to make it. The drink was created by Joaquín Simó at Death & Co. in 2011. The name comes from the line, 'Everybody wants to be naked and famous,' in the song Tricky Kid by British rapper Tricky.
Joaquín was aiming at a cross between the Last Word and the Paper Plane and he did an excellent job. I was never convinced by the combination of citrus and amaro in the Paper Plane but with Aperol it works very well and the result shines with a translucent peach color. The smoky aftertaste from the mezcal comes as a bit of a surprise. Joaquín suggested an aggressively smoky mezcal was required to stand up against the complex liqueurs but opinions vary.
Like its inspiration it was conceived as an equal parts drink but we found that to be too sweet. We adjusted it slightly to suit our palette, though Kathy prefers the original ¾ oz of Yellow Chartreuse.
Speaking of Chartreuse, the monks that make it are now focussed more on vespers than on liquors and Chartreuse of any color has become all but unavailable to the laity. We heard that the Italian Liquore Strega makes a good replacement for Yellow Chartreuse. It has a similar alcohol content and both are sweetened by honey. We tried two versions of the Naked and Famous side-by-side. We could taste no significant difference between the one made with Strega and the one made with Yellow Chartreuse. If only Green Chartreuse were so easily replaced…