Is the Naked & Famous having a moment?
Created in 2011, the Naked & Famous cocktail is suddenly everywhere, from London’s Scarfes Bar to Avra at the Four Seasons in Athens. Is the mezcal-based modern classic making a comeback – or did it simply never leave?
Joaquín Simó is the brains behind the Naked & Famous. “That one has really ended up being my most popular creation, which I wouldn’t have expected when I created it over a decade ago,” he laughs. “I don’t think anyone who creates a cocktail goes into that process thinking: ‘This one is going to be everywhere from Buenos Aires to Bangkok.’”
He created it while working at New York’s Death & Co, but the Naked & Famous first officially appeared on a menu either at the Teardrop Lounge in Portland, Oregon, or at Candelaria in Paris.
“I knew that the Portland and Paris crowds were super into it,” he says, “but that’s a far cry from thinking it would eventually grow into a canonical response to the now-standard bar request for ‘agave and shaken, not too sweet’.”
Simó describes his creation as “the bastard love child born out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair between a Last Word and Sam Ross’ Paper Plane.”
The Last Word mixes gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice, while the Paper Plane combines Bourbon, Amaro Nonino, Aperol and lemon juice. The Naked & Famous pulls from both, made with mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, and lime juice.
All three cocktails in the family are made in equal parts – something Simó was keen to maintain for his invention. “That was an integral part of the challenge of creating a Last Word riff,” he says. “It’s really hard to get the balance right on an equal-parts sour, so I wanted to push myself to not cheat that ratio by adding a teaspoon of agave nectar or cinnamon syrup or whatnot.”
A key part of getting that balance was down to the choice of spirit, with his original recipe calling for Del Maguey Chichicapa Mezcal. “A big, aggressively smoky and funky mezcal was key here, as there is relatively little of it in the drink and it needs to stand up against two liqueurs, neither of which lacks complexity,” explains Simó.
Meanwhile, he opted to ditch bartending favourites Campari and green Chartreuse for their “younger, lower-proof and -intensity siblings”, to let the mezcal shine. “The fruity notes of Aperol and honeyed herbaceousness of yellow Chartreuse harmonise beautifully,” Simó explains. “You get a refreshing, citrusy drink that changes in flavours from attack through mid-palate and into a long finish.”
And the name, if anyone was wondering, is from a Tricky song – ‘Tricky Kid’ – which Simó loved as a teenager.
The drink’s enduring appeal
Fourteen years later, the drink has become a staple in contemporary cocktail culture. This year alone, riffs have appeared on menus at London’s Nightjar and Scarfes, as well as at further-flung destinations like Kiki Lounge on the Isle of Man and Avra at the Four Seasons in Athens.
For Andy Loudon, bar director at Rosewood London, the home of Scarfes, it’s not necessarily a case of a ‘comeback’.
“There’s definitely been a surge in its popularity,” he says, adding that this is likely due to the growth of the agave spirits category as a whole. “But it’s quite difficult to say it’s making a comeback, because it’s such a modern classic,” he adds. “I think it’s more hitting its stride as a very well-made classic cocktail.”
He compares its trajectory to the Espresso Martini, which was created in the 1980s but didn’t truly peak until a few decades later. “The Naked & Famous was created, surged in popularity and had a little dip. Then, because of the rise of the agave category, it’s being pushed and has had this mini revival to become a great, well-known classic cocktail,” he says.
Alex Leidy, general manager at Washington DC’s Silver Lyan, also attributes the drink’s success to the growth of the agave category. “Mezcal has had an enormous surge of popularity over the past 10 years,” he says. “But mezcal is in an interesting position – it’s a spirit with an enormous amount of history, but not an enormous amount of cocktails associated with it. Most cocktails associated with it are what we would consider modern classics.”
Silver Lyan doesn’t have a Naked & Famous on the menu, but that doesn’t stop hordes of guests from ordering it every night. “As a cocktail, it’s uniquely suited to be the kind of thing that guests learn to ask for easily, and bartenders like to recommend,” he says. “We sell a bunch – on any given night, it’s going to be one of the most popular off-menu calls in the bar.”
The equal-parts formula that was so important to Simó has also proved a boon for its longevity. “It uses ingredients that are on the back bar in most well-stocked cocktail bars,” says Leidy. “From a guest recognition standpoint, it’s an easy one for people to assume a bar can make.” And, from a bartender’s standpoint, it’s easy to replicate even if you’ve never heard of it, thanks to that equal-parts recipe.
The Chartreuse shortage
Scarfes’ twist on the Naked & Famous is called the Portrait of Fame, and is made with The Lost Explorer Espadin mezcal, Evaporated Buddha’s Hand citrus, rhubarb and Aperol.
“We wanted to do something based around similar ingredients to the Naked & Famous,” Loudon explains. “With the popularity of the cocktail, these flavours easily resonate with guests. It almost fell together quite naturally – I think the best drinks are made like that.”
One key ingredient missing from Scarfes’ interpretation is yellow Chartreuse. The omission reflects a wider challenge that has flummoxed the cocktail world since 2023. The Carthusian monks who produce the famed herbal liqueur have limited production to focus on their monastic life, sparking a global shortage. While some bars have secured exclusive distribution, for most, a single bottle is a luxury.
As for substitutes? Leidy is wary of them. “Chartreuse is in that same category as Campari and Coca-Cola,” he says. “There are other things that do it, but people have such an expectation for the particular profile of that brand. When you change something that’s normally a Chartreuse drink, I think it’s fair to give someone a heads up that there’s been a pivot.”
Other bartenders have been creatively spurred by the shortage, either experimenting with housemade substitutes or local herbal alternatives.
One such bar is London’s Nightjar, which offers a Naked & Famous on its 15th anniversary menu. Here, it is made with Volcán De Mi Tierra Blanco Tequila, an olive oil fat wash, Montelobos Mezcal Espadín, Aperol, L’Aperitivo Nonino, fresh lime juice and Nightjar’s ‘Chartreuse’ – which is how it is credited on the menu.
“Let me start by saying that I believe it is impossible to replicate Chartreuse, with the complexity of flavours,” says bar manager Sebastiano Cristofanon. “Chartreuse is a truly unique liqueur, with more than 400 years of tradition behind it. As a bartender, but more so as a drinker, I fully recognise how difficult it is to replicate something so complex and iconic.”
However, the bar has given it a go – “not because we believe it’s better, or because we aim to challenge the monks’ craftsmanship, but rather as a response to the growing market demand and the current shortage of stock,” says Cristofanon.
Nightjar’s version is a blend of infusions used elsewhere in the menu, including cinchona bark and gentian for bitterness, star anise for a touch of sweetness, tinctures of basil and shiso for the herbal aspect, and zara lemon for the spirit’s base.
While the future of Chartreuse production remains uncertain, some markets – like DC –are already seeing supplies bounce back. “Last year, it certainly was [an issue],” Leidy says, “but we’ve been very lucky to have a pretty reliable supply over the last year.” That can surely only spell good news for the Naked & Famous.
Whether it remains a cult classic or climbs to Espresso Martini-level fame, the Naked & Famous has cemented itself as one of the defining mezcal cocktails of the modern era – citrussy, smoky, balanced, and, yes, a little bit famous.
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