Naked and Famous
A Naked and Famous is 22.5ml each of mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and fresh lime juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with no garnish. About 2.1 UK units. These are the IBA’s measures. Joaquín Simó created it at Death & Co in New York. It takes the shape of the Last Word, four equal parts with fresh citrus, and shares Aperol with the Paper Plane. Phil Ward’s Division Bell had already put mezcal with Aperol. Each part has one job. Mezcal brings smoke, yellow Chartreuse honeyed herbs, Aperol a soft bitter orange and lime the acid. Use yellow Chartreuse, not green: at 43% ABV against 55% it is gentler, and the balance depends on it.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: None traditionally
Ingredients
22.5ml
An espadín at about 40% ABV with moderate smoke. A heavily smoked bottle drowns the other three.
22.5ml
At 43% ABV, honeyed and herbal. Green, at 55%, is sharper and stronger and does not substitute.
22.5ml
At 11% ABV, a soft bitter orange that links the smoke to the honey. Campari at this measure would take over.
22.5ml
Squeezed the same day. The only acid, holding three sweet and bitter ingredients in line.
Instructions
Squeeze the lime juice the same day and chill a coupe.
Add the mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Aperol and lime juice to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe.
Serve without garnish.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification; served in a coupe, method ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Measure every part. With four equal pours and no bitters or garnish to correct it, a heavy hand on any one shows at once: too much Chartreuse and it turns herbal and sweet, too much Aperol and it goes soft. Choose a moderate mezcal. An espadín with gentle smoke keeps its quarter in proportion. A fiercely smoky bottle covers the other three. Shake hard and double strain. The drink is served up with nothing on top, and ice chips in the glass spoil a texture that should be clean.
Behind the Naked and Famous
Flavour Profile
Death & Co
Joaquín Simó created the Naked and Famous at Death & Co in New York. It sits in a line of equal-parts drinks: the Last Word, on the Detroit Athletic Club’s menu by 1916, and the Paper Plane, which Sam Ross created in 2008.
Mezcal and Aperol had already met in Phil Ward’s Division Bell, created at Mayahuel in 2009. Simó’s drink uses the same pairing, adds yellow Chartreuse, and returns to strict equal parts.
Four Equal Parts
Four ingredients at the same volume, no bitters and no garnish: the balance has to come from the choice of ingredients alone. Mezcal brings smoke, yellow Chartreuse honeyed herbs, Aperol soft bitter orange, and lime the acid that binds them.
Because no part leads, a change of a few millilitres in any one moves the whole drink. That is why it rewards a jigger more than most.
Yellow Chartreuse, Not Green
Yellow Chartreuse is bottled at 43% ABV and is softer and sweeter, with honey and saffron. Green is 55% and sharper. In an equal-parts drink that difference decides the result.
Yellow’s sweetness balances the Aperol’s bitterness and cushions the smoke. Green brings neither, so the drink loses its middle and becomes smoke against herbs.
Three Equal-Parts Drinks
The Last Word, the Paper Plane and the Naked and Famous compared
Last Word
- Spirit
- Gin
- Herbal liqueur
- Green Chartreuse
- Third part
- Maraschino
- Citrus
- Lime
- Each pour
- 22.5ml
- UK units
- About 2.9
Paper Plane
- Spirit
- Bourbon
- Herbal liqueur
- Amaro Nonino
- Third part
- Aperol
- Citrus
- Lemon
- Each pour
- 30ml
- UK units
- About 2.6
Naked and Famous
- Spirit
- Mezcal
- Herbal liqueur
- Yellow Chartreuse
- Third part
- Aperol
- Citrus
- Lime
- Each pour
- 22.5ml
- UK units
- About 2.1
| Drink | Spirit | Herbal liqueur | Third part | Citrus | Each pour | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last Word | Gin | Green Chartreuse | Maraschino | Lime | 22.5ml | About 2.9 |
| Paper Plane | Bourbon | Amaro Nonino | Aperol | Lemon | 30ml | About 2.6 |
| Naked and Famous | Mezcal | Yellow Chartreuse | Aperol | Lime | 22.5ml | About 2.1 |
Mezcal in Proportion
An espadín with moderate smoke keeps the mezcal to its quarter of the drink. A heavily smoked bottle covers the other three, and the drink becomes smoke with lime.
How to Serve It
Cold, up and without garnish, in a chilled coupe. The colour is a muted orange, and the smoke arrives before the first sip. Nothing goes on top; any correction belongs in the measuring.
For the gin original of the format, make a Last Word; for bourbon and lemon, a Paper Plane; for mezcal, Aperol and maraschino, a Division Bell.
Make it at home
The Spirit
MezcalMezcal is distilled in Mexico from cooked agave hearts, by law always 100% agave, with most bottles between 40 and 48% ABV and 40% in our recipes. Artisanal mezcal, cooked in pit or masonry ovens, is where the smoke usually comes from. Espadín is the common agave, poured from a split base under tequila in an Oaxacan Old Fashioned to a full 60ml in a Mezcal Margarita.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Naked and Famous?
Who created the Naked and Famous?
Yellow or green Chartreuse?
Which mezcal should I use?
What does a Naked and Famous taste like?
How is it different from a Division Bell?
How strong is a Naked and Famous?
You Might Also Like
Last Word
A Last Word is 22.5ml each of gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and fresh lime juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled Nick & Nora or coupe. About 2.9 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s; the cherry or lime twist is ours. It comes from the Detroit Athletic Club, where it was on the menu by 1916. Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up of 1951 credits the vaudeville performer Frank Fogarty with taking it to New York. In 2003 the Seattle bartender Murray Stenson found it in Saucier’s book and put it on the menu at the Zig Zag Café, and from there it spread. Four strong flavours at equal volume, and none takes over. Chartreuse brings herbs and heat, maraschino cherry and a bitter almond edge, lime the acid, and gin holds them together.
Paper Plane
A Paper Plane is 30ml each of bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino and fresh lemon juice, shaken hard and double strained into a chilled coupe. Four equal parts, which is the IBA specification: bitter orange, herbs and lemon over bourbon, at about 2.6 UK units. Sam Ross created it around 2008, working with Sasha Petraske, as a favour for Toby Maloney’s bar The Violet Hour in Chicago. It took its name from the M.I.A. song Paper Planes, which the two had playing while they worked on it. The first version used Campari; Ross found it too bitter and moved to Aperol. Equal parts leaves nowhere to hide. Squeeze the lemon the same day and use Nonino, not a cheaper amaro, because each ingredient is a quarter of the drink.
Division Bell
A Division Bell is 30ml of mezcal, 22.5ml of Aperol, 15ml of maraschino liqueur and 22.5ml of fresh lime juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a grapefruit twist expressed over the top and thrown away. About 1.9 UK units. Phil Ward created it in 2009 at Mayahuel, his tequila and mezcal bar in New York’s East Village. It is a Last Word with two swaps: mezcal for the gin and Aperol for the green Chartreuse. Ward reportedly took the name from Pink Floyd’s 1994 album The Division Bell, which he played on repeat while the bar was being built. Aperol brings bitter orange and softens the smoke, the maraschino adds cherry and bitter almond, and the lime holds the three together. With Aperol at 11% ABV in place of Chartreuse, it is lighter than the Last Word.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026