In 2011, a bartender named Joaquín Simó was working a shift at Death & Co, the celebrated cocktail bar on East Sixth Street in New York City, when LCD Soundsystem came on the speakers. The song was “Drunk Girls.” He was messing around with equal parts — a bartender’s shorthand for a drink built on four ingredients in identical measure — and had Aperol, yellow Chartreuse, mezcal, and fresh lime juice on his station. He put them together. It worked better than it had any right to. He named it after another LCD Soundsystem song, “Naked and Famous,” and put it on the menu.
That drink is now considered one of the only true modern classics — a cocktail invented in the last twenty years that has earned a permanent place alongside the Negroni, the Daiquiri, and the Paper Plane. Most people who love cocktails have never made one at home. That is a mistake worth correcting on a Friday afternoon.
The genius of the Naked and Famous is the equal parts formula. Everything in the glass — the bitter orange of the Aperol, the herbal sweetness of the Chartreuse, the smoky depth of the mezcal, the brightness of the lime — holds exactly the same real estate, which means every sip has all four at once. It is bitter and sweet and smoky and sour simultaneously, and the color it turns in the glass — a deep amber orange — looks like something that took considerably more effort than it did.
A note on the mezcal: use something smoky but not overwhelming. Del Maguey Vida is the standard recommendation and it is the right call. The smoke is the backbone of the drink. Too much and it drowns everything else. Yellow Chartreuse — not green — is important. The yellow version is softer and more honeyed and plays better with the Aperol. Green Chartreuse is more herbal and more aggressive and will unbalance the drink. Both are worth having on the shelf but this is the yellow one’s moment.
The Naked and Famous
Makes 1 cocktail
¾ oz Aperol
¾ oz yellow Chartreuse
¾ oz mezcal (Del Maguey Vida recommended)
¾ oz fresh lime juice
Combine all four ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake hard for about 15 seconds. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. No garnish needed — the color is the presentation.
That is the whole recipe. Four ingredients, equal parts, shake, strain. The only thing that can go wrong is using bottled lime juice, which you should not do. Squeeze it fresh. The drink is fast enough that there is no excuse not to.
Death & Co is still open on East Sixth Street in New York. Joaquín Simó has gone on to open his own bars. LCD Soundsystem still plays in bars all over the world on Friday nights, which seems appropriate. Make this drink tonight and you will understand why bartenders still talk about the moment someone figured out that these four things belonged in the same glas
