Naked and Famous

Joaquín Simó, Death and Co, New York City, 2011. Simó, one of the key figures of the New York cocktail renaissance, created the drink while on the bar programme at Death and Co. Named after the Scissor Sisters song 'Naked and Famous,' it was included in the Death and Co cocktail book (2014) and has since become one of the most replicated modern cocktails in craft bars globally.

The Naked and Famous is the 21st century's most successful equal-parts cocktail after the Paper Plane — mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, and fresh lime juice in exact equal measures, created by Joaquín Simó at Death and Co in New York City in 2011. Named after a Scissor Sisters song, it applies the Last Word's equal-parts formula to a combination of ingredients that has never been tried before: the smoke of mezcal, the honey-herbal sweetness of Yellow Chartreuse, the orange bitterness of Aperol, and the lime's acid brightness. It is a drink of startling complexity from four completely different ingredient families that achieve an implausible harmony.

FOOD PAIRING: The Naked and Famous's smoke-herbal-citrus complexity pairs with roasted, spiced, and herbal preparations. Provenance 1000 pairings: grilled octopus with herb salsa verde (the herbal Chartreuse bridge to the salsa), smoked duck breast (smoke amplification), tacos de canasta with Oaxacan cheese (the mezcal cultural context), honey-glazed roasted vegetables (Chartreuse's honey note), and alpine cheese board.