The Artist Eats An intersection of art, food, and culture.

The Artist Drinks: Top Notch Limoncello

It took me a couple of years in college to realize that I’m not very good with hard liquor. I’d have a few mixed drinks on a Saturday night, and the next thing I know, I’m sitting 20 feet up in a tree, pantsless, and bellowing out Italian art-songs as loud as humanly possible. I won’t even mention the embarrassing nights.

I’ve learned moderation in my drinking since then and rarely touch hard liquor, but I do like having a few liqueurs around for special occasions. Liqueur is basically alcohol infused with whatever flavors you like and then sweetened with a simple syrup.

Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur that you can find in most liquor stores. It is almost always expensive and generally not very good.

I started making my own limoncello four or five years ago, and make a batch about once a year. It’s a dead simple process and the end result is a million times better than the stuff you buy in the stores. Limoncello makes for a nice gift during the holidays and is a classy thing to bring along to parties as an alternative to wine.

I learned how to make this from my aunt and uncle, Sara and Stephen. They’re foodies and brewers and know what’s up when it comes to all things delicious in the kitchen. I’ve tried some variations, but always seem to come back to the core recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need for making Top Notch Limoncello:

1 Giant sealable glass jar. (Around 4 liters)

2 750ml bottles of Everclear

2 750ml bottles of CHEAP vodka (I’m talking about Captain Vladimir's Bottom Shelf Special Reserve Rubbing Alcohol or the like)

30 Organic Lemons (Splurge! – you saved money on the vodka. Trader Joe's has them in bags for a reasonable price)

11 Cups of water

9 Cups of white sugar

A fine-meshed sieve

A few coffee filters

Last but not least - a bit of patience.

The first step to making awesome limoncello is washing the lemons. Scrub with a mildly abrasive sponge and a bit of soap. This will get off any wax from the shipping process – the alcohol will kill off everything else!

Zest the lemons with a very sharp knife or a good potato peeler. I’ve had the best results with a peeler and a side-to-side sawing motion to get super-long strips of zest.

Getting the zest can be somewhat difficult, because you don’t want any of the white part of the lemon (the pith). The pith will make the limoncello nasty and astringent. Take your time with it. You’re going for quality here. The zest in the picture above has a bit too much pith on it, but it’s easy enough to get it off with a paring knife.

Once you’ve peeled all of the lemons, you’re ready to crack out the booze.  Pour the four bottles into the jar and toss in the zest. Put on the top and give it a hearty shake. Stick it in a cool dark place, and find something else to do – for forty days.

Biblical, right? I said that you’d need some patience. All you have to do for now is shake the mixture up every few days.

The alcohol will be infused with the oils from the lemon and will turn bright yellow.

When the forty days (at a minimum) are up, make a simple syrup by heating up the 11 cups of water over medium heat and mix in the sugar. Don’t bring it to a boil, just get it hot enough to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to cool.

While the syrup is cooling, you can filter the alcohol. Run it once through a fine-meshed sieve into a large container or pot. This will catch a lot of the impurities and bits of lemon peel. Give your jar a rinse to remove any grit and dry with a towel. Place a coffee filter into the sieve and pour the mixture back into the jar. Switch out the coffee filter with a fresh one if it gets too gummed up. This will take a while, but it’s a big part of what makes this limoncello superior to anything else you’ll try.

Cover the alcohol until the simple syrup is completely cooled and then mix together to form your limoncello. Just a note: If you mix it all together when the syrup is still warm, the heat will evaporate your alcohol; nobody wants that!

Fill a bottle up with the limoncello and stick it in the freezer – the rest can live the the jar in a dark place until you’re ready to use it.

And remember: drink your homemade limoncello in small sips – the Everclear gives it a real kick.