We began making our own limoncello a few years ago for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the overly sweet and vaguely chemical taste of most commercial varieties. Our friend Dean had saved several recipes, we found a few more, and began to experiment.

The first few batches were made with 103-proof vodka, the strongest and least “vodka-y” we could find in Minnesota. Even the first version was pretty damn good, but we still noticed the vodka flavor.

Finally, another pal brought us a bottle of 196-proof neutral grain spirits (Everclear)from Wisconsin, which changed everything. We made adjustments to the recipe, particularly in the alcohol-to-simple-syrup ratio to maintain a reasonable proof, and came up with our preferred filtering stages. We use a combination of cheesecloth for the first 2 stages, then run the final mix through a stainless coffee microfilter cone.

The result is a cloudy, smooth drink with wonderful mouth feel. Some prefer to filter umpteen times to reach clarity; we like the more rustic texture of ours.

The summer Italian sun in a bottle. What more could you ask?

You can Google all day long for recipes; here’s a good starting point from Mario. The important thing here is to ZEST the lemons – we use microplaners. The white pith just adds bitterness, so we tend to avoid the potato peeler method.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/lemon-digestive-assistant-limoncello-recipe/index.html

Find your own way. Experiment. Use more lemons. Blend citrus varieties. Be patient; we let ours infuse for a minimum of three weeks.

Make some magic.