Making Liquor is Easy

Sometime last week, I got an email from a friend - he had found a bottle of Limoncello in the back of his freezer and was inquiring into how we made it (when we got married a few years back, we made some homemade Limoncello and gave it out as wedding favors). As I was looking through the computer and asking Kimberly about it, we came across this photo set (with some really pretty pictures) from when Kimberly and some friends made lots of different flavored -cellos. Doing all that stuff, made me remember how much fun, and how easy it is, to make liquor.

So on my day off, I went down to the natural food store to check out what kind of citrus they had on hand. I ended up buying some blood oranges, meyer lemons, and regular lemons.

I also had to go to the liquor store to buy a couple bottles of Everclear (also known as grain alcohol, complete with 2 cautions: 1) be careful it's flammable; and 2) excessive imbibing can result in serious health effects. These are the things you need to worry about when your alcohol is 190 proof). Let me tell you, if you're trying to buy Everclear, and don't have a fake ID or look 22 years old, you get some pretty funny looks.

When I finally got down to the making, the whole process took about 45 minutes, including the cleaning of jars, peeling of fruit, and pouring of alcohol. Now, we need to wait a couple months for the fruit to infuse the alcohol, then add some simple syrup, and let mellow again for a while. It will definitely be ready for the summer, just in time to mix with some tonic and put over ice for a refreshing cold beverage.

With any luck, it will taste as good as it looks.

From the left: Limoncello (lemon), Limone-del-Meyer-cello (Meyer Lemon), and Arancia-Sanguigna-cello (Blood Orange).