Homemade Limoncello

H O M E M A D E  L I M O N C E L L O

With this year’s DIY Christmas gift in full swing, I figure it’s finally time to post last year’s. Gifting alcohol is always an easy bet with my family and friends, but the personalized touches made our homemade limoncello a serious grand slam.

After lots of internet research, Andrés and I decided to use this recipe. We had to go with vodka rather than tradition grain alcohol, since Everclear is illegal in NYC. Since we made about 40 bottles, we multiplied the recipe x 20. We set aside 5-6 hours one day  and zested 200 organic lemons. We added the zest directly to the vodka and let it sit in this jug for a month or so. After that, we added the simple syrup and let it sit for another month.

Bottling was the most time consuming part since we funneled everything through coffee paper filters (our bathroom smelled like lemons for weeks). However, it was also my favorite part, since we were finally able to use the labels that I designed (here).

We also purchased vintage-esque glass bottles and stoppers to maintain a uniform look. I’m all about finishing touches, so I created gift tags that each had a different limoncello-based cocktail recipe inside. We attached the tags to the bottles with little ornaments and twine string (to toughen things up a bit).

And finally:

Not sure how this year’s gift will pan out in comparison – I’ll let ya know in 2013!