Limocello First Attempt

I like booze. There I said it. Over the past year I have been experimenting with different cocktails and combinations, going through my Mr. Boston's and trying everything that looked good. Tweaking this recipe and completely changing that one. I decided that it was time to take the next step in my intoxicating new hobby... Make my own booze. Beer and wine are nice and you can make them at home, but I wanted a challenge, the hard stuff. Seeing as the government in its effort to control all things taxable, bathtub gin was not an option.

So I decided to try what was legal (mostly) and make my own bitters and liqueurs. I am still kicking around the bitters recipes (there are plenty of excellent ones on the Internet), but I figured I should crawl before I walk. So I decided to try something a simple as it would be delicious (assuming I do not screw it up): Limoncello.

I found a very simple recipe in what I hope is a good book
Luscious Liqueurs. It required a road trip to Rhode Island (I resisted the urge to write "Rhode trip") for Everclear since the Commonwealth in which I reside does allow it to be sold here. Since I have a metric mind, I adjusted the recipe. I also measured how much my lemon zest weighed for future reference.

Their Recipe
14 Lemons (zest only - no pith, no flesh)
4 Cups of Grain Alcohol
3 Cups of Simple Syrup

My Recipe
175 grams Lemon Zest
1 liter Grain Alcohol
3 Cups of Simple Syrup

I should have taken pictures as I did it, but I will post some soon. Right now, we (yes, I am plural) are in the first state of steeping the lemon zest. It has been three days, I plan to wait three weeks. Then the syrup will go in for another two weeks. After that, the lemon zest comes out. The hooch goes into bottles and into the freezer. Hopefully, come July I will be taking the edge of hot summer nights enjoying a nice glass of it.

Side note:
Juice the lemons and make a mixture of 1 part juice to 1 part simple syrup to 1 part water for some delicious lemon juice. Or, do what I did with some of it. Combine it with lime juice for some homemade sour mix. That way while you are waiting for the Limocello to make you can have a whisky sour, or two, or three, or four... (it steeps for a long time).