Back in December of 2012, Mrs. G-LO and I got together with some friends to celebrate Crafty Day, an annual holiday gathering that involves a plethora of food and drink as well as a bit of crafting (i.e. the ladies of the group get together to make something that they will then gift to friends, teachers, and family). During last year’s Crafty Day, our good friend Rob decided that the men should also do a craft while we sampled whiskies at his basement bar. Since Rob is well versed in the art and science of fermentation (he makes his own wine and occasionally brews his own beer), he decided that our craft would be of the boozy variety, i.e. we would be making a batch of Limoncello.
As we sipped and savored our whiskies, Rob, his brother in law Rash (short for Horatio), and I carefully peeled a mountain of lemons. Once we were done with the peeling, Rob filled a couple jars with the lemon peels, and then filled them to the brim with Everclear. Since it would take at least a month or two for the Everclear to do its job (i.e. suck every ounce of lemony goodness out of the lemon peels), we immediately scheduled a dilution and bottling session for a later date.
In early April, we went back to Rob’s house to finish up the Limoncello. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but those two jars of lemon infused Everclear yielded 20+ bottles of Limoncello (750 ml each). In addition to this, Rob also concocted a vanilla vodka based version that he called Vanillacello (not sure if this is a real thing or not). Never let it be said that Rob does anything half assed.
So here’s my dilemma…
I now have 6 bottles of Limoncello and 4 bottles of Vanillacello in my basement, and I have no idea what to do with them. I realize that I could simply give a few of them away, but before I do that, I am hoping to gather some interesting cocktail recipes that I could include as serving suggestions when I finally start gifting bottles of this tasty stuff to friends and family.
Although I dabble in the occasional cocktail creation, I am far from an expert, so I am asking for a bit of help from you, our Dear Readers. Here’s the plan:
- Step 1: Readers will give us some cocktail recipe suggestions in the comment section or email us directly at [email protected].
- Step 2: We will do a follow up post that lists our favorite Limoncello based cocktail recipes and ask you to vote for your favorite one.
- Step 3: The cocktail recipe that gets the most votes will be featured in a third and final post with full credit being given to the cocktail creator (with proper shout outs on Twitter, Facebook, Drinkwire, Instagram, and Pinterest!).
Now that we have all of that out of the way, let the games begin! Thanks in advance for all of your help and we look forward to hearing all of your great ideas. Cheers!
