How To Choose The Best Grain Liquor For Homemade Limoncello

Limoncello is a liqueur that balances its strength with a fitting amount of sweetness, making it a great drink for a fun night out. However, if you've ever wanted to try your hand at making limoncello at home for your family and friends or just for a night in, there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to exactly what ingredients you use. While traditional limoncello is exclusively made from lemons grown on Italy's Amalfi Coast or on Capri, the real difference-maker for homemade versions of the liqueur is actually all about the proof of alcohol you use; ideally, a high-proof grain alcohol should be used to get the most out of the lemons and produce the highest quality limoncello you possibly can.

The reason why high proof alcohol should be used for limoncello is that it's able to extract more flavor from the lemon peels than more standard grain alcohols do. Thus, using a vodka that's over 100-proof – the world's strongest liquor,192-proof Spirytus Rektyfikowany would be more than suitable — or a different kind of grain alcohol like Everclear would work wonderfully well for the job.

Now, if you plan on using the limoncello as a traditional liqueur as it was originally intended, adding just a few cups of water and sugar — which creates the frequent cocktail ingredient known as simple syrup — will suffice to give it a suitable flavor for its role. However, if you're a big fan of the strong lemon flavor of limoncello and want to drink it on its own, you can modify the recipe to make it more suitable for consumption. More specifically, adding more water and sugar will help to balance both the strong grain alcohol that you're using, although it might make it too sweet as a result.

Ultimately, the best way to enjoy limoncello in its purest form, but with a subdued sting, is by making a limoncello spritz. This tactic — which combines limoncello with sparkling water or club soda — puts a focus on the liqueur, providing a sweet and lemony taste alongside a neutral liquid to make it a more suitable drink. You can also add prosecco to the mix to make the drink more in line with other variations of the fizzy drink, like the Aperol and Hugo spritz. Although this will decenter the limoncello just slightly, due to the fact that the sparkling wine contributes its own unique flavors to the alcoholic beverage.