# I bought some limoncello; now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245 "2011-05-17T20:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/21 "2011-05-18T10:03:21Z")
You won’t appreciate limoncello as a drink unless you freeze it. Not just chilled - store the bottle in the freezer. At room temperature, it’s just alcoholic lemon juice, tasting like medicine for colds. it’s only good for cooking and it’s cheaper to use lemon juice for that. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/22 "2011-05-18T10:44:35Z")
Well, for what it’s worth, the limoncello _is_ in the freezer. Maybe one of these days, I’ll get around to buying one of those cunning little ‘ice cube’ trays that really makes ice cubes shaped like shooter glasses. That would be refreshing! Now if the damned weather would just get hot. . . I think I’ll try mixing a little of the whipped cream vodka with the limoncello tonight; I’ll report back, of course! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/23 "2011-05-18T13:13:27Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > I want to buy a bottle to see if I even came close to what it should taste like. Don’t - homemade lemoncello is divine, the bottled stuff is, well, bottled stuff. Good enough, but not homemade. I drink it straight, but I think it’d be quite tasty in iced tea. Reminds me - I need to make some more lemoncello. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/24 "2011-05-18T15:18:35Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Don’t - homemade lemoncello is divine, the bottled stuff is, well, bottled stuff. Good enough, but not homemade. > > I drink it straight, but I think it’d be quite tasty in iced tea. Reminds me - I need to make some more lemoncello. Mmmmm, in iced tea! That sounds good. Now, if the damned weather would just warm up to iced tea temperatures! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/25 "2011-05-18T15:26:47Z")
I helped a friend who makes his own. We sat around one afternoon zesting a case of lemons. I believe he then mixes the zest with grain alcohol. I’ve always just swigged it from a bottle kept in the freezer. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/26 "2011-05-18T17:56:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I helped a friend who makes his own. We sat around one afternoon zesting a case of lemons. I believe he then mixes the zest with grain alcohol. > > I’ve always just swigged it from a bottle kept in the freezer. Maybe later I’ll try my hand at making my own. This is West Virginia, it’s _easy_ to get grain alcohol! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/27 "2011-05-18T18:14:37Z")
Back during Snowmageddon / Hothlanta, my girlfriend and I made both homemade limoncello and tangicello (using tangerines from the tree outside my grandma’s home in Florida). We followed the recipe we found at [Limoncello Quest](http://limoncelloquest.com/), which calls for a 90-day soak. Tried some of it just before Easter; the lemon was lovely, but the tangerine was divine. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/28 "2011-05-18T20:48:46Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Some good ideas here, but this one sounds particularly good! This came about because it seems my sweet tooth is decreasing as I get older. I used to be able to drink this stuff straight, but no more. The Prosecco cuts it for me. My birthday is in the hottest part of the summer, and one year I had people over for a buffet style brunch with a prosecco bar. I had lots of cold Prosecco and a big assortment of items to mix with it - limoncello, different tropical fruit purees like papaya and guava and mango, plus a friend brought Fragoli which looked very pretty in the glass with the tiny strawberries floating in there. I had some mango puree left over, which I discovered was awesome when mixed with lemon lime seltzer. Mmmmm! ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/29 "2011-05-18T22:41:42Z")
[puts on shoes, grabs billfold and heads for nearest liquor store] Back soon! karol ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/30 "2011-05-18T23:16:14Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Don’t - homemade lemoncello is divine, the bottled stuff is, well, bottled stuff. Good enough, but not homemade. > > I drink it straight, but I think it’d be quite tasty in iced tea. Reminds me - I need to make some more lemoncello. The reason I want to taste the difference is because my homemade stuff didn’t taste all that great. Maybe it was the cheap vodka. Cook’s Illustrated had a note about using a Brita water filter to filter cheap vodka into something much better-tasting. Maybe I’ll try that next time. And I don’t want to wait two months for homemade. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/31 "2011-05-19T13:31:49Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Maybe later I’ll try my hand at making my own. This is West Virginia, it’s _easy_ to get grain alcohol! 😉 Yep, we Pennsylvanians make runs to WV to get ours! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/32 "2011-05-19T18:16:24Z")
Mix it with chopped up fruit and let it marinate a day. I image any berry (straw, blue, razz) would be great. Allow about 2 tablespoons per cup of fruit. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/33 "2011-05-20T02:49:39Z")
Danny DeVito drunk on [Danny Devito’s Limoncello](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPxC-3B576M)! ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/34 "2011-05-20T02:57:09Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > The reason I want to taste the difference is because my homemade stuff didn’t taste all that great. Maybe it was the cheap vodka. Cook’s Illustrated had a note about using a Brita water filter to filter cheap vodka into something much better-tasting. Maybe I’ll try that next time. From what I have read here on SDMB, you are actually better off just buying a bottle of quality vodka in the first place, after you factor in the price of the water filters (and of course the rotgut vodka) needed to “improve” the budget labels… ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/35 "2011-05-20T03:03:52Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > From what I have read here on SDMB, you are actually better off just buying a bottle of quality vodka in the first place, after you factor in the price of the water filters (and of course the rotgut vodka) needed to “improve” the budget labels… If you are going to make limoncello with it, why bother with anything top end? Just go for high proof and cheap. Any of the desired cocktail and “straight drinking” qualities of highly filtered vodkas are not going to be noticeable after it is long steeped in lemon and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/36 "2011-05-20T03:11:48Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > If you are going to make limoncello with it, why bother with anything top end? Just go for high proof and cheap. Any of the desired cocktail and “straight drinking” qualities of highly filtered vodkas are not going to be noticeable after it is long steeped in lemon. Personally, I wouldn’t. My very first thread I ever started on SDMB was about the differences in budget brand VS top-shelf vodkas, and the overwhelming consensus was that the biggest difference (except for the extremely cheap or extremely expensive labels) was the actual price tag on the bottle. In my opinion, $40 or $50 dollar bottles of “premium” vodka are the biggest sucker move since extended warranties on DVD players… ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/37 "2011-05-20T03:33:27Z")
Yea, I remember that thread, that’s why I’m pickin’ on ya. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/38 "2011-05-20T03:46:00Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Yea, I remember that thread, that’s why I’m pickin’ on ya. 😉 It’s funny, (I am still not too much of a hard-liquor person) but I was just at the package store a few hours back and got myself a bottle of Ketel One for $14.99 on sale, which is actually still more than I typically spend, but I impulsively decided to throw caution to the Dutch wind…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245/39 "2011-05-20T04:18:40Z")
One of the best pizza places in Bangkok is a rather upscale spot called Limoncello, owned and operated by an Italian. It’s sort of a tradition with the wife and me always to order a Limoncello aperitif afterward. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-bought-some-limoncello-now-what/582245.md?page=1)