Last February, Shannon and I walked to the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library to learn about the history of cocktails and, of course, drink a variety of them for free in the classy environs of the material evidence of Humanity’s learning.  The teacher was this dude Benjamin Zorn from Tooker Alley, and his lessons included a few free recipes.  So I took him up on the challenge and decided to make for the holidays and as a gift for my cousin Mitch’s engagement a batch of limoncello.

And, man, was it easy.  I’ve never brewed my own beer nor made rotgut in the tub, but I feel pretty confident that making limoncello is one of the easiest ways you can sex up the booze in your life.  And I’m pretty sure it’s one of the easiest ways to, say, make a unique gift to present to someone and garner ooo’s and ahh’s.  You’ll then inevitably get to drink some of that present, too.  Score.  It’s great for after dinner, sweet and tart and thick.Zorn’s Limoncello

• 15 lemons
• 750 ml 150-proof vodka
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/5 cups water

Zest the lemons.  The zest is just the yellow part of the skin.  You don’t want the white pitch because that is bitter.  I just used a regular grater, usually used for cheese, and medium pressure was pretty sufficient to take off the yellow at each part of the lemon touching the grater.  When I was done, I juiced the lemons in a jar.  Fifteen lemon’s worth of juice is a pretty fantastic thing to have in the fridge.  It made salad dressings and other dishes fantastic and easy for weeks after.

Add the zest to the liquor.  You can really use any 150-proof-plus booze, but vodka—which tastes like whatever you infuse it with—is ideal.  At the newest of the liquor stores around our apartment, I found two options for 150+ vodka.  Stoli was twenty-two bucks.  Georgio was eight.  I went with the former.

Let the mixture sit in a cool, dark place, the longer the better.  I went with four weeks and Zorn recommended three weeks minimum.  After those three weeks, make a simple syrup with the sugar and the water.  Divide the zest’d vodka into two bottles to accommodate the new liquid and, once the syrup is cool, add it to the booze.  I used unrefined sugar, which worked fine, but did have the anomalous effect of making the lemony apéritif look like whiskey.  Oh well.

Let the mixtures sit again for as long as possible, but for at least a month.  Ultimately, you want to strain out the zest through cheese cloth or a coffee filter, and I strained out Mitch’s batch at a month and our batch at about six weeks.  Ours was sharper and more lemony.

Serve chilled.