Limo Ryed

A Lemon and a Cello Walk into a Bar

This time of year, our lemon trees are weighted with fruit all ripe at once, so rich with yellow they look like their foliage hopes to camouflage a school bus. Fortunately, it’s not much of a chore deciding what to do with all that deliciousness. I’m here to suggest limoncello, that sticky Italian liqueur. I like the idea of messing with two old sayings at once: If life gives you lemons, lemonade is dandy, but limoncello is quicker.

Note there are as many limoncello recipes as there are people who buy some and pretend that they made it themselves (locally, Ventura Spirits crafts a delicious one). There are arguments over which kind of lemon to use, but as usual, I’m fond of Meyers, as they hit a lovely sweet-tart spot on my taste buds.

There are arguments over whether one should use vodka as the infusing spirit or Everclear—pretty much “raw” grain alcohol (it warns you how flammable it is right on the label). You can get 151 proof Everclear at BevMo! and other stores. I’d argue the higher the ABV of your infusing alcohol, the more lemon you will extract, so go for it. (Note: I did make four variations to test my taste beliefs: Meyer/vodka, Meyer/Everclear, Eureka/vodka, Eureka/Everclear. All were tasty, so there’s no loser option.)

The recipe for making the limoncello is quite detailed, so I’ll just point you down to the article’s end for that. Do note it does take time—you want to let the lemony goodness infuse into the alcohol, and then age does not wither this high alcohol product. Simply put, you can’t make this cocktail minutes after you started the limoncello. (Which is why many people just buy some, at least to tide themselves over.)

Limoncello, of course, is a fine digestif all on its own and works in spritzers and all sorts of mixed drinks (consider a margarita variation with limoncello in for the lime juice, say). But I hoped to come up with something particularly apropos for Santa Barbara “winter,” when you need a bit of warmth, but in a town like ours elegance is also always in season. The drink also features a Los Angeles product, Greenbar Distillery Grand Hops Amaro. Whoever decided that the bitter of hops deserved to star in an amaro deserves many kudos.

The Limo Ryed Cocktail offers pucker first, what with the double dose of lemon. But the limoncello, despite its alcoholic kick, is quite tempered by the sweet of the simple syrup you mix into it, so it’s the fresh juice that gives the most citric acid zing. Add it all up, and you get a rich golden taste. The mid-palate of the drink is all rye whiskey, a breadiness, some toast, some oak, some grassiness. Then the finish sings like solving a complicated math problem: more of that wide range of citrus notes, the twist of the Hops Amaro with some pine and grapefruit, but just enough sweet to leave you licking your lips. For a simple concoction, it piles on the delicious contradictions.