ardenstone » limoncello

Forbes – 10 Cool Summer Cocktails

Ardenstone — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 22:13:35 +0000

I live in San Diego, home of temperate weather nearly all year around. The flip side of this is that, when it’s hot and humid like it is now, I really feel it. We don’t even own a fan; normally the breeze from the sea is enough, but today it’s 85 degrees and muggy in our apartment. Naturally, I did what any thinking person does in situations like these: searched the internet for a cooling cocktail. The one I ended up drinking is an upcoming post, but my runner up was from Forbes 10 Cool Summer Cocktails list. The fancy picture is from that article and shows a drink I plan on making soon: the Campari Smash. It’s mainly Campari and limoncello, both of which I happen to have. They have lots of other drinks, so take a look, make a drink, and cool down.

Campari Smash (from Forbes):

4 lemon wedges, seeds removed if possible
1 1/4 ounces Campari
3/4 ounces limoncello

Muddle the lemons in a shaker. Add Campari and limoncello. Shake lightly. Serve in a rocks glass.

Steeping liquor update

Ardenstone — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:44:33 +0000

So the batch of not-steeped-for-long-enough limoncello (see previous entry) finished and was surprisingly tasty. It was well received and is long gone at this point, although I played around and made another batch (pictured here in an old tequila bottle) which is also good. I’m holding off on a longish post as I have another variant to try, but if you’re looking for an easy to make, tasty liquor limoncello has my recommendation.

As for the tequila por mi amante, it looks and smells delicious. The smell of strawberries leaps out of the jar when I open it to peer inside, anxiously waiting out at least three weeks. I can’t wait to give it a sip!

Beginnings

Ardenstone — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 07:51:24 +0000

I just started two projects: A rushed limoncello and a less rushed Tequila por Mi Amante. Both are concoctions I’ve never had the pleasure of making myself, nor even tasting for that matter. Limoncello is an Italian liquor based on, you guessed it, of lemons and sugar. Or at least that’s what I’m told. I’ve been seeing it around for a while and wanted to try it out for the fabled Fig Party we knew was coming up sometime. Unfortunately, we didn’t know quite when the party would be, and I waited until we heard, and it’s this Saturday. Decent limoncello seems to take a week minimum, often a bit longer, so we’ll see how this goes. If anyone has any fig-themed cocktail ideas, I’d love to hear them.

To start the Limoncello I removed the peel from 13 oranges (I did a dozen, and then added one more to help speed things up). If you’re trying this at home, be sure to avoid getting any of the white plinth as it theoretically will add bitterness to the drink. I then added vodka to it. I’ve read that 100 proof vodka is the way to go, but I used what was at hand.

The leftover lemons seemed like a shame just to waste, so I ended up squeezing most of them and freezing the juice in an ice cube tray. I have some doubts as to when or if those will actually be used, but Christy suggested it and this seemed like a good idea at the time. Perhaps throw a cube in a glass of iced tea? My family are huge fans of half lemonade/half iced tea so perhaps my parents will use them when there here in a couple of weeks.

The limoncello should steep for a week, but as it is it will sit for a few days and then I’ll add a good bit of simple syrup and chill before the party. It’s pretty simple, and at least this version will give me something to compare to if I feel the need to peel another dozen lemons and try this again sometime.

As far as that red jar; I first heard about Tequila por mi Amante from the Cocktail Chronicles’ post. It’s basically just tequila that sits in a pile of strawberries for a month. Simple and delightful sounding. Unfortunately, mi amante is on some high-powered drugs at the moment, so the tequila will probably be more for me than for her. That being said, I’m really excited to see how it turns out. I ended up slicing the red parts off a bunch of strawberries and discarding the inside white (meh, store bought strawberries). Hopefully this will compensate for them not being picked fresh out of someone’s garden. Once the TpMI is done steeping, it should be ready to serve as is!