Product: Luxardo Limoncello Producer: Luxardo Distilleries Approximate Retail Value: $21.99 for 750 ml Category: Liqueur Country of Origin: Italy Reviewer: D. Kearney Sparano The F Words: Flavor – Lemony, sweet. Feel – Syrupy, smooth. Finish – Easy, soft.

Rating:

Like other Americans, I first became aware of limoncello after the ramblings of Danny Devito on The View in November 2006. Showing up apparently still drunk from hanging out with George Clooney he said, “I knew it was the last seven Limoncellos that was going to get me.”

My next encounter with the liqueur happened about seven months later. I was studying in Florence, Italy at the time. While there, I and several other students happened upon a restaurant named Bucca Mario. It is quite possibly the best restaurant in the city. The meal was superb. So good, I ate there two other times on that trip. Each meal ended with limoncello and so my love affair with this particular liqueur began. Upon my last visit to Florence, I brought back a bottle to share with friends and family. Not wanting to have to fly to Florence every time I want limoncello, I visited my local store and bought a bottle of Luxardo’s Limoncello.

Limoncello is a simple liqueur made from lemons, alcohol, water and sugar. It is a digestif or “digestivo,” which is to be had at the end of a meal to aid digestion. So simple is it to make that many families often do so in Italy. A Google search will result in numerous recipes. The Luxardo family has been in the liqueur business since the 1820s. They have survived the Austro-Hungarian Empire and two world wars. Currently, the fifth and sixth generations run the company. Aside from limoncello, the Luxardo distillery produces Maraschino (which expanded their name worldwide), Sambuca, Amaretto, Grappa and Passione near.

There are many ways to drink limoncello. For this review, I will be sampling limoncello several ways: as a “digestivo,” cold in a chilled shot glass and twice as an aperitif, two cocktails, one titled “refreshing” that adds gin and tonic water and the other “lemon tart” with vodka.

Having chilled the shot glass, pouring the limoncello results in a beautiful image of a frosted glass emitting a practically fluorescent yellow. The aroma and taste is sweet lemon. It goes back easily and travels over the tongue smoothly. It’s sweet, not tart and delicious if you like lemon. “Refreshing” lives up to its name. Made in a tumbler glass, it consists of three parts gin, twp parts limoncello and five parts tonic water. It tastes like an extra lemony gin and tonic. The “lemon tart,” though, isn’t as good. It consists of 2 ounces of vodka and ½ an ounce of limoncello. The vodka overpowers the limoncelllo, which is a shame. I don’t recommend this cocktail if you want to taste the limoncello.

I highly recommend Luxardo Limoncello. It is an excellent digestivo for fans of anything lemon flavored. If you are not a fan of lemon, I would urge you to try it any way because it is always good to broaden your horizons. The flavor is simple and straightforward, which makes me think that it will be decisive. Because of its sweetness, as always I would stress caution. It would be too easy to keep pounding them and before long you will be Danny Devito. My advice is to enjoy it as a digestivo after a good Italian meal.