LimonHELLO!

I don't like limoncello. There, I said it. The default response to this is usually, "Dude, you haven't tried the real stuff from Italy." Well, I don't care! It's too fucking sweet! I'll sip my bourbon, thank you.

the removed zest peels were pale and brittle

I've tried it at several parties, each sampling of varying quality. I actually have tried a bottle from Italy- it was a gift- and I'll admit the lemon component tasted significantly better, but it was still like drinking candy. And that's the whole point! I'm not big on a lot of really sweet things, particularly my booze.

filtering before adding the simple syrup

So why the hell have I been trying to make this at home? I thought I could do it better, get that real lemon flavor in there and play with the sweetness. The revelation hit me as I was pouring this absurdly viscous simple syrup into the lemon-infused grain alcohol and I was like, holy fuck, there's no way I can turn this into something I would like. Trying to reduce the sugar in limoncello is like taking the cheese out of a cheeseburger and expecting it to be the same thing.

yeah, that quart jar has been around...

Additionally, the last short batch I made (pictured above) tastes like Lemon Pledge. 100 proof Lemon Pledge, to be precise. Which is hilarious when you present the frosty mason jar to a group of friends and they're all like, "oooooooooh," and then you serve it to them and there's this collective, "OMFG WHY!?" I've confirmed this general reaction at numerous social gatherings over the past two weeks. Needless to say, this has produced more entertainment than pleasure on the palate.

Still, I have another unopened jar that I'm going to let sit for a couple months before I filter and syrup-ize it. Maybe this one will taste better to my friends and they won't hate me, anymore =D