A few months ago I started some limencello. I found some recipes on the Internet and went to it. Most recipes call for two bottles of vodka, 15-20 lemons, and simple syrup (sugar and water).

This is what I did. I peeled 18 lemons, taking just the zest of the lemon (the yellow part of the peel), and put them into a mason jar. They were covered with Everclear next, right to the rim, and the jar was sealed. It is sitting in the closet now.

For the next batch, since I could only find one bottle of Everclear, I used vodka. This time however, I blended it slightly together before putting it in the mason jar. Today I took this jar out, and filtered it through a coffee filter. The liquid came out clear and dark yellow, with a strong lemon scent. For the simple syrup I dissolved 2 cups of sugar into 2 cups of boiling water. After letting it cool to room temperature I mixed it with the strained liquid, and came up with two mason jars filled 3/4 full. Some recipes call for leaving this mixture sit for weeks, but I will taste it periodically. The other batch should be ready to strain, but that's the good batch with the Everclear, and I want to refine the technique for everything a little before doing that batch up.