Il Gusto di Amalfi, Limoncello, Italy 700ml

Most fine Italian spirits are great because of the way they balance different components, but limoncello is different. Limoncello is a pure infusion of lemon peel in alcohol, and the quality of the limoncello depends on the quality of the lemons.

‘Il Gusto di Amalfi’ is a tiny company that takes organically-grown lemons from the hillsides of the Amalfi Coast (near Tramonti), peels them by hand with potato-peelers in small batches, and macerates them in pure grain alcohol in stainless steel vessels that look like very small wine tanks. Commercial limoncello is sometimes bitter, a sign that the pith of the fruit has been accidentally included with the zest; hand-peeling avoids this.

This limoncello is a pure expression of a single excellent raw material, and that’s it. Drink cold – but not iced – as a digestivo.