Limoncello roundup - Averna, Pallini and more

The sunny skies outside tell me it's still limoncello drinking weather, so I thought I'd do one more post about limoncello to help you buy the right bottle. Since Danny DeVito's (the best limoncello in my opinion) isn't available in Washington State, I thought it worth a quick evaluation of the rest.

First, one more tasting review. I recently purchased a bottle of the Averna Limoni di Sicilia, thinking that since Averna is a decent label, they'd make good limoncello. I was sadly mistaken. It smells like Crystal Lemonade Light and has a strange citrus taste that doesn't have any of the snap of good limoncello.

So with that final taste test out the way, my list of limoncellos generally available in Washington state are, in order of quality, as follows:

1. Finamoré (see my previous review)
2. Pallini  - while artificially colored, this is still a nice, medium-bodied limoncello with low alcohol (26%). Imbibe magazine recently reviewed a number of limoncellos, and gave Pallini 3 1/2 stars (out of 5), describing it as a "well-balance limoncello that fares well as a digestif or in cocktails." The Imbibe limoncello reviews are unfortunately not online, otherwise I'd link to them.
3. Gioia Luisa Lemoncello and Caravella - Neither are particularly exciting. Imbibe reviews Caravella as needing more depth and balance and gives it only 2 1/2 stars. The Gioia is probably a better bet.
4. Black Heron (see my previous review - it's not worth getting)

There are a few other bottles of limoncello available at miscellaneous stores which may be of better quality. So for instance, the Luxardo and Russo limoncello are both quite good, but are only available at 4 or 5 stores. I particularly liked the Russo since it's not artificially colored and has a nice balance of sweet and tart flavors.