Limoncello roundup 2: Bellini and Alberti

Before I review these limoncellos, I want to bid a fond farewell to Danny Devito's Limoncello which has gone defunct. In my opinion, Danny Devito's was by far the best of the commercially produced limoncellos (see my reviews comparing it to Black Heron and Finamoré). It's quite sad to see it disappear. RIP Danny Devito's Limoncello.

So now the search is on for a comparable replacement. Spoiler alert: neither of these are it. Both of these limoncellos are supposedly naturally colored since it doesn't mention any FD&C yellow on the label, though they both seem a bit more yellow than natural. Both are 30% alcohol. Both are from Italy. Unfortunately it's in the flavor that they fall short.

Albertini has a distinct soapy flavor to it, as if they purchased some lemon essence from a liquid detergent company. It's really only good for using in cocktail recipes. You should be able to sip a limoncello, so this bottle is not worth getting, in my opinion.

The Bellini is definitely better. The lemon flavor is pretty good, though there's a slight bitter edge to it and it finishes with a hint of soap in the finish as well. But overall, it's an okay limoncello at a pretty good price (about $17.00). 

Both limoncellos are available at Total Wine in Bellevue and online.  

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.

Limoncello: Finamoré vs. Danny DeVito

Though it's only been a short time since my last review of limoncello, the arrival of summer plus the fact that my previous limoncello post is one of my most visited reviews means that it's time to review another limoncello since people are probably trying to figure out which limoncello to buy. Summer means limoncello!

Finamoré is a relative newcomer to the liqueur world, arriving commercially in Seattle in 2008. It's a local liqueur made good since it was developed by Seattle University grads who obviously were studying more than English literature during their spare time. Seattle University did a story about them somewhat humorously called "Alumni serve up a buffet of tasty and palatable foods and spirits." I suspect I wouldn't be invited back to a friend's house if I used the word palatable to describe dinner. Hopefully the writer was referring to some of the other alumni profiled in the article.

As a I mentioned in my previous limoncello post, Danny DeVito Limoncello is my gold standard of limoncello because of its perfect combination of natural color, amount of alcohol and flavor. So how does Finamoré stack up to Danny?  Pretty well actually. Finamoré is a high quality limoncello made in Italy, so it doesn't have any artificial color or preservatives. At 35%, it has a higher alcohol content than Danny DeVito (32%), which you can taste since it has a slightly hot finish. Finamoré definitely has a lot of lemon flavor, though it tends to be less sweet than Danny DeVito. Finamoré could benefit from an ice cube to help mellow out the alcohol and slight bitterness.

So overall, Finamoré isn't a bad choice if you can't get your hands on Danny DeVito Limoncello. Finamoré is widely available in Washington State, though it's only available in Washington, Oregon and California. As always, Danny DeVito Limoncello is available in Idaho and other fine states. If anyone is heading to Boise anytime soon, could you bring me back a bottle or two . . .? 

Limoncello - Black Heron vs. Danny DeVito

Limoncello (or lemon liqueur) is the alcoholic version of the nectar of the gods. Typically made of only 4 ingredients - lemons, a base alcohol, sugar and water - it is Italian sunshine captured in a bottle. A bit melodramatic you say? Afraid to keep reading in case I start reciting bad poetry about the raptures of limoncello? I'll skip the poetry, but it truly is a marvelous liqueur, meant to be sipped cold (from the freezer) on the deck on a warm summer day.

Despite only having so few ingredients, limoncellos vary widely in how they taste and their quality. My gold standard is Danny DeVito's Limoncello. Produced in Sorrento, Italy, it has the perfect balance of sweetness versus tartness, the right percentage of alcohol, and it's all natural with no artificial ingredients or colors. It was unfortunately only available in Washington for a few years, so you'll have to special order it to get it.

Now there's a limoncello made in Washington by Black Heron Spirits located in West Richland. They call it Lemoncello Lemon Liquer [sic], which made me wonder if they were worried that consumers wouldn't know that limoncello is made from lemons and if they forgot to do a spell check. I was still intrigued enough to buy a bottle.

The first thing I noticed is that this lemon liqueur is artificially colored, which is too bad since limoncello should be a naturally pale golden color from the lemons rather than the color of a fluorescent yellow highlighter from FD&C yellow #5. The next problem is that this lemon liqueur, at 74 proof, has the highest alcohol percentage of any limoncello I've seen. This makes it less of a sipper than traditional limoncellos.

But the real issue is that Black Heron's Lemoncello doesn't really taste much of lemons. It tastes a bit like a flavored, slightly sweetened vodka, with some vague herbal notes which are hard to place. If you concentrate, you may be able to find some citrus notes in the finish and nose.

So I'll continue to sip from my rapidly diminishing stock of Danny DeVito's Limoncello and try Black Heron's in some limoncello cocktails to see if works better that way.

If you find yourself with a limoncello that isn't a great sipper, here's a good cocktail recipe from Food & Wine Cocktails 2005.

Pink Panther
1 oz limoncello
1 oz lemon vodka

1/2 oz fresh red grapefruit juice

1/2 oz cranberry juice.

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist if desired.

And for you really adventurous types, you can make limoncello yourself using the Fine Cooking magazine's recipe.  I've tried it a few times, and while it tends to be quite alcoholic, it's still very good.

The Black Heron Lemoncello is available in a number of western Washington stores, and Danny DeVito's Limoncello is available in Idaho and many other fine states.