Mister Cocktail

The Sorrento area in southern Italy is famous for it’s Feminello St Teresa lemons, better known as Sorrento Lemons. Enormous, sweet lemons that are specific to that region. The limoncello is created by macerating the peels in alcohol for 4 days. After this it is blended with sugar syrup and water. A lot of my friends make it at home, it’s that easy! Although buying neutral alcohol is not that easy in some countries, like mine.

I once managed to buy 5 litres at a NATO-base in Brunssum in the deep south of Holland after giving a seminar for the bored-to-death soldiers who drenched their evenings in alcohol. Anyway, I created my own limoncello, but after tasting Villa Massa, I realised getting the right ingredients is a bit more difficult here, then it is in Italy!

Villa Massa is an old brand of Limoncello, based on an over-a-century old family recipe dating back to 1890. Of the Famiglia Massa that is. It is created in their family farm (which is called Villa in Italian), located in Piano di Sorrento, close to Naples and in the very heart of the limoncello-area. Because it is made from only Sorrento lemons and also created and bottled in this area, it is one of the very few Limoncello’s that have the P.G.I. mark, a proof of authenticity that a product receives when the ingredients are only from a certain area.

The bottle: The bottle is made of frosted, slightly green glass with a label that displays the entrance of the family mansion. Visually not the most exciting appearance, but it accentuates the tradional area where it originates from.
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The nose: The scent of fresh lemons with a somewhat bitter nose from the zest. This contains some oils that are more bitter, but it all balances out really nice.
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The contents: Lovely and gentle sweet taste, slightly tangerine, typical for the Sorrento lemons. Pretty sweet and enjoyed straight from the freezer, giving it a smooth, silky-like texture. There’s a slight hint of bitterness in it, coming from the essential oils in the lemonzest.
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The mixability: Limoncello is traditionally drunk after dinner, straight from the freezer. But it is also perfect for mixing with soft drinks, like Tonic or in cocktails. See below for a recipe.

Overall: This is a very nice liqueur, well belanced and very accessible. Enjoyed in many ways and  always refreshing.
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How to: A cocktail is best enjoyed in good company, so I will give you a recipe for a nice jug of Villa Masso Mojito, enough for you and your 5 best friends!

Cut 3 nice lemons in quarters and squeeze these into the jug. You can drop them in after this, they make a great decoration with their bright yellow peels. Pour in 36 cl Villa Massa Limoncello – you can pick up small bottles of VM that measure 35 cls, also perfect. Place 10 large sprigs of mint (about 60 leaves) between your hands and bruise them slightly by ‘clapping’ them: this releases the flavour, but keeps the bitter oils inside the leaf! No need to get the leafs off of the stem, just leave ‘em on.
Fill the jug with icecubes and some sodawater and stir gently, combining all flavours. Do you prefer a sweeter taste, use lemonade instead of sodawater.

The liqueur Mandarin Napoléon is of course inspired by the famous French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born on Corsica in 1769. Corsica happened to be the perfect place to grow tangerines, that initially came from China and symbolic for wealth and luxury. It was Antoine-François de Fourcroy, a chemist and teacher, who introduced a distillate of tangerines to Napoléon while being a high representative in his government. The brand Mandarin Napoléon is based on his recipes and they added cognac to the distillate of tangerines, after which they let it rest in barrels for up to 3 more years.

The combination of the cognac and the distillate is a quite light and refreshing yet mature taste. There’s a slight bitter note from the oils in the skin of the tangerine and it nicely balances out with wood-tones from the cognac.

Method:
The sour is pretty much the basis for half of all cocktails in the world, if not more: some sugar, some sour and a base spirit. And there are endless variations to this theme. Today I’ve made the Mandarin Sour for myself – it was the first day of spring and I felt like drinking this cocktail, which adds a great fruity flavour to the sweet n sour. Here’s how you get to work: Get a cocktailshaker and add 50 ml/1.5 oz Mandarin Napoléon, 40 ml/1.3 oz fresh lemonjuice and 20 ml/0.7 oz sugarsyrup in a shaker. Also add 1-3 dashes of Angostura Bitters, depending how much depth and complexity you’d like to add to the drink. Now fill your shaker with icecubes and shake well. Make sure you have a large tumbler ready. If you’ve got plenty of icecubes, you can fill this with fresh icecubes and strain the cocktail over the ice. However, if you’re short on supplies which happens a lot more often, then just pour the entire drink in the glass, including the ice. Serve with a straw and a cherry if you still have that jar in your fridge.