Liquid Souvenirs: Italy

Maintaining your liquor collection, as an interactive exhibit of where you’ve been, affords you a certain amount of bragger’s rights when you have dinner guests So why not take advantage of your duty-free exemption on your next trip to Italy?

Limoncello

The Basics: This sweet, iridescent, yellow liqueur is made from extracting the flavor from lemon rinds. It has a citrus bite, but it isn’t sour since it contains no lemon juice.

Tips of Tradition: Traditionally it is served in small chilled classes as a digestivo (after dinner drink). For the best icy cold taste, keep bottle in the freezer prior to drinking.

The Souvenir: This liqueur evokes sunshine and freshness. Limoncello di Capri, is produced by a factory in Anacapri (Capri’s other town). It is made exclusively with “Limoni di Sorrento I.G.P” (lemons of Sorrento), with the designation guaranteeing the use of traditional techniques, including washing the lemons in water rather than solvents.


Mirto

The Basics: Mirto is a potent aromatic digestivo made from the myrtle plant that grows wild in sunny areas of Sardinia. Mirto Rosso originates from its small berries and Mirto Bianco is made from the leaves of the plant. The taste is rooted in the flavor and fragrance of the land, unique and varied.

Tips of Tadition: Traditionally sipped after dinner as a digestivo, this liqueur is best served ice cold.

The Souvenir: Zedda Piras is the biggest producer of Mirto, with their products marketed worldwide. An alternative is a bottle of Bresca Dorada’s mirto with silk-screened images of Sardinian deer printed on the bottle and the cork bag that it comes in.


Grappa

The Basics: Grappa uses the skins and pulp of grapes that have already been pressed to make wine. This grape-based brandy has an alcohol percentage between 40 and 70% and is usually clear. With origins in Italy’s Veneto region, it was first made to prevent waste at the end of wine season.

Tips of Tradition: This spirit is primarily served as a digestivo to aid in the digestion of heavy meals. Young grappas should be served slightly chilled, and in a tall thin glass. Additionally, it may be added to espresso to create a “caffe corretto” (corrected coffee).

The Souvenir: Grappa produced by Alexander Grappa, another grapperia near Venice, packages their product in unusual bottles that in it self is part of the quality. With a long heritage in the Veneto region, Alexander Grappa employs the skills of the famed master glassblowers from nearby Murano.