Shasta Smith, Owner/Maker
My Limoncello Story
Iâll be honestâI didnât plan to become the limoncello guy. I didnât wake up one day and think, âYou know what the world needs? More lemon liqueur.â But here we are. It all started when I watched the manager at my new bartending job make limoncello. He stood there peeling lemons into sugar and explaining the process in great detailâat least, I think he was. All I remember was that classic Snoopy teacher voice: âWah wah wah, lemon peels, wah wah sugar, wah wah wah grain alcohol.â I nodded like I understood, but mentally I was elsewhereâprobably wondering if it tasted as bad as the neon bottles I had seen at every bar I ever worked at but never tried.
Fast-forward four months: the manager quits, and like a gift from the citrus gods, I find his last, forgotten batch of limoncello hidden in the corner of the walk-in looking like potato peels floating in dirty water. We bottle it. We sell it. People love it. And after it runs out I said, âI saw him make it, I can do it.â
Batch One: The Science Experiment
Turns out, itâs harder than it looks. My first batch was… well, letâs say it had character. It was crystalized sugar in lemon-scented gasoline with a personality disorder. But we couldnât waste itâso I doctored it, Frankenstein-style. A little more sugar. A little water. Maybe a whispered apology to the lemon spirits. And boomâit was drinkableâŠish.
Batch Two: Confidence Juice
The second batch? That one hit different. Smoother. Brighter. Customers started saying things like, âWow, this is good!â complete surprise, but gave me the confidence to think about how to actually make it.
Batch Three: The Moment
By batch three, I actually started measuring things. You know, like a real adult. Ratios. Timings. Some basic chemistry that didnât involve guesswork and prayers. (Plus some very technical eyeball approximation measurements.)
And then it happened. A sommelier tasted it and said I should enter it in an international competition. Me. A guy who hadnât barely tasted limoncello in his whole life before this.
Now: Full Citrus Madness
Now I have four flavorsâlemon, orange, grapefruit and lime, and Iâm constantly working on new formulas, and something that tastes like summer had a baby with a cocktail; in a can. Iâm entering every competition I can find, all the time, armed with bottles, formulas, and way too much enthusiasm.
And nopeâIâm not Italian. Not even close. Iâm a Cherokee Jew from Northern California. So if youâre looking for Old World limoncello made with lemons grown on the Amalfi Coast, keep scrolling.
But if you want something made with love, hustle, trial-and-error, and just a little chaosâwelcome to the citrus revolution.
Our Process
At Goldencello, we poured our hearts into crafting something truly special
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People in team
Jeremy Jones
Lisa Reynolds
Anthony Kruz