Award-winning limoncello company in Ames thrives with Italian family recipe

An Iowa State chemistry professor who grew up in Italy has turned a family recipe for limoncello into an award-winning business.

Sara Pistolesi is co-founder of IA-Native Spirits, which produces Lemoncello 50010 based on her grandmother Maria Pia Murzi’s recipe. That recipe was passed down to her mom, Tiziana Bernotti, and then to Sara herself.

“I grew up watching my grandma making it and then my mom, and eventually I learned how to make it," Pistolesi said. "So when I moved from Italy to the U.S., it’s such a great part of our tradition that it just came naturally for me to make it at home for me and my husband.”

Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur. IA-Native Spirits is the only company in Iowa to locally produce the product.

Pistolesi’s liqueur was first distributed to the public when her friend Alessandro Andreoni asked for the recipe so he could serve the liqueur at +39 Italian restaurant in Ames.

He served it for free to his customers after their meals, and they loved it.

As an entrepreneur, Andreoni immediately thought the limoncello would be a great product, which motivated Pistolesi to start a business with him and their friend David Farrell.

The trio, with the backing of their business, IA-Native Spirits, began researching the production of limoncello in 2018. Their first bottle were on store shelves in November of 2020.

The product quickly caught on, with Lemoncello 50010 winning the Platinum medal at the 2022 SIP Awards, an international spirits competition.

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What makes Lemoncello 50010 special?

“Our limoncello is the only one made in Iowa, the only one in the Midwest,” Pistolesi said.

It’s not just where it’s made but also the ingredients that set Lemoncello 50010 apart.

“Traditionally, limoncello doesn’t have lemon juice in it," Farrell said. "It just uses the peel of the lemon.”

Most people in Italy know how to make limoncello, Pistolesi said, but each family tweaks the process and the recipe a little bit.

“This is one of a kind because it’s my family’s tweak,” she said.

Lemoncello 50010 doesn’t use preservatives or any artificial flavors, aromas or colors, which Farrell said often make other limoncellos the color of a highlighter.

“We use all-natural ingredients, so our limoncello is made like I would have made it myself at home,” Pistolesi said.

Most other limoncellos “have never even seen a lemon. They’re just artificial color, flavor and preservatives,” Farrell said.

She and Farrell make Lemoncello 50010 using space they rent at a distillery in Clive.

Pistolesi and Farrell are both scientists

Chemisty plays an important role in IA-Native Spirits' limoncello process, which can be traced back to Pistolesi's ancestral roots.

Pistolesi came to the U.S. for the first time as an exchange student in 2005, attending the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee for a year. She returned home and finished her Ph.D., then came back to America to start her post-doctoral career at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C.

After five years in the nation’s capital, Pistolesi and her husband moved to Ames to teach at Iowa State University.

Her teaching experience has helped her produce the best limoncello possible, using only fresh ingredients, which leans heavily on the lemon itself.

“It’s all chemistry,” she said of the limoncello. “You use the peel because the peel has both the flavor and the color.”

Industrialized use of artificial color and flavor can mimic those qualities, but Pistolesi said she wouldn’t be able to face her friends and family back in Italy if she cut corners on quality.

“When you infuse the lemon peel in the alcohol, basically you extract these two molecules from the peel and bring them into the solution in the liquid that will give you both the flavor and the taste,” she explained.

Removing the spent lemon peels from the tank of infused alcohol is Farrell’s favorite part of the process.

“They’re kind of translucent when you take them out because you’ve extracted everything from the peel,” he said. “We use a modified pitchfork to take them out of the tank manually,” he said.

Farrell and Pistolesi became friends through Andreoni and both have science backgrounds and careers. An Iowa State grad, Farrell has been a microbiologist at the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames since 2001.

Andreoni closed his Ames restaurant and returned to Italy early in the pandemic but remains involved in the business remotely.

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Where can you buy Lemoncello 50010?

Lemoncello 50010 can be found at more than 100 stores in Iowa. A full list is available on the IA-Native Spirits website.

Hy-Vee, Fareway and Cyclone Liquors are among the stores where the product is available.

Several Ames restaurants and bars serve the limoncello, including Aunt Maude’s, Cornbred, Della Viti and Provisions Lot F.

How do you drink limoncello?

Limoncello can be consumed in a variety of ways, but Pitolesi loves to give a nod to her heritage when she consumes the drink.

“My favorite way is the Italian way,” Pistolesi said with a laugh. “First of all, it needs to be freezing cold. Then pour it in a shot glass, but you don’t drink it like a shot. You sip it.”

The bottle can be kept in the freezer. In the refrigerator is OK, too, she said.

When Ferrell is doing tastings and other events, he said getting Iowans to sip from a shot glass is challenging.

Sipping lets the limoncello settle for a few seconds, allowing the consumer to detect and appreciate the lemon.

IA-Native Spirits offers recipes on its social media and website, ianativespirits.com. Pistolesi and Farrell said the beverage is delicious in cocktails, like Moscow mule, and many dessert recipes, such as lemon tiramisu. It can also be used in savory dishes such as chicken and pasta.

“The product is 60 proof, which means it’s 30% alcohol,” Farrell said. “So for some people, that strong to drink by itself.”

Pistolesi said she’s not a whiskey drinker, but she loves their recipe for whiskey sours that use their limoncello.

“The sweetness of the limoncello takes the harshness away,” she said.

Only the peel — not the fruit itself — is used, which makes the limoncello sweet, rather than tangy or tart, Farrell said. “So in a cocktail, you can think of it as a replacement of the simple syrup,” he said.

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Here are two limoncello recipes Pistolesi and Farrell shared

Lemon Mule

1 ounce limoncello

1 ounce vodka

Squeeze from half of a lemon (about 1/2 ounce)

2 ounces ginger beer

Add ice, limoncello, vodka and lemon juice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with basil leaf.

Limoncello Whiskey Sour

1 ounce limoncello

1 ounce whiskey

Squeeze from half of a lemon (about 1/2 ounce)

Combine limoncello, whiskey and lemon juice in shaker with ice. Shake, strain and serve in a rocks glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Lemoncello 50010 honors co-founder’s Italian family recipe