Nocino (Walnut Liqueur) from the Cocktail Dudes

Traditional to Northern Italy, walnuts for this wonderful liqueur are customarily harvested on San Giovanni Day (June 24th) and the aged liqueur is first enjoyed during the initial rains of fall or on All Saints Day (November 1st). Also seen commonly in Eastern Europe and around the Mediterranean, this sweet and perfumy liqueur boasts rich notes of forest, maple, spice, nut, and tobacco. You need a high-proof spirit to extract the maximum flavor, but this can be made with either rum or a vodka (neutral grain spirit). We make and enjoy them both ways, and find that we favor the rum-based Nocino for sipping or mixing into tiki drinks or other rum cocktails, while the vodka is more versatile in cocktails featuring other base spirits. As with most home-made liqueurs, this will deepen and richen in flavor as it sits in the bottle - coming into its own at 6-months and beyond. Enjoy!

[@Kooma4Yew1600]

wonderful tutorial gents. I was turned into nocino a few years back

[@miamitreasurehunter]

Amazing. Thank you for showing this. I am definitely going to make this.

[@ninecreekfarm]

Clearly the best video on making Nocino on UA-cam, but it needs a better thumbnail!

[@kevinbel5661]

Great syrup ! I'm going to try it :)
Is it the same taste or is it much better than the Frangelico liquor ?

[@crissedwards8240]

have you tried accelerating this extraction by using a sous vide process? just curious- it works well on Limoncello.

[@cocktaildudes]

Hi Criss, We haven’t used the sous vide process, but would imagine it would indeed speed things up. Let us know if you try it here. Cheers! Jeff

[@adam871]

You are using english walnuts. this is fine but black walnuts would be more traditional and have a rough texture as well as more tannins. Most importantly when using the traditional balck walnuts one should use less nuts as they are very strong and can result in a liqueur that is too intensely bitter.

[@georgesorossevilnose6478]

How much would you recommend? I am making my first batch and got some vodka and unripe right off the tree black walnuts reering to go

[@stillwilddrinks]

I'm a little confused. Nocino is an italian spirit, why would it be traditional for an italian drink to use american black walnuts rather than the local native european walnuts (AKA English walnuts in the states)