Aside from their seaside locations, Byron Bay and Amalfi may would seem to have little in common, but in the Northern NSW town, Louisa McKay is crafting the most Italian of drinks, one most usually associated with the Sorrento coast.

Louisa McKay admits she is bemused by the attention her limoncello brand, Byroncello, is receiving.

“I make a batch and it sells out in seconds,” she says. “It’s insane.”

McKay and her husband moved to Byron Bay from Sydney for the chilled coastal lifestyle eight years ago.

Her story, like that of many other new food and drink entrepreneurs, began during the Covid pandemic

“During the pandemic, we became friendly with people in the hinterland and around Byron who have lemon trees and they’d say: ‘I’ve got a box of lemons I’m going to bring you.’ And I’m thinking, ‘What am I going to do with a box of lemons?’

“So, I made limoncello and began to drop it on the doorsteps of friends and give it to people for Christmas. Then a friend, a real Italophone, who goes to Italy all the time, said, ‘Look, this is really good, have you ever thought about selling it?’ So I considered it and thought ‘Well, why not?’ ”

It’s a very hands-on operation, with McKay, who works out of a distillery in the hinterland owned by a friend, doing everything herself, including bottling and labelling.  For each batch, she takes delivery of about 1000 lemons, sorting and hand peeling them. It’s an essential labour of love, she says.

“At a larger scale, some producers don’t use lemon peel because it’s such a pain to peel lemons.  So, they might make it with juice or use lemon essence, but I experimented and using the peel was the only way to get the standard of product I wanted,” she says.

McKay uses locally-grown organic Meyer lemons, which she says have “a slight mandarin flavour”, and matures the bottle for five weeks.

“That seems to be the sweet spot. The time needed for the oils to be extracted, turning the alcohol to that quintessential yellow colour. It’s a beautiful thing to watch over time,” she says.

Byroncello has already garnered a loyal following including Sydney’s Fratelli and Byron locals Bar Heather as well as Brisbane’s Tartufo, owned by Naples-born restaurateur and chef, Tony Percuoco.

“It’s unbelievably good. Absolutely on par with the top-end limoncello you find in Capri or Sorrento,” Percuoco says of the Byroncello. “There’s very little residual sugar and it’s so fresh – you can really smell that beautiful citrus peel.

He serves it, as they do all over Italy, at the end of the meal, both a palate refresher and digestivo. “Slightly chilled,” but no ice,” is his recommendation.

For more details or to find a stockist, head to byroncello.com.au

Related review: Guy Grossi’s Settimo brings the Amalfi Coast to the Westin Brisbane