Stella and George Dongarra, Chef Paul's Grandmother and Father, circa 1941.

Ingredients:

• 1-750 ml bottle of grain alcohal (Warning very flamable)
• 5- lemon zests, if you can get untreated lemons from California or Flordia these work the best
• 12 ounces of sugar, or 1.5 cups for those without a scale
• 1125 ml water, that’s one and a half the amount of grain alcohal used
• Steep the zest in the grain for at least 5 days or up to 20.

This can be either at room temperature or under refridgeration
At the end of the desired steeping period, dissolve the sugar in a large non-reactive pot over heat. Be careful that the grain is covered and well away from the heat at this stage. You will see the sugar start to dissolve and become cloudy in the water. Keep heating and stirring until the solution is clear. Cool. Drain zest from grain and mix the flavored alcohal with the sugar syrup. Bottle and serve ice cold from the freezer