Our Guide to Orange Liqueurs

Orange Liqueurs are an essential item in any well stocked bar and there are many popular orange liqueur cocktails such as the Anejo Highball and the Baja Gold cocktail. There are many orange liqueurs available today and the list continues to grow. The perception of orange liqueur varies greatly from the premium brands such as Cointreau, Grand Marnier and Royal Combier to the bottom shelf options normally used to create garish, sticky-sweet, bright blue cocktails.

There has often been some confusion when discussing orange liqueurs and differentiating between triple sec, curaçao liqueur etc. To begin with, orange liqueur is actually the easiest term to define. It is simply a sweetened alcoholic beverage with orange flavouring. The alcohol itself can be either a column-distilled neutral spirit or it may be a pot distilled spirit, such as grape brandy.

Curaçao Liqueur originated on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. It is said that that when the Spanish planted orange trees there the climate produced a far more bitter fruit that was found to be better after drying and eventually the dried peels were used in making this new liquor. Curaçao was also used in classic cocktails such as the Brandy Cocktail as a sweetener prior to the popularity of vermouth. At the turn of the 20th century, Curaçao producers began selling the spirit in a variety of colours and today it can be found in orange, blue and green version, with blue Curaçao being used to make famous orange liqueur cocktails such as the Blue Lagoon and the Electric Iced Tea.

Triple Sec originated as a French product. It was originally made with less sugar than used in Curaçao liqueur, which led to the name sec, which means dry. No one knows with any certainty where the designation “triple” originated. Triple Sec is not triple-distilled, as some people claim, and nor is it thrice as dry as Curaçao or other liqueurs. The most reasonable explanation is that “triple” was mere marketing and a way to “jazz-up” new products.

Perhaps the two most famous brands of orange liqueurs are Grand Marnier and Cointreau. Grand Marnier is an orange liqueur in the Curaçao tradition, and Cointreau is a triple sec. Grand Marnier, specifically used to make the Grand Orange Collins cocktail, is a blend of cognac and triple sec, so although it’s not a traditional Curaçao, it’s a similar product. Cointreau, on the other hand, is straight up a triple sec. In fact, Cointreau initially called itself Cointreau Triple Sec, and you can sometimes find old-school, collectible bottles with this labeling on Internet auction sites.

When considering orange liqueur cocktails, it is wise to keep both a light and dark based orange liqueur in your bar stock. The most obvious premium choices would be Cointreau (light) and Grand Marnier (dark), though there are other brands that are equal in quality to both, including Clement Creole Shrubb, Combier Liqueur dOrange and Patron Citronge. Always take note that a cheap orange liqueur has the ability to ruin an otherwise perfect cocktail!