Quick Guide to Triple Sec & Triple Sec Cocktails

Triple sec is a strong, orange-flavoured liqueur made from the dried peels of bitter and sweet orange found on the island of Curaçao, which is located in the Caribbean. Triple sec will usually contain anywhere from 15-40% alcohol, making it 30-60 proof, depending on the brand. There are many popular triple sec cocktails, such as the Sidecar cocktail, Flirtini, Marama, Old Lay, Pink Flamingo, Skittle Bomb and the Poinsettia. Although triple sec is popularly known as a cocktail ingredient, it can also be enjoyed neat as a digestif drink or on the rocks.

The exact history of triple sec is a little cloudy however the Combier distillery claimes that triple sec was invented between 1834 and 1848 by Jean-Baptiste Combier in Saumur France. Triple sec was certainly widely known by 1878 as at the Expositions Universelle of 1878 in Paris, several distillers were offering triple sec.

The term triple sec would generally translate into triple dry, however, in the case of triple sec, it actually means that it has been triple distilled. Triple sec will be colourless, unless it is blue curacao, which is a blue coloured triple sec that is sweeter than regular triple sec and used in triple sec cocktails such as the Blue Margarita and the Electric Iced Tea. Popular and more expensive brands of triple sec include Cointreau and Grand Marnier.

We select 3 triple sec cocktails for you to make at home:

1)Sidecar

The sidecar cocktail is a classic mixture of brandy, triple sec and lemon juice – deceptively strong and very tasty. The sidecar cocktail is one of the earliest known mixed drinks and is one of six basic drinks listed in David Embury`s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks (1948)

Cocktail Ingredients

37 1/2 ml Cognac, 12 1/2 ml Triple Sec, 20 ml Lemon Juice, dash Egg White, 5 ml Sugar Syrup, Orange peel

How to make a SideCar cocktail

Chill a coupe glass with soda water. Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin and dry shake for 10 seconds. Add ice to the tin and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Taste. Fine strain ingredients into chilled coupe glass. Zest orange peel into the drink and place orange twist into glass.

 

2)Cosmopolitan

A cosmopolitan cocktail is a sweet mix of triple sec, vodka, cranberry juice and freshly squeezed lime juice. The cosmopolitan is a relative of  other cooler-type cocktails such as the Cape Cod. The cosmopolitan came to prominence in the 90s , helped by its frequent reference in the hit TV programme Sex and the City.

Cocktail Ingredients

37 1/2 ml Citrus Vodka, 12 1/2 ml Triple Sec, 30 ml Cranberry Juice, 1/2 squeezed lemon, 12 1/2 ml Sugar Syrup

How to make a Cosmopolitan cocktail

Chill coupe glass with soda water. Add all ingredients to mixing tin with ice. Shake for 10 to 15 seconds. Fine strain into the chilled coupe glass. Flame an orange peel and place in drink as garnish.

3)Long Island Iced Tea

A Long Island Iced Tea is probably the strongest of all the triple sec cocktails, with a taste similar to iced tea, although the cocktail doesn’t actually include any tea. The drink is made with, among other ingredients, vodka, gin, tequila, rum and triple sec. There are many variations of this cocktail such as the Alaskan Iced Tea and the Beverley Hills Iced Tea.

Legend goes that the drink was invented by Robert “Rosebud” Butt who came up with the recipe as an entry in a contest to create a new mixed drink including Triple sec in 1972. Rosebud was working at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York at the time.

Cocktail Ingredients

12 1/2 ml Gin, 12 1/2 ml Vodka, 12 1/2 ml Tequila, 12 1/2 ml White Rum, 12 1/2 ml Triple Sec, 12 1/2 ml Lemon Juice, 12 1/2 ml Gomme syrup, splash of Cola

How to make a Long Island Iced Tea

Begin by chilling highball glass with soda water and ice. Add all ingredients (except the cola) into a mixing tin. Add ice to tin and shake for 10 seconds. Add fresh ice to highball glass and add splash of cola. Strain the ingredients into glass. Add lemon slice and straw.