Orange Liqueurs

Orange Liqueurs 

There are a number of different orange liqueurs on the market. Two are generic styles: triple sec and curaçao. Triple sec is a clear liqueur made from neutral grain alcohol (essentially vodka) that has been sweetened with sugar and flavored with orange peels. Its name, which means "three times as dry," refers to the triple-distillation process that was originally used. Triple sec is often used in mixed drinks, like the Margarita, or served on the rocks.

Triple Sec

The 19th century Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Combier invented triple sec when he steeped the sun-dried skins of Haitian oranges in neutral spirits then distilled the liquid in copper pots. Triple sec, meaning "triple distilled" in English, usually contains about 23% alcohol and has a mildly sweet orange flavor. The liqueurs range from clear to golden. Higher quality triple sec typically uses aged cognac or brandy as the base, while lower quality triple sec may use low-proof grain alcohol.

Grand Marnier

Grand Marnier, a cognac-based liqueur flavored with the aromatic bitter orange, was introduced in 1827. The recipe remains safely guarded in the hands of the Marnier Lapostolle family. Grand Marnier ages in oak casks for up to a decade before bottling. It contains 40% alcohol by volume, which is high for a liqueur. Connoisseurs enjoy Grand Marnier warmed in a snifter.

Cointreau

Cointreau, a brand of orange liqueur produced in the French suburb of Saint-Barthélemy d'Anjou, was first manufactured in 1875. A popular aperitif and cocktail ingredient, Cointreau is often sipped as an after-dinner digestif as well. Its flavor comes from a blend of sweet and bitter orange peels steeped in pure alcohol derived from sugar beets. Cointreau may replace triple sec in premium margaritas. Like Grand Marnier, it also contains about 40% alcohol.

Curaçao

An official Curaçao liqueur has to be made with the dried peels of the "Laraha". Laraha is a bitter orange native to Curaçao with the Latin name Citrus × aurantium subsp. currassuviencis, meaning "Golden Orange of Curaçao". Spanish explorers brought the bitter Seville orange to the island in 1527, the progenitor of the laraha. Although the bitter flesh of the laraha is unpalatable, the peels are pleasantly aromatic

Controy

Distilled in Mexico since 1933, Controy or Naranja (US Market Name) is an orange liqueur sometimes credited as being used in the first Margarita. For nearly a century Controy was only available in Mexico. In 2013, Pura Vida Tequila Company of Houston, Texas acquired the rights to export it for sale in the United States. For legal purposes, the name was changed from Controy to Naranja, which translates to "orange" in Spanish.

Hesperidina

Hesperidina is a classic Argentine apéritif made from bitter and sweet orange peels, with contain a high number of flavonoids. The beverage has antioxidant effects because of the flavonoids. Its name was taken from the Greek myth of Hesperides.
This alcoholic drink was invented in 1864 by an American immigrant, Melville Sewell Bagley, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bagley was a native of the state of Maine. He had been involved in the dry goods business in New Orleans before the outbreak of the American Civil War. After the outbreak he emigrated to Buenos Aires where he worked at "La Estrella" pharmacy, sited on Defensa and Alsina streets. Bagley started to try with different formulas to create a digestive beverage, using oranges as its main ingredient.The Hesperidina would be born from those tests.

Differences

Explaining Orange Liqueur can be as easy or as complicated as you want, but we will start with the short and easy version.

If you search for a cocktail recipe with an orange sweetener, you will find the following terms:

• Triple Sec
• Curaçao liqueur
• Orange liqueur
• Cointreau

All these are interchangeable in the recipe. Of course, they will give a different taste, but they serve the same purpose. Usually, Curaçaos and Triple Secs are based on sugar cane alcohol and around 40% abv. Grand Marnier is also an orange liqueur, but made with brandy. This will heavily influence the taste of your cocktail so watch out.

Basically, we are talking about Orange Liqueur as a group name. These are liqueurs, where citrus orange peels are being used as a base ingredient in the distillation process. Between the different brands, there are differences in types of oranges used, the combination of different oranges, what kind of alcohol is used, and of course all the other ingredients (sugar, herbs etc.) that ultimately comprise a recipe for an orange liqueur.

Where it all started

We believe that the Dutch trading companies made orange liqueur popular in the 17th century. They found fruits and herbs all over the world during their voyages, and used some to make etheric oils. But one was special: the Laraha orange, which was only found on the Caribbean island of Curaçao (Dutch Antilles). They gave the orange a Latin name that includes the Latin name for Curaçao: “Citrus Aurantium Currassuviensis”. They decided to make orange liqueur with the extract and the Curaçao liqueur was born. Bols claims they used the Laraha at that time, or at least, an extract based on the Laraha. It is unknown if they also invented the name Curaçao liqueur but they sure helped making it popular. Bols does not use the Laraha anymore in their production process.

Cointreau (since 1875) claims to have invented the name Triple Sec, based on the 3 different types of oranges they use. However, Jean Baptiste Combier also claims to have invented the term Triple Sec (triple distilled). But we’ll leave that battle to them.
Marketing drives Curaçao to Triple Sec

When looking at the history of Cointreau labels, they first named it Triple Sec Cointreau. Some years later, they added another term to the label: Curaçao Blanc. We believe that, at that time, the term Curaçao Liqueur was so popular, that Cointreau wanted to take advantage of that success. On later Cointreau labels, they again removed the term Curaçao. Supposedly, because Cointreau wanted to distance itself from the many cheap Curaçao liqueurs on the market.

In the years after, Triple Sec became the standard in the industry which ‘dethroned’ the term Curaçao liqueur.

In 1896, Senior started producing Curaçao liqueur with the Laraha orange peel. Up until the early 21st century, Senior only communicated with Curaçao Liqueur. But as the name Triple Sec became the industry standard and a product name, we now communicate with Curaçao Triple Sec. This is mainly to make it easier for consumers to understand what the product is, the same as Cointreau did in their beginning.

So, basically, the differences in names are primarily marketing driven.

To summarize:

Cointreau is an orange Liqueur, a Curaçao Liqueur and a Triple Sec. But, they do not use the Laraha so they are not a genuine Curaçao liqueur
Senior liqueur is an orange liqueur, using the Laraha, making it a genuine Curaçao liqueur. It can be used as a Triple Sec as it serves the same purpose in a cocktail recipe

An interesting note is that a lot of the Dutch Curaçaos used to be made with brandy. Some believe that the use of brandy is the difference between a Curaçao and a Triple Sec. Although logical that they used brandy in the Netherlands, it was definitely not on the island of Curaçao. In the Caribbean, the resources for brandy were not widely available and sugar cane alcohol definitely was. The original recipe for the Senior Curaçao liqueur also states sugar cane alcohol.

Curaçao: A sweet digestive liqueur made wine or grain spirit-sugar and orange peel. It was first made by the Dutch, who used as a flavoring agent the Citrus Aurantium Curacaviensis, a bitter orange first discovered in Curaçao, a Dutch West India Island. Colors, red, white, blue, green and orange

Triple Sec: A description of white Curaçaos used for a number of brands of Curaçaos
Orange liqueur: Made both in France and Holland, a sweet liqueur flavored with orange
Cointreau: The trebly distilled colorless orange liqueur

What about Blue Curaçao and Dry Orange?

Blue Curaçao is basically an ordinary Curaçao liqueur, colored Blue. However, usually the Blue version has a lower alcohol percentage between 20% and 25% as its main function is coloring. But, you can use Blue Curaçao to substitute a Triple Sec in a cocktail recipe. Of course, this will have a large impact on the color.

Dry Orange Curaçao is another Curaçao variation, which usually has a deeper orange taste, is less sweet and has a dry finish. A Dry Orange Curaçao can even be brandy based. So, using this will have a larger impact on the taste of your cocktail, just like a Grand Marnier would.

We hope this article provides some clarity. There are a lot of different perspectives, but in the end, it’s all about your preference which orange liqueur you want to use in your cocktail recipe.