Orange Coridals/Liquers

[Phog Allen]

Evening gents. The recent talk of Cointreau and other triple sec cordials as proper ingredients or substitutes for other ingredients in some of our old faves like Gin Rickeys, made me stop and think. How really should you judge a good cordial? Like others I have always just heard most refefrences to orange cordials as "triple sec". Which in this case seems to indicate triple distillation. Now having tasted some real "high qualiy liquers" like Hot Damn and Peppermint Schnapps(yes guys, tongue planted firmly in cheek there)I often wondered what the attraction was. Most of the bottom shelf brands like Dekuyper were just overly sweet concoctions to me. Made for people who wanted to get drunk on some kind of boo boo punch or somesuch. I do notice that some of the better name brands of cordials are quite pricey. I forked over for a small bottle of Drambuie and it was WAY beyond the Dekillya stuff. I have also drank Bailey's Irish Cream and it is better than the lower priced stuff but I often buy them since I am mixing it with coffee or other strong flavoured drinks that usually dominate the show. I also really like Iriish Mist. Those really are the extent of my experience with cordials.

Okay, back to the triple sec. Is there a marked difference between Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and some of the lower shelf brands? I susppose the answer is obiviously YES but do you have a different brand/price for mixing and those geared more toward drinks that feature the cordial prominently? Sorry to ramble but when you are talking 30-45 dollars per smallish bottles of this stuff, you don't need to make a lot of mistatkes.

Regards, Todd

 

[Torcams]

I don't buy the cheaper triple secs anymore after tasting them next to Cointreau. That includes Patron Citronge. Cointreau has the most pure orange zest flavor of any orange liqueur I've tried so far.

I buy the big bottles now (1L+) Worth it for any drink which has orange liqueur as a primary ingredient (e.g. margarita).

 

[stobes21]

Apparently you can make your own at home by infusing vodka with orange zest for a few days or weeks and then sweetening with simple syrup. This might be a cheaper alternative to the expensive stuff but taste as good (or better).

 

[danek]

I've done this, and it came out as what I would call an orange-cello instead of orange liqueur. It looked about like cheap, filtered orange juice. Quite franky, I didn't care too much for it, maybe I used a type of orange that I shoulndn't have - I can't find Seville oranges around me.

 

[The Knize]

America's Test Kitchen did a blind tasting where Cointreau did not finish as high as would be expected. It is my fav though. Sure seems to have gotten more and more expensive though.

I tend to use excellent tequila and fresh juices in margaritas, and I generally do not skimp on the orange liqueur either. Drink are so much less expensive at home than out, and why not the best. I think I can pretty much taste whatever is in a drink. Why would mixing poorer quality stuff together make the whole better. I guess I do not know for other drinks. I tend to drink whiskey/whisky with a little ice. Don't make many gin drinks other than with tonic.

I think if a rum drink called or it I would use high end orange liquere.

Nothing wrong with limoncello (or orange) BTW. But it is a different concept.

Agree that Patron orange is not that great. Really do not know why there are not more Cointreau competitors. Grand Marnier is okay, but the cognac in it is not the best.

 

[Phog Allen]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. I am a bit surprised too that there is not more mention of this liqueur on cocktail forums. If features so prominently in many famous drinks. I did find a few comparison tests and one full fledged trial where about 20 different brands were tried. I didn't know there were so many! One thing stood out very plainly. Unlike a lot of cocktails where the use of super premium spirits is sometimes for naught since their nuance is lost in the mix, triple sec is not one of them. The Cointreau was better for mixing than sipping. The reviewer found it to have the most intense orange flavour of any he tried. Yet it did not translate to smoothness served straight for sipping. I think this is why Cointreau figures so heavily in classic mixed drinks. It delivers it's orange goodness in droves. I think the people who invented these drinks may just have known a thing or two about what they wanted from them!

Cstrother: Completely agree about the quality issue. I have no time for cheap booze. That does not translate to buyhing super premium, collectible type liquors for snob appeal. It just means buying a certain quality to make the experience consistenly great.

Danek: I don't think Cointreau nor Grand Marnier use Seville oranges for their flavouring. One is from Jamaica and I am not sure of the other. I don't know what variety of tree they use. Strangely, from what little investigating I have done in my quest for Seville oranges to make marmalades with, the best seem to be grown in Texax and Arizona now rather than Seville Spain! Trouble is, I can't find a soul in cattle country to order the things for me. Most grocers don't even know what I am asking for. The search continues but I do like your idea of making a liqueur from them. Scratch that or at least some of it. I have seen at least one blog claiming that Seville is indeed the orange variety of Curacao and Grand Marnier.

Regards, Todd

 

[The Knize]

I was thinking about it a little more. I really have not been able to find a less expensive substitute for Cointreau for margaritas. It does not make sense to me that there is not one out there, but seems to be the way it is. I am annoyed that Cointreau has seemed to go way up in price in recent years for no apparent reason.

There was a time when I thought it was silly to use something like Grand Marnier in a margarita instead of Cointreau. Why add cognac flavors to something when all you were really looking for was orange flavor. Gran Marnier seems over-priced to me, too. However, I did start using Gran Gala in margaritas. (Gran Gala is a cheaper Gran Marnier knock off.) I thought it was pretty good. I think I would still prefer Cointreau. And the Gran Gala adds a bit of cognac flavor that I would not be going out of my way to add normally, but the orange flavor of Gran Gala seems much better than any of the triple secs and costs a lot less.

Maybe pennywise and pound foolish. One does not use all that much Cointreau in a margarita compared to the amount of tequila, so the cost of the Cointreau is not so high per drink. But it seems like a lot to shell out for a bottle when it comes time to buy one! I have a better sense of why good tequila is expensive. Cointreau being oranges and sugar seems harder to explain!

On a related thought, it is not that I am against orange and cognac. Sometimes it appeals to me, but I just pour a little Cointreau in a really good cognac. I have have never heard of anyone else every doing this but it makes sense to me. Among other things, Gran Marnier seems overly sweet. This approach less so.

 

[letterk]

I typically use Cointreau, as I believe the better stuff is worth it. However, I couldn't pass up a bottle of Grand Marnier for $30 yesterday.

Gran Gala is a good lesser priced option, and beats out Grand Marnier sometimes in taste tests. A little harder to find.

I actually like Citronge. The burnt orange taste is a nice changeup in some drinks. And it's often on sale for $15.

I'm not a fan of most tripple secs. I have a bunch of bottles on my shelves that never get touched.