Ferrand Dry Curacao Triple-Sec, 70cl

Product Information

The chief grape used to make cognac is Ugni Blanc, an acidic white grape that produces a low-alcohol wine well-suited for distillation. Wines made from other grapes, such as Folle Blanche and Colombard, may also be distilled in the mix. Grand Marnier orange liqueur is a strong, but smooth liqueur that effortlessly blends citrus notes with that of tons of Cognac,” says Juan Fernandez, beverage director at The Ballantyne Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. The flavor of Triple Sec is very orange-forward and citrusy. Its strong orange aroma comes from the essential oils in the peel of premature oranges. We have a much more indepth article on triple sec if you'd like to sink your teeth into this subject, but the short answer is triple sec is a dry orange liqueur made using a neutral beet sugar distillate. Dried orange peels are steeped into this neutral spirit, which is then redistilled. The result is a very intense orange flavoured spirit that's blended with more neutral spirit, sugar and water to give us triple sec. The sweetening requirement is what makes cordials distinct from dry flavored spirits such as gin. In the United States, where “cordial” and “liqueur” are used interchangeably, regulations require that they contain at least 2.5 percent sugar by weight and be made from “fruits, flowers, plants, or pure juices therefrom, or other natural flavoring materials, or with extracts” of those materials. In Europe, cordials refer to non-alcoholic drinks. We use the terms based on U.S. regulations.

Fun fact: the bottle was originally named Curaçao Marnier because of its high brandy content, but after Cesar Ritz, the founder of the Ritz Hotel, dubbed it a "grand liqueur," the name was changed. Even classic desserts like Crêpes Suzetteuse a Triple Sec like Cointreau to bring a complex orange taste to the dish. Other dessert ideas are stuffed French Toastor Mango Flambe. Notable brands The wine is distilled twice in a Charentais pot still. Some producers will distill the wine with its lees, the dead yeast deposits remaining from fermentation. This process produces a full-bodied spirit that develops rich dried fruit and nut qualities during barrel maturation. Other producers may remove the lees to make a faster-maturing, lighter spirit. Although the final product may be as much as 72 percent alcohol by volume, producers usually distill it closer to 60 percent ABV. Some other liqueurs are also sold as curaçaos with different flavors added, such as coffee, chocolate, rum and raisin. Pierre Ferrand, a cognac and dry Curaçao brand, produced a less sweet "Ancienne Méthod" curaçao using 1800s techniques. [15] See also [ edit ]

Some consider the taste of both liqueurs identical and claim that the term secfor dry is nothing more than a marketing gag. Yet, when tasting them side by side, you can clearly detect the differences. Appearance In the early 16th century, the Dutch brought the Seville orange to Curaçao Island (the C in ABC). They wanted to grow them there and profit from the sunny climate. The Dutch West Indies Company even monopolized the island’s resources for spices.

As you can see with both Curacao and triple sec, drinks are often one of these and known by a brand name such as Cointreau or Bols. So is Cointreau the same as triple sec? To make Curaçao, one uses the peels of oranges, just like with its French relative. However, the oranges used to make Curaçao are of a very particular variety: the Laraha orange growing on the Dutch ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) islands in the Caribbean. The owner of Pierre Ferrand told me the name refers to the three separate distillations of the peels and spices that go into making it, which are later blended. It gets its particular flavor from a bitter, green-skinned variety of oranges, called Curaçao (or Laraha) oranges, whereas most other orange-based liqueurs are made from other types of sweet or sour oranges. The base spirit used for Triple Sec usually is derived from sugar beet because it tastes neutral and does not spoil the orange aroma. This base spirit gets infused with the green bitter orange peels. The result is then distilled three times.The liqueur is mentioned several times under the spelling "curaçoa" in William Thakeray's Vanity Fair of 1847–1848 as a drink taken by dissolute young men. For example, Lady Jane Southdown pays her brother "a furtive visit in his chambers in the Albany; and found him – O the naughty dear abandoned wretch! – smoking a cigar with a bottle of curaçoa before him." [11] Explaining Orange Liqueur can be as easy or as complicated as you want, but we will start with the short and easy version. Triple Sec and Curaçao are produced with a neutral spirit base that gets infused with the peels from oranges. The terms Triple Sec, Curaçao, and orange liqueur are often used interchangeably. All three are fruit liqueurs with Orange liqueurdescribing the general subcategory of sweet liqueurs with orange flavor.

There are two other main curacao variations available that carry the name. The first is the Blue Curacao which Bols has made famous. It is usually of lower alcohol content than other styles, 20-25% typically, but has the orange flavour. Triple Sec was invented in 1834 in the kitchen of distiller Jean-Baptiste Combier and his wife, Josephine. They combined Hawaiian oranges and sweet Valencia oranges, creating a distinct flavor through their three-step distillation method. Savor: The ending rounds out sweet – but slowly turns pithy. The flavor of candied oranges and slightly nutty cognac lingers. Cointreau is an Orange Liqueur, a Curaçao Liqueur and a Triple Sec. But, they do not use the Laraha orange, so they are not a genuine Curaçao Liqueur

On It’s Own: Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

Smell: Macerated orange peels float out on the nose and mix with various orange notes. Candied characteristics layer with touches of pith and notes of nuttiness and grapes build around the edges. To start – let’s just establish what curaçao is. Historically speaking, curacao was a liqueur made from the Laraha orange’s extract. This bitter orange wasn’t much for eating, but the peels were aromatic. Figuring out this could be made into liqueur with neutral spirits or brandy, curaçao was born. Supposedly seeking to help give some mystique, Bols is said to have added the blue coloring to the concoction.

Triple Sec usually is see-through, while Curaçao is mostly sold as colored versions (blue and orange). Even the market leader in the Triple Sec category, Cointreau, is colorless despite many thinking otherwise due to the iconic orange-colored bottle.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 Curassuviensis, a bitter orange first discovered in Curaçao, a Dutch West India Island. Colors, red, white, blue, green and orange