Triple Sec generally, and especially Cointreau, have featured heavily on the blog this winter. With winter citrus comes good pairing with a spicy orange liqueur, and that’s the primary theme I’ve explored for the last two months.
Cointreau
Cointreau is a specific brand of triple sec, and it purports to be the original after being created in 1849 (like all booze history, this is almost certainly just marketing). It’s a combination of pure alcohol and both sweet and bitter orange peel, which makes it essentially a bottled infusion.
The difference here is that the infusion happens in distillation directly – the pure alcohol is distilled again with the orange peels (and then the same thing happens a third time) which makes the combined flavor much more intense than it would be otherwise. The exact process has always been a trade secret, much like the big vermouth brands.
By Itself
The nose is boozy orange juice – the alcohol hits your nose hard but is followed by classic orange notes. On the palate, it’s extremely sweet, but full of the entire profile of an orange. It coats your whole mouth, but isn’t necessarily heavy, and it finishes drier than you expect with good orange bitterness.
In A Rickey
The profile of the Cointreau comes through clearly, but it’s softened by the lime juice (the acid fights through the heavy sugar) and it’s opened-up by the soda. You get acid first here, followed by orange. It’s a lot like drinking fresh, carbonated orange juice. The alcohol is hard to find, but still exists on the finish.
Grand Marnier
Grand Marnier is similar to a triple sec in that it’s orange-flavored, but that’s pretty much where it stops. Where triple sec uses sweet and bitter orange peel, Grand Marnier uses only bitter orange peel and adds sugar directly to the distilate of the orange peel. But, that’s only half the drink.
The other half of the drink is Cognac. Exactly which Cognac, no one knows; however, since they call it Cognac, we know it’s grape brandy from that region of France and has been aged at least two years in French oak. So, Grand Marnier is really a 50/50 blend of two different liquors that combine to create a unique orange liqueur. It’s been around since 1880, which is right around when Cointreau was getting commercially popular as well.
By Itself
The nose is more brandy than orange, with the oak coming through clearly and the base spirit being more clear than the orange. On the palate, they switch places – the bitter orange hits first and is then followed by sweet, oaky, vanilla notes. It finishes like a sweeter whiskey.
In A Rickey
The Grand Marnier is still the star here – you taste the oak first, and the wood stays through all the way to the finish. The lime fights the orange on the palate, but both do come through. This is a lot like a classic whiskey highball with some additional acid added.
Who Wins?
As always, it really depends on what you want to do. Overall, I prefer Cointreau because it’s more versatile – all it adds is orange and booze, whereas Grand Marnier comes with a lot of oak as well. That makes it more specific in drinks, so it needs to be managed more closely. But, if you just want a solid digistif around, I highly recommend keeping a bottle of Grand Marnier around. It’s one of the best sips around.