March 9, 2012

Ringing in Spring with Cointreau – A Bar Essential

This is the first time I’ve got my hands on an entire bottle of Cointreau! And I plan to use it till its last drop. The packaging is delightful in itself!

Cointreau was the very first brand of triple sec to appear on the market. Made from the same secret formula by a French distiller since 1875 (the company was founded in 1849 and focused on other fruit liqueurs before then), its sophisticated flavor comes from a combination of orange peels brought in from the Carribbean, North Africa, the Middle East, as well as Europe.

According to spirits expert Anthony Dias Blue, the company’s founder Edouard Cointreau was the first distiller to produce such a remarkably dry-tasting orange liqueur.
E Cointreau etched on the bottle:

Cointreau was, in fact, heralded as being “three times drier” than most of its contemporaries. Hoping to cash in on the liqueur’s popularity, opportunistic imitators soon muscled in on the market, producing their own admittedly sweeter versions of “triple sec.” In a move to distinguish his product from all the others, Monsieur Cointreau named his liqueur after himself

The very fabulous Dita Von Teese has come up with her very own Cointreau cocktail called Cointreau Teese and its violet in color!

In addition to being consumed neat (or often on ice), Cointreau is at the heart of many famous cocktails. In the next few posts you’ll find me experimenting and ranting about using Cointreau in different cocktails and drinks. And im not a one to drink alone so its party time! Bottoms up!