Or, “When is a curaçao not a curaçao, and should I even care?” 

Full disclosure: I work a few hours a week assisting customers at Pinnacle Wine & Liquor here in Rochester, NY. The orange liqueurs we carry at Pinnacle are pretty typical of what’s available across the country, and I’m linking to Pinnacle’s website to give you (in most cases) an image of the product as bottled and an idea how much it costs at retail. If a liqueur you use or are considering isn’t listed below, please send me questions by comment on this post or email to marty@libationlounge.com. I’ll be happy to answer questions or help you however I can.

Q. What do the Sidecar, the Margarita, the Cosmopolitan, the Surf & Turf, the Mai Tai, the Corpse Reviver (choose your version), and the Long Island Iced Tea all have in common? 

A. They all call for an orange liqueur. In fact, orange liqueurs are ubiquitous in popular cocktail recipes; the online cocktail library, Difford’s Guide, lists no fewer than 600 such recipes—and there are seemingly dozens of orange liqueurs on the market.

To serve our customers’ diverse tastes, Pinnacle Wine & Liquor stocks more than 12 orange liqueurs on any given day, and a question we get regularly is “What’s the difference between <this one> and <that one>?” So here is a brief primer on the cryptic world of orange liqueurs.

“Cryptic? Aren’t they all pretty much the same?”

Fair question, but no. Orange liqueurs vary in the base liquor used (e.g., brandy or Cognac vs neutral alcohol), alcohol content, sources and intensity of orange flavoring, production methods, and quality. 

Because of such differences, they vary widely in price, too. That’s based partly on how they’re made—distilling and aging, for example, increase costs—and partly on longevity and perceived value of the brands.

Three styles of orange liqueurs

There are three primary styles of non-bittered orange liqueurs: curaçao (pronounced “cure-a-sow”), triple sec, and “compounded” orange liqueurs. (There are also orange-led bittered liqueurs—Campari and Aperol, for instance—but we use those quite differently. They’re in the family of amari and aperitivos, and we’ll take up those categories in other posts.) 

Curaçaos 

The original non-bittered orange liqueur, curaçao, was created by Dutch colonizers on the Caribbean Island of (wait for it …) Curaçao as a pot-still brandy flavored in a single distillation with spices and dried peels of the laranja oranges native to that island. Curaçao is not a protected appellation or style, so today there are lots of curaçao liqueurs made around the world and some bear little resemblance to the original. The most common variables are the variety of oranges used—usually varieties from sources closest to the producer—and the base spirits. Purists will look for one that hews closely to the liqueur’s distilled brandy-and-orange-peel roots.

While the Dutch invented curaçao, the French may claim they perfected it. The most famous example of a curaçao is the Cognac-based Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge, introduced in 1880 by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. (If that name sounds familiar, it’s because his granddaughter Alexandra founded the Chilean wine company named Lapostolle in 1994.)

Triple Secs 

Think of triple sec as a second-generation curaçao that originated in France; Cointreau claims it was the first. True triple sec is a higher-proof, more flavor-concentrated liqueur made by blending more than one distillation—usually three, and hence “triple”—with each distillation including a different kind of orange peel in brandy or neutral spirits. The “sec,” which is French for “dry,” is not because there’s less sugar in a triple sec than a curaçao (there usually isn’t). It’s because there’s more bitter-orange flavor in the triple sec, so its sweetness recedes a bit. Triple sec purists will look for the ones that are actually distilled. 

But the labeling of curaçaos and triple secs can get murky. For example, the fine Cognac house Pierre Ferrand produces an outstanding product it calls “Dry Curaçao” (yes, Pinnacle carries it), but the company’s own website calls it “a classic triple sec.” “Dry Curaçao” makes sense because, yes, triple sec is a “dryer” modification of a curaçao—but the nomenclature is admittedly a little confusing. 

“A good orange curaçao adds richness and subtle spice notes to a drink without making it overly orangey, while in a proper triple sec the orange will be more overt. Neither should be too sugary or syrupy on the one hand or hot and harsh on the other.” 

David Wondrich, Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails

Compounded orange liqueurs *named* triple sec and curaçao

As with curaçao, “triple sec” is not a protected style or appellation, so the alcohol content, flavor sources, intensity, and quality vary widely across the many products labeled triple sec. Instead of distillation with orange peels, many products labeled triple sec or curaçao derive orange flavor by methods other than distillation, such as infusion, blending natural flavor extracts with neutral alcohol, or artificially flavoring a neutral alcohol and sweetening it. 

For simplicity, we’re referring to these products, without prejudice, as “compounded” orange liqueurs—i.e., mixed rather than distilled.

You’ll notice in Pinnacle’s product listing that the compounded orange liqueurs tend to be lower in alcohol and price than the distilled products. That’s because distillation increases alcohol levels and cost in parallel, and even in compounded liqueurs higher levels of alcohol increase the cost. It would be entirely possible, technically, to compound a triple sec at 40 percent alcohol by volume (Stirrings Triple Sec is 30 percent), but the compounded liqueur producers are generally formulating to achieve a lower retail price. The choice of compounded vs. distilled or more alcohol vs. less will affect your cocktail outcomes, but it’s up to you what’s good or bad.

Is compounding not as good as distilling for flavor and quality? I prefer to use the higher-proof, distilled liqueurs in my cocktails, but this is also for you to decide.

A word about artificial coloring  

Orange liqueurs right out of a still are clear or at most may have a very pale tint extracted from the orange peels. To brighten up your tropical and tiki drinks, some producers add artificial coloring before bottling, especially to curaçaos—of which there are blue, green, and red ones as well as clear or orange. Coloring is legal in most countries, subject to local regulation of additives, and all curaçaos are orange-flavored, regardless of their color. 

So what’s the practical difference between curaçaos and triple secs?

We’ll quote David Wondrich from the recently published Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails: “A good orange curaçao adds richness and subtle spice notes to a drink without making it overly orangey, while in a proper triple sec the orange will be more overt. Neither should be too sugary or syrupy on the one hand or hot and harsh on the other.” 

Can you substitute a triple sec for a curaçao, or vice versa, if your recipe calls for one you don’t have? Yes, you can, and while fussy friends or family may needle you a little, no cocktail police will call. 

Most recipes call for only a small dose of either, so you could substitute one for the other and adjust the amount you use to get as close as possible to the flavor profile you want in your cocktail. For example, if the recipe calls for triple sec and you only have a curaçao in the house, just bump up the amount of curaçao you use in order to add a little more orange to the drink. If you only have triple sec and the recipe calls for a curaçao, go ahead and use the triple sec, but dial the amount down a little.

What Pinnacle Wine & Liquor carries:

Curaçaos (Distilled)

Product: Bauchant
Base spirit: Cognac
Nation of origin: France
Style: Curaçao
Alcohol by volume: 40%

Product: Giffard Curacao Bleu
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: France
Style: Curaçao
Alcohol by volume: 25%

Product: Grand Marnier
Base spirit: Cognac
Nation of origin: France
Style: Curaçao
Alcohol by volume: 40%

Product: Magdala
Base spirit: Brandy
Nation of origin: Spain
Style: Curaçao
Alcohol by volume: 39%

Product: Patron Citrónge
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: Mexico
Style: Curaçao
Alcohol by volume: 35%

Triple Secs (Distilled)

Product: Cointreau
Base spirit: Sugar beet alcohol
Nation of origin: France
Style: Triple sec
Alcohol by volume: 40%

Product: Dry Curaçao (Pierre Ferrand)
Base spirits: Brandy and Ferrand Cognac
Nation of origin: France
Style: Triple sec
Alcohol by volume: 40%

Compounded Orange Liqueurs

Product: Bols Triple Sec
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: Netherlands
Style: Compounded
Alcohol by volume: 15%

Product: Gaetano Triple Sec
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: United States
Style: Compounded
Alcohol by volume: 15%

Product: Hiram Walker Blue Curaçao
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: Canada
Style: Compounded
Alcohol by volume: 15%

Product: Hiram Walker Triple Sec
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: Canada
Style: Compounded
Alcohol by volume: 15%

Product: Leroux Triple Sec
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: United States 
Style: Compounded
Alcohol by volume: 15%

Product: Stirrings Triple Sec
Base spirit: Neutral alcohol
Nation of origin: United States
Style: Compounded
Alcohol by volume: 30%