Curaçao Liqueur

Curaçao liqueur is a principal-ingredient French-style liqueur. It is made following the French tradition of distilling for flavor at the heart of surfin liqueur manufacture.†
The ingredient of focus for this type is the peel of the bitter Curaçao orange, Citrus aurantium currassuviensis, (named for the island upon which it grows), the product is called Curaçao liqueur. Because orange peels do not naturally ferment, they are macerated in a 'blank-canvas' spirit to capture their flavor. After maceration, a noble bitter-orange-peel spirit is pot-distilled, and then sweetened.
Orginally, these orange peels were, and still are, dried and shipped to Europe. It was in the Netherlands, proper, that a spirit, and liqueur, was first distilled from these peels.
Citrus aurantium currassuviensis is not considered necessary to the identity of Curaçao liqueur, so long as some variety of Citrus aurantium species is used, such as the Seville orange. All varieties are called bigarade in French.
Note that there is a stark difference between Curaçao liqueurs and the orange-flavored brandy products like Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge and Ferrand's unfortunately-named product, "Dry Curaçao" [sic]. Those orange-flavored brandy liqueurs are made by blending Cognac brandywine with Curaçao liqueur.

CRÈME DE CURAÇAO

Crème de Curaçao was normally just called "Curaçao" in its early history, in the French tradition of naming liqueurs after the principal ingredient that they are made of.
After lower-flavor, and less sweet, varieties of Curaçao liqueur became common, this original, sweetest, most rich in flavor, was called Curaçao doux, meaning 'sweet Curaçao." It is also technically Crème de Curaçao.
LeBeuf's 1906 presentation of Duplais' 1860s instructions above are for a finished product containing 560 grams of suger per liter. This is above the minimum amount of 250 grams per liter making a liqueur a crème according to French regulations.
This very rich-tasting, very sweet, expression of the Curaçao orange is the only such product that American bar-tenders used in composing drinks with "Curaçao" in the A.D. 1860s. The rich flavor is the key to understanding the dash of this liqueur in a Fancy Gin Cocktail, or and Fancy Whiskey Sour. An amount in the range of a teaspoonful (being ~5 ml.) up to a quarter-pony (¼ fluid-ounce, being ~7.5 ml.) of this rich liqueur could delightfully accent the entire drink with lovely orange peel hints. When trying to follow a drink recipe found in Jerry Thomas or William Boothby or George Kappeler calling for a "dash of Curaçao", but using a much lower-flavor extra-sec Curaçao liqueur (like Cointreau), or even worse for this purpose, an orange-flavored brandy liqueur like red-corded Grand Marnier, the failure in flavor is catastophic to the success of the original drink.

The following represents both the good news, and the bad news.

Edward Briottet – Curaçao Orange [25% A.B.V., only]

The good news is that one producer, Briottet, still produces a perfect crème de Curaçao of top-quality, uncluttered by the addition of brandywine, that would have been right at home in the bars of A.D. 1870. One might be nervous at the fact that this one bottling is the only high-quality old-fashioned Curaçao liqueur left in the world. However, Briottet seems commited to its continued production. We should support them in their resolve. That can easily be done in Metropolitan France and Overseas France, most of Europe, and perhaps Canada.†
Their product bearing the same name, "Curaçao Orange," but bottled at 35% A.B.V. is more like a "Curaçao sec" than our here-desired doux or crème grade.
The bad news is that Hotaling & Company holds the exclusive right to import this product into the U.S.A., but opts not to do so.†

The following noteworthy drinks (listed by genre, and then in order of fanciness and base) are best made with Créme de Curaçao:

THOROUGHBREDS

Brandy Champerelle
American Pousse Café
Kappeler's Scaffa
Santina's Pousse Café
Parisian Pousse Café

SLINGS

Fancy Brandy Cocktail
Brandy Crusta Cocktail
Fancy Whiskey Cocktail
Fancy Gin Cocktail
Old Manhattan Cocktail
Martinez Cocktail
Shanghai Swizzle

POSSETS

Bass Wyatt Flip

PUNCHES

Old-fashioned Brandy Daisy
Mai Tai Fix
Roman Punch
Shanghai Jalopy [t.g. variant*]

CRÈME DE CURAÇAO DOUBLE-ORANGE and CRÈME DE CURAÇAO TRIPLE-ORANGE

Crème de Curaçao, Double-Orange may have first been made to economize the process by blending less-expensive varieties of bitter orange peel from around Seville with that of more-expensive Curaçao oranges.
It would have been noticed that the resulting product was less intense in flavor, but offered the possibility of needing less sugar to balance the bitterness.
Crème de Curaçao, Triple-Orange seems obviously to have been created in the effort to mitigate lesser flavor with additional aroma, thereby preserving the lesser bitterness and opportunity to use less sugar.
To accomplish the task of increasing the aroma, an orange peel infusion was added after distilliation. This was the third source of orange flavor and aroma used in the manufacturing of the product, therefore the term, "triple-orange." The orange peel infusion was made from peel of Curaçao oranges, often with other sweeter orange peels, and sometimes a small amount of lemon peels, or even orange blossoms.
Curaçao liqueurs marked as being "double-orange" or "triple-orange" were usually yet of the French crème grade for sweetness, but contained less sugar, and less flavor, than the original Curaçao liqueurs. But it remained deliciously more flavorful than triple-sec, or extra-sec, products.

Neither crème de Curaçao double-orange, nor crème de Curaçao triple-orange is available for purchase at the present time. That given, Lapostolle continues to produce large amounts of excellent triple-orange crème de Curaçao. But, you cannot purchase it, because the blend it all with Corgnac brandywine to make their secondary product, first labeled "Grand Marnier" to make it distinguished from their then widely-known "Curaçao Marnier" product. Curaçao Marnier sold in own right as the classic, older, product was discontiuned in A.D. 2017. This came after a history of changing names from "Curaçao Marnier" to "Grand Marnier, Cordon Jaune" to the laughable "Grand Marnier Triple-Sec." Maybe it will reappear on shelves some day bearing the original name it did when it won awards and became indespensible in bars by 1890.

LIQUEUR DE CURAÇAO SEC

Liqueur de Curaçao Sec could also be called "Liqueur de Curaçao Double-sec."
This grade of Curaçao liqueur is roughly in-between the least-sweet crème de Curaçao and a triple-sec Curaçao liqueur in terms of sweetnes, flavor, and aroma. Like crème de Curaçao, this grade is nearly extinct.

Liqueur de Curaçao Sec Bottlings
The following bottling may be the most-available left of the grade.

Edward Briottet – Curaçao Orange [35% A.B.V., only]

LIQUEUR DE CURAÇAO TRIPLE-SEC

Triple-sec Curaçao liqueur is made using three sources for orange flavor and aroma. They are; peel of Citrus aurantium (classically that of Citrus aurantium currassuviensis, being the Curaçao orange); peel of Citrus sinensis (the common sweet orange); and hydrosol of the peel of Citrus aurantium.
The two species of orange peel are blended in proportion according to the distiller's geist-bill for maceration. After the maceration period has ended, a noble spirit of orange peel is geist-distilled. The aromatic orange peel infusion is added to the spirit after distillation. This results in a spirit that has noticeable Citrus aurantium aroma, and only moderately bitter orange peel flavor. The moderate flavor allows for the use of less sugar to balance it. This results in a relatively sec ('dry') liqueur. Therefore the descriptors of triple-orange and sec are combined into the familiar adjectival phrase of "triple-sec" (which is not a noun).
When tasting a high-quality triple-sec Curaçao liqueur, the taster will notice the moderate orange peel flavor, enhanced by significant peel aroma, and then the moderate sweetness. The orange intensity will, of course, be less than in crème de Curaçao, but this also means that the bitterness is much reduced, paired with reduced sweetness. Where creme de Curaçao is like delicious, bitter, sweet syrup that can also be expertly used in small amounts to accent mixed drinks, triple-sec Curaçao liqueur is the the perfect, harnessed expression of the bitter orange peel that can be used in larger amounts, or unmixed as an after-dinner cordial.

Liqueur de Curaçao Triple-sec Bottlings
The following triple-sec Curaçao liqueurs are the sales leaders among those brands offering authentic surfin ('distilled' – in this case from C. aurantium) Curaçao liqueur meeting both the traditional triple and sec grades. The list is presented in order of probable global annual sales amounts.

Brizard - Triple-sec [sic]
Luxardo – Triplum [sic]
Combier - Triple-sec [sic]
Giffard – Curaçao Triple-sec
Vedrenne – Curaçao Triple-sec)
Edward Briottet – Curaçao Triple-sec
G.E. Massenez – Liqueur de Curaçao Triple-sec
Gabriel Boudier – Curaçao Triple-sec
Joseph Cartron – Curaçao Triple-sec
Grandmont – Curaçao Triple-sec
Casanove – Curaçao Triple-sec

At Elemental Mixology Vedrene Curaçao Triple-sec is commonly used in all applications calling for a sec Curaçao liqueur. The last purchased batch of stock is almost gone, and the price has risen in the meantime, of course. This could result in other options being selected, but it is quite delcious.
Boudier Curaçao Triple-sec is also frequently used in all classroom applications. But this product has also risen in price.
It is possible to save a bit of money by using Luxardo Triplum, especially when purchased by the liter. It is good enouogh for most applications, especially in drinks other than Thoroughbreds or Slings.
Massenez's product is also favored by the proprietor for its flavor and, of course, for matching the desire to see the names and descriptions of things fully written out on labels. It may be the best value on the list.
Nothing in the above list, though, is bad in the way of cheap bottlings called only "triple sec" – and which invariably have been compounded with neutral spirit and industrial flavorings (instead of having been properly distilled from bitter orange peels).

The following noteworthy drinks (listed by genre, and then in order of fanciness and base) are best made with triple-sec liqueur de Curaçao:

THOROUGHBREDS

Willett's Gin Champerelle
American Flag Pousse Café

SLINGS

Bird Toddy
Margarita Cocktail [t.g. variant*]
Pegu Club Cocktail
Cosmopollitan Cocktail [t.g. variant*]

POSSETS

1915 Posset
Blue Hawaiian Batida [hand-shaken]

PUNCHES

Sidecar Daisy
Vanilla Punch
Margarita Daisy
New Amsterdam Winter Fix
Pegu Club Daisy [t.g. variant*]
London Cosmopolitan Daisy
Balalaika Daisy
Cosmopolitan Daisy
Exclamation Daisy
Knickerbocker Punch
Tropical Itch Fix
Corpse Reviver Sour
Long Island Collins

LIQUEUR DE CURAÇAO EXTRA-SEC
Liqueur de Curaçao Triple-sec
Extra-sec Curaçao liqueur begins with the innovative launch of Cusenier "Curaçao Orange, Extra-sec" in the year A.D. 1882.
It continues with Cointreau abandoning the triple-sec range and following Cusenier into the extra-dry range in the year A.D. 1923. They are said to have done this because an English wine buyer had warned them that evolving British preference would soon abandon Cointreau unless it was altered to match the drier grade that Cusenier had established.
The extra-dry story ends with Pernod purchasing the Ricard group (who then owned Cusenier) in the year A.D. 1975, and promptly discontinuing it.
The extra-sec grade of Curaçao lqieur is made using the same methods as for Triple-sec Curaçao liqueur, but even more radically reducing the bitterness in order to require even less sugar. More hydrosol of orange is used to compensate with increased aroma.
The difference allows Cointreau to advertise its contrast with things it calls "triple-sec" and "Curaçao" without fully describing the nature of that contrast. The consequence of being extra-dry is, of course, having less flavor. But extra-sec Curaçao liqueur does render more aroma in consolation. It can be delightful as a cordial, all by itself.
When tasting extra-sec Curaçoa liqueur, the same sort of experience will be had as when tasting a high-quality triple-sec Curaçao liqueur, but with slightly more aroma, and even less flavor, bitterness, and sweetness.

Liqueur de Curaçao Triple-sec Bottlings
Unless Pernod-Ricard relaunches the classic Cusenier product that was the first of the type, only Cointreau's product is likely to exist for purchase in this grade.

Cointreau – Liqueur

* Transgenre variant made by using the same alcoholic base, modifiers, and accents as the pre-existing drink, but with differences in ingredients necessary to make it into an altogether different genre of drink. The Elemental Mixology creation of the Baltimore Cocktail by leaving out the eggs and cream of the Baltimore Eggnog, and adding bitters, is an example.

† Liqueurs simply compounded, even of authentic and natural ingredients, are traditionally considered "imitation" in the French tradition. Most of the so-called "Curaçao" or "triple sec" products that have led many to consider the entire type low in quality, are in fact "imitation" products, according to French traditional standards.

‡ I can only imagine that they do not trust their staff to be able to communicate the unique culinary, mixological, and historical value of the product to you, the drinker or bar-tender, because they assume you will inevitably remain too ignorant and stupid to understand. It is even possible that Hotaling & Company themselves, from bottom to top, lack even a single person on staff who is aware of these things with any sort of depth. The "Curaçao" of Thomas and Kappeler is but one executive-decision away from your grasp, American bar-tender. Good luck!.
It seems that one might be able to order the Briottet product from their Candian representatives from using this web page. Before paying, one must verify that the product is available, is not the Bergamot product pictured, is 25% A.B.V., is not blue, and can be shipped to your location.