Curaçao Cocktails
22 drinks with this bottle, from the easy ones up.
What goes with Curaçao?
Reach for lime. Curaçao needs something sour to cut its sugar, which is why it sits so well with rum in a Mai Tai and with tequila in a Margarita. Gin and lime work too, as in a Pegu Club. For a long drink, top it with soda or lemonade over plenty of ice.
What does it taste like?
Sweet orange with a bitter peel edge, a bit like good marmalade. Better bottles lean drier, while cheap ones taste more like orange candy.
Which bottle should I buy?
Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao and Senior & Co, which is made on the island with laraha peel, are the usual picks for real orange depth. Bols is the easy one to find.
Goes well with
An orange liqueur traditionally made with the dried peel of the laraha, a bitter orange grown on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Strength runs from about 15 to 40% ABV, and it comes clear, orange or blue. Triple sec is the closest swap, and Cointreau or Grand Marnier also work.
Questions
Is curacao the same as triple sec?
Close, but not the same. Both are orange liqueurs, but curaçao has its roots in bitter laraha peel and tends to taste deeper, while triple sec is clear and more straight-ahead sweet orange. The line is blurry, and they swap fine in most drinks.
What drinks have curacao in them?
The Mai Tai is the famous one, with the Pegu Club and Blue Margarita close behind. Blue curaçao is also what turns a Blue Lagoon blue.
Is curacao liqueur from Curacao?
Not always. The idea started with laraha peel from the island, and Senior & Co still makes it there, but plenty of bottles are made elsewhere, including the Netherlands and France.
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