Triple Sec
Agent Orange
With its sultry French-Caribbean origins and contemporary Gallic appeal, Triple Sec remains a perennially cool drink, whether sipped on the rocks or in a Sex and the City style cocktail. By Leigh Robertson.
The evocative smell of oranges is widely believed by aromatherapists to perk up flagging spirits and even lower blood pressure, so it surely follows that this sunny effect should be as pronounced, if not more so, when imbibed. Especially when there's the additional mood enhancing factor afforded by alcohol. Consider a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on a humdrum, hung-over morning.
Then, how about the slow-burning, bitter-sweet tingle in the mouth after a contemplative sip of an orange liqueur such as Cointreau, served on the rocks, late into the night? The uplifting attributes of this premium brand Triple Sec, first distilled in France by confectioner brothers Adolphe and Edouard-Jean Cointreau in 1875, are legendary, and Cointreau's perennially voguish status is due in no small part to the universal popularity of the orange flavour. Cue the adoration of kiddies for cheerfully coloured and sweetened fizzy orange cooldrinks or ice lollies.
But it's certainly not just an aroma- or taste-thing when it comes to the liqueur; a significant part of the appeal of Cointreau, and Triple Sec in general, lies in its ultra cool French-Caribbean origins. It's sexy and chic in bucketloads. Perhaps this aura has something to do with the orange's ancient symbolism of luxury and extravagance.
With its bitter orange peels sourced from Haiti and Antilles (the sweet peels are from Seville and Valencia in Spain), how appropriate that Cointreau is a drink of choice among the beautiful and urbane from Europe to Caribbean playground of the wealthy, St. Barts. Especially when the liqueur is produced in the other Saint Barths: Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou, a suburb of Angers, France.
Triple Sec is so called not because it's dry (as in the French "sec") but because it has been triple distilled, with some versions made with Cognac or brandy. Depending on the brand, it contains around 40% alcohol by volume and is typically sipped on its own or with ice as an aperitif or digestive, while it's a favourite cocktail ingredient. A close cousin, Curaçao is made from bitter oranges endemic to the Caribbean island after which it is named. Soaked in a still with alcohol and water for several days, the peels are then removed and spices added. The resulting colourless liqueur, now produced mainly in France and Holland, comes in many variations of quality as well as guises, including the lurid blue variety used in a myriad marine-themed cocktails.
The "original" Triple Sec is considered to be Combier Liqueur d'Orange, created by Jean-Baptiste Combier in Saumur, France, in 1834. Still popular in that country as well as across the pond in New York City's most chi-chi bars, it's the preferred choice for the serious brand snobs, who view some of the more popular and better known names as "copycats". Combier claims to be unique in using only "all natural" ingredients: "fresh sun-dried orange peels from the French West Indies, sugar beets from Normandy, pure alcohol from Paris..."
Yet the use of quality natural ingredients is similarly flaunted by brands such as Mandarine Napoléon. Created in 1892 by a physician, Antoine-François de Fourcroy, using "only the freshest mandarin peels from Sicily", this orange liqueur with its "27 herbs and spices" has a Cognac base. Much has been made by its marketers that it was a favourite tipple of Napoleon Bonaparte, Fourcroy's patient.
With plenty of snob value itself, Grand Marnier also has a Cognac base, "blended with the distilled essence of tropical oranges" with a dash of their own secret spices, then slow-aged in French oak casks for "incomparable roundness and subtlety". The original Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge was created in 1880 by Louis-Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle, with several versions introduced subsequently. A golden amber colour, it differs markedly from the Cordon Jaune, which is made with neutral grain spirit rather than Cognac. Rather than sip it neat, the connoisseur would probably reserve this for use in the kitchen; Crêpes Suzette wouldn't be worthy of the name without a liberal dash of Grand Marnier.
These days you can also get a covert hit of the liqueur via wicked chocolate truffles and ready-made Marks & Spencer puddings.Cointreau Caviar, meanwhile, positions this liqueur in the realms of "molecular mixology", tapping into the curiosity factor of molecular gastronomy as created by Fat Duck chef Heston Blumenthal and the god-like Ferran Adria of elBulli fame. These "caviar" beads change from a liquid to a solid form, "exploding" when dropped into a cocktail or glass of Champagne.
An Ever Evolving Tradition
While the rich heritage and tradition inherent in all these brands undoubtedly remains a sincere and powerful selling point, each has had to reinvent itself to win the affection of new generations of consumers. Serendipitously, much of the hard work has been done for the brand managers thanks to the massive revival of cocktail culture.
It's cool to be into martinis and other classic drinks that nod to a more elegant and refined era. And then, no matter what you might think of Carrie Bradshaw and her Manolo Blahnik-wearing gal pals in Sex and the City, the hit television series that became a blockbuster movie, there can be no denying the glee that must have been felt by the likes of Cointreau when these cosmo-loving characters single-handedly had every Bright Young Thing switching from chick-pop to the pretty pink cocktail almost overnight. (Central to the cosmopolitan, incidentally, is Cointreau, along with lemon vodka, cranberry juice and lime.)
Cointreau has always taken the business of its brand awareness seriously; their Pierrot character, created in 1898 by famous poster artist Nicolas Tamago, was the brand's symbolic image for decades, while in the 1960s they latched on to man-of-the-moment, James Bond, to lend contemporary credence. Campaigns of the '90s were centred on the cheeky question, "Voulez-vous Cointreau avec moi?" while the noughties heralded the glamorous "Be Cointreauversial" era.
The campaign is aimed at women "who express themselves... without worrying what other people think", tying in with the "Cointreau characteristics" that include "a certain irreverence, a spirited attitude, a little ‘je-nesais- quoi'..."
Which is exactly why, in 2007, "New Burlesque" entertainer Dita Von Teese became the face of Cointreau. The fetching performer with her retro pin-up looks, and renowned for her diminutive waist thanks to a penchant for tight corsetry, is most famous for her tastefully provocative strip tease routines featuring a giant martini glass. (She is also famous for having been married, momentarily, to make up-wearing rocker Marilyn Manson.)
As Cointreau brand ambassador, Von Teese, who memorably uttered that she "puts the tease back into striptease", has shaken her ostrich tail feathers in the splendid "Be Contreauversial" performance, now immortalised where else but on YouTube, while she was invited to create a signature cocktail on their behalf. The "Cointreau Teese" - which infuses the orange flavour with a heady whiff of violet - made its debut, along with a show put on by the star, at the legendary Crazy Horse Paris this February.
The titillation factor aside, it's this "mix of tradition and modernity" that should keep Cointreau and other forward-looking Triple Sec brands not just a talking point but a desirable tipple for generations to come.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Cointreau has been led by four generations of the Cointreau family, with Edouard Cointreau's grandson, Pierre Cointreau, the honorary chairman. In 1989 the company merged with Rémy Martin, with the new company listed on the Paris stock exchange. Cointreau is sold in more than 200 countries, with 95% of production exported. The Cointreau recipe is still a highly guarded secret.
There is a South African connection too. Stellenbosch wine farm Morgenhof Estate is owned by Anne Cointreau from the Cointreau and Gosset Champagne family. Madame Cointreau was recently awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honnneur, France's highest civilian honour for the promotion of French wine culture.
Grand Marnier is still owned and managed by the family that founded it: the Marnier Lapostolles. The company's president, Jacques Marnier Lapostolle, is the great-great-grandson of the liqueur's creator. Grand Marnier is the most widely exported French liqueur and is sold in over 150 countries. According to the company website, a bottle - in the original Cognac pot-still shape bottle with wax seal and red ribbon - is sold every two seconds around the world. The Marnier Lapostolle family has also been involved in winemaking for generations, originally in the Loire Valley. Their label, Casa Lapostolle, seeks "to create world-class wines using French expertise and the terroir of Chile".
Mandarine Napoléon has also remained in the Fourcroy family over the generations. Operated by the Fourcroy Group, which is based in Belgium, the liqueur is sold in over 100 markets around the world, with the motto of "Tradition and Innovation".
PRICE INDICATORS
Average prices per 750ml including VAT:
Cointreau R280
Mandarine Napoléon R289
Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge R333
COCKTAIL HOUR
Cosmopolitan
1½ oz Absolut Citron or similar lemon vodka
½ oz Cointreau
¼ oz Fresh lime juice
1 oz Cranberry juice
Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled martini
glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime or a twist of orange or
lemon peel, are commonly used to garnish.
Cointreau Teese
1½ oz Cointreau
¾ oz apple juice
½ oz Monin violet syrup
½ oz fresh lemon juice
Shake and strain into a martini glass with a ginger-frosted
rim; garnish with a violet.
Napotonic
1 Shot Mandarine Napoléon
Tonic water
Ice cubes
Pour Mandarine Napoléon into a highball glass over ice
cubes. Fill with tonic water, and garnish with orange peels.
B52
½ oz coffee liqueur
½ oz Irish cream liqueur
½ oz Grand Marnier
Pour the coffee liqueur into a shot glass.
Float the Irish cream liqueur on top.
Float the Grand Marnier on top of the second layer.
