Distiller: Cointreau
Location: Angers, France
Alcohol: 40 %
Tasting: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

First of all, before we start anything here, I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Diana for taking care of everything while Richard and I were in Europe.  Thank you for being so amazing, Diana.

Now on to our feature this week:

In 1849 in Angers, France, Adolphe and Edouard-Jean Cointreau opened a distillery to create spirits from local fruit.  Now you may not think that is too unusual.  What you don’t know is that Adolphe and Edouard-Jean were very famous master confectioners.  Going from making bonbons to making spirits is quite a leap.  I for one am very glad they made that jump.  In 1875 Edouard-Jean’s son, Edouard, not only distilled the sweet and bitter orange peels and the other ingredients to make Cointreau, but he also invented the square-sided amber bottle, which is the signature look of Cointreau today.  Cointreau is referred to as ‘the original orange liqueur.

Cointreau (kwan-tro) is a liqueur made from a secret family recipe.  It is made by distilling sweet and bitter orange peels, blended with natural alcohol, sugar and water.  It is referred to as ‘the original orange liqueur.  That is the technical speak part of this article.

When people first see Cointreau, they are quite surprised by the colour.  Well, lack of colour, I should say.  Yes it is made out of sweet and bitter orange peel, but it is totally clear.  Most people expect to see a brownish or orange-brown type colour.  By it being clear, it makes it very attractive as a mix in drinks.  And it does a lot of mixing:  Margarita, Cointreau Bubbles, Side Car, B-52, Cosmopolitan, Champs-Elysées, Kamikaze, Spanish Sangria and Daiquiri to name just a few.

It is amazing how many people think that a Margarita comes out of just one bottle that says ‘Margarita’.  It is such an easy drink to make and it tastes to darn good.  Just look:

Margarita

- 20ml (1oz) Cointreau
- 40ml (2 oz) tequila
- 10ml  (0.5oz) lime juice

Shake and strain into a salt rimmed margarita glass

Trick: Garnish: lime slice

Now how simple is that!

Cointreau isn’t just for drinks either.  There are some fabulous recipes for food.  Something as simple as a nice vinaigrette.  I don’t know about you, but I make my salad dressing on a regular basis.  It is so simple and it takes only a couple of minutes.  Once in a very blue moon I buy one, but it is so easy to make on your own and you can experiment.

Take a look at this vinaigrette:

There are so many food recipes like:  Strawberries Romanoff (sounds complicated, but it isn’t and it is yummy), Dutch Apple Pie and my husband’s wonderful Cointreau Cheesecake (no bake variety).  All of these recipes, of course, have no calories in them (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Now you can try one or all of these recipes or just simply just sip on the Cointreau all on its own, or over ice.

Today we are going to have a wonderful drink called “Cointreau Bubbles” or, if you like, you may try the Cointreau all on its own.

Come by and enjoy.  We’ll be waiting for you.

Thank you to www.cointreau.com for the wonderful recipes.

CSPC:     6502 (750 ml)
Price:

$34.99 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

CSPC:     10322 (375 ml)
Price:

$18.50 (Minus Winesday 10% discount.)

*Price correct at time of printing.  Price subject to change without notice

Next week we are travelling back to the United States of America.

Tags: France

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 5:48 pm and is filed under Sherbrooke Sips with R&R. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.