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Triple Sec is a colorless citrus liqueur with a strength of 15 to 40 degrees, made from the peel of sweet oranges and bitter oranges with the addition of herbs. The name is translated from French as “triple dry”, because only dried fruits are used in production, and the drink itself is distilled three times in copper stills.
Types
The category of Triple Sec liqueurs also includes the famous Curacao (all colors) and Cointreau (Cointreau). In fact, these are “author’s” variations of one drink with minor changes. Each of them has technological features, secret ingredients in the recipe and history, but the base remains the same – orange zest.
Classic Triple Sec is always transparent.
History
The inventor of the drink is the French winemaker in the second generation, Jean-Baptiste Combier. According to legend, at the age of 19, Monsieur Combier and his brother Claude moved to the town of Saumur, attracted by the favorable local climate and fertile soil. After 6 years, the brothers already had their own confectionery, but Jean-Baptiste did not stop at sweets, in his spare time he experimented with alcohols and distillates.
It is believed that Combier took as a basis the recipe of Francois Raspail, whom he met in prison. According to another version, Francois published a description of orange liqueur in a magazine, and Jean-Baptiste in 1834 “improved” the composition by replacing alcohol with cognac and adding aromatic herbs to sweet orange peel. However, both of these versions diverge from the historical truth – Triple Sec has been made since the 1830s, and the meeting with Francois Raspail happened only in 1853. The most reliable assumption is that Combier came up with the Triple Sec recipe himself after numerous experiments and selection of proportions.
In 1848, Jean-Baptiste completely left the confectionery business and concentrated on the production of Triple Sec. The room in which the winemaker was engaged in distillation was designed by the famous Alexander Gustav Eiffel.
Monsieur Combier was in opposition to Napoleon III, for which he paid with his freedom: the former confectioner was accused of betraying the monarchy and imprisoned for 7 years, where he ended up in the same cell with Francois Raspail. It quickly became clear that the inmates had a lot in common: both were winemakers and inventors of new flavors.
Guided by the advice of his companion in misfortune, Combier invented another drink, supplementing Triple Sec with aloe, nutmeg, myrrh, cardamom, cinnamon and saffron. The new liquor received the “modest” name Royal Combier Grande and is still produced.
After the death of Jean-Baptiste, the family business passed into the hands of his son, James, who later became mayor of Saumur.
Manufacture
The technology is vendor-specific, and the specifics of the process are usually kept secret to reduce the risk of competition. However, any Triple Sec drinks are infused with citrus zest, triple distilled, then diluted and sweetened. Usually pure alcohol is taken as the basis, sometimes brandy or cognac.
Famous brands
- Комбье (Combier);
- Cointreau;
- The Grand Marnier;
- Bols;
- De Kuyper;
- McGuinness (McGuinnes).
How to drink Triple Sec
Liquor can be consumed neat with ice after meals as a digestion, as the herbal essences in the composition help to improve digestion. However, Triple Sec is most often used in cocktails – the original orange flavor adds spice.
Triple Sec can also be added to coffee or ice cream, diluted with citrus juice, fanta (another orange soda), mixed into baked goods for flavor.
Popular triple sec cocktails
1. Long Island Ice Tea
Appeared during Prohibition in America, when they had to disguise alcoholic drinks as innocent seagulls.
Ingredients: one part vodka, dry gin, white rum, silver tequila, sugar syrup, Triple Sec liqueur and lemon juice, 3 parts cola.
Recipe: Pour ice cubes into a tall glass or French press, add ingredients one by one, top up with cola.
2. Cosmopolitan
It was invented at the beginning of the 1996th century, but the cocktail was safely forgotten until XNUMX, when Madonna tried it and this again lifted the drink to the top of popularity.
Ingredients: 1 part Triple Sec, 2 parts citrus vodka, 2.5 parts cranberry juice and 0.5 parts lime juice.
Recipe: mix everything in a shaker, pour into a serving glass, garnish with zest.
3. Daisy
In fact, this is the same Brandy Crust cocktail invented in 1862, only the rim turned from sweet to salty, and lime appeared in the recipe.
Ingredients: 1 part Triple Sec and lime juice, 2 parts silver tequila, about 0.5 part sugar syrup (or less).
Recipe: Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice, pour through a strainer (bar strainer) into a chilled glass with a salty rim.
4. Kamikadze
Japanese cocktail in honor of suicide pilots, the name translates as “divine wind”.
Recipe: mix equal parts vodka, triple sec and lemon juice (lime can be used) in a shaker with ice, serve in shot glasses.
5. Mai Tai
The name of the cocktail is translated from Tahitian as “extraterrestrial”.
Ingredients: 2 part almond and sugar syrup, 4 parts Triple Sec and lime juice, XNUMX parts aged rum.
Recipe: Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice, serve in a rocks glass, garnish with a mint and cocktail cherry.