Authentic Curacao

I found Senior's Curacao of Curacao in a liquor store that claims to be the original, authentic, Curacao made on the island of Curacao since 1896. It cost $30. I tasted it against Hiram Walker brand last night and there's no contest - HW tastes like sugar syrup with a slight orange flavor; while Senior's has a much more pronounced orange flavor with a slightly bitter aftertaste. This will be the Curacao in my Mai Tais from now on.

Their web site says

For Senior's Curaçao liqueur the alcohol and Tobacco Tax division of the U.S.A. has ruled that it is the only one which is also authorized to put "THE AUTHENTIC" on its label. To avoid any confusion Senior & Co. furthermore changed the name to "Curaçao of Curaçao" liqueur.

http://www.curacaoliqueur.com/

Great find! How does it compare to the Marie Brizard Curacao?

On 2006-02-23 15:50, Hakalugi wrote:
Great find! How does it compare to the Marie Brizard Curacao?

I don't know because I don't have any at home. But the liquor store I found it in has all the Maria Brizard and Leroux and Bols liqueurs. I can't find most of those up here in the Bay Area.

The liquor store is Wally's on Westwood Blvd. in Los Angeles. http://www.wallywine.com/ Highly recommended! Great neon cigar sign in front of their cigar shop.

(Atomic Cocktail: I asked about Batavia Arak but they didn't have any.)

[ Edited by: thejab 2006-02-23 16:12 ]

Its the good stuff I have a small bottle and need to ration it for use with the Havana club in the Mai tai!

Tough to find unless you have friends going there - or obvously the links above....

DO IT

From Wikipedia:

Blue Curaçao is a deep blue liqueur flavoured with the dried peels of Larahas, bitter relatives of oranges, grown on the island of Curaçao. The drink first developed and marketed by the Curaçao Jewish Senior family in the 18th century.

It has an orange flavour, with varying degrees of bitterness, but is used primarily as a colouring agent in cocktails and other mixed drinks. The famous blue colour is artificially added; curaçao liqueur is produced clear, and can have red, orange, green (or blue) colouring added.

So I guess the Senior family is the Original Curacao Liqueur makers. I remember reading somewhere that there's a number of small family run Curacao distilleries on the island, does anyone know where to find these small batch labels in the US?

I think I just saw it listed for sale at hightimewine. Deceivng listing name, but it looks like the stuff.

http://www.hitimewine.net/istar.asp?a=6&id=164866&csurl=/iStar.asp?a%3D29

Neat! I had to get my Orange Curaçao from the US, next time I'm state-side I'll have to look for this brand.

I love variety in a liquor cabinet!

Tikiwahine, can you find the MEAGHERS GRAND CURACAO? It was reviewed in the Georgia Straight, so it should be available in BC. That's what I use in my Mai Tai's

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=7595

Thanks slacks!
I haven't seen it, but then again I'd pretty much given up on finding it locally. I'm out of Meyer's too, this calls for a trip to the Liquor store!

TW & Slacks, you're in luck, it's in the 'Specialty' BC liquor stores. I checked their website and there's 87 bottles in Victoria! (www.bcliquorstores.com) It's the only 'non-blue' Curacao I've been able to find here. I'm sure we can get some to you Slacks!

I'll definitely be interested in Senior's Curacao when we invade Seattle!

WA has the crappy state runliquor stores, and only carry

Bol's Blue & Orange
CHATEAUX BLUE
DEKUYPER ORANGE
Henry Walker Blue & Orange

i say we invade California..

ps: smuggle us some Cuban Rum!

post ps: if you're US Custom's inspector reading this..i'm just kidding!

I finally restocked my Rhum St. James Hors D'Age, which I found at a good price of $32.99 at Vintage Wine and Spirits in Mill Valley, CA. Bay Area folks should check out the store - it has a great selection of whiskey (including several ryes) and a very knowlegeable and friendly staff.

So I made Beachbum Berry's "$100 Mai Tai" with all his recommended ingredients except I used the curacao I mentioned in this thread, and superfine sugar instead of rock candy syrup. My impression is that the orange flavor comes through almost too strongly, and the orgeat flavor is almost nonexistent. Perhaps for my second one I will try to use more orgeat (1/2 oz. instead of 1/4 oz.) and leave out the sugar since I don't have any rock candy syrup.

Still too orangey. I'm going to reduce the curacao to 1/4 oz for my 3rd. drink.

Dean's gettin' loaded tonight!

There was just an article about the Curacao of Curacao in a restaurant industry mag that I was reading the other day. Apparently this company owns all the remaining groves of Laraha oranges on Curacao- so they're the only real deal in town.

The oranges were originally brought to Curacao by the son of the founder of Cointreau, apparently. They were once Spanish Valencia oranges that became twisted and warped by the Curacao soil.

On 2006-03-21 21:16, thejab wrote:
Perhaps for my second one I will try to use more orgeat (1/2 oz. instead of 1/4 oz.) and leave out the sugar since I don't have any rock candy syrup.

Rock candy syrup is extraordinarily easy to make at home. And it's exactly the same as the bottled commercial stuff. No excuse! :)

On 2006-03-22 10:38, GatorRob wrote:

On 2006-03-21 21:16, thejab wrote:
Perhaps for my second one I will try to use more orgeat (1/2 oz. instead of 1/4 oz.) and leave out the sugar since I don't have any rock candy syrup.

Rock candy syrup is extraordinarily easy to make at home. And it's exactly the same as the bottled commercial stuff. No excuse! :)

Well, simple syrup is easy to make. It's not exactly the same as Trader Vic's rock candy syrup, which has flavorings in it. If Beachbum Berry says to use rock candy syrup in the Mai Tai perhaps we should. He's the expert.

Also, check out this thread:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=14074&forum=10&hilite=rock%20candy%20syrup

TV Rock Candy has vanillin (artificial vanilla) in it and is made from high fructose corn syrup. That's your flavor difference.

I say a dash of real vanilla in a homemade simple syrup is the way to go on this, personally.

By the way, the authentic curacao that thejab has is actually distilled clear, and has orange color added. They also make a blue, purple, and green! I'd always held out hope that there was a natually colored curacao out there, but with the original one letting me down, that dream has died hard.

On 2006-03-22 19:29, martiki wrote:
TV Rock Candy has vanillin (artificial vanilla) in it and is made from high fructose corn syrup. That's your flavor difference.

I say a dash of real vanilla in a homemade simple syrup is the way to go on this, personally.

I was watching a show the other day about how Dr Pepper is made and it used to be made with real sugar, but has for some time now been made from high fructose corn syrup. The manufacturer said they did taste tests and found that people couldn't tell the difference between that made with sugar and that made with corn syrup.

But the vanilla. Hmmmm. May have to try that.

On 2006-03-22 19:29, martiki wrote:

By the way, the authentic curacao that thejab has is actually distilled clear, and has orange color added. They also make a blue, purple, and green! I'd always held out hope that there was a natually colored curacao out there, but with the original one letting me down, that dream has died hard.

But they do offer it without coloring! The second from the right. The dream doesn't have to die! But good luck finding it.

On 2006-03-23 10:04, GatorRob wrote:

I was watching a show the other day about how Dr Pepper is made and it used to be made with real sugar, but has for some time now been made from high fructose corn syrup. The manufacturer said they did taste tests and found that people couldn't tell the difference between that made with sugar and that made with corn syrup.

I think a guy in Texas bought the original Dr. Pepper bottling plant and still makes a version w/sugar. They still make a few sodas w/sugar. A good example is draft A&W Root Beer, which is still made in the restaurants from scratch with sugar (but the canned version is made w/corn syrup).

I read that only blue and orange come stateside, but I could be wrong. I'd go clear if I could.

For lots of geat sodas still made with sugar, check the micro-soda section at BevMo.

On 2006-03-23 22:18, martiki wrote:

For lots of geat sodas still made with sugar, check the micro-soda section at BevMo.

Also, when in Los Anegeles (or online) check out Galco's Soda Pop Stop:

http://www.sodapopstop.com/home.cfm

On 2006-03-23 22:18, martiki wrote:

For lots of geat sodas still made with sugar, check the micro-soda section at BevMo.

Also, when in Los Anegeles (or online) check out Galco's Soda Pop Stop:

http://www.sodapopstop.com/home.cfm

On 2006-03-23 10:04, GatorRob wrote:

I was watching a show the other day about how Dr Pepper is made and it used to be made with real sugar, but has for some time now been made from high fructose corn syrup. The manufacturer said they did taste tests and found that people couldn't tell the difference between that made with sugar and that made with corn syrup.

What kind of taste test did they do? I've had both and the real sugar wins hands down in taste. I haven't had a corn syrup one since I found a place in town that sells the Imperial Cane Sugar stuff.

On 2006-03-24 12:57, Rob Roy wrote:
What kind of taste test did they do? I've had both and the real sugar wins hands down in taste. I haven't had a corn syrup one since I found a place in town that sells the Imperial Cane Sugar stuff.

They didn't say, but just said that in controlled tests, people could not detect the difference. To humorous effect, they then cut to a guy saying "Sodas haven't been near as good since they all switched to corn syrup."

I emailed Preiss who distributes in the U.S. These guys say they have it along with Falernum & Lemonhart. Is this possible? I think it's in Costa Mesa.

http://www.hitimewine.com

On 2006-03-29 19:21, cyntiki wrote:
I emailed Preiss who distributes in the U.S. These guys say they have it along with Falernum & Lemonhart. Is this possible? I think it's in Costa Mesa.

http://www.hitimewine.com

Believe it. These guys are great. And yes, they are in Costa Mesa. Well worth the drive for people in Southern California. That is unless you're a lazy sod like me, in that case mail ordering from them is a fine substitute.

Chicago, spring of last year, Sam's... They had both blue and orange on the shelf. I would never have noticed if I hadn't stumbled upon their site (Seniors) a few years ago while researching liqueurs.

http://www.samswine.com/Products/Product.aspx?SKU=10030067

So if you are in the Chicagoland area.. or you wanna order it online.

Ahu

Fraternal Order of Moai

[ Edited by: KuKuAhu 2006-04-02 19:12 ]

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 17:44 ]

I might be alone on this, but I got a bottle of 'Senior Curacao of Curacao' last month and I am not impressed. I don't know why, but it tastes kind of chemical or fake to me. I find that I need to add more simple syryp to make up for the bitter taste.

It may be because I have been using Hiram Walker Orange Curacao, which is only 30 proof compared to Seniors 60. I just bought a bottle of Marie Brizards Orange Curacao ($18) which is also 60 proof, so I plan to comparethe 3 I have side by side.

Unfortunately I've already had 3 Mai Tai's tonight and my tastebuds are shot... but I"M FELING FINE!!! My experiment may have to wait for another day, but I will keep y'all posted.

-T.J.

On 2006-04-12 20:44, Tonnikan Jinn wrote:
... I just bought a bottle of Marie Brizards Orange Curacao ($18) which is also 60 proof, so I plan to compare the 3 I have side by side...

T.J. I'm looking forward to your side by side reviews. I also have a bottle of the Marie Brizards and have been using it in Jeff Berry's Hundred Dollar Mai Tai. So far the Marie Brizards Curacao is the best I've had but I have yet to try the Seniors and I am very curious as to how they compare.

On 2006-04-12 20:44, Tonnikan Jinn wrote:
I might be alone on this, but I got a bottle of 'Senior Curacao of Curacao' last month and I am not impressed. I don't know why, but it tastes kind of chemical or fake to me. I find that I need to add more simple syryp to make up for the bitter taste.

I though curacao is supposed to be slightly bitter. I agree with you that it is much less sweet than Hiram Walker orange curacao so I would use a bit less in a Mai Tai (say 1/4 ounce) and increase the simple syrup a bit. But, I don't think it tastes fake or chemical at all.

On 2006-04-12 20:44, Tonnikan Jinn wrote:

It may be because I have been using Hiram Walker Orange Curacao, which is only 30 proof compared to Seniors 60. I just bought a bottle of Marie Brizards Orange Curacao ($18) which is also 60 proof, so I plan to comparethe 3 I have side by side.

So any word of the comparison so far? I'm rather curious myself, as I've yet to buy any specific curacao, and instead have been using Patron's Citronage. I haven't yet found either the Seniors or the Marie Brizards here in Tucson. I can probably special order them, but I'd like to get the best tasting one.

Chris

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 18:31 ]

Some Curacoa recipes from: The Gentleman's Companion, Charles baker, 1939

"THE CELEBRATED RECEIPTS OF DR. WILLIAM KITCHINER, & DATED 1817, FOR ORANGE CURACAOS NO. I & II

Dried Orange peel, pounded fine, 5 oz. (or the fresh peel of a Shaddock, Grapefruit, ditto)

Best rectified, or cologne, spirits, 1 qt.

Gomme Syrup

Pour 180 proof spirits on peel. Cork and stand for a fourn't; strain through cheesecloth first, add syrup, and filter once through a chemical filter paper (obtainable at good drug stores).

ORANGE CURACAO No. II

The easier of the two, in modern times.

Sweet oil of Orange Peel, 2 drachms (1/4 oz)
Best rectified, or cologne, spirits, 1 pint
Gomme Syrup, 1 pint.

Simply add orange oil to spirits. Add sugar syrup, shake well, and stand overnight. Line a funnel with muslin, strain, then put through filter paper three times until it is quite "bright", as Dr. Kitchiner calls it...

GOMME SYRUP:
Many recipes call merely for sugar and water, but we supply the true old formula with egg white to clarify the syrup the desired crystal limpid texture so necessary...Dissolve 2 lbs of sugar-about 4 cups-in 1 cup water. Stir in the well beaten white of 1 egg. Boil up briskly, and when scum rises take the skimming spoon and skim diligently. When the syrup is clear the job is done. Let it cool and bottle for future use. It may be coloured or not, according to the whim of the host. We must confess that a little bright green colouring matter in Tom Collins syrup is mighty pretty."