Super Bowl Bla, Try The Triple Sec Challenge Insead

I am apparently the only person in North America who isn’t totally amped up for the Super Bowl.  It’s been suggested to me that my ambivalence is a sign of raging narcissism as I’m too self-absorbed to find interest in anything that doesn’t directly affect my little world.  My mother’s pet theory aside, I just can’t get past the fact that ultimately I’d be spending hours watching grown men I don’t know playing a child’s game.  But hey, the commercials are great, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the drama of a good challenge, I just prefer to participate in challenges rather than watch.  And so, I’m taking up a challenge posed to me by a friend who took issue with my use of generic, or “bottom-shelf” triple sec rather than upscale, branded triple sec, like Cointreau, in the recipes posted on my website.

Simple and inexpensive are my watch words, so I tend to gravitate toward cheap triple sec, which runs between $6-$8 for a 750 ml bottle, as opposed to $40 for a 750 ml bottle of Cointreau. My friend, however, accused me of sacrificing taste in order to save a few bucks.  He expounded on the refined virtues of premium liqueurs and pointed out that professional bartenders, at least anecdotally, favor Cointreau over most other brands.

My response was that Cointreau is widely used in professional bars largely because it markets well and when you’re serving $12 cocktails you’ve still got a healthy margin on the bottle purchased at wholesale.  I admit that many bartenders and drinkers swear by upscale triple sec and insist that the nuance in taste is worth the extra money. So to settle the controversy, and for lack of a new Angry Birds level, I decided to conduct side-by-side tastings of DeKuyper and Cointreau triple sec, as well as Grand Marnier.  While none of the three are fun to drink straight, the comparison was helpful. In the glass, the color difference between the clear triple secs and caramel-colored Grand Marnier stands out dramatically. Grand Marnier is an orange-flavored liqueur, but not a triple sec because it’s spirit is cognac. The additional flavor components from the cognac truly do create a unique profile that is not really interchangeable with a triple sec.  Still, I included it in the tasting as a sort of control to demonstrate clear character differences among the orange elements (plus I had the bottle laying around and figured, “What the hey, it’s orangey!”).

Tasting the triple secs through the sweetness, citrus notes, and astringency of the alcohol was extremely difficult and ended up simply representing different shades of nasty. I ultimately found that a simple, neat cocktail as the best method of comparison; I chose the Sidecar (brandy, triple sec, and lemon juice served straight in an old fashion glass), it’s gin equivalent the White Lady, and the popular tequila version known as the Margarita, which also substitutes lime for lemon juice.

During the tasting, I had a few successful guesses. But honestly, I found it impossible to pick which drink was made with DeKuyper and which with Cointreau on a constant basis. I feel both vindicated and slightly woozy.

I welcome all those who wish to challenge my unscientific and uneducated research and suggest the White Lady as best demonstrator of my point. Of course, a traditional White Lady also calls for egg whites, which I’ve eliminated from my version of the recipe. I’m not a big fan of using egg whites in general and absolutely opposed to using them in a home bar.  But, that’s a whole separate challenge.

                                                    White Lady

                                                    Ingredients

                   * 1 oz. Gin  * ½ oz. Triple Sec/Cointreau  * ½ oz. Lemon Juice

Start with a cocktail shaker with ice.  Pour in the ingredients, shake, and strain into a cocktail glass.  It’s true that a Sidecar is traditionally served in an old fashion glass, but it’s good to step it up a bit for a lady.  Garnish with either a lemon or orange peel and you’re ready to watch the Big Game, or not.

Check out some more booze-related fun at 30-Second Bartender.com!  And, don’t forget to give a “like” on Facebook.