Cointreau

Cointreau is the orange liqueur the trade measures the others against. The house was founded at Angers in 1849, and in 1875 Edouard Cointreau perfected his triple sec, redistilling macerated sweet and bitter orange peels into a clear, dry spirit at 40%. That double dose of sweet and bitter peel is the whole point, giving aromatic orange lift without heavy sugar, which is why it has stayed the call brand for more than a century.

Behind the bar it works as a balancing agent as much as a flavour, its dry bittersweet edge sharpening sour citrus while adding perfumed orange. It is the orange spine of the Margarita, the Cosmopolitan, the Sidecar and the White Lady, and a measure lifts almost any sour. Pour it chilled and neat as a digestif, or reach for it whenever a recipe simply says triple sec and you want it made properly.