Blue Curacao Monin 70cl Syrup

Monin Blue Curacao Syrup

Monin Blue Curacao Syrup is just one of a delicious range of flavours, used by coffee shops such as Costa Coffee and enjoyed across the country and further afield. ABV = 0.398%Blue Curacao a drink steeped in mystery

There is some dispute over the origins of curacao liqueur history records the fact that bitter Seville oranges were introduced to the island of Curacao, in the Lesser Antilles, in 1527, and the laraha is descended from these fruit, but there is some dispute over who first decided to distil a spirit from their peels.

The Lucas Bols distillery was founded in Amsterdam in 1575 and they claim that its founder and namesake had already created a liqueur flavoured with laraha. Bols had shares in both the West and East India companies so that he could guarantee a ready supply of the spices and flavourings he used for his drinks.

Once he discovered the aromatic nature of the laraha peel he began to ship the flavoured oil across the world to Amsterdam for use in the liqueur he developed, which bears a significant resemblance to modern curacao.

Bols was known for his love of alchemy and his enthusiasm for unusual additions to his drinks, which explains the surprising colour of the end product which was sold as Crème de Ciel which translates as cream of the sky in 1912.

There was, however, already a company in Curacao itself called Senior and Co, which had been producing a liqueur flavoured with the peel of the bitter oranges since 1896 and selling it in their pharmacy. This company still sells curacao to this day, produced in its distillery in Willemstad and it is the only one which still uses laraha fruit from the island of Curacao.

Tasting the difference

Back in the 18th century, the English were mixing sugar with their brandy to take the edge off the strong taste of the spirit. Since then, almost every possible combination of spirits, liqueurs, fruit juices and other mixers were tested to see if their flavours went together.

Blue curacao has featured in these cocktails whenever there has been a need for a fragrant fruity flavour and a dash of colour that simply cant be replicated with any other ingredient. Senior and Co distil their liqueur in a 120-year-old copper kettle, using liquid derived from sugar cane along with dried peel and other spices to give it its distinctive flavour. Although the end product is naturally colourless, the traditional blue flavour is added at the end of the process.

Blue curacao has its place in a variety of different recipes and there are plenty of cocktails which make use of the brightly coloured liqueur for flavour and colour.