Review: Grandeza Orange Liqueur
Check out the single-serve bottle of Grandeza, a new orange liqueur. Why the little hook on the end of the mini bottle? Allow the Seattle-based company to explain:
In 2014, Bernie Garcia, President and owner of Moctezuma’s Mexican Restaurant & Tequila Bar, conceived an idea for an upside-down orange liqueur sidecar bottle that could be hung on the rim of a glass. The concept served as an effective way to control the flow of the liqueur in the margarita as well as provide a visually interesting element to the drink that would engage consumers.
“We had to wait over a year for our patent to be approved,” said Garcia, “but after seeing the immediate popularity of our sidecar bottle in action during the test phase, we knew we were on to something special.” It took another year of researching, sourcing ingredients and testing recipes for the ultimate premium orange liqueur before Garcia knew he had a product that could surpass the expectations the packaging had set.
“In our restaurants, we pride ourselves on sourcing the best ingredients possible,” said Garcia. “We couldn’t find a quality orange liqueur to pair with our top-shelf margaritas. We wanted to create something better.” After years devoted to design and development, Garcia’s concept had become a reality: Grandeza Premium Orange Liqueur.
The finished product is a fresh, authentic orange liqueur developed with the finest natural flavors of Mexico. Its flavor profile of bitter orange peels, sweet agave nectar, and a hint of vanilla make it the perfect complement to a margarita; it won’t overpower or mask your high-quality tequila the way cognac or brandy-based orange liqueurs do. Whether you’re mixing a top-shelf Margarita or crafting a truly original Mai Tai, Grandeza Premium Orange Liqueur is the perfect touch – combining an innovative presentation with a premium spirit.
So there you go: Orange peel, agave, vanilla. Those are the basics. Let’s see how this thing tastes.
Grandeza’s nose is very sweet — hyper-sweet, really — with juicy orange, vanilla, and brown sugar notes evident on the nose. On the tongue, sugar dominates. It closely resembles an orange creamsicle, the vanilla and orange and sugar all combining to create a distinctly dessert-like character. The longer it spends in the glass, the more this develops — a poor man’s Grand Marnier — a heavily syrupy note lingering on the tongue. I tried it in a margarita and experienced the same issue: Too much saccharine, candylike character, the agave nectar and vanilla overwhelming the orange experience.
OK, so two major problems with Grandeza: One, 50ml of orange liqueur in your margarita is too much, unless you’ve got a truly massive cocktail that will knock you on your culo. Second, the liqueur is just too sweet no matter how you use it, which means a little bit goes even further — or replaces agave nectar altogether in your margarita recipe. If you’re making a margarita with any kind of prepackaged mix (which will inevitably be sweetened), I don’t think Grandeza will fit the job, though some combination of tequila, Grandeza, and lime juice — and that’s it — might be workable.
80 proof.
B- / $25 / grandezaspirits.com
Grandeza Orange Liqueur
$25
