Substitutes

[scottwilliams87]

I am a broke college student and I want to make some drinks for people who could care less about quality ingredients. I was wondering if anyone knows of a substitute for Cointreau or Grand Marnier that was more affordable than $50 a bottle.

[Binks]

I'm most definitely an amature; but as I understand it Grand Marnier is just a triple sec - so any other triple sec should be pretty much the same thing.

I've got a bottle of "Marie Brizard" Triple Sec which set me back all of $20 for a 750 mL bottle (I don't know how prices compare from Ontario to where you are - for comparison's sake, Smirnoff Vodka goes for $23 for a 750 mL bottle here)

Wikipedia offers some other substitutes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_sec

As does this site:
http://www.drinksmixer.com/desc81.html


I know how the poor college student thing goes...

[dm]

Curacao (ie. white or blue Curacao) will be cheaper than most, it's a triple sec, the taste between this and various brands of triple sec is of course slightly different but they are all in effect orange liqueurs. Would depend on how many liquids are going together whether it makes much difference. Still, Curacao is the most used of the lot in terms of cocktail making.