Appearance: Clear as water, almost. Slightly viscous. Aroma: Alcohol, orange zest (from many types of orange), orange juice. Flavour and texture: Surprisingly friendly and sweet arrival, with an abundance of orange (of course). Clean, crisp and sweet with very little alcohol burn. The texture is just oily enough. Quite compelling for a focused liqueur. This is pretty much the gold standard for orange liqueurs. The only real competitor is Grand Marnier (which has its own charms). Just steer clear of any bargain basement or generic "Triple Sec" and use one of the two giants of the style - there is a darn good reason they rule the roost. As a neat drink it is actually not too bad and the official Distiller notes for this are right on the bullseye. It remains, however, primarily an ingredient and there are a multitude of cocktails that simply would not work without the magic touch of Cointreau. Let's face it - it's just plain very good stuff. If you're putting together a home bar you NEED to have this on the shelf. "Excellent" : 88/100 (4.5 stars)