Liqueurs

Blue Curaçao

Blue curaçao is an orange liqueur coloured blue, usually with the food dye E133, brilliant blue; the colour adds no flavour. Most bottles are 20 to 25% ABV, weaker and sweeter than the 40% triple sec many recipes use. It goes into a drink for the colour, as in the Adios Motherfucker, the Boston Trash Can and the Shamrock Sour.

Quick Facts

ABV20% ABVBottlings run about 20 to 25%.

Legal categoryLiqueur

OriginCuraçao, Dutch Caribbean

Flavour Strengthlight medium

Our keeping timeYears unopened. Once opened, a year or more kept sealed and out of the light; the fruit and aromatics fade first.

Storage

Sealed and upright: sugar and dye keep for years, and the colour outlasts the party.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes vary by brand: check the bottle.

The ingredient

About Blue Curaçao

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

Bitter OrangeCandied PeelCitrus Oil

Tasting Notes

Sweet candied orange with a bitter-peel edge: triple sec’s flavour wearing a swimming-pool coat, the colour changing nothing on the palate.

The blue is a dye, and the flavour is orange liqueur

Blue curaçao is an orange liqueur in the curaçao family, coloured with food dye, usually E133, brilliant blue. Take the dye out and the liquid would be clear or pale gold. The colour does nothing to the taste, which is sweet orange with a little bitter peel.

That makes blue curaçao the one bottle on a back bar whose job is mostly visual. Few ingredients colour a drink blue, and this one does it while adding orange and sugar that the drink can use.

What it mixes with decides the colour

Blue and yellow make green, so what goes in with it matters more than how much. Clear mixers keep it blue; yellow ones turn it green.

What blue curaçao does to the colour, by mixer

Lemonade and lemon juice

Colour in the glass: Stays blue
Our drink: Adios Motherfucker

Lime, orange juice and whiskey

Colour in the glass: Green
Our drink: Shamrock Sour

Apple juice, lime and whiskey

Colour in the glass: Green
Our drink: Green Batched Punch

Red Bull

Colour in the glass: Green
Our drink: Boston Trash Can

Mixed with	Colour in the glass	Our drink
Lemonade and lemon juice	Stays blue	Adios Motherfucker
Lime, orange juice and whiskey	Green	Shamrock Sour
Apple juice, lime and whiskey	Green	Green Batched Punch
Red Bull	Green	Boston Trash Can

The Adios Motherfucker stays blue because everything else in it is clear. The Shamrock Sour and the Boston Trash Can turn green on purpose.

It is weaker and sweeter than the triple sec beside it

Most blue curaçao is 20 to 25% ABV. Triple sec at 40% brings twice the alcohol for the same measure and usually less sugar. In the Boston Trash Can the two sit side by side at 15ml each, one for orange and one for colour; replace the blue with more triple sec and the taste survives while the point is lost.

Opened, it lasts for years on a shelf.

Using it

Using Blue Curaçao

Usage

15ml in most of our recipes, enough to colour a tall glass: the Adios Motherfucker, the Boston Trash Can and the Shamrock Sour all take that measure. A party bowl such as the Green Batched Punch takes 200ml. Judge it by the colour you want.

Pro Tip

Build blue drinks with the blue curaçao in the glass before the mixer, then lift once from the bottom with a bar spoon. Poured last, it sinks and the glass reads in two colours until someone stirs it.

Top Tips

Blue and yellow make green. Mixed with orange, apple or pineapple juice, or a yellow energy drink, a blue liqueur turns the glass green.
To keep a drink blue, pair it with clear mixers: lemonade, soda or lemon juice.
Triple sec suits drinks where the blue is beside the point. The orange is close, and the triple sec is usually stronger.
If a guest avoids artificial colours, check the label; most blue curaçao is coloured with E133.

Possible Substitutions

Triple Sec: With a drop of blue colouring: the flavour restored
Orange Curaçao: With a drop of blue colouring

Production Method

Curaçao’s bitter laraha peel, dried and steeped into neutral spirit for its orange oils, then sweetened and dyed blue: the recipe of orange curaçao with food colouring the only addition. Bitterness and citrus survive the dye; the blue is cosmetic.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is blue curaçao?

An orange liqueur, in the curaçao family, with blue food colouring added. Without the dye it would be clear or pale gold. It is sweet and orange-flavoured, usually 20 to 25% ABV, and it is used where a drink needs to look blue or, mixed with yellow juices, green.

What does blue curaçao taste like?

Sweet orange with some bitter peel, much like sweet orange curaçao or triple sec. The blue adds nothing to the taste. Because most bottles are weaker and sweeter than a 40% triple sec, they read as more sugary in a drink.

How strong is blue curaçao?

Usually 20 to 25% ABV, and our recipes count it at 20%. That is about half the strength of Cointreau, so 15ml of blue curaçao adds less alcohol to a drink than the same measure of triple sec, and a little more sugar.

Why did my blue drink turn green?

Blue mixed with yellow makes green. Orange, pineapple and apple juice, and yellow energy drinks, all turn a blue liqueur green, which is the point of the Shamrock Sour and the Green Batched Punch. To keep a drink blue, use clear mixers such as lemonade, soda water and lemon juice.

What can I use instead of blue curaçao?

For the flavour, any orange liqueur will do. For the colour, nothing in an ordinary drinks cupboard replaces it. A drop of blue food colouring in triple sec gets close, and blue curaçao syrup, sold for alcohol-free drinks, gives colour and sweetness without the alcohol.

Is blue curaçao the same as orange curaçao?

The same family, dyed. Most blue bottles are sweeter, and at 20 to 25% far weaker, than the dry orange curaçao our rum and brandy drinks use at 40%. Swapping one for the other changes the colour and the balance, so match the bottle to the recipe.

Make something

Made with Blue Curaçao

Featured In These Cocktails

Adios Motherfucker Boston Trash Can Shamrock Sour Green Batched Punch

Often Used With

Guide by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 10 October 2026

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