It's Time to Embrace Blue Curacao

"Hearing the phrase "blue curaçao" elicits memories of a certain time or maybe even a specific drink. You're probably thinking of the Blue Hawaii, created by bartender Harry Yee in 1957 at the (now Hilton) Hawaiian Village. It was a recipe created for a bartending competition sponsored by the Dutch company Lucas Bols. The ingredient also appeared heavily in the colorful drinks of the 1980s (we see you, Chili's Radical Rita) and layered shooters of the '90s."

""We found that there was also a yellow curaçao, orange curaçao, green curaçao and red curaçao, all with naturally-occurring colors," says Ivar de Langue, global education manager and master bartender at Bols, which has been selling its version since 1933, long before the tropical drink craze took off. "As far as the late 19th century at the company, there were experiments to create a blue color from [things like] indigo to butterfly pea.""

Blue curaçao originated in the 1920s as Crème de Ciel and later adopted the curaçao name tied to laraha orange liqueurs from Curaçao. The bright blue color was added later; producers experimented with natural dyes but ultimately used modern food coloring. Multiple naturally-colored curaçaos historically existed, including yellow, orange, green, and red. Blue curaçao gained wide cocktail use after the 1950s—most notably in the 1957 Blue Hawaii—and became emblematic of colorful tropical drinks in the 1980s and 1990s. The liqueur's flavor remains distinct from triple sec and Grand Marnier due to the island's specific orange varieties.

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