Blue Curaçao Liqueur

About the Blue Curaçao Liqueur

Willemstad is the colorful capital of Curaçao, birthplace of the legendary Blue Curaçao liqueur. Made from the dried peels of the laraha citrus fruit — a bitter orange unique to the island — this vivid azure spirit was first distilled at the historic Landhuis Chobolobo in the 19th century. The liqueur's electric blue hue has become synonymous with Caribbean cocktail culture worldwide, while Willemstad itself dazzles with its UNESCO-listed pastel Dutch colonial waterfront along the iconic Handelskade.

Curaçao liqueur traces to the laraha, a bitter orange descended from citrus the Spanish brought to the island in 1527, whose dried peels proved aromatic even though the fruit itself is barely edible. Edgar Senior and Haim Mendes Chumaceiro founded Senior & Co. in 1896, first selling the liqueur in small quantities from their Willemstad pharmacy, Botika Excelsior; in 1947 they bought the country manor Chobolobo, still the distillery's home. The blue version is later and secondary: the original is clear, and the colors, including blue, were introduced around the 1960s, with the dye commonly said to echo the surrounding sea, an explanation that is traditional rather than documented. Today the Chobolobo distillery is a much-visited stop in the city.