TRBusiness visited the Cointreau distillery in Angers to discover the history and long evolution of the famous orange liqueur as well as its strong links to the feminist movement of the 30s, which continues to inspire the company’s ‘Creative Crew’ today.

Cointreau is well known for being the famous orange-flavoured liqueur with a surprisingly ‘crystal clear’ appearance and an iconic bottle design. However, the spirit boasts a steep history – at times quite ‘cointreauversial’ – which is underestimated by many cocktail lovers.

Nearly 170 years old, Cointreau’s story began in 1849 when brothers, Edourd-Jean and Adolphe Cointreau opened the doors to their distillery.

Edouard Cointreau, the son of Edouard-Jean Cointreau, grew up in the distillery and reached adulthood with the prospect of becoming a Master Distiller himself. In 1870 he joined his father and uncle as head of the family distillery.

“Cointreau is a worldwide brand so for Rémy Cointreau, all markets are important,” François Van Aal, Rémy Cointreau Regional Director GTR EMEA told TRBusiness in the city of Angers (western France).

“However, its market share is stronger in Europe so this region is particularly important because we can follow the shoppers who know the brand well historically – from Nordics, UK, Germany or France
of course.”

According to him, the No 1 duty free market for the brand is Australia, which is showing ‘robust growth’ at +36% in 2014. He says that the Gulf, France, Spain and Netherlands are also showing ‘great growth rates’.

Panos Sarantopoulos, CEO Liqueurs and Spirits Division of Rémy Cointreau, told TRBusiness during a trip to the distillery in Angers that the company expects to record 500m (single) servings this year.

However, neither Sarantopoulos or Van Aal discount the effects of a turbulent trading environment in the last few years on the company’s business. Both cited problems in Asia and Russia, along with the strong dollar and global terrorism [the attacks on Brussels actually took place while TRBusiness was in Angers] as having an impact on sales for Rémy Cointreau.

Read More at source: tr business