Back in the comments, a reader recommends Luxardo’s triple sec liqueur as an acceptable substitute for the exquisite but expensive Cointreau. I’ve yet to stumble across a bottle here in Boston. I’ll keep looking, but it’s possible it’s not distributed here. But one acceptable substitute - at least in standard cocktail recipes - is a Mexican knock-off, Patron’s Citronge. Actually, there are at least a couple of Mexican Cointreau knock-offs, one of which I’ve tried coming in a green bottle. But Citronge is readily available here, sold at Blanchard’s and other fine establishments.

Consumed straight, you’re likely not going to mistake Citronge for Cointreau. It lacks the dry undernotes beneath the sweetness. But neither does it taste candy-like, as the mass-market Triple Secs do. It actually tastes like Cointreau. And for twenty dollars a bottle, that’s a great thing.