In 1827 Jean-Baptiste Lapostolle started a French distillery producing fruit liqueurs in Neauphe-le-Château. In 1876 his granddaughter married Louis-Alexandre Marnier from a winemaking family, and the Marnier Lapostolle name began.
In 1880 Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, who was a cognac connaisseur, hit on the idea of blending cognac with Citrus Bigaradia, a bitter orange packed with a high concentration of natural oils, which at the time were a prized luxury item. Originally he named his liqueur 'Curaçao Marnier' however his friend the famous hotelier César Ritz suggested he should bestow grandeur on his liqueur and call it 'Grand Marnier'. Over the decades the drink's popularity was to increase especially after the legendary French chef Escoffier used Grand Marnier to make Crêpe Suzette.Today the bitter oranges are grown on the the family's own 500 hectare Carribean plantation in Haiti, and the company is the fifth largest buyer of cognac in the world. The company is still run by the Marnier-Lapostolle six generations after its creation.
France
