Curaçao Liqueur Distillery (Landhuis Chobolobo)

Landhuis Chobolobo is the home of the genuine Curaçao liqueur, the bright-blue spirit that carries the island's name around the world. Housed in a 19th-century landhuis (plantation house) in Willemstad, this is where the original recipe is still distilled today, using the dried peel of the Laraha, a bitter orange that descended from sweet Valencia trees brought by the Spanish and which adapted to Curaçao's dry, salty soil.

The peels are sun-dried until aromatic, then steeped and distilled to draw out their fragrant oils, and the liqueur is the result. Despite the famous electric-blue colour, the spirit is clear; the blue (and the orange, green, and red versions) comes from added colouring, while the flavour is the same bright, bittersweet orange. Seeing the copper still and the racks of drying peel makes the link between the fruit and the bottle vivid.

Tour and tasting

A visit takes in the historic landhuis, the small distillery and its copper apparatus, and a tasting bar where you can sample the range, from the classic blue to coffee, chocolate, and rum-raisin variations, and pick up bottles to take home. It is a relaxed, self-guided or lightly guided experience rather than a grand industrial tour.

• Entry to the courtyard and shop is generally free; tours and tastings may carry a small charge.
• The estate is an easy add-on to a day exploring the capital and Fort Amsterdam.

Go in the morning when it is cooler, taste before you buy to find your favourite, and remember that only liqueur made here can truly claim the island's name and that signature Laraha-orange flavour.