Last weekend I visited the Whisky in Leiden festival, (you guessed it) in Leiden. I got to taste a lot of wonderful drams and I had an absolute blast. I will do a full write up of the festival later on and I also had pen in hand to take plenty of tasting notes to share with you too! But I’m gonna start out with something you might not have expected… Maple infused whisky. Or in other words: a marriage of maple & oak.
I visited the festival with my fiancée, who got me the tickets as an early birthday gift. Bear in mind though that she does NOT like whisky, not unless it has something like honey (or the likes) in it. As you may imagine she got very excited when the third stand we visited already held a dram that spoke to her. Sortilège Canadian Whisky & Maple Syrup.
Flavoured whiskies
Normally I steer clear of the flavoured whiskies. Not because I have anything against them, but because they’re just not my cup of tea. I am – on the other hand – a huge fan of maple syrup. And so, I also found myself giving it a try. And I must say, they make some excellent stuff. We got to taste both their standard offering and their Prestige offering. The latter has been aged for 8 years and is bottled at a higher proof. And though that last one sounded like more of my cup of tea, I found myself preferring the standard bottling.
With the Prestige you can taste the whisky influences clearly, as the oak shines through the sweetness of the maple syrup. But I found that that was not what I was looking for in this dram, if I’m gonna drink something like this it will be as a kind of liquid dessert. And the standard bottling tick those boxes and scores very very high. The taste of the maple syrup is beautiful, and there’s no burn at all. It tastes like you’re sipping slightly watered down maple syrup, and that’s not a bad thing at all! And at 30 percent ABV (60 proof) it even provides you with a nice buzz, combined with the obvious sugar rush.
Liquid dessert
If you have a sweet tooth, are a lover of maple syrup like me, or (also like me) just like to incorporate your partner into your whisky journey with a flavoured dram? Then this Maply Syrup Whisky is for you! If you’re not into sweet stuff at all then just skip it, but I know what I’m gonna do! I’m gonna buy myself a bottle, scoop myself a bowl of ice cream, and pour some of this stuff on top. Oh yeah, that’s the good life!
