Comming soon?

I’m considering selling some bulk bourbon barrel aged maple syrup.

Back in early summer of 2024 I opened a barrel of dark maple syrup and somehow it was not to my specifications on density. I’ve always taken my syrup to 66.9% sugar, which happens to be the required density in Vermont. New York allows lower density but I’ve not used their minimum, favoring the higher density Vermont requires. Anyways, as maple syrup is heated longer it gets darker. In the process of heating that 40 gal of maple syrup it went from the darker range of Dark, Robust grade into the lighter range of Very Dark, Strong. Because Very Dark is a very slow selling grade for me, even though I had enough Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple syrup for about 3 years sales, I put the hot Very Dark Syrup into recently emptied bourbon barrels.

Those 2 barrels should have been ready in either June or July, 2025, BUT because of my need for a new hip I didn’t get it bottled. That changes later this month or early next month. I’ll have about 30 gal of Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple syrup I might offer in 2 gal HDPE pails at a price to still be determined. Before I can set the price I’m getting my cost for the 2 gal pails shipped to me, Then I’ll need to open the 2 bourbon barrels and sample the syrup. My guess is that the bourbon flavor will be stronger than what I try for, which means I’ll need to blend in a few gallons of good flavored dark syrup. I try to get the flavor balance about equal between maple and bourbon. As such the price will depend on how much dark I need to blend into the finished product. Once that is determined, late Nov or early Dec. I’ll post the price as an update in this post. I may also offer 2 prices, blended to a good balance and another with the bourbon flavor much higher than ideal. If I decide to offer 2 prices I’ll indicate how much dark I would suggest be added for the blend I strive for.

Look for the update. The product will also appear in my storefront only until it’s sold out. This will likely not be for individules, but rather for other maple producers who will then bottle it in retail containers for their customers, time will tell.

Ouch, as I tried to pump regular syrup from a barrel into the finishing pan in order to bring it up to temperature for filtering, the pump failed. I then disassembled the pump and cleaned all components, reassembled it and tried again. It tried to pump but had a leak, took back apart, it seems the lower cross member on the air powered double diaphragm pump was leaking. The issue was that when new, it had no gasket, nor was it supposed to.. It’s simply 2 smoothe plastic surfaces mating together. I ordered some food grade silicone gasket material. It will arrive sometime Tuesday. I’ll go to the sugarhouse tomorrow and bring the pump home so when the silicone arrives I can assemble the pump then . Then hopefully when I put the pump back into service it will work on Wednesday and I can resume packing syrup. I’ll post an update when packing resumes.

Bourbon barrel aged syrup in bulk, thus far I’ve only had one potential customer indicate they might be interested in a 2 gal purchase of it. I’m still working up a price. Because I don’t have an alcohol licence, I’ll need to heat and filter the syrup and hold it heated long enough to evaporate off any alcohol. That involves heating it once before filtering, holding it overnight, then heating again to 190-200F, filtering it, into my water jacketed bottler and holding it there at 185F for overnight. In that time the alcohol % will be under 0.5% and legal for me to sell. I’ll post more as I come up with a price. I also need to get a shipping cost for those who need to have it shipped.