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Five Springs Infused Bourbon Vanilla Maple Review

Can an infused bourbon be too sweet to drink straight yet perfect for cocktails? Five Springs Vanilla Maple walks this tightrope with maple syrup richness.

OVERALL RATING

8
$51
  • Charles Steele is an attorney and whiskey enthusiast with a penchant for the peculiar.
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Tasting Notes

About:

Five Springs Infused Bourbon is Kentucky born and bread. Their production materials describe the company thusly, “We created Five Springs because we believe bourbon needs a refresh. Made with premium bourbon aged in American oak barrels, blended and bottled in Kentucky and infused with natural fruits, botanicals, and other flavors. Our products honor bourbon’s roots while embracing the new and adventurous.”

This bottle is their Vanilla Maple, “Bourbon infused with vanilla, maple, and other natural flavors.

Our warmest and most inviting flavor, Vanilla Maple is like a flannel blanket on a cool evening around the campfire. Enjoy neat, on the rocks, or in your favorite cocktail. Our friends rave about the Five Springs Espresso Martini. We think you will too.”

I’m intrigued. Infused bourbon is a common interloper to the whiskey world. Often used as the backbone in cocktails these infusions struggle to gain staying power. Often unable to thread that needle between reasonable cocktail addition and shelf occupant.
Appearance:
Color of maple syrup with sticky legs.
Nose:
The name is certainly not misleading! I find caramel apples, state fair funnel cake, synthetic sugars with touches of bourbon and wood. Everything is drips in powdered sugar and vanilla.
Palate:
Maple syrup drizzled over vanilla rye pancakes. It’s rich, thick, inviting, and just enough earth to add nice complexity. Almost sweet overload on the palate.
Finish:
Syrupy mouthfeel leading into a short sugary finish. Tingling maple syrup and powdered sugar.
Comments:
Reduce this into a sauce and add it on anything cake based! In transparency, I’m not positive who this whiskey is for. It’s not a straight bourbon which is how I drank it. It’s too sweet to come back to, but for what it is trying to be (an infused bourbon) it is very good at it.

I imagine in the right cocktail (several are listed on their website) this could be a tremendous item to have. It’s clean and avoids the synthetic flavors that befall many infusions. Really quite good!

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Charles Steele

Charles Steele, a Portland-based attorney, is a native of the Pacific Northwest. His legal background provides him with an analytical approach to understanding whiskey and other aged spirits. Primarily a legal writer, freelancing for The Whiskey Wash offers Charles a unique opportunity to showcase his versatility as a writer. Although his preference lies with whiskey and whiskey-based cocktails, he has a profound appreciation for all unique and unconventional liquors, from Malört to Ojen - if it's peculiar, he's intrigued.

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