Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup Gets 23 Yr Old Pappy Treatment

Bourbon barrels, after going once around the block aging America’s favorite whiskey, end up in a variety of second hand uses. Often this means overseas shipment to Scotland to age Scotch whisky, but in this day and age of everything bourbon barreled supposedly having a more rich taste, the sky’s the limit. Maple syrup is typical of what gets loaded in these barrels, and one just announced pancake topper out of Ohio is getting the 23 Year Old Pappy Van Winkle treatment.

The new Pappy & Company Bourbon Barrel-Aged Syrup is the result of a collaboration between Ohio-based Bissell Maple Farm and Pappy & Company. Regular readers of this whiskey blog will recognize the name of the latter, started by Van Winkle family members to expand the horizons of this cult bourbon brand into whiskey lifestyle products. When we interviewed Carrie Van Winkle Greener back in May, she mentioned at the time the syrup, which will price for $45 for a 12.7 fluid-ounce bottle.

Bissell, led by sixth generation maple farmer Nathan Bissell, has been in the pure maple syrup business for over 100 years. The farm began experimenting in 2013 with aging its syrup in bourbon barrels. This eventually evolved into the partnership with the Van Winkle family, resulting in the Bissell syrup being aged for 100 days in uber-rare, 23 year old Van Winkle barrels.

The syrup specific to this project is said by Bisell to have been “produced at the peak of the maple harvesting season, during a very specific window when the Red Maple and Sugar Maple trees are producing pristine sap in equal amounts. Known as Sugarmaker’s Reserve, the maple syrup produced from this blend of sap has a unique reddish hue, uncommon in the maple syrup industry, and an exquisite flavor.”

Bringing together the flavor profile of this syrup with the Pappy barrels has resulted in a final product described as “a rich, delicious maple syrup with a smoky, smooth finish that transcends pancakes and waffles to be drizzled over ice cream, basted on pork tenderloin, glazed on strawberries, and more.”

“You might think you know these flavors—the bourbon, the maple,” said Nate Bissell in a statement. “They’re really ‘of the moment’ right now with kitchens and chefs…but you really can’t know the richness and depth of flavor until you’ve tasted our Sugarmaker’s Reserve syrup that’s been aged in a 23-year-old barrel from the most exclusive bourbon available.”