No matter how dry you like your martini, the original definition of the word cocktail鈥攕till considered canon by purists鈥攃alls for sugar.听

A piece by Mallory Arnold called 鈥淎 Sticky Day in the Life of a Vermont Sugar Maker鈥� reminded me that, now that it鈥檚 sugar-shack season, one of my favorite uses for maple syrup is not on pancakes, but in drinks.听

Centuries ago, a little sugar was necessary to offset the harshness that would have characterized most spirits, which didn鈥檛 have the benefit of modern distillation and aging to round out their flavors and textures. We Americans may have a sugar problem鈥攐ur foods and bodies are drowning in it鈥� but it wasn鈥檛 until the 18thth century that sweetness was anything but the greatest luxury. Maple syrup has never been easy to make, but almost certainly would have been used in cocktails throughout the northeast until cane sugar became affordable and accessible toward the middle of that century.听

Unlike flavor-neutral simple syrup, maple syrup鈥檚 contribution to cocktails isn鈥檛 just sweetness, but also buttery, nutty, and vanilla flavors. Its flavor prevents maple syrup from being the Swiss Army knife of sweeteners that simple syrup is, restricting its use to certain spirits. But that list is longer than you鈥檇 think. Maple blends well with pretty much all brown spirits鈥攔um, brandy, whiskey鈥攁s the wood components in both cask and maple tree have an undeniable affinity. But maple can also work well with the potent flavors of gin and even mezcal. And while I wouldn鈥檛 call maple syrup healthy in and of itself, it has a lower glycemic index than sugar, not to mention a host of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants.听

Surprisingly, there鈥檚 not a lot in cocktail historiography about maple syrup, probably because by the time the first major cocktail book came out in 1862鈥�The Bar-Tender鈥檚 Guide鈥攚hite sugar was commonplace. But there are a couple of classic cocktails with maple syrup and a couple of obvious places where it fills in for ordinary sugar syrup beautifully.听

One note on using maple syrup: It used to come in grades鈥擥rade A, B, etc.鈥攂ut that system has now changed. Most of what you find in stores today will be what used to be Grade A, light amber in color and more delicate in flavor, as to not to overwhelm with maple flavor. What used to be Grade B is syrup from later in the season, and it鈥檚 darker, thicker, denser with minerals and possesses a more intense maple flavor. Today, this is known as something along the lines of 鈥淕rade A Very Dark (strong taste)鈥� and is what I prefer in cocktails.听

We have three maple cocktail ideas to help you remember that, whether it’s tapping season or not, that sticky bottle of maple syrup can have a life far beyond the breakfast table.听

Click for the recipes:

The Applejack Rabbit

Japanese Maple

Maple Old Fashioned

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I discovered this cocktail in the voluminous online recipe database of the Difford鈥檚 Guide, which attributes the Japanese Maple cocktail聽 to a 2009 recipe from bartender Damian Windsor, then at Los Angeles鈥� The Roger Room. It鈥檚 sort of a riff on the Maple Leaf, which is just a bourbon sour with maple syrup. But here the dryness of a Japanese blended whiskey (think Toki) is embraced by the warmth of the maple syrup, while lemon juice adds perkiness and the egg white brings a creamy suaveness.

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This is an obvious one, but worth mentioning.听 The Maple Old Fashioned perfectly embodies the original definition of a聽 cocktail by incorporating a聽 spirit, sugar, bitters, and water. This recipe calls for rye, but feel free to substitute bourbon on an aged rum.

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When I called Meg Emmons, operations manager and marketing director of , she had just emerged from the woods after the season鈥檚 first day of tapping trees.

Bourdon Maple Farm consists of 10,000 maple trees and two full-time sugar makers, owner Don Bourdon and Meg Emmons. The farm has been running for over 30 years as a sustainable, organic maple syrup producer in Woodstock, Vermont, where maple trees are abundant and sugaring is a way of life.听

Emmons lives in a sweet world of sustainability and natural resources. She grew up working with her parents on their family own local farm and restaurant, , also in Woodstock, and had neighbors who had their own small-scale, rustic sugar houses in their backyards. As a kid, she could open her windows and smell the maple steam wafting from next door.听

Emmons started working at Bourdon Maple Farm in 2012 to get some real-world experience before college. Her job duties initially included helping Don carry tools and debris around in the sugarbush, the term for a group of Sugar Maple trees growing in the same area and used to produce maple syrup or maple sugar, and then eventually took on more responsibilities like managing sections of the forest and monitoring the sap boiling process. After a year, Emmons went to The University of Vermont to study agriculture, but returned every winter break to tap trees. Even after she graduated, sugaring really stuck with her and became a full-time job.

A Day In The Life of Sugar Maker聽

Emmons wakes up before sunrise and heads 20 minutes down the road to Bourdon Maple Farm. In the sugarhouse, she packs her backpack full of coffee, snacks and all the tools she needs before heading into the forest on a six-wheeled ATV.

鈥淎 lot of the time, we don鈥檛 come out of the woods all day,鈥� Emmons says. 鈥淪o we have to have anything we possibly need to fix anything we come across.鈥�

Her pack includes: a splicer, pruning shears, extra tubing and wire, a handsaw tucked in her boot, and a bit of maple syrup to get her through tough afternoons.听

Equally important is putting together a plan of what she鈥檒l be working on that day out in the woods, which entirely depends on the season. From November to December, Emmons and Bourdon walk through the forest checking each section and clearing out any dead branches or debris. They check the sap pipeline system, which is made of a complex field of tubes that lead back to the sugarhouse. In January, they begin tapping.听

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How to Tap A Maple Tree

For tapping, Emmons has a tool belt with a drill hoop, hammer loop and nail pouch that she fills with spouts. They recruit a small team for tapping season, so any day Emmons could be working solo or with three to five people.听

Tapping involves drilling a hole into a clean, healthy spot in a tree, keeping the drill steady to create an exact circle rather than an oval that might leak. Then, Emmons will hammer a spout in the hole. The day we talked, Emmons and a recruit tapped around 300 spouts, which will produce about 21 gallons of sap each,

鈥淲e do that 10,000 times to cover all the trees,鈥� Emmons says, laughing. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 okay. We listen to podcasts and music and have fun with it, even if it鈥檚 a lot of work.听

What Happens After Tapping?

Once all the trees are tapped, around the end of February, Bourdon Farm needs the perfect string of days before they can pull the sap through the system of pipelines they鈥檝e established.听

鈥淲e need warm days, a freezing night and then a warm day afterwards,鈥� Emmons says. 鈥淲hen that happens, we鈥檒l turn on the vacuum in the sugarhouse to get that sap. It flows down naturally, anyways, but the vacuum system maximizes productivity.鈥澛�

At that point, collecting the sap is a two-person job. Emmons says one person stays and manages the boiling of the sap while the other goes into the forest to monitor the pipes and make sure nothing is leaking.听

鈥淲e collect the sap into these huge tanks and run it through a reverse osmosis system that pushes raw sap 鈥� two percent sugar 鈥� through membranes into another tank,鈥� Emmons says. 鈥淚t filters all the water out of it. We can take 75-80 percent of the water out immediately and concentrate it to be 15-16 percent sugar.鈥�

The osmotic pressure is an essential, efficient part of the process, as it cuts down the boiling time.听

鈥淚f we only boiled raw sap, we鈥檇 be boiling day and night for weeks,鈥� Emmons says.听

What Makes Maple Syrup Organic?

Bourdon Farm鈥檚 is certified organic, which means Emmons and Bourdon have to manage the forest and boiling process to meet sustainability standards of the .听

鈥淲e don鈥檛 over tap trees, which is super important to us because we want to make sure the forest remains healthy and each tree is growing well,鈥� Emmons says. 鈥淭he healthier the tree is, the faster it鈥檒l grow and the more sap and the sweeter sap it produces.鈥�

Emmons says the Bourdon Farms forest has a diverse array of foliage 鈥� from sugar maples, red maples, ash trees, beech trees, birch trees 鈥� to mitigate disease and prevent pest pressure.听

What鈥檚 the Difference Between 鈥淧ancake Syrup鈥� and Maple Syrup?

You might be surprised to know that one of America鈥檚 favorite topping for pancakes and waffles has been masquerading as something that it鈥檚 not. Brands like Mrs. Butterworth鈥檚 and Aunt Jemima aren鈥檛 technically maple syrup. That鈥檚 because pancake syrup鈥檚 number one ingredient is corn syrup, followed by high-fructose corn syrup. The first and only ingredient in pure Vermont maple syrup? Pure, boiled maple sap.听

鈥淧ure maple syrup has vitamins and minerals and antioxidants,鈥� Emmons says.

The Canadian Connection: Why Canada is a Maple Syrup Powerhouse

Canada produces 85 percent of the world鈥檚 maple syrup. The abundance of maple trees and perfect weather conditions create the most optimal environment for maple syrup production. Today, there are over 53 million maple taps in Canada, versus the U.S.鈥檚 13.3 million.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e competing with them, but actually a lot of our machinery is made in Canada,鈥� Emmons says. 鈥淟ike our evaporator and osmosis machine.鈥澛�

As far as flavor profiles, Emmons says flavor depends on the micronutrients in the soil of maple trees, so of course Canadian and Vermont syrups might taste different, but only slightly.听

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