Noble Tonic 01: Tuthilltown Bourbon Barrel Matured Maple Syrup

While we’ve all been tossing aside our jackets and admiring blooming trees, maple syrup producers have been cursing this freakishly early spring. Maple trees need cold nights and warm days for the sap to flow, and many in the syrup industry are saying this is the worst season ever. So you’d better believe when I saw a stockpile of Noble Tonic 01: Tuthilltown Bourbon Barrel Matured Maple Syrup on the shelves at The Brooklyn Kitchen, I snapped up a bottle, the near-$30 pricetag be damned.

This maple syrup is harvested in Quebec and then matured in charred oak barrels with just a bit of raw bourbon at the Tuthilltown distillery in Gardiner (New York’s first whiskey distillery since Prohibition). Upfront, the taste is pure maple, mellow and buttery, but then it’s joined by subtle bourbon notes, which meld together in a smooth finish. It’s not boozy but there’s enough bourbon flavor to give it a little something. This won’t overpower your pancake stack, but rather gives it a refined polish.

I’m a little disappointed that they changed their bottle design from the cool square flask, but if I can figure out how to make cocktails out of this stuff, all will be forgiven. Buy it at The Brooklyn Kitchen while supplies last.

The Brooklyn Kitchen
100 Frost Street between Leonard St. and Manhattan Ave., Williamsburg