Ever since the release of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey, the flavored whiskey world hasn’t stopped growing. Big names like Bushmills, Jim Beam and Evan Williams joined Jack and released their own honey whiskeys. But now the trend has shifted from honey to something even sweeter: maple.
The most recognized maple whiskey around is Crown Royal Maple. There are a few other small names that are emerging and we were lucky to score a bottle of one: Tap 357.
We asked DIA-ers to describe this in one word, and here’s what we got: sweet (from about five people), maple-y, sugary, syrupy, breakfast, and our favorite, sweet-mapley-goodness.
If you’re a fan of Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth, you’ll love this whiskey. The maple flavor hits you right away when you taste it with a hint of whiskey in the finish. It is pure sugar from the maple syrup. We sipped it on the rocks and it was way too easy going down; did we mention sweet-mapley-goodness? We think it would be a great gateway drink for someone trying to ease into the whiskey world.
Our team also had some fun coming up with Tap 357 cocktails:
- Served warm, neat, with an orange peel, for breakfast
- With pancakes
- In Cocktails that might normally call for “simple syrup”
- In Coffee
- In a flask while skiing
Final decision: we could drink it, but only one drink. The maple-y-ness of it is pleasing, yet overwhelming.
Have you ever tried maple whiskey? What did you think of it?