5 hot and cold drink recipes to celebrate the maple syrup season year-round

We’re wine producers at Domaine Les Brome, but we make maple syrup, too. And that has enabled me to try my hand at making cocktails with these two delicious ingredients. So, I’d like to suggest various drinks you can make with a base of maple syrup, wine, alcohol, juice or milk. They’re cocktails which are easy to make, with ingredients that we usually have on hand in our homes.

Maple cocktails:

Spectacular sparkling wine

Brut sparkling wine is a perfect aperitif.  Adding some granulated maple sugar to the sparkling wine has a spectacular effect, producing a dazzling show for the eyes.   And it’s simple to produce this spectacular show: you’ll need a bottle of traditional Québec-made brut sparkling wine. And you’ll also need granulated maple sugar. It’s important that you use this type of sugar because it dissolves slower in the liquid.

• Pour two-thirds of your favourite sparkling wine into a champagne flute.
• Then pour half a teaspoon of maple sugar into the flute.

Watch closely because you’ll see the level of foam will rise, and that’s normal. There will be a bit of sugar left at the bottom of the flute and it will create a funneling of wonderful bubbles!

Spiced maple grog

Grog is the name commonly given to hot rum cocktails. The ingredients of spiced maple grog are spices, rum and, of course, maple syrup! It’s a hot, comforting drink that blends together smoothly.

As a base, you need to use either hot water, a clear juice (apple, white cranberry, maple-flavoured water…), or milk even. The alcohol content should preferably be brown or spiced rum. And, as the star ingredient, you need maple syrup.

To heat the liquids, I recommend you use the steam wand on your espresso machine, if you have one, but if you don’t, a casserole or microwave will do the job just as well.

In a glass coffee mug put:

• 1 ounce of spiced rum
• 1 ounce of maple syrup

Pour in some apple juice (or another aforementioned base)

Heat it and add a cinnamon stick and apple slice as a decoration.

Le Whiskérable

Le Whiskérable is a cocktail made with milk (almond milk or soya milk, too) and you have two choices:   serve it cold and well beaten as an apéritif or serve it as hot as the desert. The cocktail has four ingredients: whiskey, maple syrup, milk and coffee.  My own personal touch is to serve it with a tiny spoon dipped in maple butter and I garnish the rim of the glass with maple syrup!

• 1 ounce of whiskey
• 1 ounce of maple syrup
• 2 ounces of milk
• 1 short shot of espresso

For the hot cocktail, heat up the milk beforehand and pour it into a clear, decorated glass coffee mug. Then all you need to do is add in the other ingredients afterwards and there you have your cocktail.

The cold cocktail is just as easy to make as the hot one. You’ll need a mixer and some ice. Then add in the ingredients and once the ice is completely crushed, pour the contents into your previously decorated glass mug. What’s nice about the cold cocktail is that it gets creamy.

Non-alcohol maple drinks:

Sugar cream

For this drink, I got my inspiration from sugar cream. It’s so good I wanted to reproduce the taste.

You’ll need:

• 4 ounces of 2% milk
• 1½ ounces of regular or amber-coloured maple syrup
• 1 to 2 drops of pure vanilla extract

Heat up your milk in a milk frother, or if you’d prefer, heat it in the microwave and use a small   electric frother. Then add the amounts of maple syrup and vanilla into the cup and finish off with the hot frothed milk.

L’abreuvoir à l’érable (The maple spout)

L’abreuvoir à l’érable ou maple spout  is a refreshing, thirst-quenching drink. I’ve tried it myself as a replacement for Gatorade during my workouts. The maple syrup is a great alternative to refined sugar. It has several types of minerals, unlike plain sugar.

To make one pitcher, you’ll need:

• 3 ½ cups of water
• ¼ cup of orange juice
• ¼ cup of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon of salt

And there you go!

May the mild spring weather warm your heart!

Happy sugaring season everyone!

Cheers!