Maple syrup | Maple sugar candy | Sweet oak | Cinnamon | Caramel | Baking chocolate

Maple syrup | French oak | Graham cracker | Cola syrup | Gingerbread | Extremely sweet

Maple syrup | French oak | Cinnamon spice | Prune | Cocoa powder | Lingering sugary maple syrup aftertaste

In a relatively short amount of time, finished whiskeys have gone from a niche whiskey product to a staple on pretty much every store’s whiskey shelf. Despite the outcry from many bourbon traditionalists, finished whiskeys have transformed the whiskey market. To fully answer “why” requires a long answer, but the Cliffs Notes version, or in non-Gen-X “Too Long Didn't Read” version, people like impactful flavor, especially the bold, sugary, and often fruity kind.

Like the name suggests, Very Olde St. Nick Winter Maple Whiskey is a finished whiskey in maple syrup barrels and French oak staves. Its label reads, “Made with barrel aged whiskey and natural flavors,” which will be a red flag for some. Very Olde St. Nick Winter Maple Whiskey is a blend of Kentucky bourbon and Indiana rye whiskeys and is allowed to include a small amount of flavoring and/or coloring. It’s unknown if this whiskey includes that or if its finishing agents are doing all of its flavor’s heavy lifting.

In order to explain the reason why this is important in relation to this whiskey, I have to use American restaurateur Guy Fieri’s catchphrase, “Welcome to flavortown.” To put it bluntly, Very Olde St. Nick Winter Maple Whiskey is one of the most flavorful finished whiskeys I’ve ever had. The combination of maple syrup and French oak finishing - each bold on its own - combine to a fanatical effect. This is a sickly sweet affair, with maple syrup and maple sugar candy strung throughout its sip and even in its long aftertaste. Just as the sugary maple tries to reside during parts of the sip, French oak is immediately behind it, pushing its way forward. It’s a roller coaster ride where you think you have a second to breathe after the first loop, but unknowingly, you do not, as three more loops are immediately ahead.  

Traditionalists will straight up hate this whiskey, but I would expect if you blindly poured this as an after dinner drink, or in a less serious tasting session, many would enjoy its sugary flavors. It’s an unbalanced pour that comes across as more of a high proof liqueur than a more traditional tasting finished whiskey (if there is such a thing). Being so unlike any other finished whiskey on the market, many will take suspect at its intensity of flavor, while others will overlook that and take it at face value.