Why You Should Consider Adding Maple Syrup To Your Cocktail

You don't have to be a professional to serve quality drinks at home, encourages Nio Cocktails, and we have just the ticket to turn your amateur-level efforts into something an experienced mixologist might slide across a sleek wooden bar: maple syrup. We know, we know. Maple syrup is for pancakes — but have you tried a maple-sweetened old-fashioned? Hear us out. 

According to Bartender Atlas, the best cocktails strike a balance, so when you're devising a drink worthy of felicitations, consider reaching for some type of sweetener. While A Bar Above claims simple syrup is most often used by bartenders mixing up drinks, maple syrup is gaining speed. 

Long before it was swirled into any hot toddy, maple syrup was added to recipes in Colonial times (per Coombs Family Farms). Maple sap has about 2% sugar content, reports Vermont Maple, and it takes about 40 gallons to make only one gallon of maple syrup. But just like simple syrup, maple syrup doesn't leave sugar granules in the bottom of a chilled glass. Plus, it's good for you.

Mixologists have discovered that maple syrup pairs well with citrus flavors — lemon, lime, and grapefruit — but advise using 100% pure maple syrup. Lower grades are bitter, says Restaurant Business, and higher grades blend nicely in mixed cocktails. Esquire notes that maple syrup pairs particularly well with whiskey and can enhance any hints of smooth molasses in rum. Plus, adding a swirl of maple syrup can stir up warm memories of Sunday breakfast, autumn leaves, and home. Liquor knows best: the rich vanilla-caramel flavor of maple syrup will keep guests coming back for more.

If you need one more reason to give a maple-infused beverage a try, researchers at the University of Rhode Island have found that maple syrup is the healthiest sweetener out there: the syrup contains 54 beneficial compounds that fight inflammation and provide antioxidants — even one that could make up the next anti-wrinkle cream. Pour one for the house!