Sugar Tree Reserve

Winter 2024 release 

4th member bottle 

17.5% abv

Maple Wine Details 

Thus maple wine was amd using local Maple syrup from H&H Sugarbush out of Chelsea Michigan. 

We add a tiny bit of local Dexter Wildflower honey to bump up the abv and add a nice honey element   

After fermentation we added this to a fresh dumped Detroit City Distillery Bourbon barrel that previously held a peach Brandy. 

After being in the barrel for about 5 months, I then pulled enough put for this last member bottle. From there I added the most expensive vanilla beans I could find. They are from the Peruvian rain forest.  Then I added some Brazilian Amburana wood to make it all come together. 

The yeast I used is EC1118

Karl’s tasting notes. 

One of the few non-meads we’ve added to our lineup, the Sugar Tree Reserve everyone! Deserving of a name that suggests elegance and respect, this maple wine, a classic from ’24 before, reforged into a beverage oh so much greater. As we at Maniacal have been mazing away, the Sugar Tree has been resting in a positively splendid array of fine ingredients.

Chief amongst these aforementioned ingredients is the barrel itself. A freshly dumped barrel of Butcher’s Cut Reserve from Detroit City Distillery, which, in itself, was specifically peach brandy barrel aged. If that wasn’t enough, the addition of Peruvian vanilla beans and Amburana wood utterly transformed the once humble Sugar Tree. Between the barrel, the beans and the wood? Yeah, I think this will be a treat.

Moving to what I’ve been waiting for is the analysis; starting with the nose. It’s a melody. Under pleasant sweet scents of maple and vanilla is the aromatics of the undeniably “spiced” scents that can only be from the Amburana wood. I can tell why it’s common in Brazil to age Sugarcane juice in this wood based off the scent alone! It adds a husky sweet cinnamon-like note to the maple wine that is remarkably attractive. I mustn’t undersell the rest of the nose, however. Especially after opening it up, the undertones of vanilla -so much of its own personality I’ll add- and maple meld into a toffee/butterscotch sort of experience. With the wood it all just invokes divinity.

Dramatic claims aside, the taste itself is next. The first sip is a smooth, sweet and rich rich rich wave of flavors. Soft candied maple melds with caramelized vanilla flavors, no doubt from the barrel, followed by a symphony of decadent spices from the wood; both delicate and robust. Flavors are not unlike winter spices, making this a perfect winter companion. That was just the first sip. Further enjoyment of the Sugar Tree Reserve gives me that warm symphony of experience where each note plays its part perfectly. From the near “juicy” maple to that unforgettable wood spice and the barrel with vanilla just keeping it all together, every drop of this one is a treat. Valhalla might need to make an exception and bring this Reserve into Odin’s Mead Hall, that’s the last thing I’ll say!