LCBO Food & Drink Spring 2022

Mad for Maple

A sure sign of spring in Ontario is when the sap starts running and the sugar shacks spring to life for a few short weeks. Mix maple into your cocktails to add true Canadian flavour.

It’s the emblem on our national flag, one of our most famous exports—and it’s not just for breakfast anymore. This spring, as the sap starts to flow in sugar bushes around Ontario, extend maple syrup from a kitchen staple to a bar essential. A dash of maple in place of sugar gives Old Fashioneds and Champagne Cocktails savoury new complexity. Incorporating maple notes in drinks—whether they tease out the smoky minerality of its darker grades or celebrate the delicate fruity and floral notes of light syrup—is a new sign of spring.

LOCAL Maple Events

BY CHARLENE ROOKE Photography by james tse

Ê Lanark County is known as Ontario’s Maple Capital: make some of the 90 stops on its Maple Trail. lanarkcountytourism.com Ê Ontario Maple Syrup Producers celebrate Maple Weekend each year (April 2–3, 2022); check for local producers and events at mapleweekend.ca. Ê A sugar-shack visit means syrupy pancake stacks and maple candy on ice: Ontario Culinary can guide you to more of the season’s best. ontarioculinary.com

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SPRING 2022 FOOD & DRINK