If you’ve never had the pleasure of doing a honey or maple syrup tasting, I suggest you give it a shot, flight style. I did my first honey tasting at the farmer’s market this summer, and it was surprisingly grounding to compare the light, floral flavor of the spring harvest to the rich, butterscotch flavor of the fall harvest. I’m all about tastings because it’s often difficult to tell just how complex or special a flavor is without a benchmark. So you know I jumped for the spoons when a box of Republic of Vermont goodies showed up at my doorstep.

I happened to have one local honey and one not-so-local store brand syrup in the cabinet for comparison. The contrast between the store bought syrup and the Republic of Vermont organic maple syrup was STARK. The store bought syrup tasted flat, and though the label didn’t list it, it had a faint hint of liquid smoke. I’d had this store-bought 100% maple syrup many times, but I didn’t pick up on these weird flavor points until I compared it to the Vermont syrup. The VT syrup was robust, with buttery smooth full-mouth flavor and just a hint of floral in the background. This syrup was leagues ahead of the store bought variety.