WhistlePig Whiskey Teams Up with the ‘Super Troopers’ Guys to Create Limited-Edition Barrel-Aged Maple Syrup

And it pairs quite nicely with the distillery's Whiskey & Waffles Kit.

When WhistlePig first hit shelves back in 2010 it changed the game for premium rye. In fact, the category hardly existed before the Vermont-based brand was audacious enough to enter the market with a flagship 10-year-old product — priced at over $60 a bottle. It turns out, through the years, the talented tastemakers at the distillery’s idyllic country farmhouse have also been quietly crafting a liquid far more familiar to their home state: maple syrup. And not just any rendering of the traditional sweetener, but one that spends time in barrels formerly reserved for their very own whiskey.

Now they’re teaming up with another celebrated export of the Green Mountain State to help promote awareness for a global maple syrup shortage. In a cheeky online ad campaign that you can watch here, the stars of Super Troopers are riffing on some of the more memorable moments from their 2001 cult comedy hit. They all have a good laugh, while also sharing a recipe for the ultimate Vermont Maple Old Fashioned as well as whiskey and waffles, if you’re feeling a bit more peckish.

Despite the comical flavor of the “PSA,” the worldwide maple syrup shortage is no laughing matter. It’s a crisis brought on by a changing climate, particularly up in Canada where production of the beloved native nectar just dropped to a five-year low.

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Back down in Vermont, the situation isn’t quite so dire. Indeed, the folks at WhistlePig believe they have the capability to quadruple production at their on-site sugar shack. So in a novel PR stunt, the distillery has “sold” the syrup facility to the Super Troopers in advance of a cast reunion in Los Angeles.

“The maple market is facing a shortage and mother of God, we have to keep it flowing from the maple mecca that is Vermont,” says Jay Chandrasekhar, who played Thorny in the original film and its 2018 sequel. “We’re excited to make our permanent stake in Vermont through this merger and partnership, and of course stock up on maple for future films.”

For Chandrasekhar and his co-stars, teaming up with WhistlePig was a no-brainer. The movies were shot in Vermont, where WhistlePig maintains its basis of operations across 500 acres of working farmland.

“We realized quickly that our cultures were the same,” adds Chandrasekhar. “We like to have a lot of fun, they like to have a lot of fun. And of course we’re all big fans of maple syrup.”

It’s hard to hate on a liquid that goes equally well with breakfast as it does classic whiskey cocktails. Leveraging that unique versatility, WhistlePig offers a Whiskey & Waffles Kit for $90. It includes the barrel-aged maple syrup, a mini waffle griddle, and the brand’s ode to bartenders: the eminently mixable 6-year-old PiggyBack Rye. 

Related: Why You Should Add Water to Your Whiskey

The Super Troopers partnership, meanwhile, is commemorated by a limited edition bottle of WhistlePig Whiskey Barre-Aged Maple Syrup: Troopers Edition. It’s a $25 bottling of that same farm-sourced barrel-aged sweetener, only this one wears a mustache across the top of its front label — a hirsute callback to the enduring characters from the film.

Whether you’re slowly sipping an elegantly arranged Old Fashioned or simply chugging syrup solo, Erik Stolhanske — who plays Rabbit in the films — suggests preambling the act with his favorite toast: “May you live every day like it’s your last, and every night as if it’s your first.”

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