Sortilège - take a liqueur to breakfast

For all of you who have suffered drinking Canadian whiskys like Crown Royal, here's finally a product that makes good use of those whiskys. La Maison Des Futailles in Montreal came up with the brilliant idea of adding maple syrup to Canadian whisky, thereby creating a liqueur that is quite delightful and throughly Canadian. There's a hint of whisky in the nose, but when you take a sip, you're transported to an interesting intersection of nostalgia for pancakes doused with dark, flavorful grade B maple syrup and the more adult world of whisky. Actually, it tends more toward the breakfasty side of things since Sortilège is fairly sweet and the whisky notes quite mild.

The origin of this liqueur remains somewhat of a mystery because the La Maison Des Futailles makes little mention of it on their website (aside from selling it along with a number of wines). Supposedly the idea of combining whisky and maple syrup has been around in Canada for hundreds of years, though La Maison refined the process to provide a good mix of both products. The alcohol level is a manageable 30%, and this product is most flavorful when drunk at room temperature. There aren't many cocktail recipes for this liqueur (beside the ubiquitous adding it to coffee), but then this spirit is really for sipping. This product isn't cheap (around $25 for a 375ML bottle) but enjoyable enough to be worth the price. Since Washington state is in the midst of privatization of liquor stores, Sortilège is only available at a couple of Western Washington stores. I image though that it will pop up more frequently once the private liquor stores get going.