Sugar Bob's Finest: Big, Bold Flavor In a Bottle

The teaspoon of dark amber maple syrup looked exactly like any other. But with one taste, I was transported to the woods, a campfire, and a plate of the best barbecue ever. As Sugar Bob himself, aka Rob Hausslein, says, “Think pork chops, not pancakes.” This savory, smoky, sweet syrup reminds us that maple syrup deserves a seat beyond the breakfast table.  
Rob and his wife, Ann Ogden, have been sugarmakers for about 30 years. As a young married couple, they started backyard sugaring like many Vermonters. “It was a wonderful family activity,” Rob says. “You go into the woods near the end of a long, dark winter and come out with sugar. Maple is the strongest, sweetest magical food we have. Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind grew from the pure joy and chaos of sugarmaking.”
Crystal-clear sap transforms into rich, amber syrup thanks to heat. Rob took it one step further, adding wood smoke to create an entirely new flavor profile. 
Sugar Bob’s started producing the smoked maple syrup in their sugarhouse and garage. Demand grew, and Rob quit his day job in 2015 so he could focus on marketing and production full time. “We didn’t invent smoked maple, but we put it on the map.”
In 2017, the Vermont Maple Sriracha brand became available, so Rob and another business partner, Andrea Ogden, acquired it. Based in Rutland’s Vermont Farmers Food Center, the two businesses merged into one value-added maple specialty food company. 
“We now had a clean, white space to produce our smoked maple and the maple sriracha sauce. Being in this commercial food hub allowed us to scale our business.” 
“Smoke is flavor,” Rob opines. “It should be in the pantheon alongside salt, fat, acid, and heat. Smoked maple in particular rounds off sharp edges and delivers complex and sweet undertones.” He admits it can be a challenge to introduce people to this flavor concept, but “once they try it and figure out how to enjoy its savory applications, they become hooked.” He advises neophytes to go easy at first, a drop or teaspoon at a time and to build from there. “You’ll find a sweet-and-smoky explosion that goes well with everything from oysters, salmon, and scallops to pork, chicken, and beef. Brush it on squash, drizzle it over tofu, layer it into stir-fries and salad dressings.”
And for cocktail hour? Rob loves the Smoked Maple Old-Fashioned, a drink that has become a national trend. “It’s a simple drink with a splash of smoked maple, a couple of fingers of good bourbon, bitters, and orange of some sort.” And don’t forget the Luxardo cherry. “It’s been fun for us to play in the whole cocktail and mixology world. We have a big following among mixologists in places as varied as Brooklyn and Japan.”