Fresh leather | Crisp fall leaves | Burnt caramel | Milk chocolate | Pine syrup | Hint of cherry

Syrup | Peppercorn spice | Faint vanilla | Cherry pie | Cinnamon cookies | Light baking spices | Sickly sweet

Syrup | White peppercorn spice | Cinnamon apples | Cherry turnover | Faint oak | Baking spices | Lingering sweetness

Watershed Distillery is based out of Columbus, Ohio, and has become well known for their Fall Finishing Series, which now expands to three offerings. The company states that “Watershed Distillery’s Fall Finishing Series is a series of handcrafted spirits and a celebration of the flavors inspired by autumn.” Joining their Nocino and Apple Brandy finished bourbons in the series, Maple Syrup Finish is produced by finishing a number of bourbon casks “in Watershed’s spent bourbon barrels that aged Sweet Water’s maple syrup before returning to the distillery as a final finishing cask.”

The company clearly takes the task of celebrating the flavors inspired by autumn to heart with this whiskey. The bourbon is full of sweet notes from start to finish, sometimes to a fault. It opens with fall scents of crisp leaves, pine syrup, and fresh leather. The midpoint leans heavily into the maple syrup barrel finish as notes of syrup are prominent and blanket its supporting cast of cherry pie, cinnamon cookies, and light baking spice. Ending on notes of syrup, cinnamon apples, and cherry turnover, the bourbon reminds you that it’s not afraid to embrace its fall origins. Overall, this is a really enjoyable bourbon, but one that doesn’t entice you to go back for more than a single glass at a time due to its dominant sweet notes.

The bourbon in review is bottle number 01242.