WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Sip of Springtime

Poultney, Vermont - March 19, 2010

An old dairy barn in Poultney has new life as a bottling plant. "It's been a very busy year," sighs Rich Münch.

But what's in the bottles may be deceiving. "Because it's clear," Bob Münch says, "a lot of people think it's just water!"

It's not water. It's pure maple sap. It's straight from the tree, pasteurized, and carbonated into seltzer under the Vermont Sweetwater label. Rich Münch says, "Most maple sugarers drink sap. I said, 'Jeez. That's a good thing. Maybe we should carbonate it!'"

Brothers Rich and Bob Münch were sugarers who started bottling soda as a hobby back in the early 1990s. It is a sideline to their car collision repair business. "It's still in its hobby state," says Rich Münch.

Specialty food distributors have helped place the brothers' carbonated sap and 7 flavored sodas in dozens of stores in Vermont and across the northeast. Bob Münch chuckles, "A lot of old Vermonters who make maple syrup sort of scoff at it, but a lot of people like the product."

The Münches believe some people may be scared off by their sap drink, confusing it for syrup. But until sap is boiled way down, it's really the consistency of water and has only a slight maple taste.

Vermont Sweetwater produces the drink in limited quantities once a year, only when sap is fresh. This sap is sparkling and sweet, but not too sugary. It has a more natural taste than mass-produced flavored seltzers, and it's not like drinking a stack of pancakes.

"It is a one-of a kind," beams Rich Münch.

The Münches hope a growing interest in natural foods will help sweeten their sales of this sip of Springtime that's "Made in Vermont." 

"It's bottled right here in Vermont," Bob Münch says, smiling. "It's not bottled someplace else."

Click here to visit the company's website.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont