The Palmer House, A Hilton Hotel and executive chefs Stephen Henry and Mathew Wiltzius have elevated maple syrup with an inventive barrel-aging program housed in the hotel’s historic Chicago rail passage.
The subterranean passage, which dates to the early 1900s and once carried coal by rail to the hotel’s boilers, sits 65 feet below street level and stretches roughly 120 feet. Rather than leaving the space unused, the Palmer House has repurposed it for aging small-batch syrups in oak barrels, taking advantage of the passage’s stable, cool environment.
Six five-gallon oak barrels, imported from the South, are currently maturing six distinct maple syrup infusions. Each barrel is paired with a different spirit: Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon, Grand Marnier, WhistlePig rye whiskey, Herradura tequila, a 16-year-old single-malt Scotch, and dark Haitian rum. All of the syrups have been aging for more than 60 days, developing flavor profiles that range from smoky and oaky to floral and fruity depending on the spirit and barrel interaction.
Chefs Henry and Wiltzius are incorporating these barrel-aged syrups into cocktails and menu items at the hotel’s Lockwood Restaurant & Bar and Potter’s Lounge. Guests can already taste the Woodford Reserve–infused maple syrup in the Old Chicago Passage Maple Manhattan and as an accompaniment to bone-in bacon chops. As the remaining syrups continue to age, the culinary team plans to introduce additional cocktails, entrees, and brunch offerings that showcase the nuanced flavors created by the barrel-aging process.
This project blends the Palmer House’s historic architecture with contemporary culinary creativity, producing limited-run syrups that highlight both the character of the chosen spirits and the influence of oak aging. The result is a series of uniquely flavored maple syrups that support innovative beverage and food applications throughout the hotel’s dining outlets.