Maple syrup is Canadian liquid gold
It's worth enough to be stolen
Maple syrup is called Canadian liquid gold. This is not just a convenient figure of speech: Quebec keeps it in a strategic reserve, just like oil.
And in 2012, it became the center of the largest theft ever committed in Canada: eighteen million dollars worth of syrup, vanished from a Quebec warehouse.
World's leading manufacturer
A national strategic reserve
On the flag of Canada
Why do they call it gold
Maple syrup is not just a local pride. It is the country's natural treasure, to the point that the leaf of the tree from which it comes is on the national flag.
70%
Of the annual world production of maple syrup comes from Canada.
12.000
People employed by sirop d’érable in Quebec alone.
7.300
The supply chain's companies. Not a niche product: a sector.
Like oil, but made of syrup
It's called the International Strategic Reserve. It was established by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, a legal cartel that has existed since 1966.
The good vintages
When production exceeds demand, the surplus does not end up on the market at a discount.
The warehouses
The extra barrels are stored in warehouses across the region. Together they form the world's strategic maple syrup reserve.
The price
Restrictions and controls on members serve one purpose: to keep the price stable, year after year.
For many manufacturers, the system works: prices remain stable and predictable. Others do not accept the Federation's rules and demand a free market. It is from this rift that the coup of the century emerges.
The heist of the century
On August 24, 2012, the Federation reported being robbed. Not of money: of syrup.
August 24, 2012
The complaint. 9,561 barrels are missing from the Saint-Louis-de-Blandford warehouse, valued at over $18 million. It is the largest theft ever in Canada.
The survey
250 agents, over 200 witnesses. A special investigative team is established. It takes months.
The discovery
The barrels had been decanted. Some were filled with water, the rest left empty. The syrup had been out of the warehouse for a long time.
The destination
Vermont and New Brunswick. The shipment had already been resold to distributors who were unaware of its origin.
December 2012
Seventeen arrests. Three convictions: eight years in prison for the gang leader, five years and a 1.2 million fine for the accomplice, eight months for the truck driver who transported the barrels.
The theft that became a series
An $18 million maple syrup heist was too good a story for someone not to tell.
Dirty Money
The Netflix docu-series on corporate corruption and fraud dedicated an episode of its second season to him.
La Appiccicosa
In 2024, a tragicomedy inspired by the heist. It doesn't tell the true story: it invents absurd situations around the real one.
And then the rest
Songs, podcasts, TV shows. More than ten years later, the story is still making the rounds.
A hard-earned nickname
It's not marketing. When a food has a national strategic reserve behind it and an eighteen-million-dollar heist, it's earned its nickname on the field.
What changes for you. The same rules that keep the price stable impose controls and classification on every barrel that leaves Quebec. What arrives in the bottle has passed through there.
Start your journey into a world of goodness now
Pure Maple Syrup – Gold, Delicate Taste - 189ml bottle
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Pure Maple Syrup – Amber – 189ml Bottle
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Pure Maple Syrup – Dark - 189ml Bottle
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