Common off-flavors in maple syrup can arise from late season harvest, processing defects and microbiological contaminants, resulting in non-Grade A designations, and much reduced value. Twelve maple syrup samples, representing Grade A syrup and the common flavor defects “buddy”, “sour,” and “dark/acrid” (syrups associated with a burnt/bitter flavor), were produced in two NY State locations, Van Etten, NY and Lake Placid, NY, across the 2023 maple sap collection seasons, by Cornell Maple Program, where the samples were assigned appropriate grades and off-flavors by a maple syrup producer following industry standard guidelines. Samples were then evaluated at Cornell Food Science by a group of 26 maple syrup consumers in a multi-session qualitative study to establish a flavor profile for the maple syrups.