When I went to buy maple syrup last spring, I asked them for grade B. Friends had told me it was darker and tasted more maply. The people at the sugary (well, what do you call a place that makes maple syrup and sugar?) said that the grades had been dropped, and they now just called it "light" and "dark."

I didn't get to look around the store much because they had a class of schoolkids in there and were giving a talk and tour on making syrup. I did get to walk around and see the room with the boilers though. The smell was heavenly! (woodsmoke and boiling syrup). My great aunt and uncle used to have a maple sugar farm in Vermont but I can barely remember visiting the place.