There was a time about 15 years ago when Maker's Mark was my house bourbon. It was the first bourbon I regularly kept stocked in my house once I had graduated college and could afford to spend money on what I thought at the time was upscale whiskey. As such, the brand holds a lot of nostalgic value for me and this is a common theme I hear over and over in the whiskey community as people describe how they got into bourbon. These days though I only drink Maker's when it's the only bourbon option and I can't tell you the last time I bought a bottle but I am guessing it's been over a decade. But for the community reviews on /r/bourbon the crowd seems to want to take things basics so here we are reviewing what is arguably the most well known bourbon in the world apart from Jim Beam.
No Age Statement; 45% ABV; $25 (750ml)
Nose: Some light cinnamon wheat spice and quite a bit of ethanol. Your typical oaky vanilla caramel is there but masked a bit because it's kinda hot for only being 90 proof.
Taste: Honey, corn grain, caramel, cinnamon. I tend to get cinnamon as the dominant spice note of wheated bourbons and it's certainly present in the finish. Again I feel it has too much heat for only 90 proof so that's either the cinnamon wheat spice coming out or that it's not had enough time in the wood to smooth things out.
Thoughts: This is the perfect example of an average bourbon. It tastes exactly like it should given the spec sheet - a plain and simple 5-6ish year old, moderately proofed, wheated bourbon. I really wish they would release an older product to smooth out some of the younger corn grain notes and aggressive ethanol notes but that's probably a pipe dream given the current bourbon market. This will do in a pinch where there are no other options but this along with all of the other Maker's options except maybe the cask strength are a pass for me.
Rating: C
Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.
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