Maker's Mark 101 Review

 Maker's Mark holds a special place in my bourbon journey as it was the first real bourbon I stocked as a house whiskey. That was probably 15 or so years ago and my preferences have changed considerably since then. These days I consider regular Maker's Mark a very middle of the road, average bourbon, somewhere around a C rating. If there are no better options I will happily drink it but there is no denying it is rather thin and lacking in depth. Given those shortcomings and my nostalgia for the brand, I was actually quite excited to hear about the release of the 101 expression. 

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey; No Age Statement; 50.5% ABV; $38

Nose: Very familiar wheated bourbon smells - vanilla cake frosting with a pinch of fruits and wheater zippy spice. It is sweet and woody with a decent amount of depth / oak backbone yet all the while maintaining that soft and approachable wheated profile. Even if this might be the same age as standard Maker's, it doesn't nose as young. I suspect that is the increased proof giving it more umpf.

Taste: A reiteration of the nose - vanilla cake sweets, a bit of wood, and an overall soft profile. Again like the nose though, where the standard Maker's falls short, this actually has some legs to it and delivers a good amount of flavor depth across all the boxes I want checked - wood, sweet, fruit, and spice.

Thoughts: This is a very nice upgrade over standard Marker's. I will reiterate that I have some nostalgia for this brand so it might be skewing my judgement but I quite enjoyed this. It has that classic soft profile a good wheated bourbon should exhibit without being thin and shallow. All in all, it's a moderately well balanced bourbon and at a sub $40 price point, a pretty decent value in this market. I certainly thought so as this is my second bottle.

Rating: B-

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.

Maker's Mark Private Select Gift Shop 2017 Review

I recently took a trip from Nashville up to Louisville and decided to slightly detour over to Loretto because they currently have a Dale Chihuly exhibit on the grounds. Maker's Mark is my favorite tour in Kentucky, mainly because the grounds are so well catered to visitors and I picked the perfect time of year because the Fall colors were peaking (pictures). As part of the tour you get to taste a private select chosen by the Maker's Mark staff. I personally hate Maker's 46 (review) and didn't much care for the very first gift shop only cask strength version they released (review) but I was surprised by the one I tasted on the tour. I liked it enough that my vacation mode wallet was okay with forking over the somewhat steep asking price. For reference, the staves on this are 2x Baked American Pure 2, 2x Seared French Cuvée, 2x Maker's 46, and 4x Roasted French Mocha.

No Age Statement; 55.1% ABV; $80

Nose: Cinnamon red hot candies, dark cocoa, some corn funk, and quite a bit of ethanol. It has the wood influence you'd expect from a ~6 year old bourbon.

Taste: More corn than the nose but the odd funk is gone. The mid and back palate are a wave of spicy cinnamon red hot candies. The wood depth is pretty nice with the different stave chars adding some nice complexity. There are hints of the green wood / pine note that make me completely hate the regular Maker's 46 but it seems to be getting masked by chocolate cocoa notes rather well. The ethanol influence is a lot more settled than the nose and though it might be amplifying the spice notes, the increased proof seems to be ramping up all the nice flavors rather than just cranking up the heat. 

Thoughts: Given my previous experience with Maker's 46 and the original Maker's 46 cask strength, I was really surprised how much I like this. Granted, it's a low bar but I think this is the best Maker's product I've ever had. It tastes more full than the standard Maker's thanks to the proof and more mature than the cask strength version which I think is good but is slanted towards a younger profile. It's a nice blend of cinnamon, corn, and dark chocolate notes with a good amount of proof to back it up. The only real downside here is the asking price is kinda high but what isn't in the world of bourbon these days.

Rating: B

For reference, on my current scale, Maker's CS would be about a B-, standard Maker's a C, and most modern single barrel Old Weller Antiques would be in the B- to B range.

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.

Maker's Mark Review

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. 

Maker’s 46 Cask Strength Review

Maker’s 46 Cask Strength is a limited release barrel proof version of the french oak stave finished Maker’s 46. It became available at the Maker’s gift shop starting in the Fall of 2015 and as far as I know that is/was the only way to get a bottle. Like the initial release of Maker’s Cask Strength, I suspect this was a purposeful trial in order to gauge public reception of the product before making any decisions about a national launch. The comically plain label here is further evidence of that - it’s pathetically bad even for a test product and might as well just say “XXX Whiskey”.

No Age Statement; 54.45% ABV; $38 (375ml); Batch ??

Nose: Smells just like you’d expect a 5-6 year old ~110 proof bourbon. It’s a bit hot with slightly young fruity corn and sweet oak notes.

Taste: A lot of the same elements as the nose but also very sweet, earthy-wood forward, and really dry. Some new-make corn notes are there, as are some darker chocolate sweet notes on the back end. There’s almost no indication to me that this is a wheated bourbon as any typical wheat notes are buried under all that oak. The proof has given it a lot of sweetness that I would enjoy more if it weren’t so damn earthy and dry.

Thoughts: It’s not the worst but not really great either. This tastes closer to Maker’s Cask Strength than it does a cask strength Maker’s 46 which is good because I hated the standard Maker’s 46. It doesn’t have as much of that green woodiness as standard 46 which I assume is being masked by the higher proof. Regardless, I’d reach for Maker’s Cask Strength any day of the week before this and that’s probably the reason we haven’t seen this product launched nationally by now.

Rating: C-

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.

Maker’s 46 Review

Maker’s Mark holds a lot of nostalgia for me. The standard offering was the first “premium” bourbon I kept stocked on a regular basis and flasks of Maker’s accompanied me to more than one wedding stowed away in a suit pocket. As such, I tend to hold the brand in a higher regard than some others might. Though I don’t really drink much standard Maker’s anymore I’ve grown quite fond of the more recent cask strength product which I think is a great buy at $50-$60 a bottle. With standard Maker’s and Maker’s Cask Strength out of the way that leaves just one other product in the brand’s portfolio: Maker’s 46.

There isn’t anything special I can say about the backstory on Maker’s 46 that hasn’t already been said numerous times. If you want a more thorough history of the product I suggest you check out Red White & Bourbon’s excellent review here. The TLDR; on the product is that it’s a 6-ish year version of their standard wheated bourbon which has been finished for a couple of months in barrels containing “seared” French Oak staves.

47% ABV; No Age Statement; $37

Notes: The nose is dominated by a sharp, fresh cut woodiness. I almost want to say it reminds me more of evergreen or pine than oak as it has a green feel to it. There are the typical sweet wood flavors like vanilla in there as well but it’s hard to get past the wood astringency. The sharp green wood dies down a little on the sip but again I find it the dominant flavor. It’s not until the end of the palate and the finish that I can really get beyond the wood notes and find typical wheated bourbon flavors like vanilla cinnamon cake batter. With all the added woodiness I find the finish to be very dry.

Thoughts: The French Oak stave process has certainly made Maker’s 46 very unique. I can’t think of any other bourbon that tastes like this. That unique flavor can also be a huge negative though if you don’t like the woody notes is brings. For me, I just continually find something off-putting about the evergreen pine wood taste here but I can see where others would enjoy it.

Rating: I'm not a fan but this is one that everyone just needs to try for themselves.

Maker's Mark Cask Strength Review

Maker's Mark was the whiskey that really drew me into bourbon. I cut my teeth on it after years of Jack Daniels products. My tastes have come a long way since then and these days I'd consider the standard Maker's a C+/B-. It's still my go to when selections are slim somewhere like an airport bar or wedding. I certainly don't turn my nose up at it but it is a little young and kinda thin for my liking now. Needless to say when heard they were coming out with cask strength version I was elated. There is some stiff competition in the wheated bourbon market 10 years and under though so let's see how Maker's stacks up.

56.6% ABV; Batch 14.01; No Age Statement; $40 (375ml)

The nose is sweet with a slight cinnamon spice but nowhere near the cinnamon bomb that is Old Weller Antique. The taste has lots and lots of honey and vanilla. There is also some slight medicinal and unbalanced astringency which I think is the young age rearing its head. It is incredibly drinkable neat, it doesn't taste like 113 proof. The finish is where this one really shines though. There are lots of deep and dark sweet cocoa notes which linger for quite a long time.

Thoughts: I had high hopes and this one really delivered. This is everything Maker's Mark should be. What I would really love now though is to taste this one with a few more years in the wood. I did a side by side against Old Weller Antique 107 and Old Rip Van Winkle. My rankings: ORVW > MMCS > OWA. It's doesn't have the young hot harshness of OWA but it lacks the depth, body, and complexity of the Old Rip. Again that's age handicap but I think at 10 years it might be able to top the Van Winkle.

Rating: B+