Maker’s Mark to launch its oldest whiskey yet

Maker’s Mark is breaking from its storied tradition by releasing its first age-statement Bourbon.

The Kentucky Bourbon maker has long skirted age statements despite industry trends and clamouring fans, opting instead to bottle its whiskeys to taste rather than age.

That will change next month, though, with the debut of Cellar Aged, what will be the oldest Maker’s Mark whiskey to be released to date.

The 2023 release will be bottled at 57.85% ABV, comprising a blend of 87% 12-year-old whiskey with 13% 11-year-old whiskey.

“The number one request that we have heard from customers over many, many years, is ‘Why don’t you make an overaged Bourbon?’,” Rob Samuels, Maker’s Mark managing director, said.

The reason was the Kentucky heat, which Samuels and the Maker’s team felt had an adverse effect on its signature wheated Bourbon recipe once it reached a certain age. Typical Maker’s Mark Bourbons are bottled at around six to seven years.

Samuels credited quality manager Diane Rogers for finding the solution to this, which was to pull six-year-old barrels from the traditional warehouse, and allow them to further age in the brand’s ‘one-of-a-kind’ limestone whiskey cellar, which was built in December 2016.

“The hypotheses being, to slow down the heavy extraction of all those tannins which make it a little hot, which make it a little abrasive, a little one note, but continue the oxidation,” Samuels said.

Cellar Aged will be released annually, always bottled at cask strength, though the recipe and proof will be subject to change with each batch. Expect more aged stocks, however, as Samuels said he doesn’t see it including whiskeys younger than 11 years old.

In discussing this new whiskey – and chapter – for Maker’s Mark, Samuels evokes what he calls the “founder’s vision”, or continuing to adhere to the brand ethos of quality and consistency, even when that means departing from tradition.

Maker’s Mark was founded by Bill Sr and Margie Samuels, Rob Samuels’ grandparents, in 1953.

“Founder’s vision influences everything. It influences the whiskey we make as the core and it influences the whiskey of the future, and that’s celebrated through this Cellar Aged release, and as we tinker into the future,” he said.

“There are so many things that we can do in the short term if it were about commercial expediency, but we want to hold to that standard, and ultimately it’s flavour driven.”

Cellar Aged will be available for a suggested retail price of US$150 in the US in September 2023; in London, Munich and select global travel retail accounts in October 2023; and in Tokyo and Singapore in early 2024.