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My good friend Evan approached me recently with a bottle of Maker’s Mark he had won at an auction. To me, it looked like their standard Cask Strength offering except it was in the smaller 375ml “old style” bottle. “This is the very first release of Maker’s Cask Strength” he told me. I wasn’t too intrigued before hearing that, but now he had my attention.
He went on to tell me that early Maker’s Mark Cask Strength (nationwide) releases came in these smaller bottles and were shortly discontinued a year or so later. He also said that while they didn’t carry an age statement, it was kind of an open secret that the bourbon used in this first release was all 7 years old. This is not an insignificant stat. For years, Maker’s Mark has been said to be a blend of 4 to 7-year-old bourbon. And with the exception of the DNA Series or Cellar Aged Series, Maker’s never puts out anything with much age, let alone an age statement.
You can taste that most Maker’s products contain younger bourbon, too. There is a telltale sign of graininess and astringency in most bottles. The flavors are nice, but layers of tannins aren’t exactly its strong suit. This is why I believe they do so many wood stave finishes. It’s really disappointing because I think the brand is sitting on a goldmine with all of the wheated bourbon that could become serious competition to Buffalo Trace’s Weller lineup – if they just tried.
But no, Maker’s Mark has been hampered by their corporate bosses for failing to release anything that hasn’t been neutered either through barrel rotation, refrigeration or blending in much younger barrels to the overall blend.
It’s been over 10 years since this bottle was released and now I’m going to take my first taste. What will I find inside? I hope there’s a glimpse of something awesome. After all, the proof is among the highest (if not THE highest) I’ve ever seen for a Maker’s Cask Strength Bourbon product which tells me that they might have added a little extra magic to the mix. Let’s find out. I sampled this neat in a glencairn.
Tasting Notes
Nose: This is a marked departure from almost all of the modern Maker’s Mark examples I’ve ever tried. The nose is much more relaxed and dense. I can actually smell some of the tannins (oak and chocolate) and they smell beautiful. Previous examples would always come with a hint of astringency lurking behind every note. This thing feels mature with every sniff – how come this isn’t the case for cask strength options bottled after 2015? In addition to those, I find perfectly sweetened fruit notes like cherries and generic red fruits. Vanilla and caramel impart a dessert-like quality while mild cinnamon gives it another layer.
Palate: It’s hard to believe this is a Maker’s product. There is a taste of refinement that I don’t normally find in typical Maker’s products. Sometimes modern Maker’s bottles have a certain bite or harshness to them, but this one seems to be smooth as silk. Chocolate cake, vanilla icing and thick caramel provide plenty of sweets while a layer of cherries finds itself nestled inside. The spice level is perfect with cinnamon and red pepper doing most of the lifting. The maturity of the oak gives this a different dimension than I have ever experienced in a Maker’s product. This is genuinely as close to a bottle of Weller as I’ve ever tasted.
Finish: Cherry, chocolate, nougat and caramel remind me of a weird, exotic candy bar. The finish lasts a decently long time – and I found myself enjoying every bit of it. I also enjoyed the parting oak and leather notes that lingered. Overall, this was one of the more cohesive Maker’s finishes I’ve tasted (excluding dusty Maker’s)
Score: 8/10
My impression of Maker’s has taken a complete 180. Well, not all of it. I’m mainly talking about how I now know what they’re capable of. I have had a few commenters lately express dismay and displeasure at the fact I tend to lean heavily into the narrative that older generations of bottles are better than modern ones – almost like I’m trying to gatekeep the level of enjoyment. I’m not and I’ll stand by my belief that distilleries big and small tend to put their best foot forward on whatever new product they’re rolling out. Only after that initial release do they begin to let their quality slip while they ride on the laurels of that original release.
This has to be what happened here. There’s no other explanation as to why a Maker’s product could be this good but each following year was not. I know it’s cliche to say, but they don’t make ’em like they use to.
