'Deep, dark, rich and complex': Maker's Mark to release first old bourbon in 70-year history
Maker’s Mark is releasing an old bourbon for the first time in its seven-decade history, so I traveled to its distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, last week to hear just how this 12-year-old spirit came to be.
The story begins about seven years ago with a little dynamite.
That might seem like an odd way to start an old bourbon, but those blasts into a limestone hill on the distillery’s grounds were really what changed the conversation about aging a Maker’s Mark bourbon past its traditional six years. When Maker’s Mark’s first-of-its-kind limestone whiskey cellar opened in December 2016 as part of its Private Select program, the company had a new, 47-degree space to age bourbon. Suddenly there was a way around the sharp, bitter taste that occurs when you leave the signature caramel and vanilla bourbon in a humid rickhouse for too long.
As I stood in that cool, limestone cellar, I sipped on a 12-year Maker’s Mark that resembled the traditional bourbon ― but it was undeniably richer, fruitier and far more complex.
This, bourbon lovers, is Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged, and it hits the distillery gift shop's shelves on Sept. 15. It will trickle out to select retail stores throughout the second half of September.
“Consumers have been begging for an older Maker's Mark for years, and we've always said, ‘no,’ and there's a very specific reason,” Beth Buckner, Maker’s Marks senior manager of innovation and blending, explained.
Maker’s Mark is a wheated bourbon that goes into the barrel at 110 proof, and the barrels in the rickhouses are rotated for consistency.
If that bourbon spends too long in a rickhouse, the tannins in spirit overpower the caramel and the vanilla. While other bourbon companies pushed out 10-year, 15-year and 20-year products, that never made sense for the Loretto distillery’s sweet and gentle taste vision, which is nearly as recognizable as its signature red wax seal.
"Aging our whiskey for over 10 years wasn't something we ever did," Rob Samuels, the managing director of Maker's Mark and the grandson of the founder, said. "Not because we didn't believe in it, but because we hadn't found our way of doing it."
When Maker’s Mark ages past eight years, the sugars and the mouth feel shift out of balance, and steer away from the taste vision. The founders of the company had a firm “never bitter” motto.
An older Maker’s Mark, eventually, turns bitter.
Well, until now.
Maker's Mark has never sold old bourbon from its rickhouse
Longtime Maker’s fans may remember that several years ago, tour guides on the distillery grounds would offer samples of barrels that “had gone too far,” as Buckner put it. As part of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged’s debut, she let me and a group of about 10 other bourbon writers try a pour of bourbon that had aged for 12 years in a traditional rickhouse.
“We don't make a bad whiskey, but there's a reason we don't have a traditional Maker's Mark to this age,” she told us.
I took a sip of the 12-year-old rickhouse sample. It had a sharp, overpowering bite, unlike anything I’d ever tasted from the brand.
“It’s not bad, but it’s not Maker’s” Buckner continued.
The new Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged starts with the same tried-and-true recipe and techniques used in its traditional bourbon, just like every other spirit the company makes. The difference is that after the distillery blends the rotated barrels into roughly 6-year-old Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, that liquid is then aged in this cool limestone cellar for another six years.
Another bonus to aging its bourbon in a chilly environment is that the “angel share” that traditionally evaporates in a humid rickhouse as the bourbon gets older is minimal in a cooler climate. There is more of this cellar-aged bourbon to go around than you'd typically see with a 12-year-bourbon. The initial release includes about 30,000 bottles that retail at $150 each. This new member of the Maker’s family is expected to be an annual release each fall.
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Now that the company has its first old bourbon heading toward the shelves, Buckner and Blake Layfield, the company’s senior director and head of innovation quality blending, are looking toward what comes next.
They’ve left some of that 12-year-old bourbon in the cellar to better understand what happens to the bourbon at the 13- and 14-year mark.
That doesn’t mean we’ll ever see Maker’s reach into the 20-year-old age bracket, but they’re not necessarily ruling anything out.
“Our target is to make something that's deep, dark, rich, and complex,” Layfield explained. “How we accomplish that goal will vary from year to year.”
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Features columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful, and occasionally, a little weird. Sometimes she writes about bourbon, too. Reach Maggie at mmenderski@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4053. Follow along on Instagram and Twitter @MaggieMenderski.