Maker’s Mark was created in 1953, and the first hand-dipped bottle of Maker’s Mark Bourbon was introduced to the market in 1958. It has remained a mainstay readily available bourbon ever since. The distillery is located at Star Hill Farms in Loretto, Kentucky, which is about an hour and half southeast of Louisville.

‍‍Maker’s Mark was created by Bill Samuels, Sr., an engineer at the time. Samuels experimented with various mashbills by baking a loaf of bread with each recipe in order to taste test it. The bottle’s packaging, including its iconic and trademarked dripping red wax, was created by his wife, Margie and is said to have been inspired by her collection of cognac bottles. The founders’ son, Bill Samuel’s, Jr. took over in the 1970s, and today their grandson Rob Samuels oversees distillery operations.

Maker’s Mark is a wheated bourbon, replacing the more commonly used rye with wheat as the secondary grain in the mashbill. It’s made in batches of approximately 1,000 gallons (around 20 barrels at a time). Maker's Mark is one of the few distilleries to rotate the barrels from the upper to the lower levels of the aging warehouses during the aging process to even out the differences in temperature during the process. As a result, the flavor profile is relatively consistent from barrel to barrel. Each bottle is dipped in wax by hand, as opposed to using a machine. Incidentally, no two dippings are alike and sometimes a bottle is over-dipped which Maker’s Mark fondly refers to as a “slam dunk.”

Of note, Maker’s Mark is one of the few American distilleries to use the Scottish spelling “Whisky” as opposed to the traditional American spelling “Whiskey.”

‍‍This is an updated review of Maker’s Mark, which we originally reviewed in 2015.

Waves of sweet scents roll up from the glass. Quintessential caramel and vanilla are amplified by a brown sugar undercurrent. A slight floral note layers in against the bourbon’s sweet-heavy base, grounding it to a degree. It isn’t complex or noteworthy per se, but it’s an enjoyable introduction that offers good elements without any bad.

The palate dials the intensity up a notch compared to the nose. The sip is sweet, with caramel and vanilla maintaining the bourbon’s core. It’s accented by cinnamon, dark cherry, and a toasted oak note. Despite a slight astringency on the backend, the bourbon is fairly smooth. It’s enjoyable, but doesn’t try to push the boundaries in any way.

The caramel and vanilla core remains present, but it’s fleeting. A rush of cinnamon spice ramps up over the sweeter base, overshading the bourbon’s sweeter side. Light citrus, hints of barrel char and aged oak, and slight brown sugar emerge. Overall it’s an ending that starts sweet but transitions quickly toward s bit of heat and spice, which adds depth and length to the finish.

Maker’s Mark is a bourbon that doesn’t try to push any boundaries, but does so with a carefully dialed in strategy that leaves no detail to chance. It offers a flavor profile that leans sweet and appeals to the masses in all formats: neat, rocks, or in a cocktail. Its sip is consistent from start to finish, focusing on pure drinkability at its core. It’s also consistent from batch to batch, a testament to the process the distillery uses. While the barrels used in batches are typically 6-7 years old, not having a minimum age statement allows the distillery to select barrels by taste as opposed to age.

Maker’s process includes rotating barrels within their rickhouses to maintain consistency across barrels as they age. This practice is time consuming and relatively uncommon, as most large distilleries specifically seek out different flavor profiles across their barrels by taking advantage of different aging conditions between their rickhouses and in different areas of each rickhouse. They can then capitalize on the variation in aging conditions by expanding brand offerings and bottling limited releases. While Maker’s process provides them extraordinary consistency, this presents a challenge for them as the distillery because they cannot benefit from the variation. They responded creatively with Maker’s Mark 46, which adds heavily seared French oak staves to barrels of standard Marker’s Mark in order to finish them. This process laid the groundwork for the distillery’s single barrel program and most limited releases, which vary the type of finishing staves and time the base bourbon is finished, in addition to varying proof. In 2023, Maker’s Mark introduced Cellar Aged, their oldest barrels that are first aged in rickhouses for approximately 6 years, and then aged in their proprietary whiskey cellar for additional aging, which so far has been about 6 years.

The purpose of discussing the distillery’s brand extensions and limited releases, is based on the fact that standard Maker’s Mark is the foundation for all of them. While we may have come to take such a consistent, approachable, and versatile bourbon for granted, what Maker’s Mark has going for it is its consistent quality. While it was one of the very few wheated bourbons at one point, more wheated bourbons have entered the marketplace. Buffalo Trace’s Weller Special Reserve and Heaven Hill’s Larceny are two of Maker’s Mark’s closest wheated competitors, with each originating from a Kentucky major as one of their mainstay products. Among them, Maker’s provides the highest level of consistency, and by comparison to Weller, availability. You know you can walk into just about any retailer or bar and order up a Maker’s Mark. It may not seem like something special, but when you look at that through the right lens, it kind of is.

Maker’s Mark has remained readily available for about $30, give or take depending on the state and store you’re shopping in. This has held true even as bourbon price points all around us have continued to creep up, to the point where it is rare to see a new entrant to the market that is under $50. Existing as a consistent product for a long time, Maker’s Mark undoubtedly has a wide fanbase of regular consumers.

But when it comes to a discussion-worthy bourbon, it’s rarely the one that’s always on the shelf that people are talking about, especially at a $30 price point. Combined with its even-keeled flavor profile that doesn’t seek to push any boundaries, Maker’s Mark isn’t a particularly exciting bourbon. Instead, it’s along the lines of Buffalo Trace Bourbon or Four Roses Small Batch: consistent and available for a good price point. I favor Maker’s Mark slightly over Larceny, but it’s a close call. Ultimately, Maker’s Mark provides a solid and consistent pour for what has become a noteworthy price point.

For many people, Maker’s Mark plays a key role in their bourbon journey. The iconic red wax top with that trademarked drip makes Maker’s Mark feel as if it’s an essential piece of the bourbon category as a whole. For those who have ventured further down bourbon’s path to seek out everything new and exciting, it’s easy to let Maker’s Mark slip into the shadows. Maker’s Mark isn’t a particularly exciting pour, but it relishes in consistent quality and drinkability. Leaning into the sweeter side of the flavor spectrum with caramel and vanilla at its core, Maker’s should appeal to just about everyone who enjoys a sweeter bourbon. It’s become a greater value as bourbon prices have continued to rise but Maker’s price has remained fairly steady. Maker’s Mark isn’t pushing any flavor boundaries, but it offers enough for even the most seasoned bourbon drinkers to find enjoyment with.