Pandemic whiskey: Shutdown couldn’t stop Maker’s Mark most complicated bourbon yet
Fans of the premium bourbon Maker’s Mark know that while the distillery issues a lot of different bottles, it makes very few whiskeys.
There’s the original bourbon, which is now available in a cask-strength version as well, and Maker’s Mark 46, which is celebrating 10 years on the market.
Last year they launched a limited edition series, the Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series, with an extremely limited version called RC6.
Now they have brought out their most complicated bourbon yet, Maker’s Mark 2020 Limited Release, SE4 X PR5, the latest in the wood-finishing series.
This one is a blend, a first for Maker’s Mark said Jane Bowie, director of innovation. It was created using two “stave” profiles married into one over-the-top flavor.
“I wanted something that’s going to be a bigger, bolder expression of Maker’s Mark,” Bowie said last week during an online tasting session to introduce her new creation to journalists.
The idea was to create a Maker’s that hits big vanilla and caramel notes, with a little spice to balance it out, in a rounder, creamier and softer bourbon.
“The idea of everything we love in all our favorite bourbons,” Bowie said. “We thought, ‘how hard could that be?’”
Turned out to be a tough challenge.
“We were naive and stupid,” Bowie said with a laugh.
She and her tasting colleagues spent more than two years working on this version and then it had to be completed during the pandemic.
They started with Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, just as they do in the distillery’s popular barrel selection program. But instead of a formula of 10 extra staves in the barrels for nine weeks, they played around with two different types of staves for varying lengths of time, then had to create a blend of what worked.
Bowie said they created trial after trial in the bottle, then trials in barrels, then in larger batches blended together.
“This project has been a good 18 to 19 months of trials,” she said. They did 50 to 60 tests of staves, followed by hundreds of blending trials.
“This one was a hard project,” she said.
When the distillery was closed down in March as the coronavirus pandemic hit Kentucky, the tasting went on. It just moved into her dining room.
“We were all blending at home. This one was down to the finish line,” she said. “My 3-year-old is very interested in chemistry now.”
The final product is a blend of three bourbons made with two different custom staves: A version with one stave in the barrel for five weeks with a dash of bourbon aged with the same stave for six weeks married with a version created with another stave for extra vanilla flavor.
“We definitely didn’t expect it to be this difficult,” Bowie said.
The end result is a complex marriage of caramel and vanilla, with a bit of spice, and a luscious mouth feel and finish.
“It did exactly what we wanted it to do, whether people will like it or not I don’t know,” Bowie said.
Bowie has steered the innovations at the Loretto distillery founded in 1954 by Margie and Bill Samuels Sr., who passed it to their son, Bill Jr. Now owned by Suntory, Maker’s Mark is currently run by Rob Samuels, who is the global general manager and chief distillery officer.
“It’s amazing, to feel that trusted by Bill and Rob,” Bowie said. “When you think about Bill and Margie … they were pioneers, they wouldn’t have just rested, they would have kept developing.”
So that’s what Maker’s Mark plans to do, with a wood-finished released when the bourbon is ready, which may or may not be on an annual basis.
This year’s version, which is 110.8 proof, will be in stores nationally, beginning first in Kentucky any day now. The limited release will have a suggested retail price of about $60.
And, yes, it comes dipped in red wax.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 9:34 AM.
