Maker's 46
Classification: Kentucky Bourbon Whisky Barrel Finished with Oak Staves
Country: United States of America
Region: Kentucky (Loretto: 37.648N, -85.349W)
Mash Bill: 70% Corn, 16% Wheat, 14% Malted Barley
Strength: 47.0% ABV (94.0° Proof)
Color: Natural Color
Filtration: Non-Chill Filtered
Maturation: Unknown Age (Thought to be 6-7 years) in 100% New Charred Oak plus 2-3 months with 10 seared French oak staves
Price: $34.99 (Total Wine)
Overview
"It tastes expensive ... and is." Perhaps the boldest advertising line in the history of whiskey debuted in 1965 when Maker's Mark proudly boasted of their whisky's lofty quality and price. From the beginning, Maker's Mark has made their way in the whiskey business defying nearly all the norms of the industry.Maker's Mark came to life in 1954 when Bill Samuels Sr. purchased a small distillery in rural Kentucky and opted to use wheat in place of rye in his bourbon's mash bill. There are many legends revolving around Samuels' choice of wheat, including the notion that Samuels baked loaves of bread from each of his candidate mash bills and the loaf that was his family's favorite was selected as his bourbon's recipe. Some bourbon historians also add that one of Samuels' business advisors was Julian Van Winkle (aka Pappy Van Winkle) who had been producing excellent wheated bourbons at his Stitzel-Weller distillery for decades and just might have had a voice in the choice.
After five years of maturation, the first bottle of Maker's Mark hit store shelves adorned with three design aspects that are still found on Maker's Mark bottles today - its unique label design, its unique square bottle shape, and its iconic red wax seal, complete with 'drips' down the neck. All three design aspects originated from Margie Samuels, wife of Bill Samuels. Digging deeper, Margie is also responsible for both the name of the whisky and the unique brand/logo adorning each bottle - a star in conjunction with 'S IV' - as she was inspired by English pewter whitesmiths who stamped each of their pieces with their respective marks. The star of her mark represents Star Hill Farm, the name of the family farm, the 'S' for Samuels and the 'IV' denoting that Bill Samuels was a fourth generation distiller (recent genealogy uncovered that Bill Samuels Sr. was actually a sixth generation distiller, but the mark had been cast; history can be a funny thing).
Unlike all other bourbon producers, Maker's resisted the urge to create additional brands and labels with different taste profiles. Incredibly, Maker's Mark spent the next fifty years producing only one product - their wheated Maker's Mark bourbon. In 2008 however, Bill Samuels Jr. and master distiller Kevin Smith began exploring the idea of creating a second Maker's Mark offering. Rather than tinker with their mash bill, the folks at Maker's explored barrel finishing fully matured Maker's Mark in the hopes of producing a whiskey that amplified the best aspects of Maker's Mark but also delivered a taste unique enough to justify the brand expansion.
Maker's barrel supplier, Independent Stave, was consulted and signed on to help Maker's begin experimenting with different barrel finishes. Over 125 different combinations of barrels and barrel char levels were sampled yet none yielded satisfactory results. Exasperated, Independent Stave began to think outside the box ... err barrel and spoke to employees within the company that were working on different wood recipes for the wine industry. These 'wood chefs' as they are called shared ideas and thus began another round of experimentation. More lackluster results emerged until lightning was caught in a bottle and 'profile 46' yielded a delicious whiskey. The secret to 'profile 46'? Ten seared, not toasted, not charred, but seared staves of French oak were added to a barrel of fully matured Maker's Mark and after nine weeks, tasters unanimously agreed they had a bigger, bolder, yet characteristically smooth, drinkable whiskey and thus Maker's 46 was born (yeup, Bill Samuel's Jr. thought '46' was a perfectly fine and fitting homage to keep as a name).
Traditionally, French oak has a nasty habit of inducing a bitterness into the wine or spirits that are matured in it. As such, great care must be taken during the aging process when French oak is in use. Independent Stave acknowledged this and have talked about a specific searing process applied to each of the French oak staves used in Maker's 46, specifically the desire to caramelize the the wood sugars and simultaneously lock in the bitter tannins. Unfortunately, I have yet to come across more specific details regarding this searing process, but I have full confidence that the actual specifics would boggle our minds. I mean Independent Stave employs people with 'Wood Chef' in their job title, can you imagine the minutia of wood chemistry these folks delve in to.
A little over two years after experimentation began, Maker's 46 debuted and was an instant hit. Interestingly, die-hard Maker's fans are hit-and-miss in the their 46 support, but Maker's 46 brought a whole new stable of fans, including many who did not particularly enjoy regular Maker's Mark.
Originally Maker's 46 was created only in the winter months as it was discovered the warm summer months caused the whiskey to penetrate deeper into the French oak resulting in undesired bitterness. Experiments showed that the perfect Maker's 46 formula was a barrel full of fully matured Maker's Mark plus ten seared French oak staves placed in the barrel for nine weeks with air temperatures not in excess of 50-degrees F. Realizing the winter limitation, Maker's Mark ended up excavating part of a limestone hill on their property to build a 14,000 square-foot underground 'bourbon cellar' that naturally regulates air temperature perfectly year-round and is exclusively used to produce Maker's 46 and Maker's Private Select (where customers can purchase a barrel utilizing combinations of five different wood staves).
A few final Maker's Mark tidbits - Maker's Mark is only one of three American whiskey producers that actually spell their offerings as 'whisky' in a nod to the Samuels' Scottish and Irish ancestry. George Dickel and Old Forester are the other two 'whisky' producers in America. Maker's Mark is the only major bourbon producer that rotates the barrels aging in their rickhouses. Barrels spend 3-4 years in the higher levels of a rickhouse where temperatures are hot and varied before being moved to lower levels where more stable temperatures reside. And lastly, while Maker's Mark has had a few owners through the years, Maker's Mark is owned by giant Beam Suntory presently, the Samuels family has always remained at the operational helm.
Tasting Notes
Group Impressions
Happy Bourbon Heritage Month (September that is)! Though Maker's 46 is not a straight bourbon, its foundation is one of America's legendary bourbons. I was quite curious how this month would be received by the group - it's a bourbon, yet it's not a bourbon. Maker's 46 also has a polarizing aspect - its drying finish, which some palates simply do not enjoy. It was such a joy reading all the impressions as each noted this sample sure was reminiscent of a bourbon or a rye, but different enough to prevent proclamations with 100% confidence. One impression even suspected this was awfully reminiscent of Maker's Mark, but not exactly so. Ha!
Universal adjectives included smooth, sweet on the nose, wood and spice on the tongue, and lastly, enjoyable. How fitting, I am sure if Bill Samuels Jr. could read this he would smile and remind us that his first requirement when setting out to make Maker's 46 was that it must be 'yummy' (his actual descriptor). Thanks again, and here is to October, what ever will the month of Halloween bring us?!
Waldo Norris
When I first smelled this bottle when it arrived in the mail, I really thought we had the makings of a Makers Mark. It was so incredibly similar in smell at that time, that even though I knew it wasn't the traditional Makers, I was pretty sure that perhaps we had a specific bottle from them. Fast forward days and now weeks later, after pouring it out of the bottle and into a glass, the notes change quite a bit. First just let me say that the nose on this one is straight out of a pancake house. It smells of sweet caramel and almost overwhelmingly Maple Syrup.
Pouring it into the glass, it has a pretty good leg, and given the nose, I felt like we had a pretty high sugar content in it. The taste however was somewhat surprising, as it didn't give me sweet, but rather a fairly acidic and hot flavor. I certainly wasn't expecting that from this bottle. The flavor stuck around for maybe a minute, but as I let the taste settle in, I was able to pick up notes from the barrel, and some mint, almost leaving my mouth cool as a breath mint would. A second pour with a dash of water, and I was really able to get some of the spice to cool off, and narrow on some of the earlier flavors I noted.
I think this would be a good mixed drink bourbon, but for me, I'm not sure this was my style of sipping bourbon.
Michael Doheny
My happy parcel arrived and I dutifully removed it from it’s box and admired the color. It shined like the lights from the marquee of that place in the the sun. It was a real rich amber, deep, but susceptible to the light. Cracking the seal, I got no discernable smell. I decanted 2 oz into the naked, curvy, Glencarin glass.
House rules are as follows, first sample, straight. Second sample, splash of water to keep you honest, and lastly on the rocks, as God intended.
The legs were smooth, and flowed down the sides of the glass seamlessly. There was still nothing reaching the old honker, so I twirled the gal around a few time to see if I could shake something loose, and get a secret or two. But like a virgin at a sock hop, she wasn’t doing any favors. With no other recourse it seems to give it a try, so why shouldn't I?
Nothing. After a slight residual burn, I busted out. Snake eyes on the first swig. As I chewed the remnants in my mouth there was a hidden something. How long I wondered, could this thing last, before some strong clues were spilling about choppers.
A hardware store, at least a memory of one, stuck in my brain. Wood, maybe, of some kind, but almost a chemical hidden in there. So maybe some tomfoolery going into this batch.
On the last bolt, there was a flavor of cream, the warm cream your mom would put in the coco after a long day of playing in the snow.
I splashed some water in the next slug and the water doused any heat from the straight sample. Flavor was still muted, but it was almost the whisper of licorice. With each sip, the mystery deepened and every breath becomes a sigh. Very drinkable, almost too drinkable. We need to keep this away from Dean, or will never make that Ocean’s picture. But the flavor has taken a big sock to the jaw from the water.
Ice. That Ice, Ice, baby! Despite those tentacles of melting water seeping through the body of the drink the color held pretty well. Now, normally the ice knocks smell right outta here, but with this sample there seemed to be a blossom of something aromatic.
Like the water, the drink lost its character, but went down easy. What is this? How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?
The color looks American. I’d also say it is a low ABV, so maybe some blended whisky.
Apollo
After a quick visual inspection, this month's whiskey had my attention. It had a really nice dark color and long-lasting legs. I'll be interested to find out if the color is natural or artificial.
The smell had only a bit of an alcohol burn. I may have picked up the smell of spice, but I couldn't identify any other distinct aromas.
As for the taste, this was a very smooth drinking whiskey with very little burn. Because of that, there wasn't much tongue tingle, but the flavor itself was quite good and it lingered for a while.
I thought this one was pretty good overall. It was very smooth and enjoyable. I won't be surprised if this turns out to be a more expensive whiskey. I'd definitely try it again. I'm not confident enough to make a claim as to what type of whiskey it is. My first instinct was bourbon but I'm not very sure about that.
Zeus
Appearance: Dark amber. Average legs. Looks like a bourbon or rye to me.
Smell: Sweet, complex, maple, raisins? Very inviting smell to it.
Taste: Very smooth. No woody taste is coming through for me. Does not taste like a high proof. Hard to place the initial taste. It was far more mellow then I expected based on the smell. Minor sharp bite to on sipping it. Dropping a large ice cube made the bite go away.
Finish: Mellow finish. Raisin after taste. Long lasting burn.
General Thoughts: I am thinking this is a rye, my fall back guess is a bourbon. Interesting taste, but it was improved upon with the ice. This whiskey would be good for beginner whiskey people being there is nothing in this that would scare them away. I was thinking this would be great in a Manhattan or Old Fashioned. So I made an old fashioned with half Jefferson's very small batch and the sample (yes, I made this with Carol Baldwin). It was good, but tasted washed out a bit at first. The more I drank it the more I appreciated how smooth everything was. Really weird how it grew on me. Overall I enjoyed this guy.
Jonathan Quayle Higgins
Appearance
Dark amber to light copper. Thin legs and fat tears; the story of my adolescence in a glass.
Nose
Oh my, what a nose. There is a gentle alcohol punch lingering in the nose but it is not the first thing I picked up on. That honor goes to a delicious cinnamon bread/roll (with icing) that is instantly recognizable to me. The spice builds proportionally to the duration of each smell. Just like smelling actual cinnamon - it is not spicy at first, but the deeper and longer you smell, the more the spice accumulates. Wood, but not the typical bourbon wood, emerges later in the smell.
Taste
Oh a sharper taste on initial sips than the nose indicates. Subsequent sips reveal that toasted french oak immediately - there is a toasty spiciness accompanied with just a whisper of bitterness. While the French oak never fully leaves the taste, it does subside to reveal caramel and vanilla. That whisper of bitterness eventually becomes a good dollop of sweetness. I can’t say I get much corn, but perhaps that is where the eventual sweetness is coming from. The spirit is silky smooth texture wise, almost (but not quite) feels like a butter-finished sauce's velvety texture. There is a drying sensation and a wood-astrigent tingling that lasts from mid-taste all the way to the swallow.
Finish
Medium length with nice warmth. The French oak influence continues all the way through the finish. My sinuses are left with a nice toasty-oak sensation that is quite satisfying; the best analogy is what peat does for Islay whisky, the toasted French oak staves do for this whisky. I do think the drying finish is my biggest complaint here, I feel it does rob the finish of longevity.
Overall
The first time I sampled Maker’s 46, Robin Masters and I were sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch of a restored gentile 19th century mansion in Versailles Kentucky. Robin ordered the 46 and I Wild Turkey Rare Breed. It was dusk at the end of our first day in Kentucky. The air was unseasonably cool, but not jacket worthy. The garden’s foundation of actual Kentucky bluegrass glistened and was inconceivably soft to Florida hands accustomed to St. Augustine grass. We sat, sipped, and rocked as rabbits and cardinals and robins foraged in the final flecks of daylight. Talk about stacking the deck in a whiskey’s favor. It was love at first sip for me with Maker’s 46, particularly when tasted alongside the traditional (and delicious) Wild Turkey. I was instantly smitten and intrigued. A bottle of Maker’s 46 has always been on my shelf since.
Carol Baldwin
Appearance: Deep Amber color.
Smell: Alcohol and wood, hint of maple, slight caramel.
Taste: Wooo fire. This burned going down. Taste is sharp and strong. Not really tasting the maple or caramel I smelled; the sharp flavor is really predominant. I tried adding an ice cube, and I found that a little bit of dilution really allowed the complexity of flavors (the maple, etc) to come out.
Finish: Sharp and astringent with a bitter after taste.
General Thoughts: Hmm. Not getting a lot of very sweet notes with this, and the sharpness is interesting. Along with the bitter finish, I don't really think it is a bourbon. Maybe a rye? Whatever it is, it packs a strong alcohol punch. I think this would be interesting in an old fashioned, doing equal parts bourbon and this. Goes off to make an old fashioned... Ok, mixed 1:1 with Jefferson's Very Small Batch, added simple syrup in an old fashioned, and it's not bad at all. The bitterness in this is balanced fairly nicely with the Jefferson's and syrup. Not sure I would make this a regular choice, but all in all an interesting tasting this month; looking forward to the reveal!
Keoki
The September offering made me like bourbon more than I thought I would. Upon first appearance, it had a dark amber color. The smell reminded me of every other bourbon, so I wasn't exactly expecting a different taste. This bourbon, to me, is a great transitional taste. What I mean is, this bourbon isn't too sweet like some of the other Bourbons we've tried, but it almost has a scotch like taste to it. I've found that many scotch drinker's have a problem with the sweetness of bourbon. We're just not used to it with Scotch. This offering, however, doesn't overpower you with such sweetness, but gives you the distinct mild and mellow taste of some scotches.
I would highly recommend this to a scotch drinker--like myself. Especially if your goal is to get the scotch drinker to like bourbon more.
Universal adjectives included smooth, sweet on the nose, wood and spice on the tongue, and lastly, enjoyable. How fitting, I am sure if Bill Samuels Jr. could read this he would smile and remind us that his first requirement when setting out to make Maker's 46 was that it must be 'yummy' (his actual descriptor). Thanks again, and here is to October, what ever will the month of Halloween bring us?!
Waldo Norris
When I first smelled this bottle when it arrived in the mail, I really thought we had the makings of a Makers Mark. It was so incredibly similar in smell at that time, that even though I knew it wasn't the traditional Makers, I was pretty sure that perhaps we had a specific bottle from them. Fast forward days and now weeks later, after pouring it out of the bottle and into a glass, the notes change quite a bit. First just let me say that the nose on this one is straight out of a pancake house. It smells of sweet caramel and almost overwhelmingly Maple Syrup.
Pouring it into the glass, it has a pretty good leg, and given the nose, I felt like we had a pretty high sugar content in it. The taste however was somewhat surprising, as it didn't give me sweet, but rather a fairly acidic and hot flavor. I certainly wasn't expecting that from this bottle. The flavor stuck around for maybe a minute, but as I let the taste settle in, I was able to pick up notes from the barrel, and some mint, almost leaving my mouth cool as a breath mint would. A second pour with a dash of water, and I was really able to get some of the spice to cool off, and narrow on some of the earlier flavors I noted.
I think this would be a good mixed drink bourbon, but for me, I'm not sure this was my style of sipping bourbon.
Michael Doheny
My happy parcel arrived and I dutifully removed it from it’s box and admired the color. It shined like the lights from the marquee of that place in the the sun. It was a real rich amber, deep, but susceptible to the light. Cracking the seal, I got no discernable smell. I decanted 2 oz into the naked, curvy, Glencarin glass.
House rules are as follows, first sample, straight. Second sample, splash of water to keep you honest, and lastly on the rocks, as God intended.
The legs were smooth, and flowed down the sides of the glass seamlessly. There was still nothing reaching the old honker, so I twirled the gal around a few time to see if I could shake something loose, and get a secret or two. But like a virgin at a sock hop, she wasn’t doing any favors. With no other recourse it seems to give it a try, so why shouldn't I?
Nothing. After a slight residual burn, I busted out. Snake eyes on the first swig. As I chewed the remnants in my mouth there was a hidden something. How long I wondered, could this thing last, before some strong clues were spilling about choppers.
A hardware store, at least a memory of one, stuck in my brain. Wood, maybe, of some kind, but almost a chemical hidden in there. So maybe some tomfoolery going into this batch.
On the last bolt, there was a flavor of cream, the warm cream your mom would put in the coco after a long day of playing in the snow.
I splashed some water in the next slug and the water doused any heat from the straight sample. Flavor was still muted, but it was almost the whisper of licorice. With each sip, the mystery deepened and every breath becomes a sigh. Very drinkable, almost too drinkable. We need to keep this away from Dean, or will never make that Ocean’s picture. But the flavor has taken a big sock to the jaw from the water.
Ice. That Ice, Ice, baby! Despite those tentacles of melting water seeping through the body of the drink the color held pretty well. Now, normally the ice knocks smell right outta here, but with this sample there seemed to be a blossom of something aromatic.
Like the water, the drink lost its character, but went down easy. What is this? How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?
The color looks American. I’d also say it is a low ABV, so maybe some blended whisky.
Apollo
After a quick visual inspection, this month's whiskey had my attention. It had a really nice dark color and long-lasting legs. I'll be interested to find out if the color is natural or artificial.
The smell had only a bit of an alcohol burn. I may have picked up the smell of spice, but I couldn't identify any other distinct aromas.
As for the taste, this was a very smooth drinking whiskey with very little burn. Because of that, there wasn't much tongue tingle, but the flavor itself was quite good and it lingered for a while.
I thought this one was pretty good overall. It was very smooth and enjoyable. I won't be surprised if this turns out to be a more expensive whiskey. I'd definitely try it again. I'm not confident enough to make a claim as to what type of whiskey it is. My first instinct was bourbon but I'm not very sure about that.
Zeus
Appearance: Dark amber. Average legs. Looks like a bourbon or rye to me.
Smell: Sweet, complex, maple, raisins? Very inviting smell to it.
Taste: Very smooth. No woody taste is coming through for me. Does not taste like a high proof. Hard to place the initial taste. It was far more mellow then I expected based on the smell. Minor sharp bite to on sipping it. Dropping a large ice cube made the bite go away.
Finish: Mellow finish. Raisin after taste. Long lasting burn.
General Thoughts: I am thinking this is a rye, my fall back guess is a bourbon. Interesting taste, but it was improved upon with the ice. This whiskey would be good for beginner whiskey people being there is nothing in this that would scare them away. I was thinking this would be great in a Manhattan or Old Fashioned. So I made an old fashioned with half Jefferson's very small batch and the sample (yes, I made this with Carol Baldwin). It was good, but tasted washed out a bit at first. The more I drank it the more I appreciated how smooth everything was. Really weird how it grew on me. Overall I enjoyed this guy.
Jonathan Quayle Higgins
Appearance
Dark amber to light copper. Thin legs and fat tears; the story of my adolescence in a glass.
Nose
Oh my, what a nose. There is a gentle alcohol punch lingering in the nose but it is not the first thing I picked up on. That honor goes to a delicious cinnamon bread/roll (with icing) that is instantly recognizable to me. The spice builds proportionally to the duration of each smell. Just like smelling actual cinnamon - it is not spicy at first, but the deeper and longer you smell, the more the spice accumulates. Wood, but not the typical bourbon wood, emerges later in the smell.
Taste
Oh a sharper taste on initial sips than the nose indicates. Subsequent sips reveal that toasted french oak immediately - there is a toasty spiciness accompanied with just a whisper of bitterness. While the French oak never fully leaves the taste, it does subside to reveal caramel and vanilla. That whisper of bitterness eventually becomes a good dollop of sweetness. I can’t say I get much corn, but perhaps that is where the eventual sweetness is coming from. The spirit is silky smooth texture wise, almost (but not quite) feels like a butter-finished sauce's velvety texture. There is a drying sensation and a wood-astrigent tingling that lasts from mid-taste all the way to the swallow.
Finish
Medium length with nice warmth. The French oak influence continues all the way through the finish. My sinuses are left with a nice toasty-oak sensation that is quite satisfying; the best analogy is what peat does for Islay whisky, the toasted French oak staves do for this whisky. I do think the drying finish is my biggest complaint here, I feel it does rob the finish of longevity.
Overall
The first time I sampled Maker’s 46, Robin Masters and I were sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch of a restored gentile 19th century mansion in Versailles Kentucky. Robin ordered the 46 and I Wild Turkey Rare Breed. It was dusk at the end of our first day in Kentucky. The air was unseasonably cool, but not jacket worthy. The garden’s foundation of actual Kentucky bluegrass glistened and was inconceivably soft to Florida hands accustomed to St. Augustine grass. We sat, sipped, and rocked as rabbits and cardinals and robins foraged in the final flecks of daylight. Talk about stacking the deck in a whiskey’s favor. It was love at first sip for me with Maker’s 46, particularly when tasted alongside the traditional (and delicious) Wild Turkey. I was instantly smitten and intrigued. A bottle of Maker’s 46 has always been on my shelf since.
Carol Baldwin
Appearance: Deep Amber color.
Smell: Alcohol and wood, hint of maple, slight caramel.
Taste: Wooo fire. This burned going down. Taste is sharp and strong. Not really tasting the maple or caramel I smelled; the sharp flavor is really predominant. I tried adding an ice cube, and I found that a little bit of dilution really allowed the complexity of flavors (the maple, etc) to come out.
Finish: Sharp and astringent with a bitter after taste.
General Thoughts: Hmm. Not getting a lot of very sweet notes with this, and the sharpness is interesting. Along with the bitter finish, I don't really think it is a bourbon. Maybe a rye? Whatever it is, it packs a strong alcohol punch. I think this would be interesting in an old fashioned, doing equal parts bourbon and this. Goes off to make an old fashioned... Ok, mixed 1:1 with Jefferson's Very Small Batch, added simple syrup in an old fashioned, and it's not bad at all. The bitterness in this is balanced fairly nicely with the Jefferson's and syrup. Not sure I would make this a regular choice, but all in all an interesting tasting this month; looking forward to the reveal!
Keoki
The September offering made me like bourbon more than I thought I would. Upon first appearance, it had a dark amber color. The smell reminded me of every other bourbon, so I wasn't exactly expecting a different taste. This bourbon, to me, is a great transitional taste. What I mean is, this bourbon isn't too sweet like some of the other Bourbons we've tried, but it almost has a scotch like taste to it. I've found that many scotch drinker's have a problem with the sweetness of bourbon. We're just not used to it with Scotch. This offering, however, doesn't overpower you with such sweetness, but gives you the distinct mild and mellow taste of some scotches.
I would highly recommend this to a scotch drinker--like myself. Especially if your goal is to get the scotch drinker to like bourbon more.
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