I tasted Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged whisky and it may well be the smoothest bourbon in the world

American whisky brand Maker’s Mark has launched a new premium annual expression, Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged. This global limited-release features a marriage of 11- and 12-year-old bourbons, and is unlike any Maker’s Mark you’ve tried before.

Unveiling the new whisky at Berry Bros & Rudd in London, one of the outlets that will be stocking the £145 release, Rob Samuels, 8th generation whisky maker and grandson of the founders at Maker’s Mark, explained: “The loudest drum beat from our customers has been ‘why don’t you launch an over-aged Maker’s Mark?’ When we were ready to release an extended age release, it was very much within our founders vision.” Flavour first, he stressed.

While the maturation process for Cellar Aged begins in the brand’s traditional Kentucky warehouses, it’s finished in the distillery’s one-of-a-kind limestone whisky cellar.

Samuels says the novel process mitigates excessive bitterness. Time for a taste test…

While the maturation process begins in the brand’s traditional Kentucky warehouses, it’s finished in the distillery’s one-of-a-kind limestone whisky cellar…

On average, Maker’s Mark is aged six years, one month and two days, judged to be the optimum time required to deliver its characteristically creamy profile. 

The challenge facing the brand was to offer a more complex older bourbon, but keep it free from the harsher tannic effects commonly found in extra-aged American whiskies.

The solution was painstaking. Barrels of the distillery’s classic distillate spend their first six years ageing in traditional bourbon warehouses, subject to the extremes of the Kentucky climate. They are then moved into the distillery’s proprietary limestone whisky cellar for an additional five to six years, before being blended to taste and bottled. 

Built into a natural limestone shelf in the Kentucky hills, this cellar offers a consistently cool environment that slows down the tannic impact that occurs during maturation.

Kept at a constant 52 degrees, this limestone lounge is cooler than the company’s main ageing warehouses. By moving barrels into the limestone cellar after six years, the company hypothesised that they could slow down the heavy extraction of tannins and so mitigate against bitterness, but still develop a deeper, darker flavour.

The company says Cellar Aged will be an annual, limited release available in specific markets around the world. 

The plan is for the maturation approach to be consistent every year, but the specific blend of aged bourbon will vary based on which barrels are ready, as judged by its resident tasting panel. 

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged tasting Notes

To help put Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged in context, we prefaced out tasting by sampling  Maker’s Mark Cask Strength (bottled at 55.5% ABV, pictured above left), If you’ve not tried it before, it’s honey sweet on the nose, with baked pears and spice on the palate.

This was followed by an experimental 12 year old Cask Strength which spent its entire life in one of the brand’s 52 traditional ageing warehouses, which offered aromas of strong coffee and burnt toffee, and rich, bitter notes with tabasco heat, on the palate.

Would Cellar Aged fall somewhere in between?

As it happens, Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged is quite different. Brassy of hue, this extended aged bourbon is silky smooth with a sublime velvety mouthfeel.

On the nose it offers up vanilla and caramel, and tastes of roasted fruits and toffee cream tart, but there’s also the hint of sweet BBQ sauce.

This inaugural Cellar Aged release is a marriage of 12-year-old and 11-year-old whisky – split 87 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively – bottled at cask strength (115.7 proof).

Available from November from Berry Bros & Rudd London, and other whisky specialists, Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged is priced at £145. It’s not to be missed.