Kentucky’s famous red wax-sealed bourbon is heading to luxury department store shelves with one of its rarest UK releases to date.
Maker’s Mark has unveiled its first-ever collaboration with Selfridges, resulting in a bespoke Private Selection bourbon created exclusively for the retailer.
Known as Selfridges Barrel No. 1 2026, the whiskey is limited to just 258 bottles, making it one of the more tightly allocated Maker’s Mark expressions to arrive in the UK in recent years.
The whiskey begins life as fully matured Maker’s Mark Cask Strength bourbon before undergoing the distillery’s Private Selection finishing process. This allows partners to tailor the final flavour profile through the use of ten specially selected oak finishing staves, chosen from five distinct stave styles developed by the Kentucky distillery.
The whiskey is limited to just 258 bottles, making it one of the more tightly allocated Maker’s Mark expressions…
Inside Maker’s Mark’s new Selfridges collaboration
For this inaugural collaboration, the Selfridges buying team travelled through the Private Selection process themselves, selecting a bespoke combination of staves designed to create a flavour profile unique to the retailer.
Bottled at cask strength, the whiskey arrives at a robust 55.4% ABV and is presented non-chill filtered to preserve its texture and concentration of flavour.
In the glass, Selfridges Barrel No. 1 2026 reportedly opens with warming spice and dark fruit notes before moving into familiar waves of vanilla sweetness and toasted oak. Rich oak character then builds across the palate, leading into a long and lingering finish.
Maker’s Mark recommends enjoying it neat or with a single cube of ice to allow the whiskey’s layers of spice, fruit and oak to gradually reveal themselves.
Commenting on the collaboration, Rob Samuels, eighth-generation whisky maker and managing director of Maker’s Mark, said: “The Private Selection programme allows us to share our obsessive approach to flavour discovery, inviting partners who refuse to compromise on quality to shape their own perfect expression of Maker’s Mark.
“Selfridges brought that exact, uncompromising vision to our stave-finishing process. Together, we ignored the easy path to create a bourbon that is intensely personal, meticulously crafted, and entirely unique within our series.”
The limited-edition bourbon is available now through Selfridges stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as online via Selfridges, priced at £91.99.
Bowmore has joined forces with design studio Snarkitecture for a pair of 20 Year Old single malts. This is Snarkitecture’s first venture into whisky; the design studio is better known for its experimental, arty approach to architecture. Co-founder Alex Mustonen travelled from New York to Islay, drawing inspiration from the island’s landscape and Bowmore’s historic…
After an 11-year absence, Hibiki 12 Years Old is returning to airport shelves as a new Global Travel Retail whisky exclusive. Duty-free is increasingly becoming a happy hunting ground for limited editions and hard-to-find whisky releases. A new entry on our wants-list is this Hibiki 12 Years Old, particularly notable as the expression has been…
The Dalmore has returned to its dunnage warehouses for a limited 14 Year Old single malt whisky finished in Semisecco Marsala casks. It’s the latest expression in the Distillery Select Series, a collection of limited-edition whiskies drawn from small parcels of stock at the distillery. First launched in 2024, each release in the Series is…
The Luxe Review 
Kentucky’s famous red wax-sealed bourbon is heading to luxury department store shelves with one of its rarest UK releases to date.
Maker’s Mark has unveiled its first-ever collaboration with Selfridges, resulting in a bespoke Private Selection bourbon created exclusively for the retailer.
Known as Selfridges Barrel No. 1 2026, the whiskey is limited to just 258 bottles, making it one of the more tightly allocated Maker’s Mark expressions to arrive in the UK in recent years.
The whiskey begins life as fully matured Maker’s Mark Cask Strength bourbon before undergoing the distillery’s Private Selection finishing process. This allows partners to tailor the final flavour profile through the use of ten specially selected oak finishing staves, chosen from five distinct stave styles developed by the Kentucky distillery.
Inside Maker’s Mark’s new Selfridges collaboration
For this inaugural collaboration, the Selfridges buying team travelled through the Private Selection process themselves, selecting a bespoke combination of staves designed to create a flavour profile unique to the retailer.
Bottled at cask strength, the whiskey arrives at a robust 55.4% ABV and is presented non-chill filtered to preserve its texture and concentration of flavour.
In the glass, Selfridges Barrel No. 1 2026 reportedly opens with warming spice and dark fruit notes before moving into familiar waves of vanilla sweetness and toasted oak. Rich oak character then builds across the palate, leading into a long and lingering finish.
Maker’s Mark recommends enjoying it neat or with a single cube of ice to allow the whiskey’s layers of spice, fruit and oak to gradually reveal themselves.
Commenting on the collaboration, Rob Samuels, eighth-generation whisky maker and managing director of Maker’s Mark, said: “The Private Selection programme allows us to share our obsessive approach to flavour discovery, inviting partners who refuse to compromise on quality to shape their own perfect expression of Maker’s Mark.
“Selfridges brought that exact, uncompromising vision to our stave-finishing process. Together, we ignored the easy path to create a bourbon that is intensely personal, meticulously crafted, and entirely unique within our series.”
The limited-edition bourbon is available now through Selfridges stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as online via Selfridges, priced at £91.99.
Bowmore takes whisky lovers on sherry and oak journey with 20 Year Old Captivo Collection
Bowmore has joined forces with design studio Snarkitecture for a pair of 20 Year Old single malts. This is Snarkitecture’s first venture into whisky; the design studio is better known for its experimental, arty approach to architecture. Co-founder Alex Mustonen travelled from New York to Islay, drawing inspiration from the island’s landscape and Bowmore’s historic…
Hibiki 12 Year Old Japanese whisky returns after an 11 year absence but you’ll have to fly to get one
After an 11-year absence, Hibiki 12 Years Old is returning to airport shelves as a new Global Travel Retail whisky exclusive. Duty-free is increasingly becoming a happy hunting ground for limited editions and hard-to-find whisky releases. A new entry on our wants-list is this Hibiki 12 Years Old, particularly notable as the expression has been…
The Dalmore Distillery Select series returns with a 14 Year Old Marsala-finished single malt whisky
The Dalmore has returned to its dunnage warehouses for a limited 14 Year Old single malt whisky finished in Semisecco Marsala casks. It’s the latest expression in the Distillery Select Series, a collection of limited-edition whiskies drawn from small parcels of stock at the distillery. First launched in 2024, each release in the Series is…
Share this: