Maker's Hits The Mark With Its Oldest Ever Bourbon

Maker’s Mark’s new expression rocks, as you can see. (Photo courtesy Maker’s Mark)

In my previous life, when I worked in music retail, I’d sometimes hit the bars with my co-worker, who later became my partner when I opened my own store. His go-to whiskey order was Maker’s Mark on the rocks. He was a few years older than I and seemed pretty sophisticated — he drank for pleasure, while I generally drank to get drunk. I looked at Maker’s as a rather esoteric pick, not knowing at the time that it was the best-selling bourbon in the U.S. I also didn’t know anything about wheated bourbons. All I knew was that Maker’s Mark tasted weird and different from whiskeys like Jack Daniel’s, which was my go-to. I wasn’t a fan.

Many years later (around 2005 or so), as the business’ run was winding down, an old friend of ours who’d become a manager at either a liquor store or a wine/spirits distributor, I forget which, started bringing my partner bottles of seriously high-end whiskey. I’m talking 21-year-old Rittenhouse, 18-year-old Sazerac, bottles that would be worth a fortune if they were still sealed today. My partner didn’t like a lot of them and passed them on to me — in retrospect, I think he helped set me on the path to my current line of work.

Oh, and as for Maker’s Mark, I didn’t really get it until they started riffing on the original with spinoffs like Maker’s 46 and the Wood Finished series. They’ve got a new one out that’s freakin’ delicious, and you can read all about it over at Forbes, where it’s my Whisk(e)y Of The Week (link is -> HERE <-).