Maker's Mark: Beyond the Mark Tour and Cask Strength Review

While in Kentucky, I took the opportunity to take a more in-depth tour of the Maker's Mark Distillery. It's called the Beyond the Mark tour and it costs $35 per person. There is a maximum of 12 people per session. My wife and I purchased out tickets ahead of time and didn't hear them offer it to anyone while we were waiting so it probably wouldn't hurt to do the same if you choose to do this.

The tour starts the same way they all do. You cross the bridge and walk down the path, pausing along the way to hear a little bit of the history of the distillery from the time the land was cleared until today. We stopped off to peek inside the Quart House, the first liquor store in the state of Kentucky.

Then we enter the distillery proper. Up to this point, the tour isn't that much different from the nine dollar tour. Smaller, more intimate, the tour guide seems more knowledgable (even acknowledging the gentleman who called her on the myth of the recipe origin with a sidelong, "hush, we'll discuss that amongst ourselves"). All in all, Aggie was the best part of the tour up until this point and the one thing that made it different. Everyone gets to see the stills and the tanks as they are beautiful.

Not every tour gets to drink the white dog dipped out of that tank. I don't care for white dog, but this was too cool to pass up.

Of course we saw the fermenters. Lovely old wood. (We even got to see Bill Samuels, Jr. getting interviewed by a tv crew of some sort. He stopped over to say hi and thanked us for touring so that was nice.)

But after that, we got to see the "real" fermenters. Not that the others are fake, but these are the 34 stainless steel ones that make the bulk of the mash.

After the fermenters, it was up the stairs to have a very nice shift supervisor tell us about their yeast. It's hopped to keep the bacteria from taking it over. We got to taste it...tasted like a flat Belgian beer.

Every tour gets to see the printing presses and die cut press that makes the labels.

​But this was the first time I got to enter the Quality Control Building. This was one of the samples. I didn't get to taste it and make notes, though come to think of it, I didn't ask either. The tickets in the background are prizes to incentivize the employees to participate. I guess when you are around bourbon all day, tasting it might be just...work. 

Gotta go through the warehouse. No distillery tour would be complete without that awesome smell.

Watching the folks on the bottling line is always impressive. 

But going through the room where they dip all the specialty items and different wax colors was really cool. It was nice to see the "not-so-polished" side of Maker's. I've worked in factories and always knew it had to be there. I liked seeing it.

No tour would be compete without a tasting. We got the standard four (Under-aged, normal, over aged and 46) plus a sample of the Cask Strength.

The Cask Strength which we toasted to one another under the light of the Dale Chihuly art installation on our way to the Gift Shop.

Maker's Mark Cask Strength

Purchase Info: $39.99 for a 375 mL at the Distillery Gift Shop

Details: 56.6% ABV

Nose: fresh cut apple, spearmint, honey and oak

Mouth: very sweet, cinnamon and clove with distinct floral notes

Finish: good, long warmth that sits in the chest and a sweetness that hangs around, but then transitions to sharpness.

Thoughts: This is Maker's just stronger and more concentrated. It's fabulous and well worth the equivalent of $80 for a 750 mL when compared to other cask strength offerings. It's very drinkable and I like it more than either regular Maker's or Maker's 46. 

This whiskey was money well spent and the tour even more so. I gathered a lot of knowledge from a very good tour guide. I got to see places and have experiences that I didn't normally get to have and got to geek out just a little bit. I'd recommend both.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

I used to be a “try-every-bourbon-you-can” sort of guy. I’d buy one of everything on the shelf over the course of a year. I’d long for those bottles that were featured on the blogs, but that I didn’t get to try. I traded samples. I waited in lines. I searched stores (sometimes going from one to another). I attended events. Over time, I tried a lot of bourbon that way. 

But as I settled into my bourbon journey for the long-haul, I stopped trying so hard to get the “next big thing.” I still attend events, but I do it more to talk with fellow bourbon lovers than I do to taste what’s in the glass (though that is a nice bonus). But I don’t try very hard to get most of the “Limited Edition” bourbons that come out each fall. Pappy is too expensive, plus I generally don’t prefer wheated bourbons. Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection is too much effort to find for a lazy guy like me. Old Forester Birthday Bourbon is one I like to get, but apparently doesn’t show up at the stores I frequent. So like I said I don’t try very hard to get these. 

Well, except for one: the Four Roses autumn release of the Limited Edition Small Batch.

I first ran across this at a tasting a local liquor store chain was having. Minnesota was in the midst of a government shut-down so the store lined up a few more types of bourbon than they might normally have served. We tasted through the Jefferson’s bourbon line, including the last of the 17 year and the first of the 18 year bourbons. We tasted a few different types of Prichard’s including the Tennesee whiskey and the double barreled bourbon. But for me, the highlight of the night was tasting through the Four Roses line. Even then, I knew that I loved four Roses. We had the Yellow Label, the Small Batch, the Single Barrel and a “special one” that turned out to be the 2009 Mariage bourbon (the previous name of the Limited Edition Small Batch). I was blown away by it. So much so that once my wife was diagnosed with cancer in late 2011, I scoured the Twin Cities looking for another bottle. I wanted that bottle very much and wasn’t going to settle, even passing up an offer of Pappy instead from one retailer after I told him why I was looking so hard. I eventually did get it and it was that bottle we celebrated her first diagnosis of there being no sign of cancer left in her body. I still have a few samples put away for the 5 year mark.

Ever since then, I’ve tried to pick up at least one bottle per year. In 2012, I happend to be at the gift shop the day it was put out, but had to order a second bottle when the first one ran out. Last year my local retailers were unable to get me one, but a friend came through and shipped me one from another state. Both of those were released to rave reviews and cries of “best-ever!” from reviewers who didn’t have to purchase a bottle in order to taste it. (That isn’t sour grapes, I just choose to only review things I actually purchase.)

This year, the reviews were not quite so glowing. I didn’t read a single “best-ever” from the pre-release crowd. I read a lot of things similar to “it would be hard to follow up those last two years.” But, I’m a Four Roses fan-boy and when my wife and I happened to be in Kentucky for the release again, I knew we needed to get our hands on at least one bottle. Luck was with us though and we each snagged one. 

So how was it? 

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

Purchase Info: $110 at the distillery Gift Shop.

Details: 55.9% ABV. Bottle 9,235 of 12,516

Nose: Candied orange peal, tobacco, allspice and maple. 

Mouth: Light in the mouth. There’s a nice tingle at the front and sides of the mouth. Pears, honey and clove dominate.

Finish: Gentle spice with a lingering sweetness and warmth.

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Thoughts: This is a very good whiskey and I like it a lot. It’s extremely drinkable, even at over 55% ABV. But at $110, when I compare it to a very good Four Roses Single Barrel retailer selection that you can find for less than $65, I don’t know that it is $45 better. If you find it and find yourself flush with cash, pick it up. If you are a fan-boy like me, pick it up. But if you can’t get it, don’t feel too bad about it, grab a good Four Roses Single Barrel private selection to enjoy instead.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Bourbon, 13 year

Willett. If you are a fan of American Whiskey, you've probably heard this name.

It doesn't matter if you're a relative newcomer impressed with the distinctive still-shaped bottle of the Willett Pot Still Reserve or a seasoned veteran of the whiskey world who has found a love for the understatedly elegant label of the Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel series. Once you learn of Willett, they are someone that you keep an eye on.

Until relatively recently, Willett wasn't a distiller. They were what has come to be called a Non-Distiller Producer (NDP) And no, contrary to what you might read, this isn't a bad thing. When they are honest about it, NDPs provide a nice service by bringing to light excess bourbon that might otherwise just be blended away. In the case of Willett, they buy whiskey, age it until ready and sell it to us. This is basically humanitarianism at it’s best.

I say Willett wasn't a distillery because in addition to their amazing ability consistently find/buy/age products that are some of the best on huge market, they now distill their own as well. But that is a topic for a future post. Suffice it to say for now they the people in charge of Willett have some of the best palates in the business and every time I see one of their Family Estate Bottled products I stop, look, walk past, turn around, look some more and almost always end up buying one.

Recently, I finished a bottle of 13 year Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon that a friend brought back for me from the distillery gift shop. It was…well, let’s just see how it was.

Willett Family Estate Bottled Single Barrel Bourbon

Purchase info: ~$120-130 for a 750 mL at the Distillery Gift Shop.

Details: 61% ABV, 13 years old, Barrel #383, Purple foil on the neck.

Nose: Silage/corn initially with hints of pickle. After sitting a bit: warm peach cobbler and caramel. 

Mouth: Sweet and tingly. Baked apple with cinnamon. Hints of hot chocolate. Strong oak.

Finish: long and hot. Cinnamon, hot cocoa and lingering oak.

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Thoughts: I love this. It is easily in the conversation for a top five bourbon for me. It’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s exactly what I look for in a bourbon. Here’s my advice to you. If you visit Willett, just buy the most expensive bottle you can afford, but don’t feel bad about not buying a more expensive one. I’ve liked every one I’ve gotten there no matter what I’ve spent and have never regretted the purchase.

1910 Canadian Rye Whisky (from the importers of Pendleton whisky)

“Now that is a beautiful bottle,” I told myself the first time I encountered a bottle of Pendleton 1910 Canadian Rye Whisky. “Too bad it’s over $40.”

Fast forward a little bit and I’m at a family reunion, talking with a cousin of mine who lives in Wyoming. He brought a bottle of whisky to the gathering and we shared a little bit of it as we sat and talked about all the things that relatives that have only seen each other a few times talk about. One of the things we talked about was what was in our glasses. In this case he brought one of his favorites, Pendleton Blended Canadian Whisky. I enjoyed it for what it was, non-offensive and easy to drink. But it reminded me of that 1910 12 year old version in the pretty bottle and got me to thinking.

Fast forward again to last fall. I’m spending the evening in Toronto. We are sipping on a 30 year old 100% rye whisky from Alberta Premium. I get a literal chill down my spine while drinking it. I’m reminded of that pretty bottle of 12 year old 100% rye that is sitting on the shelf of my local liquor store. Rumors have it that it is from the same distillery. No one can or will say for sure.

I looked at it every time I went shopping and every time I passed it by. Finally last month I gave up. It was on sale at my local liquor emporium and I pulled the trigger. It is amazing what a nice excuse saving $2 is for doing something that you wanted to do anyway.

By the time I got around to making my purchase, one thing had changed. The bottle was still pretty, but the name was now just 1910. No Pendleton. I looked online and all the reviews were for Pendleton 1910. I checked Davin’s site and it still said Pendleton. But the official page for the whisky was the same bottle as mine. I’m guessing there is a story there. Though since it probably has something to do with trademarks and naming rights, I doubt I’m that interested in finding out what it is.

1910 Canadian Rye Whisky

Purchase info: $41.99 for a 750mL at Blue Max, Burnsville, MN

Details: 40% ABV Beautiful dark copper color.

Nose: Thick, rich butterscotch. Cardamom. Dried grass. Mint. Wet slate.

Mouth: Soft and sweet with a gentle spice. Major butterscotch with hints of allspice, black pepper and cardamom.

Finish: Fairly short with refined sugar and gentle spices.

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Thoughts: This is an uncomplicated whisky. It’s an easy drinking sipper that complements other activities instead of demanding your full attention. It tastes good and I enjoyed it. If you are not the type of person that likes to describe their whisky as “soft,” you might want to pass on this but to all others I’d recommend giving it a try.

Finding an I.W. Harper dusty while antiquing

It was a Sunday afternoon in early April. My wife had recently purchased an old Beam decanter for me. Something about it had made me excited to see what else was out there and it was easy for her to talk me into going with her when she decided to visit a few antique stores. I like the consignment style stores. The ones where a person rents a space and fills it full of their old crap. I don’t find many bargains that way, but I do see more things that I remember from my own childhood. And that’s fun.

As I wandered around this particular store, I saw some cool things. I saw a couple Ezra Brooks decanters from the 60s. A bear and a Native American. I didn’t pull the trigger on either since the labels were peeling off and in that condition I didn’t feel like paying that much for what was just a curiosity to me. I saw a NDP decanter of an old Minnesota Gopher mascot in a football helmet. It was probably from about the same time. And since I’m a huge Gopher football fan, I was tempted…until I saw it was over $100. That made me much less excited even though it looked as if it may have still been sealed.

Sealed and full of bourbon most likely contaminated by high levels of lead. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t buy it, I would probably have given myself lead poisoning since I doubt I’d have had the willpower to leave it sealed. I’m more curious than that fabled cat. 

But one thing did catch my eye. It was just about halfway down the center aisle, all the way down on the bottom shelf. It was a tax stamp on a mini bottle. Even though my knees hate it when I do this, I got down and took a look. It was a bottle of Canadian Club and it said 1962 on the tax stamp. Even better it was full and the seal hadn’t been broken. There were other bottles down there too. The other sealed one was a miniature of IW Harper. It was missing the tax stamp, but the seal was unbroken and the bottle was full. And best of all, both were under five dollars each. So I grabbed them. I wandered around for a little bit but didn’t see anything else I felt like buying, paid my bill and wandered out.

I wondered a bit at the legality of selling them. I doubted the antique store had a liquor license. Plus it was a Sunday and there are no spirits sales on a Sunday. But since I got something cool and I didn’t see a boatload of cops standing there, I decided to tamp down the curiosity and think about things that were a little more important. Like how long it would take to get home and crack it open.

But I waited a bit. The next week was the season premiere of Mad Men and since Don’s favorite drink is Canadian Club and since it was from just about the right time period, I decided to drink that during the premiere. It was good, though it was so floral that I found it a bit like drinking perfume. The IW Harper though, sat on my shelf for a while. I wanted to look into it a little bit and see if I could find out anymore about it. Specifically: “What is this?” and “how old is this thing?”

The first thing I learned is that currently IW Harper is owned by Diageo and isn’t sold in the US anymore. And hasn’t been for a while. Ok so, at least the 80s. Cool. No bar code and no metric units so that pushed the youngest it could be back into the mid to late 70s. I did a bunch of searching of old ads and the earliest I could find that label used was in a 1970 ad. The next oldest ad I could find was from 1965 and had a slightly different label featured. So roughly early to mid-1970s. At that time it was owned by Schenley. That was close enough for my curiosity now I just needed to open it. 

But I waited. And waited. It got shoved behind some other samples I had and so I forgot about it. Until I found it this weekend, decided that enough was enough, and cracked it open.

IW Harper Gold Medal Bourbon (roughly mid 1970s)

Purchase info: an antique store $3.99 for a 1/10th pint

Details: 6 years old and 86 proof (no ABV listed so I deviate from my standard even though I know it would be 43%)

Nose: Started out very floral. Dark brown sugar, baking apples, allspice, cardamom and a sharp wood note. After sitting a bit it settled into a general fruity candy.

Mouth: Nice thick mouthfeel. Floral again with more dark brown sugar. Spicy with allspice and cinnamon. Oak and caramel as it moves back in the mouth. 

Finish: Long and warm with lingering floral hints.

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Thoughts: I just wish there were more. Sweet, spicy, rich and floral sum this up nicely. The color is even beautiful. It is a joy to look at, smell and taste. Just yum.

Bargain hunting: Rich & Rare Reserve

September: it’s National Bourbon Heritage Month here in the US, it’s also the month that BourbonFest is held in Bardstown, KY and when a lot of the Fall bourbon releases come out. Add in the facts that it’s also the month of my birthday, my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary and you get a month that’s great for a vacation.

I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of a shopping problem. Last time I spent more than an overnight in Kentucky I came home with 35 bottles of bourbon. I had to find a new place to store the overflow. In fact, some of those bottles are still waiting to be opened. And it’s not like they are special releases or anything.

So based on past history, since September is National Bourbon Shopping…err…Heritage Month, August had better be Bottle Emptying Month. I’ve spent the summer trying to make room for the shopping I know I’m going to be doing, but August has been where I’ve really resisted opening anything new. And it’s paying off. I’ve been emptying heels at a fairly rapid clip.

The most recent of which was Rich & Rare Reserve. It’s a Canadian whisky that is aged and blended in Canada, but Sazerac bottles it at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, KY. I initially purchased it after reading about it in the afterward of Davin de Kergommeaux’s Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert. I love bargin hunting and am willing to drop $10-15 dollars on a whisky to see if it’s one of those “hidden gems.” Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but often I find something that I’m willing to pick up again.

Rich & Rare Reserve

Purchase info: $10.99 Gordy’s County Market, Rice Lake, WI

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Delicate. Initial faint hints of nail polish remover. After sitting, it’s sweet with delicate hints of maple, caramel, citrus and corriander.

Mouth: Salty. Light with faint hints of soap. Sweet with buttery caramel.

Finish: Decent length with lingering maple that slowly fades to a tannic bitterness.

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Thoughts: This is merely ok. I have nothing bad to say about it, but personally prefer something a bit less delicate. It’s cheap enough though, that if you are a Canadian whisky fan, you might want to risk picking it up to see if it sits better with you than it did with me.

Maker's 46: an easily found "step-up"

It’s coming up on autumn again. Apples, pumpkins, football and of course, fall bourbon release season. Authors will be lining up all the free samples they received from various PR firms and distilleries to tell you about all those special, rare, and limited bourbons that you will never see, sniff or taste. 

You know: the “best they’ve ever tasted” and the kind of bourbon where “if you see this buy two.” Of course it’s only the best until the next one and you’ll never see one much less two unless you get really lucky or you’ve got an in with someone. But though you can help it along, you can’t plan luck. And if you don’t already have an in with someone, you are unlikely to make one by the time you need it. 

So what is there to do? Aside from getting sad and bitter at the idea of all those tasty treats that you won’t be tasting, that is.

Simple. Go to your favorite liquor store. Walk up to the bourbon shelves. Open your eyes. (That last bit will be easier if you’d closed them at some point, but I’d hate to recommend unsafe behavior like walking around a crowded store with your eyes closed.) Now look at the shelf. Odds are there is something really good right in front of your nose. 

Wild Turkey, Knob Creek, Four Roses, Maker’s Mark, Elijah Craig and Evan Williams are all solid choices that not only won’t break the bank, but I guarantee that at least one of these is available at every liquor store in the country. And if you are looking for a step up each has one. Rare Breed, Booker’s, Four Roses Single Barrel, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, Evan Williams Single Barrel and Maker’s 46.

I’ll admit. If given the choice between a wheated bourbon (one that uses wheat instead of rye as it’s secondary grain) and a rye bourbon, I’ll normally choose the rye. I find many wheated bourbons to be sharp and more bitter than I’d like. But an exception to that is Maker’s Mark. I’ve always been a fan of Maker’s. So much so, that before I started this blog I became an Ambassador and got my name on a barrel. So when they came out with a second bourbon (already about 4 years ago now…wow) I was excited to try it. 

And I liked it. I liked it so much that it got put on that magical mental list of ones I would buy again after I got through trying all the ones I wanted to try. The unfortunate thing was that the second list got bigger faster than I could buy bottles and so I never got around to buying another bottle of Maker’s 46. Well, at least not until I saw it on sale at Total Wine, remembered that long ago list, realized how long it had languished there and decided to pull the trigger.

Maker’s 46

Purchase info: $28.99 for a 750mL at Total Wine, Roseville, MN (on sale)

Details: 47% ABV

Nose: Continually changing. Starts with fermented grain, changes to distinct cinnamon and apricot before settling into a nice generically fruity oakiness.

Mouth: Slightly thick mouthfeel. Peppery, candy sweet and fruity with baking spices.

Finish: Nice and long with lingering baking spices and a faint smokey oak bitterness

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Thoughts: I’m still a fan of this one. It’s like a spicy candy. And that makes me happy.

Crown Royal: Just because people mix it with cola, doesn't mean it's bad.

Last Saturday I was talking to my friend DP (from the Whiskey Detectives blog) at a bourbon cocktail class that we both attended. After it was finished we stood around looking at the wide selection the venue offers for sale when the conversation got around to those whiskies that we know we should have tried, but for some reason never had. 

It got me to thinking. There are strange, semi-random swaths of the whisky shelf that I have—for one reason or another—avoided. And there is really no rhyme or reason to it. Some I remember hearing bad things about. Some are styles I’ve historically been wary of. Some my latent hipsterness rejects, seemingly, just because of their popularity.

I promise I’m not some hipster A-hole, but I will admit to having minor hipsterish tendencies such as a the one where I tend to not trust anything that seems too popular. Or maybe that’s just snobbishness. In any case, it’s something I need to work on. 

So in the spirit of trying something that I’d passed over every single time I went to a liquor store solely because it was one of the best selling whiskies to come out of North America, I present:

Crown Royal

Purchase Info: $3.99 for a 50mL at Hayward Bait and Bottle Shoppe, Hayward, WI

Details: 40% ABV

Nose: Brown sugar, pencil shavings, ripe peaches

Mouth: Nice mouthfeel, thicker than I expected. #2 pencils (I chewed on the yellow ones a lot). Hints of maple sugar. Some mint as it moves back.

Finish: Gentle, but with enough heat to let you know you’re drinking whisky. Lingering sweet cereal.

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Thoughts: It’s really a shame I’d passed this over for so long. It’s got a nice sweet mouthfeel that is balanced by just enough woody bitterness. It’d be a good movie watching whisky as it’s interesting enough to add enjoyment, but gentle enough to not distract you from the show. I think a full-sized bottle needs to sit on the Canadian Shelf.