Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2026

I’d like to thank Maker’s Mark and their PR partners for sending this sample with no strings attached.

As you read this, I am still on vacation, having written this prior to leaving. If things are on track, I should be arriving in Portland, OR, on my way home from Northern California just about the time this goes live. I plan to spend as much of the day as needed at Powell’s Books during my two-night stay. I may need to take an Uber back to the hotel even though I’m staying within walking distance. I hope I left enough room in the car we will be driving home…

But you aren’t here for The Continuing Adventures of Eric. You want to know about whatever tonight’s bourbon is. And that would be the latest release in Maker’s Mark’s Cellar Aged lineup. This year’s release is a blend of 49% 11-year-old, 33% 12-year-old, and 18% 14-year-old bourbons. The bourbon was bottled at 112.1 proof. The suggested retail price is $175 for a 700 mL bottle. Before we dig in, here is what the producer has to say about the release:

"The limestone shelf that surrounds Star Hill Farm has shaped our bourbon from the very beginning, thanks to the innovative spirit of my grandparents, Margie and Bill Samuels Sr., who chose this land in 1953 for its exceptional water source and natural watershed," said Rob Samuels, Maker's Mark managing director and eighth-generation whisky maker.

"Decades later, we made what some considered an unreasonable decision to build a LEED-certified cellar into that same limestone shelf, allowing us to extend maturation while preserving the balance that defines Maker's Mark. This year's Cellar Aged release is a testament to how our environment continues to shape the whisky's final profile."

"Cellar Aged represents our pursuit of flavor through patience, precision and a deep understanding of how bourbon evolves over time," said Dr. Blake Layfield, master distiller for Maker's Mark. "After aging in our traditional warehouses, the bourbon spends additional time in our limestone cellar, where cooler maturation allows the fruit to shine while keeping the oak in balance."

Maker's Mark Cellar Aged 2026

Purchase Info: This bottle was sent at no charge for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $175 for a 700 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $12.50

Details: 56.05% ABV. A blend of 49% 11-year-old, 33% 12-year-old, and 18% 14-year-old bourbons.

Nose: Floral vanilla, rich tobacco and cedar, caramel, and oak.

Mouth: Toffee, nutmeg, allspice, tobacco, leather, cedar, and oak.

Finish: Long and warm with notes of toffee, cedar, oak, and leather.

Thoughts: Right off the bat, the nose is wonderful. It’s like walking into a humidor, if said humidor contained delicious cookies as well as cigars. The mouth is as spicy as you would expect for roughly 112 proof. Very rich in the mouth with luscious toffee and baking spice notes, along with rich cedar, tobacco, and leather notes and a wonderfully thick mouthfeel. To quote vintage Maker’s Mark ads: “It tastes expensive… and is.” The price is too high for my bourbon budget, but it really is delicious. So if you’ve got the cash, this is one to check out. Very, very good. I like it.

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. We don’t take ads, paid placement, or paid articles and are supported only by your generosity.

Impressions: Star Hill Farm Whisky 2026

I’d like to thank Maker’s Mark and their PR team for sending these samples with no strings attached.

Hello my friends! It is time for another Bonus Post. Today is a little different than usual. Normally, even in a bonus post, you get full tasting notes, maybe an anecdote that sorta connects to the whiskey, and some info about the release. Well, as you can see above from the unopened sample bottles, Maker’s Mark didn’t really send enough for us to do a full tasting. In fact, it wasn’t even enough for one of us to do a proper tasting. Not that I’m complaining or anything. I still get the opportunity to share my impressions with you so you can see if it is worth spending the money on when compared to the two standard bourbons the company puts out. First, I’ll post the press release, and then we will get into my impressions of the Star Hill Farm Wheat Whisky as compared to Maker’s Mark and Maker’s 46.

---

LORETTO, Ky., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Maker’s Mark® today announced the highly anticipated second release of Star Hill Farm Whisky, the brand’s first new mash bill and first wheat whisky in 70 years. Awarded World’s Best Wheat Whisky 2026, Star Hill Farm Whisky celebrates the role regenerative agriculture plays to create healthier soil and better flavor. The annual release will be available in Japan and Duty Free this year, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

“My grandparents built Maker’s Mark on the belief that when we invest in the land, it gives back in flavor,” said Rob Samuels, eighth-generation whisky maker and managing director of Maker’s Mark. “Star Hill Farm Whisky extends that vision by embracing ingredients sourced from regenerative agriculture. As a proud B Corp and Regenified-certified distillery, we’re helping to define leadership in sustainability for the industry, while working to make Star Hill Farm the most endearing, culturally rich and environmentally responsible homeplace in the world.”

While Maker's Mark has always used the same mash bill to create a consistent and balanced bourbon, Star Hill Farm Whisky evolves each year, revealing how nature impacts flavor. The inaugural release spotlighted soft red winter wheat—the signature grain in Maker’s Mark’s mash bill. The 2026 release introduces hard red and hard white wheat types, demonstrating how grain diversity translates into greater depth of flavor through distillation, maturation and expert blending.

Star Hill Farm 2026 is crafted from two mash bills: one composed entirely of malted wheat, and another of 70% wheat and 30% malted barley. The final blend—27% wheat, 62% malted wheat and 11% malted barley—delivers a darker, more layered aromatic profile, with a rounder structure and amplified fruit notes compared to that of 2025.

“The first release of Star Hill Farm Whisky was bright, approachable and straightforward; this year we’ve dialed up the complexity,” said Dr. Blake Layfield, master distiller at Maker’s Mark. “The 2026 release is a balanced blend of seven and eight-year whiskies bottled at cask strength, evolving from first sip to finish. It opens with aromas of molasses, fig and delicate baking spices, followed by notes of zesty citrus, ripe pear and buttery shortbread, and lingers with a soft cinnamon finish.”

In 2025, Star Hill Farm Whisky became the first to earn Estate Whiskey certification—a designation Star Hill Farm Whisky 2026 will carry from the Estate Whiskey Alliance® (EWA), established by the University of Kentucky to highlight local sourcing and sustainable production, and recognize whiskey produced entirely on the distillery estate, using grains grown on estate-owned or controlled land.

Star Hill Farm Whisky expanded Maker's Mark’s ambition to advance regenerative agriculture with last year’s launch of the Maker’s Mark Regenerative Alliance, whose mission is to foster healthier farm ecosystems through education and hands-on support—already helping convert 58,000 acres of conventional farmland to certified regenerative practices. Extending its impact to consumers, the Alliance invites farms, bars and restaurants to adopt regenerative sourcing and operations, and to bring the story to life through menu storytelling and consumer engagement, with more than 14 partners already signed on.

Bottled at 58.2% ABV (116.4 proof), Star Hill Farm Whisky 2026 will be available for a suggested retail price of $100 USD. In the United States, the limited release will be available at select retailers nationwide and at the Maker’s Mark Distillery with a bookable experience that includes a guided tour of Star Hill Farm paired with cocktails highlighting flavor from nature.

For more information, visit www.starhillfarm.com or www.makersmark.com.

###

---

Star Hill Farm Whisky 2026

Purchase Info: This sample was sent at no cost for review purposes. The suggest retail price is $100 per 700 mL bottle.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $7.14

Details: 27% wheat, 62% malted wheat and 11% malted barley. 58.2% ABV.

Impressions and Comparisons: The nose is a bit nuttier than either of the two bourbons. As it is a higher proof, it is showing a bit more alcohol as well. My first sip was a bit astringent, but that faded after a couple of minutes. You can see what corn brings to the table while doing the side-by-side. The 2026 wheat whisky has a thinner mouthfeel and less sweetness than the bourbons, even though it is a higher proof. The proof bump does give it a hotter mouth. At the end, I’ll see if I have enough to try it with a little water. It’s very dry when compared to either of the Maker’s Mark bourbons, almost mouth drying in its dryness. Honestly, with as big of a fan as I am of standard Maker’s Mark, I kinda wanted a little more from this. It is very interesting, but really isn’t aligning with my palate at least not neat. A little water does bring down the heat level and allows more of the flavors of the mouth to come through. There is a little more sweetness and some mint. But it is still quite nutty. I like it a lot better with a little water, but I’m still going to give this one a neutral rating. It’s interesting and it isn’t like I want to spit it out, but I probably wouldn’t drink it for pleasure either. Not sure I can recommend this one unless you are a whiskey geek like I am and want to taste a different whiskey with some of the same DNA as Maker’s Mark without it being bourbon and don’t mind spending over seven dollars per pour to do so.

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

13th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The Championships

Welcome back, folks! We are now at the end of the 2026 contest. Eight whiskeys entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats, with not a single stinker in the bunch. Let’s see how it all ends and if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.

Division 2: Crooked Meteor (Maker’s 46) vs. Wobbly Parachute (Benchmark Single Barrel)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: On the mouth Wobbly Parachute is giving me a little more cherry and baking spice. Crooked Meteor also gives some fruit and baking spice, but tosses a little bubblegum in there too. Crooked Meteor has a softer mouthfeel, being almost velvety by comparison. Wobbly Parachute is sweeter on the nose showing more toffee-This is so close that I'm going to hazard a guess that the winner here goes on to take the whole thing. I like Crooked Meteor's nose better. Wobbly Parachute has a nicer finish. At the end of the day though the mouthfeel of Crooked Meteor gives this just the slightest edge.

Winner: Crooked Meteor (Maker’s 46) moves on to the Championship Round on the strength of the wonderful, softer mouthfeel.

Division 1: Gilded Thunder (Redemption) vs. Marble Iguana (1792)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Gilded Thunder has a nicer nose. In a head-to-head comparison there is something a little bitter on Marble Iguana's nose that Gilded Thunder doesn't have. Marble Iguana has a nicer finish. There is more oak, more warmth and even a hint of smoke on it. Gilded Thunder is more gentle and has less complexity to it. The mouth is where this will be decided though. Unfortunately both of the mouth's are fairly gentle and unassuming. All things considered Marble Iguana has a bit more complexity on the mouth and since both are tasty, that will be enough to take the contest.

Winner: Marble Iguana (1792) moves on to the Championship Round on the basis the added complexity of the palate.

Championship Round: Crooked Meteor (Maker’s 46) vs. Marble Iguana (1792)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: The noses of these two are fairly similar with Marble Iguana being a little more "perfumy" than Crooked Meteor. Crooked Meteor has a nicer finish showing more baking spices. Crooked Meteor is sweet, fruity, floral, and spicy on the mouth. Marble Iguana is showing more mint, oak, and baking spice. This is really hard. Both of these are delicious bourbons.

Winner: Crooked Meteor (Maker’s 46)

Congrats to Maker’s 46, the 2026 BourbonGuy.com Bracket Champion!

So, what did I learn about each of these?

Well, starting with the winner? It was no surprise to me that Maker’s 46 took the contest. My wife and I did a draft before hand to see who would win. She went first, I won’t tell her pick to win yet, but mine was Maker’s 46. It was the first one I drafted for my “team.” Even though wheated bourbons are known for being softer (and as such don’t always fair well in the head to head format of a bracket), to me, it had the best shot because it has a full and rich flavor and enough spice to stand up the bourbons made with rye as a flavoring grain, while maintaining the soft mouthfeel that wheated bourbons are known for.

Moving over to the other finalist, 1792 was my wife’s first draft pick to win it all. And it nearly did. We had a very difficult time picking the winner this year. It came down to mouthfeel and that’s where 1792 fell behind. Both are delicious bourbons and I’d be happy to have either of them on my shelf (and lucky me, I have both).

I’m going to talk about Early Times Bottled-in-Bond and Redemption together here. Sometimes you end up with a matchup that you just kinda know isn’t going to matter in the final results. And that was this one. While I liked both of them, I knew going in that the last time I’d had Early Times Bottled in Bond, I wasn’t impressed. I felt that it had gone downhill from previous times I’d purchased it. And honestly with Redemption, at only 88 proof and two years old, I didn’t expect that it would even make it out of the first round. As I mentioned in the competition post that featured them, these are both brands in transition though. One to a new owner, and the other to a new proof level. So whatever we learned here won’t make much difference to the future.

Let’s finish off Division 1 by talking about Yellowstone Select. This was my number two draft pick. I honestly thought it might have a chance to at least leave the first round, but I chose it before the seeding matchups were finalized so I had no idea who it would be going against. In this case, it was a good bourbon going up against a great one.

Moving over to Division 2, we start with Benchmark Single Barrel and Four Roses Small Batch. This was one that I really didn’t know what to think. And in the end, Benchmark beat Four Roses Small Batch, the Four Roses expression that used to be my favorite of their core lineup. In the end, it was the proof that held Four Roses back since both are delightful bourbons.

And finally we get to Woodford Reserve. This was a dark horse pick for me, knowing that it would depend on the seeding matchups to see if it would make it to the second round. Like all of the bourbons in the competition, it is delicious (I love it when that happens in a bracket). It just didn’t have the complexity to top the eventual winner.

Now that we are done, it’s time to turn the page to the future. Next week, we will start to look at the samples that have been stacking up while the contest was going on. As much fun as this was, it’s fun to try new bourbons too.

Once again, congrats to Maker’s 46 on their 2026 Championship!

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

13th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: Round 1c: Maker’s 46 vs Woodford Reserve

Good afternoon friends! We are back yet again with the third of our Round 1 Competitions. These were tasted in an order only known to my wife as another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. So Round 1 of the 2026 BourbonGuy.com Brackets continues with Division 2’s Number 3 seed, Woodford Reserve taking on Number 2 seed, Maker’s 46.

Maker’s 46 was the second wide-release, permanent product in the history of Maker’s Mark. The first being…Maker’s Mark. It came after much experimentation under the direction Bill Samuels Jr., son of founder Bill Samuels Sr. The “46” is said to be the winning trial number in the original experiments. Maker’s 46 takes the original wheated Maker’s Mark and “finishes” with the addition of French Oak staves toward the end of the aging process for a sweeter and spicier product. Maker’s 46 is produced at the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY. This bottle was purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel in Prior Lake, MN for $29.97 for a 750 mL bottle or $2.00 per pour.

Their opponent is Woodford Reserve, a product of the Brown Forman Company of Louisville, KY, partially produced at their aptly named showpiece Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles, KY. That distillery always felt like one you should dress up for. Fancy place. This bottle was purchased at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN for $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle or $2.00 per pour.

All of the competitions this year were tasted blind, and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all recorded before we knew which bourbon was which. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were tasted side by side and will have influenced the perception of one another.

Crooked Meteor (Maker’s 46)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $2.00

Details: 47% ABV

Nose: Caramel, vanilla, nutmeg, and a hint of cherry.

Mouth: Spicy and sweet. Nutmeg, cherry, cocoa, vanilla, black tea, and oak.

Finish: Medium in warmth and length. Notes of sweet cherry, vanilla, cocoa, and nutmeg.

Jittery Compass (Woodford Reserve)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $2.00

Details: 45.2% ABV

Nose: Banana, cherry, vanilla, cinnamon, and a touch of caramel.

Mouth: Cherry, caramel, vanilla, nutmeg, and ginger

Finish: Medium in both length and warmth. Notes of vanilla, ginger, caramel, and nutmeg.

Thoughts:

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: This is a tough one! They are both really good. Crooked Meteor is spicy and sweet. Jittery Compass has nice fruit notes and also has tasty baking spices. Crooked Meteor  has a more complex mouth and that's carrying it today.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: I love tastings where I need to have both tasting ounces almost gone before I am forced to make a decision. That usually means that they are both good and I am enjoying the tasting. And this one was one of those. Both were good and I was starting to think I was going to need to steal some of my wife’s in order to find a winner. It was that close. But in the end, the more complex Maker’s 46 won out by just a touch.

Winner: Maker’s 46 is advancing to round 2.

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

13th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The “inflation is Weird” edition.

You know what time it is! The NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments are getting started here soon, which means everyone is in bracket mode. It really is a wonderful time of year. Up here in the northernmost state in the contiguous U.S., the snow is still trying to fall—we got over a foot at my house this weekend. Though, thankfully, the end is in sight. Gardeners have started their seeds, there are days when the windows can be opened, and, of course, there are brackets to be filled out—and busted.

No, not those silly basketball or hockey brackets. We’re talking bourbon brackets. And let me tell you, this really is my favorite time of year. In fact, I enjoy it so much that next year, when I may decide to hang up the ol’ keyboard, I already know what my last series of posts will be: brackets. But don’t worry—that’ll be 2027 at the earliest, since I want to make it to 15 years of publishing before I make a decision.

I’m calling this round the “The Inflation Is Weird” edition. Mostly because I had to raise the price requirements yet again. As I mentioned last year, it was getting really hard to find enough entrants that haven’t been here over and over for under $25. Well, this year, I decided to take actual inflation numbers into account.

As an aside, inflation is super weird to me. Based on things that I don’t even want to try to understand, things just cost more than they used to. And if it’s a little bit, that’s somehow a good thing, but if it’s a lot (or, oddly, if it goes down), then that’s really bad. And it doesn’t hit everything the same, which my pattern-seeking mind finds overwhelming. And then the president always gets blamed for it, which is also weird since the last president to try directly setting price controls was Nixon. And while it had a bit of short-term success, Smart People™ seem to agree that it was a seriously bad idea. Probably why no one has tried it since. It’s just all-around weird, and I am glad that (under normal circumstances) people much smarter than I am are in charge of handling it.

So, like I said before I got sidetracked, I started this site in 2012. So I went to my favorite inflation calculator—the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator—to look at what the original bracket upper limit of $20 would be in 2026 money. I was a bit shocked to find out that it was almost $29. So I rounded up and made the upper limit $30 just to keep things nice and easy.

One thing I noticed while doing the research is that while it feels like the bourbon market has gotten more expensive, and in many ways it has, the reality is a bit more nuanced. I went back through every whiskey featured in this series over the last 13 years, and most of the true bottom-shelf brands have disappeared from shelves, at least near me. And the ones that remain haven’t increased in price as quickly as inflation. In terms of purchasing power, many have effectively gotten cheaper. That’s how bottles like Maker’s 46, Four Roses Small Batch, and Woodford Reserve ended up in this year’s competition when they were far out of range for those original Bottom-Shelf Brackets. Of course with newer, higher-priced labels hitting the shelves, the category as a whole feels more expensive when you’re standing in the bourbon aisle, even though individual bourbons are effectively cheaper now. Like I said— inflation is weird.

Let’s get into the actual contest, though.

The Selection Rules

This year’s selection process was simple:

• It had to be bourbon.

• The bottle size had to be at least 750 mL.

• It had to cost under $30.

That’s it!

For seeding, I usually start by sorting by proof first, followed by stated age (if applicable), and then use price as the final tiebreaker. But this year, every entrant had a different proof, so we just went down the line, with the highest proof being the number one seed and the lowest proof being the lowest seed. The idea being that, often with inexpensive bourbons, proof will beat age in a head-to-head competition—or so it has played out over the previous 12 editions. To avoid stacking the deck against the second division, I alternated which division received the higher seed. So Division 1 got the overall number one, but Division 2 got the higher-proof of the number two seeds. Here’s what that got us:

Division 1

• Seed 1: Early Times Bottled-in-Bond

  • The only 100 proof bottle in this competition. It is also the least expensive per 50 mL pour. The brand is currently owned by Sazerac, though the distillery of distillation on the label is still the old Brown-Forman DSP-KY-354. Barton 1792 (DSP-KY-12) is also listed as a production site, likely for bottling.

  • Purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel (Prior Lake, MN) for $23.99 for a one-liter bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Velvet Turnip

• Seed 2: 1792

  • Flagship product of Sazerac’s Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown, KY, bottled at 93.7 proof.

  • Purchased at Total Wine (Burnsville, MN) for $25.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Marble Iguana

• Seed 3: Yellowstone Select

  • The base entry for the historic Yellowstone bourbon brand, bottled at 93 proof.

  • Purchased at Total Wine (Burnsville, MN) for $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Feral Teacup

• Seed 4: Redemption Bourbon

  • Sourced MGP bourbon bottled at 88 proof and age-stated at 2 years old. This was the lowest proof and, as such, the lowest seed in the contest.

  • Purchased at Total Wine (Burnsville, MN) for $21.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Gilded Thunder

Division 2

• Seed 1: Benchmark Single Barrel

  • A product of the Buffalo Trace Distillery, bottled at 95 proof.

  • Purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel (Prior Lake, MN) for $23.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Wobbly Parachute

• Seed 2: Maker’s Mark 46

  • The only wheated bourbon, bottled at 94 proof.

  • Purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel (Prior Lake, MN) for $29.97 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Crooked Meteor

• Seed 3: Woodford Reserve

  • A product of Brown-Forman, bottled at 90.4 proof.

  • Purchased at Total Wine (Burnsville, MN) for $29.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Jittery Compass

• Seed 4: Four Roses Small Batch

  • One of four core products in the Four Roses lineup. It was long my favorite of the bunch before its lower proof made their single barrel offering my go-to from them. It is bottled at 90 proof.

  • Purchased at Total Wine (Burnsville, MN) for $26.99 for a 750 mL bottle.

  • Nonsense name: Drowsy Lantern

Keeping It Blind: The Setup

Of course, that list doesn’t eliminate inherent bias, does it? So, as usual, we took a few extra steps to keep the tasting blind—while still keeping track of what advanced.

Here’s how we set it up (it’s an oh-so-simple process):

1. I seeded the whiskey in the bracket as listed above.

2. I poured 200 mL bottles of each bourbon and labeled them with their nonsense names.

3. I made a separate bracket using only the nonsense names and handed it, along with the bottles, to my wife.

From there, she takes over.

• She doesn’t know what’s in each bottle (thanks to the nonsense names).

• She pours and keeps track of the winners.

• All I have to do is taste, write, and pick my favorite. It’s a pretty slick system.

The empty bracket is below, and as usual, there were plenty of surprises along the way. But that’s for the future. In the meantime, who you got? Let us know down in the comments!

Fun fact, using that same BLS Inflation Calculator, I checked on the state of the Federal Excise Tax on distilled spirits. If you want to make a bourbon producer mad, mention that if the excise tax, which was last adjusted in 1991 to $13.50 per proof gallon, had kept up with inflation, it would currently be at $32.78. In fact the opposite happened and we are currently in a tiered system where the first so many proof gallons are severely discounted. This was what funded much of the Federal Government prior to the income tax so it is fun to look at. Though I am seriously not advocating for higher bourbon prices…

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series: The Keepers Release 2025

My friends! It’s time for another liquor store find from my recent travels. I saw this one all over Kentucky, but haven’t run across it here in Minnesota yet. That doesn’t really mean much, though—I haven’t been to the liquor store locally for a few months now. That said, I bought this one at Illinois’ Binny’s Beverage on the way home after passing on it a couple of times at various locations in Kentucky. Why did I pass? No idea. Must have found something that struck my fancy more at that particular moment.

So what are we talking about? That would be the latest release in Maker’s Mark’s Wood Finishing Series. They’ve been doing this for a while now. I saw emails in my inbox about the series going back to 2021—though they’ve highlighted different things over the years. The 2024 and 2025 releases focused on the people who help make the product what it is. According to the press release:

“The Keepers Release was born from our close collaboration with the Maker’s Mark warehouse team, the guardians of our barrels,” said Dr. Blake Layfield, master distiller, Maker’s Mark. Their sensory experience of Maker's Mark is unlike anyone else’s — the aromatic oak at different times of the day, evolving tasting notes of our whisky as it ages over multiple seasons — which provided inspiration and helped us shape the flavors of this release."  

Adding to that statement, according to reporting by The Bourbon Review, this expression starts with fully matured, cask-strength Maker’s Mark aged six to seven years, then finished in two batches with toasted American oak staves—one batch aged an additional five weeks, the other nine—before being blended in equal parts and bottled at 109.2 proof (54.6% ABV).

So let’s get to the important part: how does it taste?

Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series: The Keepers Release 2025

Purchase Info: $79.99 for a 750 mL bottle at Binny’s Beverage Depot, Bloomington, IL.

Price per Drink (50 mL): $5.33

Details: 54.6% ABV

Nose: Vanilla, toffee, oak lumber, cinnamon, and a hint of mint.

Mouth: Almond, oak, mint, cinnamon, vanilla, and caramel.

Finish: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of almond, cinnamon, mint, and oak.

Thoughts: This is very good. Nice toffee. Lots of oak—though to me, it doesn’t quite come through as the usual oak notes you’d find in a bottle of bourbon. This oak feels more like the kind you'd find in your lumber pile (you do have a lumber pile of old wood, don’t you? Just me?). But while I might have expected that to be a bad thing, it actually works really well here. It plays nicely with an almond note that trends toward cherry. Big fan of this.

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

12th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: The Championship Rounds

Welcome back, folks! We are now at the end of the 2025 contest. Eight whiskeys entered the arena. Four have fallen by the wayside. There have been some delicious treats, with not a single stinker in the bunch. Let’s see how it all ends and if we’ve learned anything along the way. First, we have the Round Two matchups.

Division 2: Gleaming Pancake (Jeppson’s 100 Proof Bourbon) vs. Lumpy Telescope (Maker’s Mark)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: As I go back and forth nosing these, I'm always amazed at how the comparison allows you to sense different notes. When Lumpy Telescope was being compared to Soggy Parrot, there was no hint of the smoky maple on the nose that I'm getting now that it is being compared to Gleaming Pancake. This is why the "real" tasting notes I do are always done with a clean palate.

Both of these are quite tasty in the mouth. However, the softer mouthfeel of Gleaming Pancake and the baking spice is a little nicer than the slightly bitter stone fruit notes of Lumpy Telescope.

Winner: Gleaming Pancake (Jeppson’s 100 Proof Bourbon) moves on to the Championship Round on the softer mouthfeel and baking spice.

---

Division 1: Rusty Marshmallow (Old Bardstown) vs. Wobbly Cactus (Jim Beam Black)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: Not a ton of difference on the nose between these, with Rusty Marshmallow being slightly more vibrant. As for the mouth and finish, it seems that I like whichever I’ve had last. The cinnamon roll notes of Rusty Marshmallow are delicious. But what puts it over the edge is that I like its finish better. Tough one.

Winner: Rusty Marshmallow (Old Bardstown) moves on to the Championship Round on the strength of that cinnamon roll note.

---

Championship Round: Rusty Marshmallow (Old Bardstown) vs. Gleaming Pancake (Jeppson’s 100 Proof Bourbon)

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: On the nose, Rusty Marshmallow is slightly more interesting. A little breadier. Not better, but more interesting. Still tied as we head into the mouth and finish. I must be really into cinnamon spice notes right now because both of these have that in spades on the mouth and finish. Damn! This one is tough. At the end of the day, Rusty Marshmallow just had slightly more flavor than Gleaming Pancake, and since both were delicious, I'll use that as the tie-breaker.

Winner: Rusty Marshmallow (Old Bardstown)

Congrats to Old Bardstown, the 2025 BourbonGuy.com Bracket Champion!

---

This was an interesting contest for me. I knew going in that there was only one bourbon that I might need to brace myself for before taking the first sip. Unfortunately for me, I had no idea when or where that one would show up. But luckily, every one of the bourbons was good. I don’t think I’d say there was anything in here that would warrant a “meh/neutral” rating if it were being tasted alone, which makes the contest so much fun as a taster. Though, seeing my reactions to bad whiskey might have been more entertaining as a reader.

So, what did I learn about each of these?

First off, the winner—Old Bardstown. I’m not sure that when I started this project 12 years ago, I would have ever expected a craft bourbon to be in the contest, much less win it. Twelve years ago, small distilleries were almost exclusively more expensive and lower quality than the big guys. At that point, the idea that a small distiller could compete with the big brands on price was ludicrous. Plus, most of them just didn’t taste as good. That has changed over the years, and I’m very happy to see it.

Moving over to the other Championship contender, Jeppson’s 100 Proof Bourbon was the bottle that I thought I might need to dump after the competition was over. I wouldn’t mean to, and I’d swear during the competition that it was pretty okay. But I’d never reach for it and would eventually dump it when I needed the shelf space. That’s what I thought I’d be writing here. But no—this was a decent bourbon. And since it is likely a blend of MGP and Dickel, based on the listed states of distillation, that’s no surprise. A Dickel bourbon won last year, so it’s not surprising that one made from it would go far this year too.

Benchmark Bonded was one that I was surprised to see knocked out in the first round. I hadn’t had it before, but I’d had the old 90-proof Benchmark and enjoyed it. I also picked up the Benchmark Full Proof back in September as well. Really enjoyed that too. I fully expected that the 100-proof version of Benchmark would go far. A probable contender. If forced to put money on a winner, this would have been the one I’d have chosen to win its division.

Maker’s Mark is the other one that I would have chosen to win its division. I really like Maker’s Mark and would have guessed I’d have liked it better than Larceny, Old Forester, and something I’d never heard of before. Not much for me to learn here. I just really like it.

These days, when I think of Larceny, I usually think of the Barrel Proof version that I get samples of a few times per year. I almost never think of the standard 92-proof version. I had a bottle that tasted funny a few years back, and it put me off of it for a while. I enjoyed it here, but there was no way that it was going to beat one of my favorite bourbons. It got a bad draw and suffered from it. I wonder how it would have fared if Larceny and Jim Beam Black had switched spots so it could have gone up against the final wheated bourbon.

Speak of the Devil, Rebel 100 is the final wheated bourbon in the contest. I had really wanted to find one more sub-$25 wheated bourbon so I could have wheated and non-wheated divisions, but alas, there aren’t that many wheated bourbons on the market, and even fewer that are affordable. If memory serves, I think Buffalo Trace might be the only other “big guy” to regularly produce one. And good luck getting anything that shares a mash bill with Pappy out of there without it costing an arm and a leg.

Jim Beam Black is a good bourbon. For some reason, I never buy it, but it is a good bourbon. The issue is that I usually need to be in the mood for it. And I don’t drink enough these days to have “change of pace” bourbons on my shelf.

Finally, Old Forester 86 is also a great bourbon. Personally, I prefer its higher-proof cousins, though. The 100 proof is delicious, and the Whiskey Row Series is just phenomenal. But 86 proof is nothing to sneeze at.

Now that we are done, it’s time to turn the page to the future. Next week, we will look at the samples that have been stacking up while the contest was going on. As much fun as this was, it’s fun to try new bourbons too.

Once again, congrats to Willett and Old Bardstown on their 2025 Championship!

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.

12th Annual BourbonGuy.com Brackets: Round 1: Larceny vs Maker’s Mark

Welcome to the third matchup of Round One for the 2025 BourbonGuy.com Brackets. These were tasted in an order only known to my wife as another bit of obfuscation to hide what was being tasted. Tonight, Division 2’s Number 3 seed, Maker’s Mark, takes on Number 2 seed, Larceny Bourbon.

Maker’s Mark is possibly the most famous bottle of bourbon there is. It is available everywhere. The look is iconic and has remained relatively unchanged for over 60 years. It is distilled at the beautiful Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY. Honestly, if you haven’t visited, add it to your bucket list. It is the second of the three wheated bourbons in the competition. This bottle was purchased at Viking Liquor Barrel in Prior Lake, MN, for $24.97 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.66 per pour, making it the most expensive bourbon in the competition.

Their opponent is the last wheated bourbon in the competition. That’s right—it’s a wheated-on-wheated matchup. Larceny Bourbon is produced by Heaven Hill out of Bardstown, KY. This bottle was purchased at Total Wine in Burnsville, MN, for $22.99 for a 750 mL bottle or $1.53 per pour.

All of the competitions this year were tasted blind, and we knew the winner of the competition prior to any reveal. Notes, thoughts, and conclusions were all recorded before we knew which bourbon was which. Needless to say, some of my conclusions were surprising to me. Tasting notes may be a little unusual since they were tasted side by side and will have influenced the perception of one another.

Lumpy Telescope (Maker’s Mark)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.66

Details: 45% ABV

Nose: Stone fruit, dusty oak, and a touch of caramel

Mouth: Sweet and fruity, with notes of stone fruit and caramel

Finish: Medium length with sweet, fruity, and cinnamon notes

Soggy Parrot (Larceny)

Price Per Drink (50 mL): $1.53

Details: 46% ABV

Nose: Muted. Can't pick up much beyond light caramel, vanilla, and oak

Mouth: Oak, toasted nuts

Finish: Gentle with a nice bitterness

Thoughts:

Pre-Reveal Thoughts: f these were matched against other opponents, they might have both advanced. However, I have a bit of a sweet tooth when it comes to bourbon. For that reason, Lumpy Telescope advances.

Post-Reveal Thoughts: No surprises here. I’ve long said that Maker’s Mark is my favorite wheated bourbon. Plus, it is the highest-priced product in the contest. If it is worth the price being asked, it should win, especially if the proof and age difference are negligible.

Winner: Maker’s Mark is advancing to round 2.

---

If you want to support our work at BourbonGuy.com, please consider a one-time donation at ko-fi.com/bourbonguy or paypal.me/BourbonGuy. Or you could buy some merch that I’ve designed and/or built (tasting journals, t-shirts, stickers, pins, signs, posters, and more) at BourbonGuyGifts.com. Use code BOURBONGUYREADER at checkout for 5% off any order of $50 or more.