Last year, we covered the release of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged , the oldest age-statement expression from the distillery to date, and perhaps its best whiskey ever (it made our Best Spirits of the Year list, after all). Well, if you missed out in 2023, or if you haven’t been able to find another bottle since finishing off your first, you’re in luck: Cellar Aged is back, and this year it’s even older.
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Regular Maker’s Mark bourbon is bottled when it’s about six to seven years old, a sweet spot in the maturation trajectory for most distilleries. If you let bourbon age much longer than that, say more than 10 to 12 years, it can become overly oaky. That’s because the extreme shifts in Kentucky’s temperatures throughout the year accelerate the interaction between whiskey and wood (other states may have greater or lesser problems with this). The first Cellar Aged release was made up of barrels that were moved into the distillery’s limestone cellars at about six years old and allowed to mature in this cool 50-degree climate for another five to six years. The resulting bourbon, a blend of 11 and 12-year-old liquid, was fantastic.
The 2024 release, which we have not been able to sample yet, is a year older—a blend of 12 and 13-year-old Maker’s Mark bourbon. “We surprised the world with the debut of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged last year, a bold step in our family’s legacy because, for more than 65 years, aging our whiskey for a decade-plus wasn’t something we did,” said Rob Samuels, eighth-generation Maker’s Mark whiskey maker and managing director, in a statement, adding that the new edition was its “most mature bourbon yet.” The exact makeup of this new release relies heavily on the older liquid: 5 percent 12-year-old bourbon and 85 percent 13-year-old bourbon, to be exact. And it’s bottled at 119.3 proof, which is higher than even most of the Maker’s Mark Cask Strength releases. Official tasting notes describe caramelized sugar, citrus, and toasted almond on the nose, followed by shortbread, coconut, and spice on the palate.
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This comes on the heels of the relaunch of Maker’s Mark’s Wood Finishing Series , which arrived last June in the form of the Heart Release, a cask-strength bourbon finished with two different types of wood staves. The new Cellar Aged is available starting today around the country with an SRP of $175, but you’ll be lucky if you see it priced that low at your local liquor store or online (last year’s release is double or triple that at websites like Total Wine ). If you are feeling really ambitious, buy a bottle of each bourbon to compare. Or you can peruse the rest of the Maker’s Mark lineup at websites like ReserveBar now.
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