Maker’s Mark BEP (2023 Wood Finishing Series)

COST: ~$80 for 750 mL bottle (I'm reviewing a sample)

AGE: NAS

MASH BILL: 70% corn, 16% wheat, 14% malted barley

PROOF: 109.6

This is the last expression of Maker Mark’s first era of their Wood Finishing Series. This expression is supposed to showcase the profile that MM’s low Barrel Entry Proof (BEP) provides to their bourbon, which they claim is more notes of vanilla and sweet spice. I’ve been hoping to stumble on one of these bottles for a long time with no luck. So I finally get to try it with a gracious sample provided by a fellow r/Bourbon redditor!

Reviewed neat in a juice glass (I took this sample along with me on a houseboat trip and had to use what was available 😉).

NOSE: I get a nice sweet oak, brown sugar, and warm cocoa. With a little more concentration, that cocoa note comes across almost as a orange chocolate ball, like the ones you see around Christmas time. I’m also getting a note best described as campfire.

PALATE: Big caramelized brown sugar and vanilla lead the way, followed by charred oak, brown butter, and an almond shortbread with chunks of dried cherries and a sprinkling of nutmeg. At times, that cherry note can come across a little medicinal like.

FINISH: The finish is long and simple. It’s a warm finish with notes of sweet oak and burnt brown sugar.

RATING: 7.5/10

VALUE: 8.2/10 (this value is based on a ratio of the $/mL to the rating above compared to this same ratio for all other r/Bourbon reviews I’ve made and normalized to 10)

OVERALL: This is a great expression, better than standard MM, but honestly, not quite as good as the significantly more common MM 46 cask strength. What I like the most about it was the big brown sugar throughout this and that rather complex palate. The finish left me longing for a bit more character though. I didn’t really get a ton of vanilla throughout the sip though, just on the palate really, which was a little surprising to me considering that was supposed to be one of the highlights, and I honestly didn’t get spice hardly at all except slightly in the finish. It was quite sweet with a decent amount of oak.

BEHIND THE BOTTLE

Starting in 2019, the first era of MM’s Wood Finishing Series used various combinations of wood finishing to showcase the profiles attributed to various aspects of their distilling and aging process. BEP was intended to showcase MM’s low Barrel Entry Proof (BEP) of 110. They do this by distilling and aging standard Maker’s Mark. After aging for some amount of time (likely 4-6 years), they added 10 toasted virgin American oak staves to the barrel and then let it age for an undisclosed amount of time (likely on the order of weeks, probably a dozen or so based on their other wood finishing expressions). This is similar, but different, from the more common MM 46 which is finished with 10 virgin French oak staves.

1 | Disgusting | ...I've not subjected myself to this level

2 | Poor | Balcones Lineage

3 | Bad | High West Double Rye, Jefferson's Ocean 28

4 | Sub-par | Weller's SR, Woodford Reserve Distiller's Select

5 | Good | Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye, Green River Wheated

6 | Very Good | Blanton's, Holladay Bourbons, Eagle Rare

7 | Great | Baker's 7yr SiB, PiggyBack SiB, 1792 BiB

8 | Excellent | Most ECBP batches, JD SiB BiB, High West MWND Act 11

9 | Incredible | Barrel Bourbon Batch T8ke, BBC DS #7, Four Roses OESQ

10 | Perfect | Found North Batch 08