Maker's 46 Bourbon Review

Hi everyone,

More Bourbon now, and coming up. This time something from Maker’s Mark, of which I’ve only tried the basic expression (not that there’s loads of others to try).

The reason I wanted to try this one in particular is the peculiar finishing process. You may well have heard of Compass Box using Inner Staves to mature their original version of Spice Tree and it was banned by the Scotch Whisky Association. Well, Maker’s Mark aren’t under the SWA being in America and all, so they went right ahead and did it. I can’t really be bothered to look up who did it first (go ahead if you want to), but it seems like exactly the same idea. Getting good quality French oak, charring it and inserting a stave into the barrel.

 

Maker's 46 47%

Colour: Light Bronze

Body: Medium

Nose: Softer than the Baker's I had before this. Vanilla, cream soda, some oak, creamy, a little herbal, almosty leafy? Not getting any of the perfumed oak notes I’d expect from the French oak.

Taste: Soft, vanilla, cream soda, vanilla ice cream then building spice- white pepper and ginger, drying oak. A nice creamy one to start but the spice comes in, especially into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dry oak, white pepper, lacks balance here.

Didn’t get much of the French oak influence other than the spiciness you’d get from any virgin oak whisky really. It’s quite intense into the finish, knocking it out of balance really. But the strength is good and it’s a vast improvement on the original Makers.

71/100

Thanks for reading!

American Review #53

Whisky Network Review #652

American Average: 69.2

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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