Maker's Mark Private Select Bourbon

Got the Cleveland bottling. Wow! Amazing stuff. Long finish. Needs no water despite high proof. One of my favorites.

This is my second time reviewing this bourbon because each Maker’s Private Select is different. Maker’s Private Select is, in general, my favorite bourbon because of the complexity and smoothness coupled with the unique finishing process done by makers. My other recent review touches on that. This particular bourbon has the following finishing staves: 1 Baked American Pure 2 stave 1 Seared French Cuvée stage 2 Maker’s 46 stave 3 Roasted French Mocha stave 3 Toasted French Spice stave This particular combination gives way to a balance between vanilla, spice, and sweetness. This isn’t quite as good as the one I recently reviewed because of my personal preferences, but it is still a very good whisky. This bourbon has some burnt smoke notes coupled with some cooking spices as well as subtle cooked vanilla flavors. Very delicious considering how unique it is compared to other bourbons. Considering this is 1/1,001 stave combinations offered by Maker’s Private Select, it is very good and is special in its own right.

This is my favorite bourbon. The best part about it is that each Private Select is different. They use 10 staves to finish the bourbon and there is an option of 5 different types of staves charred various ways. The particular one I’m tasting is: 2 Maker’s 46 staves 7 Roasted French Mocha staves 1 Toasted French Spice stave This produces an extremely sweet flavor on the nose and palate. The sweetness has a milk chocolate-like feel to it from the French Mocha staves. Behind the sweetness is some spice from the Maker’s 46 staves and some smooth and elegant spice from the Toasted French spice. To top it off these are all bottle at cask strength to get the full experience. Really truly delicious. I’ve been to the Maker’s Mark distillery where they offer different Private Selects and those are equally delicious with their own character.