Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series 2021 FAE-01

Nose: lots of vanilla. Definitely fruity like the 2019 too which excites me Palate: yes!!! Fruit and spice initially. Very bold at first but becomes tame immediately. I think 2019 might be a bit more fruity. Cinnamon on the second sip Finish: big red gum on the finish! Decently lengthy finish too! Overall: I believe very well done. Good price point as usual and a solid bourbon! Happy with it and will probably get a back up

Neat. Neck pour. Excited to try this. The 2020 LE was a let down for me but I loved RC6 and 46 Cask and many private selections from the last two years. Love what Maker’s is doing. Wow, flavors leaped from the bottle immediately. Oh snap. Oh this is so fruity. This is awesome. What a first impression. Graham crackers covered in honey. Vanilla custard. Strawberries, cherries, raspberries. Powdered sugar. Maple drizzle. Chocolate chips. There is an oak presence on this too. Syrupy mouthfeel. Brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla upfront. Fruit is pushing through. Cherry and raspberries. Oh man. Mid palate the fruits are ridiculous. Like a cherry or strawberry fruit roll up. Honey is also really coming through, with a vanilla ice cream. Light chocolate on the finish. The longer I sit with it I am starting to find more of the base Maker’s, the caramel. Oh my. This is Maker’s? This is unlike anything I have had from them. This is one of the best first impressions on a wheater too. The fruit on the finish just keeps going. I am going to hunt a back up. This is one you should not sleep on if you like overwhelming fruit flavors in your bourbon. Hard to believe this isn’t finished in a secondary cask and is just from staves. Wow.

Smells like sweet cherries and caramel. Tastes like toffee and tobacco and cherries. A little hint of orange in the taste.

N-Dark chocolate covered red apple, amaretto, nutmeg. T-Wow, immediately the most pleasant palate profile of any MM wood stave/finishing series i have every tasted, not overly 'woody' or spicy. not very viscous, or coating, but still pleasantly balanced. Caramel bomb. F-Not much to say here. VERY short finish, here you get mostly the bitterness that was so pleasantly absent from the taste, and the wood-spice is dominant. Some lingering caramel, but ever so briefly. A hint of star anise and clove at the tail end Overall, great addition to your collection if you like comparing past releases to each other, or if you just like a straightforward caramel profile. Not a lot of nuance to be found in the one, and not much palate coating goodness, or finish. Buy it if you see it for $59, but only if you enjoy trying things which are "off brand/off profile" This is NOT an amped up MM cask-strength wheater, but, it does earn its place on my shelf next to at least 5 other MM Limited Edition/releases.

Just bought this tonight. Quick hit review, it's really freaking good. Maybe my favorite Maker's Mark yet, it's hard to put down this glass at the moment. Rich cherries and berries, plums, molasses, crème brulee, tobacco, sweet oak, it has it all. Big complex nose but creamy fruity oak on the tongue. Highly recommend picking one up.