Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series 2022 BRT-01

Really strong spice burst on the throat.

Nose opens with Concord grape, black cherry, caramel, vanilla, butterscotch, blackberry, leather, tobacco, varnish, sweet corn, coconut, and old oak furniture. A hint of ethanol at first but it dissipates quickly leaving only goodness behind; one minute it’s fruit forward, the next it’s more candy. A complex and inviting nose for sure. Hmmm. Palate offers only a portion of the glory promised in the aroma. Grape and blackberry kick us off, followed by toffee, toasted marshmallow, coconut, barrel char, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Flavors are very punchy. Finish comes in like a freight train, wiping out the palate completely and bringing hot ethanol, bitter oak, spicy pink peppercorn, and turpentine. It’s long, but you kind of wish it were shorter as the ethanol burn is the longest note present. Mouthfeel is light bodied and a little grainy; could benefit from more heft and smoothness. This started off amazing (nose), turned into decent (palate), and ended sub-standard (finish). A low point in the Wood Finished series for me so far as most have been good to excellent. This one is only fair and just has a few too many flaws. I wanted to like it more than I did. Not a rebuy at retail of $70.

Smells like vanilla extract(in a good way)and crème brûlée in a wooden bowl. Tastes like leather and cream soda. Nice.

I've bought the Maker's Wood Finishing Bourbons since I knew they existed. This means that I missed the 2019 bottling. But I have a bottle of the 2020 as well as both 2021s and both 2022s. The only one I've opened and tried so far has been the second 2020 FAE-02, and after finishing it, I liked it so much I went out and bought another bottle. I've long been a Maker's guy. They're likely my favorite bourbon brand, and selling their special releases for $59.99, well, that gives me a loyalty to them that I don't have for the brands whose releases just keep getting jacked up. I opened this tonight to have something special for Christmas Eve. I also opened John Paul Christmas Whisky last Saturday to have a special Christmas dram, but I opted for the Maker's tonight as the last thing I'd have before my wife and I put presents under the tree. Of course, I still have to read The Polar Express to my kids, and usually, I'd be doing that now, but my dad isn't quite ready for his yearly jingling of the bells outside our window. This is a tradition my grandfather did for me and my siblings when I was a kid, and my dad does it for my kids. We coordinate him standing under the window while I'm reading my kids stories for the night and I crack the window, and he jingles the bells and my kids think it's Santa going by. I love it. My daughter is aging out. This may be the last year he does it, but at least, he's spry and after jingling them he gets away. It ended with my grandpa when my brother ran out front and caught him trying to slip off. As for the Maker's BT 01, it's good. And it should damn well be given how they made us wait for this. Last year, when they released the FAEs, the first came in spring and the second in fall. This year, they both dropped in fall, and I was actually wondering if maybe I'd just missed the first. The simplest review I could give for this is: Maker's Mark does Eagle Rare at a higher proof. Because the nose and palate are a lot like Eagle Rare but better because of the higher proof. The nose is dark berries: blackberries and blueberries. With a hit of dark chocolate and a touch of saddle leather and tobacco with maybe some black coffee in the mix. All in all, it's a lovely nose, but I'd heard this described as lighter than BRT 02, and it doesn't feel at all like a light whiskey to me. On the palate the berry flavors continue and they come on strong. The chocolate and coffee mix close together to make it feel like a cocoa laced coffee and the finish is nice and long and spicy with mainly the coffee taste lingering. For some reason, I keep putting off opening these. Because of my love of Maker's, they definitely feel like special occasion bourbons. And since my brother-in-law and my dad, who are the main people I drink whisky with, prefer other styles to bourbon, I generally save the special bourbons for special occasions when they're not around. This is definitely worlds better than the Jack Bonded, which is the last bourbon I rated here and the last bourbon I finished, knocking the last of it back last night so that I had room on the shelf to open this. I really look forward to Maker's releasing these, and it rounds off what was a lovely evening with my wife's sister and her husband and their daughter and my mom and dad and my sister gathering around to eat baked ziti, have deserts and watch the Eagles lose a close one (don 't worry, they beat our backup by 6; I get the feeling the Cowboys can't keep up with our team if we have our starter in, but I give props to the Cowboys for a game well-played). And now, well, tomorrow, my kids will wake me at 6 a.m. and we'll sit around watching TV and listening to carols and maybe I'll pour the Paul John then and give you a Christmas day review. The Paul John 2020 Christmas dram is also lovely, but not quite as hearty or robust as this. But what it lacks in heartiness or robustness, it makes up for in its citric qualities and peat hints. But I'm getting ahead of myself. That's a different review. Just remember, if this is too long to read the whole thing and you scrolled down and skipped to the end: Maker's BRT 01 is Maker's doing Eagle Rare with a higher proof and more intense flavors. That pretty much sums this up. If it's not sold out, I'm gonna try to get my hands on another bottle. Ah, fuck, they're out of stock. Guess I'll just have to enjoy this bottle while it lasts.