It’s fall (ish). Bourbon feels like fall for whatever reason. Maybe it’s the baking spices…In any instance, I picked this bottle up sometime ago and I’ve had a hard time pinning it down. These Makers PS bottles are seemingly everywhere, but are they worth $70-80, significantly more (statistically or otherwise) than Makers 46, 101, or CS? Here we go… I confess, I bought this on a whim. I was in Kentucky at the Makers distillery last year. Lovely tour, beautiful grounds, ok tasting at the end. They have an entire warehouse area they blasted into a limestone hillside to create space for the stave finishing and 46 program. The barrel room there in a literal cave they blasted out and contains the Makers Private Select barrels ageing for all the respective customers around the country. It’s an impressive setup and I’d upload pictures if Distiller would let us. When I got home to my (former) domicile in Texas, I picked up a local store pick because the tour guide said Makers was going to stop using the French mocha staves due to high demand for those and FOMO got the best of me. Anyways, the bourbon. Letting it rest, I get turtle brownies on the nose. Rich, aromatic oak with a subtle undercurrent of allspice and clove. Oxidation has been VERY kind to this bottle. Originally it was hot and grassy on the nose like most Makers CS I’ve tried. Now all the dessert notes are revealing themselves with time and patience. I really digging this tonight. On the palate it carries over all those baking chocolate and caramel notes with a full, creamy coating mouthfeel (phrasing…boom). At first bottle pop the proof was on full display, but it’s much more mellow now, giving a gentle numbing sensation and a slow, lingering Kentucky hug that feels like your first slow dance in middle school you never wanted to end. I’m into this. Because of the Frankenstein-ish stave finishing alchemy Makers does to these, your mileage may vary, but time, patience, and oxidation have really awakened this bottle (picture with exact stave info included). I will finish this and take a flier on another store pick when it’s done. These don’t exactly fly off the shelf like Buffalos and Turkeys do, so there’s probably one near you. If you get one at the distillery, you even get to dip it in the red wax if that’s the sort of thing you’re into. Is it worth the premium? I say yes. I’ve had the whole Makers lineup over the years, and I’ll say this for them, they’re consistent. Never before though have I had such a dynamic pour from them that showed so much evolution as I worked through the bottle. Highly recommend. Cheers!