LouisianaLonghorn
Maker's Mark Cask Strength
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
August 5, 2020 (edited September 20, 2020)
This review may ruffle a few feathers, but I could not get into this bottle. I’ve worked through the Makers core line (Makers, 46, CS) and after all those I think I prefer the original Makers. These other expressions are quality offerings, but it also smacks of a brand that is trying to innovate just for the sake of staying relevant in the market. Classic Makers is one of my favorite bourbons, and to me, this Cask Strength version is a classic example of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Let me explain. Picked this up about 11 months ago. When I initially opened it up, the nose was almost nonexistent; obscured by the proof. After some time in the glass and a little water, I’d get some faint brown sugar and grassy notes. It absolutely obliterated my palate upon entry, which is odd given that I’ve had higher proof offerings that don’t behave that way (such as high proof Wild Turkey products or Weller 107). That took away any hope of discerning other notes. So I have a few glasses, get the bottle down past the neck. No change. Into the cupboard it goes. Six months later with time and air. No change. Three more months. No change. Ice and water. Nope. Tried making cocktails with it. No avail. Wheated bourbons make bad cocktails IMO. The lack of rye spice backbone causes their more subtle flavors to be masked by mixers. WTF...
I ended up giving the remainder of the bottle away. I’m going with a very patient 2.5 here. At $55, I could have bought nearly three bottles of standard Makers and been much better off for it. I hope your mileage varies with this one and you have a better experience. Have you ever had a dud bottle that you just wished would have been better and kept coming back over time to no avail? Post your thoughts in the comments below. Cheers!
55.0
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IMHO all the Maker's Cask Strength releases drink too hot for their proof. Only thing I can think of is it's the age. I do like some of the Private Select releases, but even they are much better with a bit of water.
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington while I do like the standard MMCS, I will agree that the MM46CS is not very good (or at least the 375 I possess is not very good). You hit the nail on the head. Hot pepper spice and not much else.
@bigwhitemike Yeah, to each their own. I was kind of wondering if there might be substantial batch variation, but I've not heard of that before.
@ContemplativeFox Must just not be my jam? Certainly YMMV and wholly preferential, but have been surprised at the number of educated palates who have echoed some measure of disappointment. Almost exactly like @WhiskeyLonghorn I nursed my bottle along forever and kept feeling like I SHOULD like it better but finally squared with myself. Main saving grace was the sale price many years ago, although I suppose that's what made me buy it in the first place, haha. No regrets along the journey though!
@bigwhitemike @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington I'm surprised that this offering has caused so much dissatisfaction. Like @Ctrexman , I enjoyed this well enough when I tried it.
100% my experience with MMCS. Something about this profile absolutely does not scale up to cask strength, even considering the relatively modest proof. Turns very harsh, vegetal (in a bad way), and unfortunate. Regular old makers is a pretty respectable pour, but it must just get totally unbalanced when it isn't dialed right in at 90 proof.
Bottle i had was pretty good. No problem with the heat, dont know the batch but it was a 375ml
I had a very similar experience. I liken CS makers, which I also wanted to love, to habanero peppers - much more bite than flavor. I’ve started cooking with it when I want a punch of ethanol (sautéed shrimp, Louisiana hot sauce, butter... over grits). It otherwise collects dust.
High West American Prarie did this to me. I didn't expect it to be excellent, but I expected it to taste like something at least. Sadly, it tasted young and SBS was just not as good as Beam Black. I have other bottles that I expect will turn out this way, but I'll hold off on lopping them into this category until I actually kill them. Sorry this one was a dud for you.
@Zachary-Robbins thanks for the tip. Been hearing some chatter about 46CS and will have to look into it.
@WhiskeyLonghorn Curious because I didn't like 19-02 I picked up this winter nearly as much as the 18-02 I got in Spring 2019. Just got the Maker's 46 cask strength yesterday btw, definitely better than the regular cask strength.
@Zachary-Robbins sadly no. My guess knowing the store and the distributors around here is that it was a 2018 batch, bit I can’t say that with any certainty.
Do you remember which batch this was?