Maker’s Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review

Maker’s Mark is a wheated bourbon, meaning red winter wheat fills the secondary grain slot that most bourbons give to rye. It has been produced in Loretto, Kentucky since 1958 and is bottled at 45% ABV.

This page collects what independent reviewers have published about it, with links to each. We sell this bottle, so we are not going to tell you how it tastes. The reviewers below have no such conflict.

What reviewers scored it

The four scores average 64 out of 100.

Two things are worth saying about that number rather than leaving it to stand on its own. The spread runs from 50 to 87, which is wide enough that the average conceals more than it reports. And the 87 is from a 2010 review, so it is scoring a bottle that is fifteen years and several production changes away from what is on the shelf now. Three of the four sources cluster between 50 and 60; one outlier is doing the lifting.

What “wheated” actually changes

Every bourbon is at least 51% corn by law. The remainder is where producers differentiate, and most reach for rye. Maker’s Mark uses red winter wheat instead.

That substitution is the single fact worth knowing about this bottle, because it is the thing that separates it structurally from most of its shelf neighbors rather than a matter of house preference. Wheated bourbons are a small category: Maker’s Mark, Larceny, Weller and Pappy Van Winkle are the names usually listed.

Is Maker’s Mark good in cocktails?

The mechanical answer is that wheated bourbons carry no rye in the mash bill, and rye is the grain that contributes the pepper note competing with citrus and bitters in a drink. That is why wheated bourbons get reached for in an Old Fashioned, a Whiskey Sour or a Boulevardier, where the other ingredients are meant to be audible.

Whether you prefer that is a separate question and not one a page can answer for you.

Strength and serving

At 45% ABV, a 1.5 oz pour is about 1.1 standard drinks. In a cocktail using 2 oz, it is about 1.5.

A US standard drink is 0.6 fl oz of pure alcohol, which is the same as a 12 oz beer at 5%. Bourbon at 90 proof gets there in an ounce and a third.

Production notes

• Bottles are hand-dipped in red wax at the Loretto distillery.
• Non-age-stated, which means the label makes no age claim, not that the contents are young.
• Owned by Suntory Global Spirits, formerly Beam Suntory.
• The distillery site is a National Historic Landmark.

The fine print

What’s available depends on your address. Enter it at saucey.com and we’ll show you what’s in stock nearby. Saucey fills orders from a network of independent local liquor stores rather than a central warehouse, across 49 markets, so selection varies by shop. Delivery is $4.99, plus applicable taxes and fees, shown before you order. Orders can arrive as fast as 25 minutes, though distance, time of day and holiday demand all move that number.

21 and up. ID at the door, every time.

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