Review #247: Maker’s Mark Cask Strength 7yr 3mo, Batch 25-02

MASH BILL: 70% corn, 16% soft red winter wheat, 14% malted barley

AGE: 7yr 3mo

PROOF: 112.8

COST: $45 for 750mL bottle (Blackwell’s Wine & Spirits)

In 2023, 70 years after Maker’s Mark was founded, they released their first ever age stated whiskey: Cellar Aged 2023. This annual release continued to be the only age stated product from Maker’s Mark until the middle of 2025. Without announcement, there were sightings of Maker’s Mark Cask Strength with large, printed age statements right on the front label. Right around the time these first started showing up, I happened to be visiting their distillery and saw a bottle myself, a 7yr 2mo Maker’s Mark Cask Strength (batch 25-01). It made me do a triple take because Maker’s Mark just doesn’t do age statements. I still went with another bottle, but my brother-in-law picked up a bottle of the 7yr 2mo. As soon as I tried it a couple weeks later, I had immediate regrets for passing on it!

A few months later I saw this batch 25-02 bottle online for only $45 and there was no way I was passing on it after what I experienced with batch 25-01! I cracked this bottle as soon as it showed up at my door and I was immediately rewarded for learning my lesson.

Batch 25-02 is a blend of 378 casks. Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Mahogany color (1.6), quite oily looking on the glass.

NOSE: Fairly robust, classic wheated bourbon profile. Sweet notes of rich caramel, cherry, and buttercream frosting generously sprinkled with orange zest are accompanied by a faint spice of nutmeg and clove, all supported by a mild bed of sweet oak.

PALATE: Soft mouthfeel. The barrel character is quite prominent up front with notes of Crème Brulé, graham crackers, toasted vanilla beans, and bitter tannic oak. Cherry and milk chocolate creep in slowly. There’s not a lot of spice here, but nutmeg is one that stands out. I do get a nice base of bitter, but slightly sweet, melted dark chocolate and dark, almost burnt, caramel.

FINISH: Long, dry finish. Dark caramel and faint cherry notes transfer over from the palate and linger for quite a while, but bitter, earthy notes of damp tobacco, tannic oak, and dark chocolate weave themselves in a few seconds after the swallow. A bitter, semi-sweet blend of tannic oak, dark chocolate, and almost burnt caramel notes persist the longest to bring this to a close.

RATING: 7.8/10

OVERALL: Maker’s Mark just doesn’t miss when it comes to almost all special releases. This batch is not quite as rich in stone fruit notes as I remember batch 25-01 being, but it’s still damn good! And the value! Holy smokes! $45 for makes me as the consumer feel like such a winner! This batch is more bitter than I prefer. But it has a lot of the traditional wheated bourbon character that people love: soft on the palate with notes of caramel, stone fruit, and baking spice. With this being a bit bitter, I have a feeling those that generally enjoy higher age statements for more tannic notes will enjoy this. There’s lots of barrel character without it coming across as too oaky.

Behind the Bottle

For decades Maker’s Mark has been a poster child for the phrase “aged to taste,” having never released an age stated product for the first 70 years of operation. But in the modern era of bourbon, everyone wants an age statement, and so MM is giving people what they want! But I think it goes deeper than that really.

It’s not just age statements that the whiskey community wants – it’s transparency. We’re in a time when people want to know more about what they’re consuming than any other time in history. Additionally, the technical curiosity of the whiskey community is higher than it has ever been. MM has generally been quite transparent over the years, but they’ve catered more directly to these consumer desires over the past decade with things like the first era of the Wood Finishing Series experiments, allowing consumers to design their own finishing profile, and leaning into their transparency about their mash bill, traceability of their grains, barrel entry proof, barrel rotation, etc. But the one thing they’ve held out on are age statements.

ot providing age statements is one area that MM has essentially doubled down on over the years constantly arguing that the age of whiskey isn’t important, it’s how it tastes that matters. They’re not wrong. Most people equate “older” being “better” when it comes to whiskey. While there’s certainly subjectivity to what’s “better,” there are diminishing returns to “older,” and you can actually overdo it with bourbon, and it starts getting too tannic and losing the lighter and sweeter notes that are can often come from the distillate and not the barrel. But I digress. The real point here I’m trying to get to is the age of whiskey is one of the most understandable stats about whiskey. Whether it’s a whiskey afficionado that understands the complexities of what flavors a barrel can contribute, or how undesirable phenols can oxidize and change as the whiskey ages, or a whiskey novice that simply understands that “older is better,” people want to know the age of whiskey. So, while MM has been a very transparent distiller, the lack of age stated products was a glaring “not transparent” aspect of their products.

I think MM has finally realized that just because they disclose an age statement it doesn’t mean they have to be a sell out to their “aged to taste” philosophy. As a matter of fact, they’re emphasizing that their whiskey is still “aged to taste” right on the label inside the same bold, black box that contains an age statement on these new cask strength bottles. MM is just being more transparent with their products. They’re giving the people what they want! I’m sure the original Maker’s Mark will always be a non-age stated product, but I’m looking forward to MM giving more age statements with other releases going forward.

 

1 | Disgusting | see my 1/10 ratings

2 | Poor | see my 2/10 ratings

3 | Bad | see my 3/10 ratings

4 | Sub-par | see my 4/10 ratings

5 | Good | see my 5/10 ratings

6 | Very Good | see my 6/10 ratings

7 | Great | see my 7/10 ratings

8 | Excellent | see my 8/10 ratings

9 | Incredible | see my 9/10 ratings

10 | Perfect | see my 10/10 ratings

 

Check out all my reviews: Woodgrain & Whiskey.