Review #248: Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2025

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

AGE: Blend of 74% 11yr, 10% 13yr, and 16% 14yr bourbon

PROOF: 112.9

COST: €180 (~$210) for 700mL bottle (liquor store in Germany)

I have been working on this review slowly over the last month or so. Not so much on the tasting notes as wanting to give this one a decent “Behind the Bottle” writeup. I had a few thoughts on some interesting Maker’s Mark topics and even had a few paragraphs down. However, I decided to scrap everything last minute and instead refocus on Marker’s Mark and Star Hill Farm’s initiatives and sustainability efforts that impact the planet here on Earth Day 2026. Don’t pass on reading the Behind the Bottle segment for a bunch of facts that you probably didn’t know about what all Maker’s Mark is doing and how they’re helping create a better tomorrow.

Reviewed neat in a Glencairn.

APPEARANCE: Mahogany color (1.6), clings to the glass forming a beautiful ring of teardrop legs.

NOSE: Decadent pastry notes with some earthy undertones. Cherry turnover with a buckwheat honey drizzle, semi-sweet baking chocolate, and dark, almost burnt, salted caramel. Alcohol-soaked barrel staves add a little astringency with dense charred oak notes as a foundation for those sweeter notes. Subtle spice appears as nutmeg and occasionally cardamom. There’s also a touch of book leather lingering in the depths.

PALATE: The mouthfeel starts of soft and pillowy but turns a bit prickly going into the finish showing signs of the proof. A rich cherry and wild berry note lead off but are closely paired with aged, tannic oak which makes it hard to call the fruit notes pastry like. Whoppers candy, salted caramel, and a dash of cinnamon powder build in at the mid palate. Other spices such as nutmeg and allspice ebb and flow throughout the sip.

FINISH: Long, tannic finish with a kiss of lingering sweetness. Right at the swallow there’s a nice learther note that shows up. The chocolate note transfers over from the palate but turns very dark, almost cacao-like. The aged oak notes persist, and the tannins bring a dryness to the palate. A touch of red fruit sweetness appears a little way in as the earthier notes start to soften. Dark chocolate and old oak bring this to a close with touches of burnt vanilla beans and caramel weaved in.

RATING: 8.4/10

OVERALL: I’m so glad I stumbled upon a bottle of this while I was visiting Germany because I never saw a bottle of the 2023 and 2024 releases. This is an excellent pour that has the most aged notes and of any Maker’s Mark product I have had: ample aged oak, heavy tannic dryness on the finish, and a touch of leather. The fruit sweetness is well defined and persistent, but at times struggles to overcome the oak. The spice notes are well defined but subtle, I think largely in part to the earthy oak notes that really suppress the spice. The proof is fairly evident throughout the sip whereas I feel like some of the 6-8yr MM private selections I’ve had are a bit more elusive regarding the proof. The price is certainly premium pricing. If that’s a barrier for you, be assured that there are Maker’s private picks that I would still choose over this and come in at a fraction of the cost.

Behind the Bottle

Maker’s Mark is dedicated to making a quality product without sacrificing the Earth for it. They recognize that the environment in which their whiskey is produced is what gives it its character. I’m not just talking about where the barrels are aged, but about where the grains come from, how they’re grown, their source of water, having quality old growth white oak for their barrels, etc. Maker’s Mark does not take any of that for granted, and they do their part to try and make sure all components of their bourbon can continue to be produced at a high quality for decades to come.

OUR LAND

In 2023, the Maker’s Mark brand became a Certified Regenified brand. This means that 75% or more of the ingredients used in their bourbon come from a Regenified Tier 2 or higher farm. Maker’s Mark has been very proud of this, but what does this actually mean? Regenified is a certification process that helps indicate that a product or farm is committed to regenerative farming practices to restore and preserve our soil. (If you want to know what Regenified and regenerative farming are, check out this Regenified Meida Kit.) For farms, Regenified is a 5-tier process and commitment. Each tier signifies what percentage of the farm’s land uses regenerative farming principles and practices, where each tier is another 20% of total land. So, for farms to be tier 2 Regenified, it means that 20-40% of their land implements regenerative practices, and tier 5 would be 80-100%.

Maker’s Mark has worked closely with its 10 select farms that grow all the corn and wheat that they use to make their bourbon. MM has partnered with these farms to help fund and educate them on regenerative farming practices, obtain soil verification and testing, and fund their Regenified certification process. Through this effort, MM has helped all these farms receive Regenefied Tier 2 certification or higher. But don’t think for a minute this is simply Maker’s Mark buying their way to this certification. The farms must truly be committed to regenerative agriculture as well because the Regenified certifications don’t allow farms to just stop where they’re at. It requires them to commit to a path to 100% regenerative farming because to maintain Regenified certifications, the farm must move to the next tier within 3 years (i.e. every 3 years they must make another 20% of their land regenerative agriculture). For farms that stick with the certification, they will ultimately reach a status of “100% Regenified.” It’s a certification process that drives continuous improvement.

Further, Maker’s Mark isn’t just getting its select growers to carry this certification. They’ve personally committed to regenerative agriculture themselves and are a star example. Star Hill Farm is a 1100-acre operating farm that is home to the Maker’s Mark distillery and responsible for growing a significant amount of the gains used for Maker’s Mark bourbon. In 2023, Star Hill Farm received the top certification of 100% Regenified.

But Maker’s Mark hasn’t stopped there. They have taken it a step further and have created the Maker’s Mark Regenerative Alliance. This is a partnership between farmers and the businesses that use agriculture products from those farmers with a mission to transform 1 million acres of farmland into certified Regenified farmland. Even further! MM is a founding partner of the Common Ground 100 Million Acres project, which is committed to making 10% of US-sourced acreage (100 million acres of crop and rangeland) certified regenerative by 2030.

Maker’s Mark values regenerative farming practices to help ensure our soil continues to be nutrient rich and capable of producing high quality agricultural products for years to come. This is not just something they do or talk about for a certification, but it’s something that they demonstrate themselves and is clearly part of who they are.

OUR FORESTS

Maker’s Mark recognizes how important our white oak forests are and how they are such a key ingredient in making bourbon…well, bourbon. The life of a barrel doesn’t just end when the bourbon is dumped – these barrels go on to age Scotch and Irish whiskey, tequila, and rum. An 80-year-old oak tree can produce barrels that will continue to age spirits for another 80 years or more. Therefore, it’s important that our white oak forests are robust and resilient. They are critical not only to bourbon, but the global spirits industry. If white oak was no longer available for barrel making, the impact would be far wider than just the spirits industry as well. Our white oak prevalence and abundance should not be taken for granted (see exhibit A: the American Chestnut).

In 2020, Maker’s Mark partnered with the University of Kentucky to establish an oak tree repository to study and preserve the species. The project will continue for decades studying various types of white oaks to determine which are more resilient (resistant to disease, adaptable to climate change, etc.) and are best suited for adding flavor to bourbon. The repository currently contains over 10,000 oak trees representing 500 different families of white oak from 23 states.

One of the first phases of this project was to successfully decode the genome of Quercus alba (white oak). Scientists completed the white oak genome sequencing in 2025, and the tree used to represent this entire species was a native tree to Star Hill Farm. This Mother Tree was named “MM1” and is the oldest known white oak in the state of Kentucky, estimated to be 300-500 years old. By knowing the genetic sequencing of the American white oak, scientists can help better understand longevity, disease resistance, and vitality of the species.

SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES

While changing the world through regenerative farming efforts and the white oak repository are large, long-term commitments, Maker’s Mark continues to be a positive example for others in small ways to help preserve our planet for years to come. A few examples of these include:

• They pulverize over 20 tons of glass waste per month which is reused on trails across their campus and at employees’ homes, used in road construction across the state, fill sandbags for flood support, and turned into glassware by local artisans.
• They reuse perforated cardboard to package fragile items instead of using plastic.
• They use a HOTROT 1206 composting system to speed up composting of their restaurant waste, garden waste, grass clippings, leaves, grain dust, and barrel char. This compost is used in their Innovation and Production gardens as well as provided to employees for personal use.
• Waste that can’t be recycled, reused, or composted is sent to Reworld and turned into an engineered fuel that can be used power cement and lime kilns, powerplants, paper mills, etc. This represents about 8% of the total waste produced by Maker’s Mark a year, roughly 90 tons, and generates roughly 65,000 kWh of energy (enough energy to power nearly 6.5 homes for a year).
• They have two solar arrays to generate electricity at their facilities. The Loretto Array offsets 100% of the electricity used at the barrel warehouse sites, and the Star Hill Farm Array offsets 100% of the electricity used for hospitality operations.

Maker’s Mark is doing their part to ensure the Earth is still around for future generations. They’re not only doing their part, but they’re helping drive others to be a positive force in this regard as well. But you don’t have to be a Maker’s Mark to make a difference. Something as simple as picking up a piece of trash on the street and disposing of it or taking meaningful efforts to not waste water can make a difference. Then multiply that effect by 365 by doing a little thing every day. But it is even more powerful when you do those things and someone else sees you do it. If you can set an example and show you’re not above doing your part, it sends a message to other people they should do their part as well. And if everyone does their part, Earth not only stands a chance but will thrive.

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

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