Our Maker’s Mark Private Select Barrel has arrived!
The wait is finally over: we just received our Maker’s Mark Private Select Barrel! Maker’s Mark has just recently started one of the most interesting single barrel programs ever where we can customize a ring of staves that are dipped into the barrel for a finishing time of nine weeks. We had the pleasure of being one of the very first stores to be able to blend up our very own custom stave selection remotely, outside of the confines of rural Loretto, Kentucky. With the addition of ten staves with five different staves to choose from, there are a daunting 1,001 different possible combinations.
The five staves made specifically by the Independent Stave Company to choose from are the following:
- Baked American Pure 2– the only American Oak in the bunch, giving it brown sugar, vanilla and spice.
- Seared French Cuvee– This stave is ridge-cut and seared with infrared heat; this stave gives off toasty caramel.
- Maker’s 46– the classic. This stave gives off dried fruit and caramelized spice.
- Roasted French Mocha– toasted on high heat in a convection oven, giving off big maple, chocolate, and toasty char.
- Toasted French Spice– toasted on both high heat and low heat giving off smoke and cinnamon spice.
As you can tell, we had a long and arduous task ahead of us. Blending up different combinations of staves to see what we liked best, I mean twist our arms, right? We quickly realized Maker’s Cask Strength is nowhere as sweet as classic Maker’s Mark, so we went for a more fruity profile while also falling head over heels for the Roasted French Mocha staves. We ended up with the following:
- 3 Baked American Pure 2 staves for vanilla
- 4 Roasted French Mocha for chocolate
- 1 Maker’s 46 for cherry
- 1 Toasted French Spice
- 1 Seared French Cuvee
Bottled at 109.6 proof, we think it smells like chocolate covered cherries and tastes like a ball of creamy caramel and vanilla, but why don’t you stop in and try it and see what you think?
