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Maker’s Mark unveiled its new bourbon aging facility on Friday, December 15. In a new twist, this facility isn’t a rickhouse or even a warehouse for palettized casks. Instead, it is a full-fledged cellar, designed specifically to mature Maker’s Mark products aged using French Oak stave inserts.
Why a cellar? Because in the development of Maker’s Mark 46, the first release using the stave inserts, it was discovered the best results from the stave finishing were achieved at roughly nine weeks and in a cold environment. As a result, Maker’s 46 and Maker’s Mark Private Select were heretofore produced only during the winter, limiting production.
The creation of the cellar, with its inherently more stable and lower temperature relative to a conventional rickhouse, addresses this capstone, opening the door to year around production of the two stave-insert based bourbons. Rather than digging down, Maker’s Mark chose to dig sideways, into the limestone of an adjacent hillside. The result in a cave-like, naturally climate controlled environment for maturing bourbon.
Maker’s Mark will open the new cellar to the public next year, using it to present how Maker’s 46 is made to visitors.
