Last year, we covered the release of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged , the oldest age-statement expression from the distillery to date, and perhaps its best whiskey ever (it made our Best Spirits of the Year list, after all). Well, if you missed out in 2023, or if you haven’t been able to find another bottle since finishing off your first, you’re in luck: Cellar Aged is back, and this year it’s even older. Regular Maker’s Mark bourbon is bottled when it’s about six to seven years old, a sweet spot in the maturation trajectory for most distilleries.
If you let bourbon age much longer than that, say more than 10 to 12 years, it can become overly oaky. That’s because the extreme shifts in Kentucky’s temperatures throughout the year accelerate the interaction between whiskey and wood (other states may have greater or lesser problems with this). The first Cellar Aged release was made up of barrels that were moved into the distillery’s limestone cellars at about six years old and allowed to mature in this cool 50-degree climate for another five to six years.
The resulting bourbon, a blend of 11 and 12-year-old liquid, was fantastic. The 2024 release, which we have not been able to sample yet, is a year older—a blend of 12 and 13-year-old Maker’s Mark bourbon. “We surprised the world with the debut of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged last year, a bold step in our family’s legacy because, for more than 65 years, aging our whiskey for a decade-plus wasn’t something we d.
