Maker’s Mark FAE-01
For the third year in a row, Maker’s Mark is releasing a private select with its own stave profile, following RC6 in 2019 and SE4-PR5 in 2020. Their Wood Finishing Series is basically a proprietary Maker’s Mark Private Select. If you’re a group, store, or restaurant doing a pick, you can choose up to ten staves from five profiles to finish your Maker’s pick for an additional few months. The Wood Finishing Series is that but with experimental or otherwise unavailable stave profiles used. Case in point: FAE-01 uses staves seared on only one side, meaning the seared side will give one profile from that stave while the other side remains raw and ‘untouched’ after the seasoning.
Good or bad, the Wood Finishing Series is fascinating. Maker’s made a single product for decades until 2010 (when Maker’s 46 was introduced). Now, the possibilities are endless: the staves available for Private Selects allow for 1,001 different combinations; add in staves unavailable to the public but available to Maker’s blenders, and there are innumerable ways to affect the bourbon inside the cask.
Maker’s Mark has a special place in the bourbon pantheon for three reasons: the iconic red wax that set a marketing/design standard for the industry; its place as a wheated bourbon, already an uncommon type before you consider that’s the only type they produce; and its pioneering experimentation with wood seasoning, which one can largely attribute to the late, great Dave Pickerell.
Depending on who you ask, between 50-90% of a whiskey’s flavor comes from the wood. Percentages aside, it’s pretty much an accepted fact that the barrel has more influence on a whiskey’s final state than any other factor in the aging process. Pickerell (and, to be fair, other contemporaries who don’t get as much press or credit) made the decision to season cask staves for Maker’s Mark for at least 18 months to lessen the oak tannins, which fall to the ground as black dust. There’s no denying the difference, and as someone who is hypersensitive to oak in whiskey, I appreciate Pickerell’s efforts here.
Maker’s Mark FAE-01 is a departure from both RC6 and SE4-PR5, letting the dark chocolate out of the barn. I tend to get chocolate on wheated bourbons anyway, but this one is especially chocolatey. Unlike Booker’s 2021-01 Donohoe’s Batch, however, it’s not all dark chocolate. There’s fruity nuance and a unique cascara fruit. This batch starkly divided my fellow whiskey lovers, and I went into it unsure where I would fall. Count me a believer - a bottle of it is on its way to me now.
Maker’s Mark FAE-01: Specs
Classification: Wheated Bourbon
Origin: Maker’s Mark Distillery
Mashbill: 70% Corn 16% Wheat, 14% Barley
Proof: 110.6 (55.3% ABV)
Age: NAS
Location: Kentucky
Maker’s Mark FAE-01 Price: $85
Maker’s Mark FAE-01 Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Maple syrup. Thin unstable rims and droplet legs.
Nose: A burst of cinnamon and clove-led baking spices right away. Semisweet-to-70% dark chocolate, light oak spice. Moderate proof on the nose, right in line for around 110º. Creme brulee topping, dark caramel, vanilla, not much fruit.
Palate: Astringent and heated - there’s solid flavor, but it’s masked at first by the heat. Dark cherries open up in the corners of my mouth with dark chocolate right behind. Mouthfeel is medium-to-full-bodied, peppery, and coating with a nice lingering tingle. Dark chocolate continues to build with cinnamon in the background.
Finish: All dark chocolate, medium-to-long, like eating brownie batter that someone forgot to add sugar to. Chocolate with espresso in it - you don’t really taste espresso, but you know it’s there because the chocolate has an extra layer to it that only espresso gives. Cascara (coffee fruit) in the background.
Overall: Impressive. Dark chocolate is the star, with dark fruitiness that clarifies as black cherries and cascara fruit. The initial astringency on the palate fades to become more complex while deepening the flavors. Odd that the cinnamon isn’t more present after the nose, but it’s still delicious.
Final Rating: 7.7
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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