Review: Maker's Mark Cellar Aged 2024 Edition Gives A Classic Bourbon A New Expression

Maker's Mark has always done things methodically. From its almost mythical origins of destroying a family heirloom recipe to craft a deliberate and elevated new mash bill, to its persistent focus on maintaining its brand taste-first, the Loretto, Kentucky, distillery has never swerved from what has worked. This focus allowed it to bill itself as the premium whiskey-lover's choice even in the hard years of bourbon sales. So when the company announced 2023's new Cellar Aged expression, at twice the standard age statement, whiskey lovers knew it wasn't simply an opportunistic grab at what could be done, but a thoughtful new step towards what should be done to grow the brand.

It's a change that fits the Maker's narrative: though one of the relatively newer brands from its start in the 1950s, it's already a multi-generational company that resides on land that has produced whiskey for centuries now. Tradition and innovation go hand in hand at Maker's. But they only leave the premises when they walk in perfect lockstep. Even its choice of "whisky" over "whiskey" showcases the distillery's devotion to its heritage despite selecting fiercely for what furthers its aims. Lucky me, Maker's invited me to join some other whiskey reporters on a recent press trip to sample both the 2023 and the unreleased 2024, along with exploring the distillery to see how it continues to grow. Here's everything you bourbon enthusiasts ought to know about this year's Maker's Mark Cellar Aged.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by Maker's Mark.

Maker's Mark Cellar Aged is a new iteration of the wheated bourbon. It spends an extra half-decade aging more slowly in a limestone cellar added to the distillery in 2016. Regular Maker's Mark is normally blended from barrels aged six years or so and which are rotated through different areas of the rickhouse to create a homogenous profile. In the Cellar Aged case, that's followed by another five to six years of aging in the distillery's cooler, more consistent cellar climate, which spares it the extremes of Kentucky seasons. The flavor continues to develop to greater depth without tannins imparting too much bitterness.

The 2024 release is the second in the series. Both Cellar Aged bourbons use the sole Maker's mash bill, believed to be 70% corn, 16% red winter wheat, and 14% malted barley. The blend is assumed to be 85 percent 13-year-old barrels and 15 percent made from 12-year ones. Consistency is a hallmark of Maker's Mark above and beyond even the norm for bourbons. While most distilleries try to keep each label consistent with the previous year, Maker's has been particularly conscientious about not altering its mash bill or releasing anything it feels is too much of a departure from its flavor identity, no matter how interesting. However, in a moderate environment like the cellar, innovation manager Beth Buckner and head of innovation Blake Layfield naturally thought of how cold Scottish climes affect aging. To tell the Maker's Mark story, they'd rather use science to increase desired effects rather than discover alien ones.

Produced from 250 barrels, Cellar Aged 2024 sells for $175 — assuming you find it for manufacturer's suggested retail price. If you figure 170 bottles per barrel, that's 42,500 bottles or so out there — enough to find one, but also a short enough run that it will likely have speculators. The inaugural release was $150 and came from 225 barrels, so if that becomes a trend, price and volume will rise concurrently. (Though, of course, more barrels used doesn't implicitly mean more bottles shipped, particularly if some get partially rolled forward into next year's blend.

Increased production isn't guaranteed; it depends how many experimental barrels follow the lines of the intended Maker's profile. Maker's has its devotees, and this is — spoiler — the better of the two Cellar Aged releases. It might not spiral to the stars in price, but the label has a lot going for it in both drinkability and collectability. The bottle has been available for purchase in the U.S. since September 16, with a roll-out to the U.K. and Germany in coming weeks. It will meet Asian customers in Singapore, Japan, and Korea starting some time next year.

As for the cellar, it is an impressive, almost cathedral-like library of Maker's barrels attaining new heights, but it wasn't actually built to produce lengthier Cellar Aged age statements. It was meant to reproduce the seasons during which the distillery was able to create Maker's Mark 46, letting its French oak staves steep in the whiskey without sending the spice and bitterness into overdrive. Naturally, that led to the question of what could be preserved from the staveless batch, while extending its journey.

While Maker's has been experimenting with different proof and wood types the past decade, Cellar Aged is its foray into increased age statements, giving the bourbon a nice sabbatical after its full-tilt towards becoming Maker's. The innovation team told us that it doesn't ever plan to produce a warehouse-aged 12-year, having already done so as a control subject alongside tests to devise the cellared product. Too many undesirable aspects made it a no-go for developers who fiercely protect their brand's footprint. Sorry, wheat-greeters, but the unbridled stuff from the warehouse is too dry and bitter for the Maker's profile.

In fact, we're lucky to even get these bottles. Maker's Mark tells us that only after blasting out the side of the hill did they discover an antique Kentucky law about not aging whiskey in caves, meant to prohibit moonshine production. Thankfully, the addition of front architecture legally redefined the limestone walls as an official cellar. What a difference a door makes. Thankfully, we now get more Maker's 46 and Cellar Aged both. (Any other states want to try their hand at a bottle of Cave-Aged?)

While a lot of distilleries in this region attain a desirable 12-year profile, indeed, with wheated mash bills (watch me pine forever for Buffalo Trace's Weller 12) Maker's Mark isn't interested in expanding its signature flavor so much as excavating it, seeing how deep the familiar profile can run when given access to what already works.

I've never encountered a nose quite like this one before. While it builds from familiar notes, the combination is singular. Strawberry, celery, and something unctuous like beef stock waft out of the tulip glass, all pleasantly. The longer you aspirate it, the funkier it reveals itself to be.

At first hit, the taste is mellower, giving way to a sour, fizzy, fermented, cantaloupe earthiness. But you'll have to seek it; after its soft touchdown it explodes out of the hatch into a raucous heat. As with all Maker's I've tried, it tricks my tongue into exclaiming rye, even though that grain is absent from the mash bill. Within the omnipresent pepperiness grow basil and parsley. The finish offers spicy prune. It's not for everyone, because it's not smooth drinking, but this is a complex take that remains very much Maker's, and you'll admire it even if you're not an easy touch for wheaters like I am.

Chew the 2024, and it goes pop in your mouth. On my first tasting in the cellar, I didn't catch the coconut that we reporters were told to expect, even after swirling it around my mouth to warm up. But later that day, we tried it again in the lab from a warmer bottle, and I found it did in fact come forward alongside some previously missed coconut, mainly on the first splash and the final flourish.

While the 2024 offers a similar nose at first whiff to 2023, it quickly adds a much heavier umami and vegetable combination that speaks to something mysterious and daunting. The 2023 blended 87 percent 12-year-old bourbon with 13 percent 11-year-old bourbon at 115.7 proof. The 2024's even older, possibly incorporating some of the same barrels, although that's my pure speculation. They do have similar profiles, but that's expected. I found last year's distinguished by cherry and lemon on the nose, with less exotica. Maybe this is a cheap observation, but more than anything, I thought of scotch when I smelled it. It doesn't present like a bourbon.

The 2023 sips fiery like 2024, but its pepperiness contains earthy nut and chocolate from the barrel. If you lied to me that this was a rye I would believe you and deny the reveal. It's oaky apart from the nuttiness, but does roll clear of too much bitterness. I think it's biggest distinction is this real slow-roll bite that takes a long while to let go. We were told to expect a rich fattiness, but I didn't catch it. Your sipping might prove otherwise.

The finish of 2023's Cellar Aged is all macaroon — something I would have welcomed gladly if 2024 had preserved it. There's also umami again: My notes say "kombu or shiitake, something out of a ramen bowl," so maybe that's the beef broth I encountered in 2024 just starting to rear its head.

Beth Buckner and Blake Layfield say they settled on a blend much faster this year, following notes from the initial release. It's easy to see the sibling resemblance. "It was a learning experience for us at Maker's Mark," they told us, "and we're taking you on the journey with us." Overall, I'm glad they did. Maker's 2024 Cellar Aged is worth it, but does come with some challenges.

At the price, Maker's Mark's sophomore venture into cellar aging is a big step forward from an already well-received bottle. Fans of the regular edition, or those lucky enough to have tasted 2023, will find only great progress along familiar lines. Your real challenge will likely be getting it at sticker price. However, if you're not much for wheated bourbons, or don't favor Maker's Mark, this is not the bottle to change your mind. It occupies exactly the space it wants, as a more finely developed iteration of the Maker's Mark brand.

Put it this way: Maker's also poured us some cask strength, whose banana-bread nose yielded to tangy chocolate and nut flavors in the fire of the whisky's wheat. Cellar Aged 2024 is the better version of cask strength, which many fans already believe is a regular Maker's edition given wings. The 2024 Cellar Aged is much less volatile in the mouth than the cask's, while retaining that trickster's taste of rye. Try a pour of cask strength and imagine it tempered into the maturity of a scotch. If that concept sparks joy, you'll know whether Cellar Aged 2024 is the right bourbon for you.