Before Christmas, our brand ambassador Bill Bewsher wrote about the epic world tour he and The Exchange team took, visiting some of the best bars and distilleries around the world for a chance to check out the latest and bring what they learned back to Australia. But there was one stop that really made an impression on him: the Maker’s Mark bourbon distillery in Loretto, Kentucky. So, we had Bill tell us a bit more about what made it stand out.

This trip wasn’t the first time the team has trekked along the windy, mountain roads of Kentucky to visit Maker’s Mark. But the last time was around 2015, shortly after Suntory acquired the distillery’s old owners, Beam – and there were a few questions lingering over whether the new bosses would demand quantity at the expense of quality for a brand that prides itself on being handmade.

The definitive answer to that, thankfully, is no. What Bill and the team found was a brand committed to doing things the old-fashioned way, even if that’s also the more expensive and less efficient way. But quality’s the result of care, after all. And that care was evident in everything from the way the company carefully protected its nearly 70-year-old yeast strain to the impressive Dale Chihuly glass sculpture garden greeting visitors and the cavernous hillside cellar where Maker’s 46 and US-only Private Select barrels are aged in a naturally temperature-controlled atmosphere.

Milling

The first stop on the tour was the mill – where already the approach to quality was fully evident. After the grain arrives – on trucks that are individually tested to ensure they don’t exceed moisture thresholds – it’s milled with an antique roller, as opposed to the more familiar hammer mill that most companies now use. The difference, Bill explains, is that the roller mill is gentler and prevents the grain from being scorched, resulting in an overall softer, sweeter whisky.

Fermentation

This is where the mashed grains and water have yeast added to it to make it ferment. Maker’s yeast strain is the same one they’ve been using since the 1950s, when they first began production. It’s the stuff that helps give the whisky its flavour and without it, they can’t make Maker’s – so it’s precious stuff. It’s also a key difference between Scottish and American whiskey, since the Scots will use generic baker’s yeast but in Kentucky family strains are prized possessions. In Maker’s case, some of their strain is kept in a flask in the fridge in the fermentation room. And yes, The Exchange team got to have a taste – and unlike some of the yeast strains he’s tasted, Bill says this one was delicious, with a Belgian wheat beer taste.

Still

Maker’s Mark has experienced double-digit growth in recent years so, obviously, a challenge for the brand is how to serve that increased demand while maintaining the consistency and quality. But if you change the size of a still to make more whisky at once, you’ll change the flavour. At Maker’s they approached this challenge with a desire to maintain consistency so, they didn’t make a bigger still, they just made more of them! “It’s not an efficient way to do it,” Bill says. “It’s an expensive way to do it.” But it’s one that let them maintain the integrity of the whisky.

The team also got to try some of the spirit coming straight off the still – at this point it’s around 60-65% alcohol. Again, Bill says it wasn’t the only spirit they got to try straight off the still on their trip, but Maker’s was the easiest to drink — with a light, fruity taste and some more of that Belgian beer character.

Aging

Feeling a bit spritelier after their sips of freshly distilled whisky, the group moved on to the warehouses where the barrels are aged. Bourbon aging warehouses dot the countryside in Kentucky and, Bill explains, most are about nine storeys tall and have zero climate control. So, where a barrel is situated in a warehouse affects its flavour greatly, depending upon the microclimate of its location. To get around this, Maker’s rotates each batch of 19 barrels around the warehouse to get a more consistent aging process.

Then it was on to the massive new cellar, built into the side of a hill at the edge of the distillery’s estate. This is where barrels of premium brands that require longer maturation in a cooler atmosphere, like Private Select and Maker’s 46, are aged. Because the cellar is built into a hillside, the temperature range only varies slightly throughout the year and the barrels can be aged year-round.

Bringing it back

One of the big benefits of getting to see how a whisky like Maker’s Mark is made is the chance to see the ethos and approach taken to producing it. In Maker’s case, that’s been a lot of investment in preserving the practices that made it successful in the first place, and a sort of artisan, handmade vibe that respects its heritage but isn’t too stuffy. “It’s just nice to see, when we’re so far away from these brands geographically, where they’re made,” Bill says. “We try and go to market with a fairly relaxed approach to everything and it’s just nice to see that that’s reflected in Maker’s Mark.”