Maker's Mark Distillery

A sixth generation Kentucky distiller Bill Samuels Sr decided the family’s whisky style wasn’t to his taste, so he set out to make his own mellow, soft and creamy yet full-bodied bourbon. In 1953 he purchased the old Burks Spring Distillery, which was shut down by Prohibition in 1919 and used for farming and livestock in the intervening years, and since early 1954 it has been the ‘Maker’s Mark Distillery’ at Star Hill Farm in Loretto, Kentucky.

An engineer by trade, Bill Samuels Sr developed his mash bill recipe making loaves of bread for each test recipe as it vastly accelerated the process and did away with the lengthy distillation and maturation times. The winning loaf used a recipe with no rye, and today’s mash bill uses 70% corn, 16% red winter wheat (their star ingredient) and 14% malted barley which is mixed with the hard calcium and magnesium-rich water in which their heirloom yeast strain can flourish. Post distillation the filled barrels are rotated across multiple floors in the rackhouse exposing them to different temperatures, developing consistency and complexity, a practice now only used by a handful of distillers. Their bourbons are matured to taste, and not to set times. Interestingly they are one of a mere few distillers who omit the ‘e’ and use the Scottish version of Whisky on their label.