Maker's Mark Bourbon Whisky《Terroir Collection - ZTUS017》

Region : USA, Kentucky 

Alcohol : 45%

Volume : 750ml

Website : www.makersmark.com

Maker's Mark is located at Star Hill Farm in Loretto, Kentucky, USA. It is a well-known Bourbon whiskey maker and now a subsidiary of spirits giant Beam. One of Suntory's brands.

The development of Meg is inseparable from the Samuels family. In 1953, the Samuels family wanted to create a bourbon whiskey that suited their own taste and could be shared with friends, so they began to explore brewing methods, and Mag's was born. The founder of Meg, Bill Samuels Sr., was originally a craftsman. He was able to keenly perceive various complex and subtle flavors, and used this ability to continuously improve the quality of Meg wines. . Bill Sr.’s wife, Margie Samuels, designed a personalized outer packaging for her husband’s handcrafted bourbon, including the bottle shape, label style and the iconic red wax seal on the bottle mouth.

When the next generation of the family, Bill Samuels Jr., took over, Mag's status rose from a popular Kentucky brand to one of the American icons. In addition, he also used oak strips to be impregnated during the brewing process. This initiative created a new flavor of Mag Bourbon and laid the foundation for more innovative whiskeys in the future. Later, Meg passed to Rob Samuels, Bill Jr.’s son. As the general manager and eighth-generation winemaker of Meg, Rob regards the sustainable development and cultural enhancement of the winery as his mission, ensuring that the growing market demand is met while adhering to the traditional brewing recipe.

Star Mountain Farm, where the distillery is located, is full of limestone. This terroir is the key to the unique flavor of Meg. Meg has its own dedicated water source, and the limestone here can filter out the iron in the water, thus preventing the wine from developing an unpleasant iron flavor. The water here is rich in calcium and magnesium, making it an excellent source of drinking water and brewing water, which helps the yeast work better. In addition, Xingshan Farm is also home to a variety of plants and animals. Such rich ecological resources are of great benefit to protecting and nourishing water sources.

In order to make a whiskey he liked to drink, Bill Samuels Sr. searched for recipes in his kitchen. He made bread from a variety of grain ingredients in different proportions, thus eliminating the tedious and time-consuming process of distillation and aging. Here are the steps to quickly test the raw material ratio for making bourbon whiskey. In addition, Old Bill used red winter wheat instead of the commonly used rye, giving Mag's bourbon a sweet, mellow, and smooth taste.

It is worth mentioning that for more than 60 years, Meg has always insisted on using the same yeast strain. This yeast is like a family heirloom, carefully guarded by Meg and used in the brewing of every whiskey. During the brewing process, Meg uses a copper column still for double distillation to remove most impurities, thereby creating a more refined bourbon. The oak barrels used for aging the wine are also particular - coopers must air-dry new American white oak outdoors for nine months and then leave it for several more months to remove the bitter tannins in the wood. During the aging process, in order to ensure the consistency of the wine, each barrel of Meg's wine undergoes manual barrel rotation (Barrel Rotation) to ensure that each barrel of wine can be stored in different locations in the wine cellar for a certain period of time and exposed to different temperatures. . For Meg, the maturation time of the wine is not fixed. Instead, the final aging time can be determined by multiple tastings by a professional wine tasting team. To this day, Mag's still insists on hand-made wax seals. Workers dip the mouth of each bottle of Mag's bourbon into melted wax to create its signature red wax seal.

This bourbon uses corn, wheat and barley malt. This high proportion of corn causes the wine to smell a little like caramel, and the aftertaste in the mouth after drinking is also a long-lasting sweet aroma. Soft, clean and gentle flavor, leaning towards a slightly firmer, richer flavored Whiskey. Since they are all matured in new charred oak barrels, the smell of charred barrels is also evident. The oak barrels used to store bourbon only use American oak. The wood flavor of the used barrels will become softer and mixed with the flavor of bourbon. They are often bought by other distilleries to store their own wine to add more flavor. Flavor.

$350/bottle