Maker's Mark Wood Finishing/Cellar-Aged and NEW 2026 Star Hill Farm Deep Dive; Ep. 61

Daniel AI: Tonight, Dan welcomes back Nick and Calvin. And for his first podcast, Mike, along with Bob and a few others, this is our core local bourbon friends group. We try out the Makers Mark Wood finishing annual releases, a 2025 Cellar Aged, and the newly released Star Hill Farms. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.

Dan, Mike, Nick, and Calvin: Good evening. welcome to Bourbon Brass and Beyond. Tonight celebrating ⁓ the life of someone and having a few drinks. So ⁓ we're doing a maker's mark series tonight, including wood finishing series, The Cellar Aged and the twenty twenty six release of the Star Hill Farms. So It's a wheater night. Star Hell Farms is a little bit lower than the So I I I did send out a sample to somebody. I hadn't tried it yet. I smelled it. The nose was wonderful. Actually, I take that back. I did try it. Okay. I had dinner with ⁓ Wally Dant and Bill Samuels Jr. And Bill brought two bottles of the twenty twenty six release. And he said the distillery would only give him four bottles. Okay. he's like He said, But my name's on it. yeah, they ⁓ gave him so did get to try it that night. And it was it was really good, but also tried quite a others that yeah. Yeah. so I did I have opened this one. We we have tried it. This is the 2024 wood finishing series. Makers their employees do a finished a finishing series for you know what their favorite was. for this ⁓ I believe this was all the French oak, if I remember. Yeah, ten Virgin Toasted French Oak Staves. Volume one of five. go a lighter. We have few to get through. I'll let you they about that when we took the tour, 24, 25, and 26. It's great. ⁓ Yeah. 2024 was the heart release. And if remember correctly, this was ⁓ all of distillery employees. So a quick question, does this differentiate because I know before twenty twenty four they also had wood finishing series like the B E P one and then those ones. Yeah. Do you know how those differ I don't I d I didn't have any of those. I mean ⁓ the only thing the only other thing I have is a is a barrel pick, a store barrel pick. Nice and sweet. Yeah. Even for a I mean, it's got a nice lasting finish. A little bit of heat. This is my first drink of the day, so I'm Getting that initial reaction, but Yeah, I actually personally the for French oak was ⁓ ⁓ French oak. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, get a lot more of that kind of caramelly sweetness than I would expect off of a off a French oak finish. Yeah. And I anything I've had that's got the French oak in it, I've been a Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, it it it's a little hit or miss for some people, depending on what your yeah your palate is, but yeah, it's got a lot of sweetness there. Got a lot of sweetness, but it's very balanced. Yes. And think originally with the original maker's mark, I ⁓ really a fan. but I had ⁓ some this wood finishing stuff I'm like, ⁓ all right, that's really good. And you still see the legs coming down the bottle. I mean it's more than hundred and twelve proof. Yeah. Yeah. can kinda see that. don't know. Can you see that? Yeah, sure. Zoom in on the BTAC back there. Yeah, sure. No, I I can't. Maybe like put a Something behind it. It's solid. No, that's not working down. Something else to focus in Yeah. ⁓ look at that. Look at that. You just need the right lighting. Yeah. Too many lights. Well much for that. I'm That's a good start, yeah. Yeah. stays with you for a little bit. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it definitely stays with you for a little while. That's it. Probably drinks a little under the proof, I think, personally. It's the proof. ⁓ 112. Yeah. Yeah. I mean close to it, but not very far off. Yeah, not very far off, yeah. So the twenty twenty five was the keepers release. And I believe this was the the Rick House employees. the 26th day? Stewards. Is it the stewards? I got a bottle of that when I was down here this year. So I a bottle of Did you do the tour down there? Yeah. They got a real nice tour. Boy, that was really the the tour was the only reason we took that tour was because online everybody said if you're gonna do a tour, do ⁓ yeah come when you want to do the makers mark. Fantastic. It's not near anything else. Right. But right. But it's a great, ⁓ beautiful property. Yeah, really nice. Had a nice lunch there we went there, ⁓ ate at the restaurant there and ended up getting a couple bottles, ⁓ got a bottle of toasted and ended up dipping it ourselves. Yeah, we didn't did it ourselves. I know and I was videos of it with me and my disappointed to find out that, you know, they There's only about that much wax in there. No, I was looking to give it the the full slam dunk. But ⁓ the ⁓ on the main line, yeah, the people whenever they're finishing their shift, yeah, they dip the whole neck in. So if you can get a hold of those bottles, boy get the full one one every like forty bottles they did ⁓ yeah, there's that one. It's pretty cool. ⁓ I'm gonna dunk yeah. There's a little wire grate. Yeah, there's a little wire grate. I'm like, Yeah, that was cool. That was a good good ⁓ really good tour. They make it hard, but it's not impossible. So this is ten American oak staves. toasted American oak staves. Virgin toasted America and that was virgin fr toasted French oak staves. So what's a virgin Is it ⁓ used? Unused, I guess. They said that all their their of ⁓ corn and everything is exactly the same. Yeah. Every single one. The only way they change the flavor is by the Yeah, when you when you go in the cellar, you see and they've got that beautiful tasting room there too, where if you do a pick and you do your own stave selection and then Yeah, a lot more maple sweetness on those. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot sweeter on the nose. More of the get a lot more of the o the oak, the wood. Yeah. I get that more on the back end, like right when you first right when it first hits the tongue you get that sweetness and then you get it right at the back end. ⁓ it's like that maple sweetness. It is the darker sweetness. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. The finish is not as long. Yeah. Shorter finish. Interesting. I actually personally like the nose better on this one, but I prefer the f the finish on the French oak. Not good nor bad, just just preference wise, yeah. Yeah, I like I love the taste on that. but you do get a little more of the pepper. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely shorter, shorter finish than the French oak. So the twenty twenty six is ten virgin toasted American oak staves. they must be different variants of the of ten virgin oak staves, ⁓ maybe. But usually they specify on there. Or I know on the store they usually specify what staves you use. What's the proof on that one? one thirteen point three. So this was one ⁓ nine point three. So you're a few points higher, but sounds like same staves on Yeah. maybe climate? Different climate could be older, could be younger, could be Yeah. Yeah, where where did the oak come from? Yeah. I don't Yeah. handmade bourbon at Star Hill Farm. It's from the inspired by those teams that do the Star Hill Farm. All right. ⁓ so I don't know if you guys know about Star Hill Farm, but when Bill Samuels Sr. was looking for suppliers for wheat, him and his son, Bill ⁓ Samuels Jr. only like ten years old at the time. went from farm to farm to farm all around Kentucky looking for suppliers. And ⁓ so they met this guy who ⁓ who had this farm, Star Hill farm, ⁓ they were talking, he was talking about his sons are going to school for agriculture. And while they were walking back to the car, Bill Sr. told Junior, I think we just found our supplier because if we want somebody that's gonna be around for a while, you know, if their kids are going for agriculture. So when I had that dinner with Bill Samuels and Wally Dant, the farm owner was there also. So that was part of the thing of that was the first time the 2026 release of the Star Hill Farm had come out or had been allowed to be test tasted in public. And ⁓ to to have that farm owner there with Bill Samuels Jr. It was it was really cool. Sorry. Yeah, see you get your Yeah. Even though I haven't done that the first two times. Hey, let's not focus on that. Let's focus on Dan. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I like that, Calvin. Let's not talk about our own mistakes. point out Dan's flaws. It's called ⁓ being All right, so twenty twenty six. Hmm. So it has a different nose. Same ish staves, yeah, but diff very different nose. I get a little bit of the maple, but it's not as strong. I get a little bit of something else, but I'm not quite sure what I'm getting more vanilla. Yeah. A lot this is like the vanilla ball. That's so different than the last one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you almost do. You get that that sweetness on the nose, but yeah, it's a lot of vanilla. Yeah. Yeah, so now that makes you know makes me a lot more curious the difference between the two American oak staves, right? Where did the two originate? ⁓ Those are ⁓ different. How and how long were they seasoned? Yeah. You know, that's and then the toasting, you know, there's infrared toasting, there's fire toasting, there's how I I there's a lot of different I like this one. Not that I didn't like the other ones, but I like the twenty-five. Really compared to the three so far. so you like the a second one? I I again like you said, I like them all. Yeah, yeah. It's hard to find one you don't like. Sure. But that the twenty-five out of the out of those three, you're I like the finish on the twenty-four. I the twenty-four finish the best. Same personally. And I I think that the twenty six has a similar finish. The vanilla does last a really long time. Yeah, the twenty-four and the twenty-six both have the much longer finishes to them than that twenty-five. Where you at on this one, Calvin? I'd say I'd probably like the twenty f the finish on the twenty-four is probably the best. I'd probably go with mean towards the twenty-six on the nose. Mm-hmm. The twenty-five is also good, but it's just a little bit too sweet, too much of that maple sweetness. Which I don't mind, just not tonight, unfortunately. Yeah. So the seller aged 2025 release blend of aged barrels. So this is the first one that has an age statement. 74% whiskey aged 11 years, 10% whiskey aged 13 years, and 16% whiskey aged 14 years. And I believe it's just the standard makers distillate. Yeah, so with age statements. ⁓ And correct me if I'm wrong, but the Cellar Age and prior to them releasing the cask strengths r more recently that had the age statements, that's the only age stated product prior to that, I believe, is the Cellar Age, correct? Yeah. I'm gonna let you do the honors. It's your bottle. And then they always ⁓ we ⁓ we picked a flavor, not age statement. Right. Yeah. Right. But you know. Well, and this comes into a little bit of so they're basically doing blending. You know? we did well it hasn't come out yet, it'll be out by the time this comes out, but we did that interview with Brandon McCraney from Olde Raleigh talking about blending. that was really neat. and what they use. And and there is a science and an art to Some blends, you know, they can offset each other, others can can can help amplify the flavors. The flavors. Kinda like what that that Tom Foldery page. That's what I thought. Yeah. When when we we put barrels one and two together, it's like, ⁓ my gosh. What a difference. All right, here we go. Go for it. they had that ⁓ they have that ambassador program at Makersmark. So I did it just for fun. And ⁓ you get your name on a barrel and Eight years from now when it's finally ready you get to get the first nine bottles if you want it. So when I was going through there was a ⁓ when we were doing the tour there was a board that said ambassadors. So we all asked what it was. So then when I got home, right on my birthday, I did it. So eight years from now I figure I'd be retiring. So the the nine bottles will be ready right when I'm sixty five. So looking forward to That and they they there's a dashboard where you could look and see exactly what stage your barrel is in. You know, right now for three years it's in the in the attic for three years and then they move it from there and then when they have tastings you're invited to the tastings. So you get you can track it though? You can track your own you can track your own barrel, yes. But it didn't cost anything, so it you it's kinda just for fun. But Bob's here. Yeah. That's yours. No, I already have one. Is that Star Hill? Which one is that? No, that's the cellar seller. We're almost to the Star Hill. If I have to. get cinnamon, dark fruit, like ⁓ So I really like the notes on this one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with Calvin. I I kinda get the of that fruitiness on this one. None of the others had. Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. And almost get like a little bit of the dustiness, like a dusty funk to it. like I what age does to a barrel ⁓ and a wheated barrel. darker flavors. Real good to me. What were the numbers on age-wise again? ⁓ Seventy four percent was eleven years, ten percent thirteen years, and ten percent fourteen years. ⁓ Right there in that sweet spot. Yeah. That's good stuff. Yeah. That's real really good. switched to that one ⁓ the 25. Well that drink's incredibly smooth. Yeah. Really, really, really smooth. That's well done. And I haven't heard about the difference between if there is the 2026 seller aged or there if there's one that's prior, but there are ⁓ Yeah, I don't know if I've seen a twenty six yet. Have you seen ⁓ I don't No, probably not until yeah later this year. But I know a lot of people a lot of reviews were saying that the twenty five's the best of the twenty three and the to the twenty three and the twenty four. I was gonna say yeah, I was thinking twenty three was the the that the first Cellar-Aged they did? Yeah, that's what that was the first one I remember seeing. Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, that one's got long finish on it, too. Yep. And it stays consistent all the way front to back. still getting the same sweetness. ⁓ Yeah, don't remember which one it was that we did last time I was on, but there was one that had like a a sweet spice sweet of like you know, nothing like that yet. This this one yeah. Just really kinda stays consistent all the way across. Yeah. this is the 2026 Star Hill Farm. It 27% wheat, 62% malted wheat, and 11% malted barley. And this all comes off that farm. Yeah. Do you want another cup? Thank you, sir. Yeah, sir. Mm. So that's nice and is very different, but So I'm not getting any type of spice. I'm it's it's almost all a nice sweetness. I I would say caramel. Yeah. Maybe butterscotch. It's little different than the 2025 release of the malted wheat from what I read. Yeah, the ⁓ the malted wheat the highest ⁓ Yeah, you kinda get some of that a bit of maltiness in there. Like not Yeah. Well say I like malt. Yeah. I really like this. ⁓ But I could see if somebody doesn't like them malt. Might not. That's a tough one. it's a super easy drinker. Yeah. You know, you don't get any bite. ⁓ torn between that one and the the cellar aged very ⁓ ways ⁓ Well you can really taste that malt. Yeah, and that that I feel like that's really different. That malt really shows through on this one. But there's none of that hard sweetness like you get from corn. Right. No. Yeah. And I think that helps balance it out more. You get the sweetness on the nose, but it helps balance it out on the palate. It it kinda reminds me like, you know, if you have softened water versus non-softened water, how soft it feels in your mouth. Mm-hmm. I feel like that is like has that feel. Well it's very soft. Yeah. Easy to drink. Very easy to drink unfortunately. Limit. Well, depends on how you look it. Depends on how you look at it. Right. Bob saw me last week, unfortunately. then the next day already. No, no, no. No, no. No, no. We're t we're taking it easy. Yeah. No, it does it has yeah, the the mouth feels very very smooth, yeah. Yeah, that's really good. So Calvin, what's your favorite? I'd probably have to go with the twenty twenty five Cellular Age. To me that was just all around better. Second would probably be the Star Hello Farm. And then third probably probably go to twenty twenty four. And I'm very impressed considering I've not been a massive fan of Maker's Mark. I've been openly against it, but they've kinda they've kinda surprised me, so I'll give ⁓ Give ⁓ another shot. I'm kind of close where Calvin is. Cellar Aged I think would be my favorite. Star Hill coming in second. I did like the twenty four release the most out of that twenty four, twenty five, twenty six. I I'm with ya there. I feel like Makers is one of those brands that I brush over a lot. Mm-hmm. ⁓ and then every once in a while I come back to something that I've got sitting on the shelf and I'm like, Well, this isn't so bad, right? You know, ⁓ not that any of it's bad, it's just usually not to to my preference. That's also probably how the way most people feel about the J Ds well Jack Daniels because ones in college or when they first started drinking what do they drink? They drink old number seven. So then they have that bad taste and they have that stereotype that ⁓ J D's not that good, it's for And there there's so much There's so many different profiles, you know, because you have all those ⁓ what do they call the private selects, you know, and Right on the front of the bottle, they tell you exactly how many staves of each, you know, are are in that. So there's so much variance. ⁓ so yeah, it's one that I pass over a lot. have a few bottles that I just don't go back to. But it's not because they're bad, but when I go back to them I'm just like, ⁓ yeah, this is this is actually good. Yeah. But they're just all so different, yeah. So Variety is a spice of life, I guess, if you want it. Yeah. You can get any combination you want with the with the makers. Yeah. So what what's your call? I like the cellars the cellar first and then the Star Hill and I like the twenty five. You like the twenty five? I like the twenty five. Yeah. That was And that was the one that was more peppery, but you like Rise. Yeah. I'm I'm a Rise person. Well and that's I I've done the deep dive into Rise the last year as well. I Which is funny because that twenty five was probably probably my least favorite overall out of that twenty four, twenty-five, twenty six. ⁓ to me I didn't get a lot of that sp like did you get did it remind you of a rye spice on that or a little bit. A little bit. It it was easy. Okay. Of the of those three, the first three, it was the easiest to drink. Like I I didn't feel anything and then it came on it stayed with me. But the other two Did actually because I like the to I I like it. It's a rye thing. I them. Yeah. I love the rye. So I think that that cellar aged and the Starhill to me, I I like I like both. You know, I I like that soft of the Starhill Farms. I i i it's been fantastic every I've tried it, but that that's my ⁓ first time having the cellar aged and that was really good too. I would call those one and two, depending on my palette for the day. You know, like what what of present or what what am I in the mood for? Two very different pores. So you could easily yeah. And then like the 2024. I think it would be my third place. Yeah. But then again, and ⁓ it's just I really like that long finish. I like the sweetness of it. But then I'd probably have to go to 26 and then 25. What was interesting is the twenty-five, right, would probably be my least favorite out of the bunch, but my favorite nose. So it's like like I I loved that nose on the twenty-five, but I actually on the palate I didn't get as much of that maply sweetness as the nose ⁓ that I was smelling. So my favorite nose was probably that twenty-five release, but overall That's word. That's really good, really good. Yeah. All very different and their own ways. Like you said, there's they're so different on any given day you could find yourself in the mood for yeah for that makers call you guys are spot on. Like everybody blows it off or it and ⁓ I wasn't a huge fan either, but I like the seller age, it's pretty good. Yeah. Well there's something to be said for they what they do. ⁓ They stick with what they do. ⁓ I the the the finishing series is a little bit of a change. But other than that, they stay consistent, they limit the amount of barrels they produce. like Bill talked at length about how he recommends that, you know, when this whole bourbon boom coming on, he was telling them, guys, don't produce too much. It's better to be short than to be over. Yeah. Because there's always a downside to every cycle. And he goes, and I've seen about three of them. And you know, I I think that's why makers is gonna continue to succeed because didn't increase their production ⁓ I maybe a little bit, but ⁓ much. but even said he was recommending to distillers don't overproduce because on the back side of this it it's really gonna hurt, just like it did in the sixties. Sure. ⁓ so I I just I like that old school approach. I tell the story because Some people brought some bottles for Bill Samuels Junior to sign. And some of the new bottles have his son's name on it. Mm-hmm. And ⁓ they're like, Could you sign it? He's like, Sh certainly. And he takes the bottle, he crosses off his son's name. And he signs his name real big. He goes, That's how I knew I was retired when they took my name off the bottle. Right. Yeah. Well and then you know, kinda gets to a point of of like we said, they they know what they do and they do it well. And ⁓ Well ⁓ I was listening to the Bourbon Pursuit podcast. I don't know if anybody else, yeah, but ⁓ I listened to that, you know, I spent a lot of time in the car, so maybe we can clip this, send it to Kenny and Ryan because I was just listening. They did the discussion with Kevin from Bourbon Notes, ⁓ one of the questions was, is the everyday drinker bottle dead? Right? Do because it seems like there's so much variety and there's so many things produced and You know, are there enough people that are still just going back, you know, and makers is kind of maybe that classic everyday drinkers. And maybe that's what we all think of it and that's why we pass it up, but there is so much variety in these different finishes. And so they know what they do and they do it well and they kind of stick to their base, but there's still a lot of variety there, right? It's still it's still at its core, you know, maybe that everyday drinker type bottle that you can rely on to go to when you I mean you know, but yeah. I think it also depends on your audience too. Like your older drinkers they're gonna they know what they like, whether it's makers mark J D Buffalo Trace, they're gonna stick with those brands. Yeah. Whereas your younger drinker, they wanna explore more into the world. So they'll try all those brands, plus they'll try smaller brands like your Still Lawsons, your Fallon Norris, your old Forcers, like stuff like that. Yeah. I guess maybe what I'm getting at is if I'm gonna go back to a baseline of an everyday drinker, this is something I could see myself going back to. But when was the last time you just pulled a regular Buffalo Trace? Right? Like. You know, like that's something that maybe as a baseline everyday drinker type bottle out of their line, like, do I have a bottle of that at home? Yeah. But is is there ever anything that's gonna make me go to that? My grandfather drank JW Dant. Yeah. That was his come home from work, come from home from the steel mill. Every day for forty-five years, was JW Dant. He an old Fitzgerald in the cupboard, you know? But that was for if they had a a gathering or a party. But his ⁓ he one daily drinker. Yeah. So I and I don't think I do. I mean I have things I like. Yeah. I I like the wheaters I like the I like the the sweeter bourbons, but I and I I think I tend to fluctuate. If I if I wanted to pick one that I wish I could drink it. you know, as my one daily, I'd probably be like a lot B or something like that. Well yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I but I if you had that opportunity that would that would be something I would this is something I can drink every day. Yeah. but but I think all of these I mean that cellar aged I like that age that comes out in the bottle. ⁓ that that little bit older and l has a little bit of that funk to it. And and I and I do like the dusty funk. ⁓ But I mean like that wild turkey 101 eight year, you know, something like that. That that is something that I would consider. Yeah. Yeah. That's probably would be my everyday, you know. I think that that eight year was just a nice little step up, like ⁓ but but I that that was kind of where I was going is that some brands have still have obviously they're everyday, but is it something that you're gonna go to when you're just not sure what you want. Whereas I think maybe Makers has enough variety but still in that same core that, you know, it's still affordable at an everyday type drinker price, but you get a lot of ⁓ a lot of variance and yeah, a lot of different things you can go for. Yeah. Well, I I think it was a good night. Great I appreciate everybody being here. Thank you for having us. Thank you. A toast to Mike's dad. Cheers. Cheers. And ⁓ thanks for coming, Mike, Mike. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Gentlemen, thank you. Pleasure. Calvin, it was good to see you again. Good seeing you. Thanks for watching. please. like, subscribe, share, leave comments and reviews. Once again, thanks for watching.