The Auld Alliance

KENTUCKY USA

Maker’s Mark is a handcrafted, small-batch bourbon whiskey distilled in Loretto, Kentucky. It is sold in unusually-shaped squarish bottles, which are sealed with red wax. The distillery is located near Loretto, Kentucky. It offers tours, and is part of the American Whiskey Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

One of the rising stars in the premium bourbon market, with a growing following in the UK due to its distinctive looks and exceptional quality.
When the T.W. Samuels family of distilling sold their distillery and their trademarks in the 1950s, Bill Samuels Sr. searched for a small distillery to purchase and continue the trade on a smaller scale, emphasizing quality over volume of production. He chose an older distillery in Loretto, Kentucky that had not been operational for several years but was the right size for his proposed operation.

T.W. (Bill) Samuels Sr. decided to come up with a new recipe for his bourbon in order to make it smoother, but since the aging process for bourbon takes years, could not take the time involved actually to distill and age many batches of bourbon of varying ingredients. His unique solution to this problem was to bake loaves of bread containing the exact proportion of the grain contents of each proposed recipe. The one judged to be the best-tasting was adopted for his new Bourbon. The one selected contained no rye whatsoever, which was replaced by more barley and red winter wheat. Accordingly, in 1953, Bill Samuels Sr., a sixth generation Kentucky distiller, burned his family's 170-year-old bourbon recipe. [2] The first bottle of Maker's Mark was bottled in 1958 and featured the dipped red wax seal. Maker's Mark holds a U.S. trademark (serial number 73526578) on the wax seal of their bottles. What makes Maker's Mark unique is the "tendrils", or drip marks, on their seal.