Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series – The Keepers Release Review
Wood Finishing Series – Chapter 2
“The Keepers Release”
Maker’s Mark has begun the creation of a second chapter of the Wood Finishing Series. Chapter One of the Wood Finishing Series consisted of five bourbons released before the 2024 “The Heart Release”. Chapter Two of the Wood Finishing Series begins with “The Keepers Release” and was released in 2025.
The Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series features bourbons enhanced by a unique wood stave-finishing technique. The newest addition, the “Keepers Release,” honors the barrel-rotating team—a notable distinction as Maker’s Mark is one of the few distilleries that hand rotates rotates their barrels for consistency during aging. The bourbon for this release was finished with two separate batches of virgin toasted American white oak staves—one batch finished for 5 weeks and the other for 9 weeks. The two cask-strength batches were then blended to create the final cask strength expression.
Series: Wood Finishing Series- “The Keepers Release”
Classification: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Finished with: 10 Virgin Oak Staves
Age: nas but rumored to be 6 years
Proof: 109.2
Proof Designation: Cask Strength
Filtered Status: Non-Chill Filtered
Mash bill: 70% Corn, 16% Wheat, 14% Malted Barley
Barrel Char Level: #3
Barrel Entry Proof: 110 proof
Still Type: Copper Pot Stills
Distillate Source: Maker’s Mark Distillery
Distillery: Maker’s Mark Distillery
Company: Beam Suntory
Bottled By: Maker’s Mark Distillery
Distilled/Aging Location: Loretto, Kentucky
Master Distiller: Dr. Blake Layfield
Release Date: February 2025
MSRP: $75 (2025)
Secondary Market: There is not much of a secondary market on this
Availability: Some hunting/Relatively available
Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series – The Keepers Release Review
December 9, 2025
My tasting reviews are unique in that I include the notes of several well-known whiskey critics. The hope is that this format will help me and others to explore and expand their tasting experience. After you have taken your own tasting notes, read the reviews and see if there is a flavor note that others discerned that now you can detect as well.
For this tasting: Opened Bottle (about 1 week), Glencairn Glass, Neat, Room Temp, Breathe: 5 minutes
Legs
Beads form on the crown at about 5 seconds, the first legs form and begin to fall at about 13 seconds and the first legs reach the bowl at around 32 seconds.
Nose
Sweet oak, vanilla, caramel, caramel corn, cinnamon, a hint of raspberry and dark chocolate.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Breaking Bourbon: An even and well-balanced aroma greets you, built on a core of classic bourbon scents of oak, caramel, and vanilla. There is a noticeable crispness to the aroma, and it veers sweet throughout. Furthermore, scents of dark chocolate, raspberry, dark brown sugar, and vanilla coffee bean build out the rest of the aroma. It’s well constructed and enjoyable, leaving you with an overall good impression.
Bourbon Banter: On the nose is deep, dark oak, freshly dumped whiskey barrels and air-cooled rickhouses. Cured tobacco and dark chocolate are beautifully interwoven with Black Forest cake studded with spirit-soaked cherries. Toasted sweetness, stone fruit and cocoa.
Bourbon Guy: Vanilla, toffee, oak lumber, cinnamon, and a hint of mint.
Palate
Oak forward with spicy oak, toasted oak, and sweet oak, followed by baking spices, dark caramel, vanilla, anise, leather, brown sugar, a flash of raspberry and a touch of chocolate. There is also a mildly bitter note on the back palate.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Breaking Bourbon: Caramel dominates the palate, creating a sweet baseline upfront. Layers of oak are intertwined and come in the form of charred and toasted oak. They’re delicate enough so that they do not overpower the other flavors, showcasing the complexity that oak can offer. The rest of the palate consists of burnt caramel, plum, and chocolate raspberry, and works well with the caramel and oak that came before it.
Bourbon Banter: It’s got plenty of spice, mouthfeel and structure reinforced with a nicely measured dose of tannin. If you hang with it, further rewards emerge, such as syrupy flat cola, fig jam and dates. In other words, dark, dark and more darkness. Brown sugar, maple and spice.
Bourbon Guy: Almond, oak, mint, cinnamon, vanilla, and caramel.
Finish
Medium finish with caramel, oak, and some bitterness.
Other Reviewer’s Perceptions
Breaking Bourbon: Oak becomes more of a dominating force in the finish, yet seems held back deliberately. A rush of peppery oak spice follows the initial oak flavor note, contrasting the sip’s overall sweetness up until this point. It fades, leaving behind notes of black cherry, molasses, and minor tannic oak. The finish’s flavors have a much more immediate impact than the rest of the sip and work well because of it.
Bourbon Banter: Creamy dark chocolate.
Bourbon Guy: Medium in length and warmth. Notes of almond, cinnamon, mint, and oak.
Mouthfeel
The mouthfeel is Thin and unimpressive.
Mouthfeel Rating Guide: Thin = Watery | Silken = smooth & slippery, but not mouth coating | Creamy = coats the tongue like heavy cream does. | Rich or Unctuous = coats the entire palate like quality olive oil
The Burn
Average. This means that the burn from the alcohol is about what I would expect it to be. I would guess this to be around 110 proof.
The Burn Rating Guide:
Very Low = it drinks like it is a much lower proof
Low = it drinks like it is a little lower proof
Average = the heat is about what I would expect
Hot = it is hotter than what I would expect
Scorching! = it drinks much hotter than what I would expect
Tasting Summary
Other reviewers liked this more than I did, so perhaps you will as well.
For my palate, the variations of oak dominate the pour and over-power the sweetness. Toasted oak, sweet oak, and spicy oak hit first, followed by some caramel and vanilla. But on the back palate and finish there is some mild bitterness that I find unpleasant, and it kills the experience for me. Even after being open for a week.
Pass, Bar, Buy, or Bunker?
Rating: BAR- I’d try a sample of this before deciding to purchase.
Rating Scale:
PASS – I wish that I had never put this in my mouth!
BAR – I don’t love it or hate it…I suggest trying this in a bar before purchasing it.
BUY – I would buy it once…maybe more.
BUNKER – Love this! I want a back-up bottle…or 3.
My Rating – 7.4
The higher the score the better the whiskey is in my opinion. For reference, my best rated bottle so far is the George T. Stagg 2022 (138.7p) with a score of 9.7.
| Score Type | Score | Examples |
| Likability Score | 7.4 | 1.0 – 10.0 |
My Tasting Notes
A blank version of a tasting notes wheel is available in both a color and a black & white version in the member’s area. I decided not to post my notes for this pour.
Notes and History
Chapter One of the Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series consisted of the following releases, beginning in 2019 and ending in 2023:
- 2019 RC6 which used a cryptic proprietary stave profile of “RC6”
- 2020 SE4 x PR5 – 2 stave profiles, one accentuating vanilla, the other, caramel
- 2021 FAE-01 – Single-Toasted (one side) French Oak
- 2021 – FAE-02 – Double heat-treated (with infrared, then a flame) French Oak
- 2022 BRT-01 – American Oak staves
- 2022 BRT-02 – French Oak staves
- 2023 BEP – American Oak staves
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