Considered by many to be the best Maker's Mark release in their entire lineup.
Sold out within 2 days and controlled lines at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2025 and in a ticketed event at the distillery in Loretto, Kentucky.
Released on 5th September 2025.
When creating Cellar Aged, we set out to do something new without forgetting who we are or what we stand for. Creating a bourbon that’s always aged to taste, not time. A bourbon without the bite, that’s always smooth. Aging our whisky for over a decade wasn’t something we ever did. Not because we didn’t believe in it, but because we hadn’t found our way of doing it. In many ways, Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged defines an older whisky, that’s distinctly Maker’s. One rooted in challenging convention, asking "what if" and building on a taste vision that’s generations in the making. By embracing both the maturation impact of our traditional warehouse and the unique maturation impact of our Limestone Cellar, we’ve created an expression that's richer and complex, without the bitterness. The 2025 release is a blend of 11-, 13- and 14-year-old Maker’s Mark, delivering a fruitier, deeper and darker bourbon.
In 2023, Maker’s Mark surprised bourbon enthusiasts by releasing its first age-stated bourbon whiskey, Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged. Unlike other whiskeys — which are usually aged in warehouses — the Cellar Aged bottlings spend around half of their maturation cycle aging in Maker’s Mark’s limestone cellar. Now, the Cellar Aged series is returning this September with Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2025, a blend of 11-, 13-, and 14-year-old whiskeys.
Cellar aging is extremely rare for American whiskey, but Maker’s Mark has never approached barrel maturation in the same way as its contemporaries. The Loretto, Kentucky–based distillery is one of only a few producers that undertakes the labour-intensive process of rotating barrels, which calls for swapping barrels from the highest and lowest parts of a warehouse once during each barrel’s lifetime.
Maker’s Mark ages to taste, and until 2023, none of its bottled bourbons had an age statement. Barrels are typically pulled from the warehouse for bottling between six and eight years of age, when the whiskey has picked up just the right amount of barrel influence to be blended into one of the distillery’s expressions.
“Aged to taste, for us, means a full spectrum of flavour from the oak, but in harmony with the grain and yeast,” says Dr. Blake Layfield, master distiller and head of innovation and blending at Maker’s Mark. The team at Maker’s Mark often underscores the vision that founder Bill Samuels Sr. had for its spirits’ taste. This ideal flavour profile is described by Bill Sr.’s grandson and eighth-generation distiller Rob Samuels as a “rich, creamy, balanced, and full-flavored bourbon.”
When Maker’s Mark built its limestone cellar in 2016, the distillery created an environment that gave it unprecedented control over the barrel maturation process, allowing it to continue aging bourbon without acquiring the oaky, tannic notes often associated with a heavily aged whiskey — the very qualities the distillery has spent more than 70 years trying to avoid.
“Cellar Aged was not a guaranteed thing,” explains Beth Buckner, lead blender and senior manager of innovation and blending at the brand. “It came out of the question of whether or not we could make an older Maker’s Mark that held true to the founder’s vision.” The resulting Cellar Aged series was a success, showcasing a deeper, richer, and more complex expression of Maker’s Mark’s wheated whiskey without astringency or bitterness.
The new 2025 Cellar Aged expression continues to expand on how far Maker’s Mark can push the boundaries of Bill Samuels’ vision. Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2025 is a blend of 74% 11-year-old, 10% 13-year-old, and 16% 14-year-old bourbons, bottled at 56.45% ABV (112.9 proof). The whiskey is rich and balanced — it drinks more easily than its proof might suggest — and settles into a refined finish.
TASTING NOTES
Nose: Vibrant with notes of dark brown sugar, caramelized oak, and baked apple
Palate: Robust with a balance of creamy fudge, toasted almond, and ripe dark cherry
Finish: Viscous with butterscotch, orange zest, and soft baking spice
About Maker's Mark
Taylor William "Bill" Samuels Snr started out in the whiskey industry at his family's T.W. Samuels distillery in the 1930s. When his father, Lesley Samuels, died in 1936, Bill inherited the running of the place, which he did so until 1942 when he sold it and its brands to Country Distillers Products. Bill has initially intended to retire to his farm, but the allure of creating a new bourbon proved too much, and he set about canvassing help in producing the recipe for the smoothers tasting whiskey that he has campaigned for and failed to get the family to distil over a decade prior. Among those who he reached out to were Hap Motlow of Jack Daniel's, Ed Shapira of Heaven Hill, and the legendary Julian 'Pappy' Van Winkle I. Pappy's wheated Old Weller and Old Fitzgerald bourbon were exactly the profile that Samuels was after, and with Van Winkle's help, he debuted finessed his own wheat mashbill, and bought land in Loretto, Kentucky in 1953. He filled his first barrels the following year, and in the years that preceded his first bottlings, Bill's wife Margie created the Maker's Mark brand based on her collections of fine English pewter stamps. The first bottle of Maker's Mark was bottled on 8th May 1958, and was hand-dipped with red wax, as all bottles still are to this day.
56.45% ABV
75cl
