Makers 46 notes...
I check this
one bourbon message board sorta regularly. Well one of the founders of the blog - the Gandalf of bourbon - wrote a post about how Makers goes about making their new
46. This guy has a pallate that no man can rival, so in the past when he suggests a bourbon, I'll try it and 98% of the time, I'll like it. Here is what he said about the new
Makers 46:
"They take barrels of Maker's that are ready to bottle. They dump them and open up the empty barrels. They affix (without using metal or adhesive) two dowel rods in about the middle of the barrel. The ten seared staves attach to the dowels. The head is put back onto the barrel. It is refilled and returned to the racks for another few months.
The official TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) designation is: Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Barrel-Finished With Oak Staves.
It is really, really good, maybe one of the best things I've ever tasted. They have, using nothing except wood, come up with a new and mighty delicious way for bourbon to taste. One might even call it "a new breed of bourbon," were one to coin a phrase. When it comes out, it will be one of the best-tasting bourbons on the market today. I love it."Pretty glowing review from someone who knows their bourbon better than, well, almost everyone on earth.
Besides the higher proof, here is where they get the "46" name:
There’s another difference besides the higher proof – and this difference is why this new Maker’s is called ’46′, because ’46′ is a descriptor of this new Maker’s other differentiating factor: French Oak staves, No. 46 French Oak, to be exact. What happens is that the whisky is taken out of the barrel, and one-inch charred staves are loosely attached to the inside of the barrel, at which time the whisky is put back in for an additional five to eleven weeks. Supposed to be hitting liquor stores in early June (too bad it wasnt in time for the Derby this week), and needless to say I cant freakin wait to try it.