The other day, Rosemary and I took the Maker’s Mark Star Hill Farm wheat whiskey tour. This is the first non-Bourbon whiskey that Maker’s Mark has made. It is a blend of two different mash bills. The first is 70% soft red winter wheat and 30% malted barley and the second is 100% malted soft red winter wheat. It is aged for seven to eight years and bottled at barrel strength.
To kick off this new whiskey, Maker’s Mark offered a special tour focusing on this whiskey. The tour started in the visitor center where we were given a cocktail and we walked down to the distillery. In the distillery, we simply walked in the door and the guide discussed the distilling process and we walked over to the mash tubs where he discussed the mash bill. We left the distillery and walked over to the print shop where we heard about the bottle and the label. The bottle does not have a red wax seal and that is on purpose. They want the whiskey to fly on its own without riding on the coattails of Maker’s Mark. In fact, the distillery is only mentioned on the neck label of the bottle and that is in small print. The glass is a unique shape as well and has a 19th century feel with a bit of wavy texture. The label is made from scrap paper from the Maker’s Mark labeling process. All of this information was designed to make Star Hill Farm its own brand while giving a small nod to the Maker’s Mark brand.
We left the print shop and walked over to Warehouse 1 and then to the Cellar where Maker’s 46 is aged. It is a cellar, not a cave because it is illegal to age whiskey in a cave in Kentucky. Maker’s Mark built a building at the entrance and that makes it a cellar and not a cave. The cellar has no ties to the Star Hill Farm whiskey and I am not sure why they took us there other than to discuss Maker’s 46 as Bill’s legacy project brand while Star Hill Farm is Rob’s legacy project brand. After the cellar, we were loaded into SUVs and taken to a warehouse where we were told that the experimental projects were aged. They confiscated our cellphones, so that no photographs were taken there. We saw several barrels that were labeled with different types of wheat varieties and we discussed the aging process.
We were then loaded back into the vehicles and taken to a wheat field, where they are growing the wheat for the whiskey. All of the grain used in making Star Hill Farm is grown in Kentucky within miles of the distillery. We were taken out into the field where they had a barrel with a bottle sitting on the head. They poured us each a glass of Star Hill Farm and we finally had a chance to taste the whiskey. After much discussion of the whiskey, we were loaded into the vans and driven to the gift shop, where we were given an opportunity to purchase two bottles of Star Hill Farm each.
It was a very good tour and I would recommend it to anyone who visits Maker’s Mark. It took about an hour and a half and does involve some walking. I do wish they offered a golf cart ride between the visitor’s center and the distillery because the downhill walk was a bit challenging for me and Rosemary. Our knees are not what they used to be. Other than that, the tour was great. Matt and I look forward to reviewing this whiskey soon.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller