Maker's Mark Private Selection "Take the Cannoli" K&L Exclusive Stave Finished Cask Strength Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey (750ml)

Maker's Mark continues to be a hot topic these days with their ridiculously rare Cellar Aged offering. It's pretty good stuff, but the original use for the crazy cellar built into the limestone cliff on the MM campus was this wonderful little program. This barrel was developed by our very own Will Blakely to fit his personal preference and while I liked the blend when he initially mixed it at the distillery the resulting whisky after 90 days resting in the cellar far out performs his original blend. The rare mixture of nearly all the stave types (save for the Seared French Cuvee), but deftly combined for a very special whisky. Interestingly, it does not overpower the gorgeous Maker's character, but builds around it carefully, ultimately providing something very unique and different from the standard profile. Let's taste! The color is a vibrant tawny. Immediately on the nose we have a perfectly fresh sweet honey covered cookies sprinkled over cherry compote. With some air more dried fruit and dense woody character. Golden raisins, clove, allspice, sweet toasted oak (no plank-y-ness at all), vanilla bean and roasted nuts. On the palate, gorgeous sweet dried fruit, deep baking spice, vanilla cream, toffee, coffee and a building oak spice on the finish. The end is a big cinnamon candy that last indefinitely. As with all these MM private selects I imagine this will be even better with a few weeks open.

This is a big and full bodied selection. It is rich and round with a mouth coating sweetness that is very pleasing. There is a long finish. With a touch of water, Take the Cannoli is still a big puppy. It retains all of the characteristics that it had fresh out of the bottle, but is a little more complex. It can be enjoyed with and without the addition of water.

I may be biased, but this is the best bottle of Maker's Mark I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. It turned out even better than the blend we tested on-site! For a bit of background, my initial goal was to highlight and enhance the natural flavor of the Maker's Mark spirit, therefore I leaned heavily on the Baked American Pure Oak staves. Since they require you to use all 10 staves, I first tried 7 of those with 3 French Mendiant staves, as I learned quickly that those brought up the more rich, dessert-y character of the whiskey. That blend was certainly not bad, though it lacked a certain nuance. I dropped a couple of P2 staves to add a bit of French Spice. A definite improvement, but it lacked cohesion. It was then that our guide inquired how I wanted to alter it, and suggested a single stave of Maker's 46 to bring it all together. With that magical final ingredient, our perfect blend came to fruition. What sits in my glass now boasts a wealth of fruit and fall spice on the nose - caramel apple, grilled peach, even roasted pineapple, with cinnamon and nutmeg rounding it out. The palate feels decadent and creamy, coating the mouth with vanilla custard, butterscotch, nougat, shaved chocolate and toasted coconut. But what I love the most about it is the savory oak character that stays present throughout, providing a sturdy backbone and keeping it from tasting too sweet. The texture is divine - dense but silky - ensuring endless enjoyment, sip after exquisite sip. This might become my go-to bourbon for the year. If you enjoyed my Blakely's Barrel pick from Barrell Craft, you will find a lot to love here. Independent of that, any bourbon drinker should snag at least a couple of bottles of this before they're gone. I'm already aiming to get a backup as I type this!

Fantastic Bourbon with a great name! Upon first sip, notes of almonds, cream, and honey that shift to orange peel, cinnamon, and nutmeg mid-palate. Adding water and letting the bourbon open up gives additional notes of butter and cacao nibs. The body is oily in texture with a toasted coconut finish. I am fortunate enough to try most of the cask-strength Bourbons that come in and this one really stood out to me, and one of my favorites so far this year!

David and I are guilty of walking into most Maker's Mark Private Select Barrel appointments with the intention of adding 10 Baked American Pure P2 staves and walking out. Regular Maker's Mark at cask strength is so damn good that it's hard to improve upon it. The P2 stave just adds more American oak, so a 10 stave recipe of only P2 is akin to a double oaked barrel of Bourbon - about as close as we could get to a true Maker's Mark single barrel. But the "Take the Cannoli" barrel shows why it's always good to bring a fresh mind and a sharp palate along on these trips. You really can end up with something greater than the sum of its parts without straying too far from traditional Bourbon flavors. The Maker's barrels are always a little nerve wracking - while we name the barrels after the initial blending process, we don't get to taste the final product until it arrives on the shelf. As to the final flavor profile of this one Cannoli is a pretty good descriptor still! At cask strength it's got a bright and zesty lemon curd with a hint of chocolate to go with that crispy flaky buttery shell. With a big splash of water it really leans heavily into the creamy filling and brings out more of the underlying soft wheat profile that is Maker's identity. It's a delightful cask and another success in the many barrels of Private Select we've assembled over the years.