Review: Maker’s Mark The Heart Release 2024 Limited Release
Review: Maker’s Mark The Heart Release 2024 Limited Release
Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series finally gets its (first) 2024 release with The Heart Release, which eschews Maker’s Mark‘s arcane acronymical naming convention for something more poetic. Previous installments, denoted with names like BEP and FAE-02, have offered outstanding quality for the price.
Unusually, Maker’s doesn’t provide much information at all about what makes The Heart Release different or special, saying only that The Heart Release it “focuses on the teams behind Maker’s Mark, shining a light on their unique taste vision” and that it uses two custom French oak staves as part of its finishing process “to achieve its one-of-a-kind flavor profile.”
We received a healthy sample to taste and explore. Let’s dive in.
The nose here is unsurprising and decidedly Maker’s, though perhaps more wood-forward than its usual construction. Toasty up front on the nose, with a distinct chocolate bent, time in glass allows some fruitier qualities to slowly emerge, namely built around cherry and some dark currant aromatics. A vein of sweetness is detectable as a lacing of well-caramelized brown sugar.
While there are no major surprises on the palate, the whiskey does offer a layer of black pepper that’s not wholly evident on the nose, providing a racy and spicy attack that complements its 55%+ abv. This peppery quality builds rather than fades with time in glass, eventually sparring with the sweeter chocolate and caramel notes at the core of the whiskey for dominance. Alternately nutty and lightly minty on the finish, the conclusion is rather drying as the sweeter notes are ultimately whisked away, leaving behind a thin veneer of oak, a hint of orange peel, and a note of almond.
It’s a more austere whiskey than many of Maker’s Mark’s recent Wood Finishing offerings, but that’s not a bad thing, particularly if you’re looking for a bit of compare-and-contrast for the evening.
110.7 proof.
A- / $75 / makersmark.com [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
Maker's Mark The Heart Release 2024 Limited Release
$75
