Whiskey Hollow Grille
Another Mark's Great American whiskey makers
Makers Mark
El Samuels, as the beams are part of the history of Kentucky. Family has been a distillers since 1780, and its brand TW Samuels was a classic early. One of his ancestors, Ruben Samuels, James Zerelda married, whose children became better known by a less peaceful life. Bill Samuels, currently head of Maker's Mark, Jesse and Frank still has guns hanging on the wall of his office.
A discussion of human influence on the bill that carries his father's whiskey muse, Bill Samuels father, who was something of a visionary in these places. Purchased Happy Hollow Distillery decline in 1953 and began making a new kind of whiskey in his way, in another, softer style. Having consulted with another industry legend, Pappy Van Winkle, created a new mashbill winter wheat instead of rye whiskey from longer and sold it at a higher price. Not the standard approach in postwar Kentucky.
"In 1953, Dad was talking about how people looking for a more refined version of bourbon," recalls Bill. "He knew the things that I wanted to preserve, which he wanted to throw. He was going to create a whiskey to your liking: there was damn-do with the market! He just thought bourbon should taste better.
The industry is full of tastes as purely personal and do not like that dictates the taste of a brand. Mr bill simply did not like the whiskey aggressive, and that changed everything. His was a gentle crusade. The family may be related to the band James, but just out guns blazing not his style. Mr Bill could have had the vision, but was his son who had Maker's Mark worldwide, talking about quality, premium liquor prices in the when the industry was at its lowest point. However, the crusade of Maker's Mark must have seemed doomed. Tn the 1960s there was a nickel's-worth of difference between whiskey and bourbon flavored vodka, "says Bill.
"The industry was at the end of the road because nobody could afford $ 100 a barrel. Borbón can never be a mass market commodities, high cost because we have built legally. " Have to buy new oak barrels are less problematic when the product is sold at a higher price.
You can list the differences in production Maker's Mark that set apart: the mashbill, the yeast strain created by Big Bill and great-grandfather, double distillation, charcoal added to dog white as a filtration agent, air-dried wood, the way the barrels are rotated in high rack warehouses. All these give the product its character, but in the end Maker's Mark Samuels is on the stubborn family and those working in the distillery.
Mr Bill has been proved right. Premium bourbon these days one of the most dynamic regions in whiskey, but Bill refuses to take credit for this change. Like all great men of whiskey he realizes that he is Part of a team. "If I could do one little thing, I'd bring my ancestors to see the bourbon is finally no longer a type of product. The six generations before I did the heavy lifting, "he says." Dad said that will change the face of bourbon. When he began no one gave a chance, but by the time I bourbon retire will be the talk of the town.
He believes the sector of the new premium will be an important factor in restoring pride to the industry. 'Major margins fire until the creative juices, "he says. "Industry is improving and the products are far better, because they are high price. Now there is a opportunity for talented people in the industry to practice their art and not only produce a low cost product. The question is if we have not enough to thwart disciplinary expectations people of high … that's what Dad had said. "
TASTING NOTES
Maker's Mark 90 ° proof Lovely, complex mixture of flowers, cumin, cinnamon, marzipan / anise, vanilla and light honey. A soft start, then a great interaction between the silky, soft fruit in honey, flavorings vanilla-caramel oak and balanced. Some chocolate in the finish. Smooth, easy and complex. *****
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