Maker's Mark Wood Finishing Series is a collection of bourbons that undergo a wood stave-finishing technique that is meant “to enhance distinctive characteristics already present in the brand's iconic bourbon.” The previous set of five releases in the Wood Finishing Series before 2024’s “The Heart Release” were considered chapter one. “The Keeper’s Release” focuses on the people behind the barrel-rotating team, which is notable because Maker’s Mark is one of the few distilleries that rotates their barrels within the rickhouses as they age in order to maintain consistency. According to Maker’s Mark, this year’s release is “inspired by the people who oversee the maturation of our whisky, the true 'Keepers' of Maker's Mark.” The bourbon is finished with two different types of virgin toasted American white oak staves. One part of the batch underwent 5 weeks of stave finishing, while the other half experienced 9 weeks of finishing. After finishing, the two batches were blended together and bottled at cask strength.

An even and well-balanced aroma greets you, built on a core of classic bourbon scents of oak, caramel, and vanilla. There is a noticeable crispness to the aroma, and it veers sweet throughout. Furthermore, scents of dark chocolate, raspberry, dark brown sugar, and vanilla coffee bean build out the rest of the aroma. It's well constructed and enjoyable, leaving you with an overall good impression.

Caramel dominates the palate, creating a sweet baseline upfront. Layers of oak are intertwined and come in the form of charred and toasted oak. They’re delicate enough so that they do not overpower the other flavors, showcasing the complexity that oak can offer. The rest of the palate consists of burnt caramel, plum, and chocolate raspberry, and works well with the caramel and oak that came before it.

Oak becomes more of a dominating force in the finish, yet seems held back deliberately. A rush of peppery oak spice follows the initial oak flavor note, contrasting the sip’s overall sweetness up until this point. It fades, leaving behind notes of black cherry, molasses, and minor tannic oak. The finish’s flavors have a much more immediate impact than the rest of the sip and work well because of it.

Maker’s Mark Wood Finishing Series was launched in 2019 and utilizes a variety of wood staves to “enhance distinctive characteristics already present in the brand’s Bourbon,” according to the company. Oak staves can often be a dominating force when used to finish a whiskey, and over the years, we’ve seen how much of an impact they have had on the typically tame standard Maker’s Mark Bourbon.

Starting last year with “The Heart Release,” members of the company’s distillery team helped design a product that interprets what it means to be a Maker’s Mark bourbon, both in terms of taste and smell, and how their jobs contribute to its creation. “The Keeper’s Release was inspired by the company’s warehouse team, who still manually rotate every barrel of Maker’s Mark to ensure consistency among the company’s aging barrels.

Where last year’s release felt mismatched between its taste and the group that designed the release, “The Keeper’s Release” is all about balance, which makes sense coming from the barrel-rotating team. Given that this series is called “Wood Finishing Series,” oak is omnipresent, but its impact is deliberately pulled back and guided by steady hands. Where many Wood Finishing Series releases have relied heavily on oak as the main focus, “The Keeper’s Release’s” oakiness shares the limelight with its other flavors of caramel and dark fruits. The result is a better sip because of it.

“The Keeper’s Release” maintains last year’s price point of $75, and the Wood Finishing Series has only undergone a $15 increase since its inception in 2019. Maker’s Mark is a value-centric brand, and prices their bourbon reasonably. The value of a particular release typically comes down to how the current expression tastes. Last year’s release was heavily oaked and came with a bitter aftertaste. “The Keeper’s Release,” by contrast, is much better balanced. Though some may question how much better it is than a bottle of Maker’s 46 Cask Strength, the meager $10 premium makes the limited “The Keeper’s Release” and its subtle distinction over the ongoing release definitely worth it overall. Maker’s Wood Finishing Series of releases continue to be some of the lowest price limited edition bourbons on the market.

Fans of Maker’s Mark will find a lot to enjoy with “The Keeper Release.” It takes the base of Maker’s Mark bourbon (balance and classic bourbon flavors) and gently enhances them, bringing out more robust, dark flavors, while maintaining keen attention to balance. That’s not easy to do, and while Marker’s Mark consistency is a point of pride for the company, when it comes to their Wood Finishing Series, that is rarely the case. Diversity is typically a good thing when it comes to limited releases, however, Marker’s Mark has been known to  take it too far, often resulting in an oak-dominated and tannic tasting bourbon. “The Keeper’s Release” rights these wrongs by maintaining a reasonable degree of balance throughout, which many will thoroughly enjoy.