Counter Culture – Project 46

When Maker’s Mark announced it was releasing its first new product in more than five decades, it was pretty much a given Trudy Thomas would be the first to introduce it to Arizona. Thomas is the director of beverages at the Camelback Inn Resort, but in many circles around the country she’s recognized as master mixologist.

A Kentucky girl at heart, she knows her bourbon. She said what sets Maker’s 46 a part, aside from the process of making it, is the more pronounced nuances of caramel, spice and vanilla. It has a slightly higher alcohol content, which goes virtually undetected by the palate. The flavor profile comes from oak staves inserted into the whiskey barrels and the additional six months added to the aging process. After the traditional six to seven year aging, the bourbon is transferred to a steel holding tank, the oak staves are inserted into the barrels and bourbon goes back in. This process creates Maker’s 46.

What’s the best way to drink it? On the rocks of course…more precisely on an ice sphere, but Thomas said it tastes great in cocktails too.