The sun beams down gloriously on the beautiful grounds of the Star Hill Farm, the primary distillery for world-renowned and flavorful whiskeys under the Maker’s Mark brand. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ll certainly recognize the brilliant red wax seal synonymous with the brand’s bottles.
You’ll catch a glimpse of the grounds and the farm at the beginning of our latest interview with Beth Buckner, the Innovation Manager and taste guru at Maker’s Mark. Dan Gaul had the privilege and treat of touring the distillery and talking with Beth about the brand’s history and its latest release, version 2.0 of the Wood Finishing series.
Staying true to the brand’s heritage
Dan Gaul: “When you talk about protecting the brand and innovation, what does that mean to Maker’s Mark and to you?”
“To me, it means always doing something that halos back to who we are and the ethos of the brand,” Buckner says. “So, doing something that Bill and Margie would be proud of.” Of course, she’s referring to Bill Samuels Senior, the engineer turned craftsman who founded Maker’s Mark with his wife and creative expert, Margie Samuels.
Continuing, she explains how the core of the brand has remained after all of these years: ” [We’re] doing something that’s staying true to our heritage, true to who we are, what we do, why we do it and the foundational beliefs of the brand.”
Dan asks for a quick introduction to the founders of the brand and its origins.
“Bill Sr. and Margie [Samuels] are the founders of Maker’s Mark,” Buckner says. “It’s the Samuels family. They started in 1953, and then it passed from Bill Sr. to Bill Jr., and then from Bill Jr. to his son Rob Samuels.” She also makes it clear that Rob is “very much involved” with business operations and whiskey-making today.
Dan Gaul: “Could you share any interesting, fun stories [about the brand]?”
“I think what’s interesting for us is we’re pretty much an open book. So, any of the fun stories are probably already out there, and if I don’t know them, Bill Jr. definitely will. He’s the storyteller of all storytellers,” Buckner says.
Crafted for three generations, the Maker’s Mark brand has always been helmed by the Samuels family. One of the biggest elements of the story is that Bill Sr. wanted to go in a new direction when brewing whiskey.
Burn the recipe, start anew
Dan Gaul: “They had the family recipe, but he did not want to be part of the family business. Why is that?”
“It wasn’t necessarily the family business,” Buckner explains, adding that the main ingredient was traditional rye, but also why Bill Sr. wanted to branch away from that.
“Bourbon at the time was really a drink that you [had] to get drunk. It wasn’t about enjoying what you were drinking. Bill Sr. took a step back and [decided] to make a drink he could share with friends and family,” she says. Basically, he burned the family recipe and went in his own direction, settling on soft red winter wheat as the main ingredient instead of rye for its softer palate and creamy flavor minus the bitterness of traditional rye.
“Margie’s the reason you buy your first bottle because of the package. She created the bottle and the label and the wax [seal] and everything in the name. Bill’s the reason you buy the second, third, and fourth one – because of the whiskey inside,” Buckner explains.
Dan Gaul: “They were a great team. Margie was the marketing genius behind the brand, and Bill was the engineer. How old was this recipe before he burned it?”
Buckner admits she doesn’t know how old the recipe was; however, “there is a bucket that lives here that evidently it was put into and burned.” In other words, there’s a legitimate whiskey barrel on the property that the recipe was burned in. That’s pretty cool and a neat throwback to the brand’s origins. It’s also a small reason why you might pay a visit to the official distillery, outside the obvious reason — tasting Maker’s Mark’s delicious blends.
A new release focusing on the people behind the brand
Dan Gaul: “With this new series just released, can you tell us about where it’s coming from?”
“This is the Wood Finishing series. It was first released in 2019, and it’s a storytelling series,” Buckner says. She makes it clear that for Maker’s Mark, a “storytelling series” is a “way for us to tell stories to consumers about Maker’s Mark and things that we’re passionate about.”
“The first five years are what we’ve dubbed 1.0 or the first series — it’s an easier way to look at it,” she adds. “It was all about the processes that influence flavor. So, we looked at our yeast, we looked at the fact of how we season our wood for a year before we make our barrel, barrel rotations, and those kind of impacts.
“The second series, which is series 2.0, we’ve really decided to focus on our people. [To] celebrate the people that make Maker’s Mark,” she continues.
Dan Gaul: “The first group of people you decided to focus on were who?”
“Our distillery team,” Buckner says. She explains how that phrase can be confusing because, technically, the entire company could fall under that umbrella. Buckner specifies that it’s the actual people involved with the distilling process before the beverage is bottled.
“This year, we actually partnered with all 21 team members in the distillery, and we said, tell us what you taste and smell and feel as you do your job. It was with their input we actually crafted a taste vision to celebrate them. This year’s focus is really maple, caramel, and chocolate, based off of what they experience doing their jobs day in and day out.”
A sustainable mission for a brighter future
Something they don’t touch on in the interview is that Maker’s Mark has dedicated itself as a sustainable company, earning the Certified B-Corporation title. It’s a small but growing group of companies leading the way in creating a more sustainable future for us all. Several initiatives reduce operational impact without hurting the local environment, like solar-powered warehouses, fresh honey use and bee cultivation, a LEED-certified cellar, a water sanctuary, and much more. Through innovation and investment, the brand is helping to create a brighter future beyond the spirits we all know and love.
If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend watching the full interview to experience the Maker’s Mark distillery grounds for yourself, as words do its beauty no justice. You’ll also learn quite a bit about the brand and its founders, Bill Sr. and Margie Samuels.
All non-brand images captured courtesy of Ninou Gaul.
