In 2025, the folks at Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky, did something that hadn’t been done since the company was founded: they introduced a new product with a totally new mash bill. I know of at least one person who keeps calling on Maker’s Mark to make a rye whiskey, but since they don’t apparently even keep rye on premises, I don’t see that happening…instead they introduced something totally natural considering the nature of their bourbon: a wheat whiskey. Star Hill Farm Wheat Whiskey features wheat grown locally as a way of “caring for nature in service of our land and our whisky.”
The inaugural release features a blending of two mashbills, one that is 100% malted red winter wheat, and the other that uses that soft red winter wheat along with malted barley. The resulting mash bill breaks down to 51% soft red winter wheat, 27% malted soft red winter wheat, and 22% malted barley. The label denotes that all the grains were harvested, distilled, and barreled in Fall 2016 and Fall 2017. With a 2025 release date, that puts this at likely 8 year and 9 year whiskies blended. It is bottled at 114.7 proof, or 57.35% ABV.
The color is a deep amber with tons of reddish tones to it. Swirling the Star Hill Farm Wheat Whiskey around in the glass produces long, very slow-moving legs. On the nose, I got oak, candied apple, caramel, and a bit of “wheat funk.” This is one of those products that does hit with every bit of its stated proof if you’re doing it as a first sip of the day. I got good sweetness, but very quickly the proof burned overwhelmingly, cutting off further tasting. Fortunately, that diminishes with each sip, so by the third sip I got more distinct flavors of apple and pear, light caramel and oak, back up with a little baking spice. The finish was long and kept the notes of oak and cinnamon around for a long time.
I’ve been a big fan of Maker’s Mark for years and I love this new wheat whiskey. The 2025 release was quite limited and prices pushed way beyond the $100 MSRP (I got mine at MSRP at an Ambassador event at the distillery). I hope future releases end up being much more widely distributed so they can be obtained easily for the recommended price.
