Wash, Rinse, Repeat For Maker’s Mark

First, Maker’s Mark wants to begin adding water to their bourbon in a desperation attempt to capture as much of the whiskey boom as possible in an industry that typically requires time [not looking at you, Cleveland Whiskey] to properly age bourbon. The backlash from that bright idea was so harsh that it forced MM to back off their plans. That went so well that MM has now decided that instead of merely watering down their bourbon to create more bottles on the market, they will merely rinse out their barrels to squeeze every last bit of residual bourbon backwash to toss into their bottles and still call it bourbon – while also receiving a $100,000 tax credit from the state of Kentucky to assist in the $8.2 million it would cost Maker’s Mark owner Beam to upgrade their facility to accommodate the new process.

Beam already makes a bourbon – called Devil’s Cut – which extracts liquor from rinsed barrels.