Happened to catch Maker’s Mark Cask Strength on sale at NCABC for $45. The batch was 20-03 with a proof of 109.8. Wasn’t sure how this would pan out after I revisited standard Maker’s Mark and found it a bit underwhelming. (Note to self, pick up a bottle of Maker’s in the near future and pen a blog post.) After opening and giving this a taste it was immediately apparent this was a different beast. The aroma was filled with brown sugar coupled to peppery alcohol and light citrus. Oak, leather, and tobacco rounded out the aroma and were wonderfully complex. The flavor began with sweet brown sugar and immediately evolved into a myriad of characteristics including oak, leather, citrus, more brown sugar, and light pepper. The alcohol was present throughout, but only gave me hints of the proof in the post consumption warming. This was a delicious Bourbon worth every penny of the price of admission. These do tend to vary by batch so if you get one which is not as complex as I described, pick another. I know my plan is to find several to see how they vary batch to batch. If they are anything close to this bottle then it will be a fantastic Bourbon.