Maker’s Mark Bourbon

Buy Maker’s Mark Bourbon online and bring home one of the most recognized, hand-dipped red wax bottles in American whiskey delivered straight to your door. Checkout is fast, every bottle is sourced from authorized inventory, and the full lineup from the original to the Private Select program is available to browse right now. Scroll through the complete Maker’s Mark collection in the grid below and add your expression to cart today.

The Legacy of Maker’s Mark Bourbon

Maker’s Mark was founded in 1953 by T. William “Bill” Samuels Sr. on the grounds of Burks’ Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky a site now known as Star Hill Farm after Samuels purchased the property for a reported $35,000 and set out to build a bourbon that was fundamentally different from the high-rye, assertively spiced whiskeys dominating the Kentucky market at the time. His first deliberate act was burning his family’s 170-year-old bourbon recipe in the backyard. In its place, he developed a wheat-forward mash bill that swapped the traditional rye grain for soft red winter wheat, producing a noticeably gentler, rounder, and more approachable spirit that prioritized sweetness and smoothness over spice and heat. That single grain bill decision defined not only Maker’s Mark but effectively launched the wheated bourbon category as a commercial proposition, decades before terms like “wheater” entered the mainstream bourbon vocabulary.

Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky is today a National Historic Landmark — the first American distillery to receive that designation and operates as one of the most visited whiskey tourism destinations in the United States. Every bottle of Maker’s Mark is still rotated by hand during aging, a labor-intensive practice the distillery maintains to ensure every barrel in every rickhouse receives consistent thermal exposure regardless of its position on the rack. The iconic red wax dip, introduced by Margie Samuels Bill’s wife, who also designed the bottle shape and created the name — remains entirely hand-applied on the bottling line, with each bottle dipped individually and allowed to drip naturally, meaning no two wax seals are identical. That combination of a documented wheat-forward mash bill, manual barrel rotation, hand-dipped packaging, and National Historic Landmark status gives Maker’s Mark a brand authenticity infrastructure that no marketing campaign alone could construct.