Maker’s Mark Introduces Cellar Aged 2026

The annual release delivers one of the most mature whiskies blended by the distillery

LORETTO, Ky., — Maker’s Mark®, the iconic handmade Kentucky bourbon, today announced the 2026 release of Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged. Now in its fourth year, the annual release showcases one of the distillery’s most mature blends to date, combining 11-, 12- and 14-year-old Maker’s Mark bourbons. Aged to taste, not time, this year’s release builds on the hallmark character of Cellar Aged, revealing new layers of depth, complexity and flavor through extended maturation.

“The limestone shelf that surrounds Star Hill Farm has shaped our bourbon from the very beginning, thanks to the innovative spirit of my grandparents, Margie and Bill Samuels Sr., who chose this land in 1953 for its exceptional water source and natural watershed,” said Rob Samuels, Maker’s Mark managing director and eighth-generation whisky maker.

“Decades later, we made what some considered an unreasonable decision to build a LEED-certified cellar into that same limestone shelf, allowing us to extend maturation while preserving the balance that defines Maker’s Mark. This year’s Cellar Aged release is a testament to how our environment continues to shape the whisky’s final profile.”

Meticulously blended and bottled at cask strength (112.1 proof / 56.05% ABV), Cellar Aged 2026 brings together 49% 11-year-old, 33% 12-year-old and 18% 14-year-old bourbons to deliver a bourbon with remarkable richness.

“Cellar Aged represents our pursuit of flavor through patience, precision and a deep understanding of how bourbon evolves over time,” said Dr. Blake Layfield, master distiller for Maker’s Mark. “After aging in our traditional warehouses, the bourbon spends additional time in our limestone cellar, where cooler maturation allows the fruit to shine while keeping the oak in balance.” 

The whisky is unmistakably Maker’s Mark—rich and layered, opening with aromas of dark cherry, clove, vanilla bean and soft orchard fruit. On the palate, notes of honey, brown sugar and ripe plum give way to a warming, silky finish accented by almond, nutmeg and crisp green apple.

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2026 will be available beginning September 1 at select U.S. retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $175 USD, followed by availability in the U.K., Germany, Korea, Japan, Australia, and Global Travel Retail later this year into 2027.

The Maker’s Mark Distillery will host a celebratory launch event ahead of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival for ticketed guests ages 21 and older on September 10. Beginning September 14, visitors can also experience an exclusive distillery tour that offers behind-the-scenes access to the Cellar Aged process.  For tours and tickets, visit https://www.makersmark.com/distillery/visit-us. To join the Maker’s Mark Ambassadors community and receive exclusive distillery access, news about product releases and other benefits, visit makersmark.com/ambassadors.

For more information, visit www.makersmark.com.

ABOUT MAKER’S MARK

Maker’s Mark® is the iconic handmade Kentucky bourbon driven by a vision for better flavor and a better world. In 1953, founders Margie and Bill Samuels, Sr. broke from tradition—burning the family’s 170-year-old recipe to create a bold, balanced bourbon made with soft red winter wheat for signature sweetness and creaminess. From the start, the Samuels went to remarkable lengths to craft uncompromisingly delicious bourbon—a perfectly unreasonable spirit that endures today. Every bottle is still hand-dipped in red wax, every barrel rotated by hand and every decision guided by the brand’s higher purpose.

Staying true to its founders’ vision, Maker’s Mark has expanded its portfolio with award-winning, super-premium expressions, including Maker’s Mark 46, Cask Strength, and Cellar Aged, as well as Private Selection, the brand’s custom barrel program. In 2025, the distillery debuted Star Hill Farm Whisky. Named World’s Best Wheat Whisky and the first to earn Estate Whiskey certification, Star Hill Farm Whisky inspired the Maker’s Mark Regenerative Alliance, a bold commitment to advance regenerative farming beyond its business.

Maker’s Mark is proud to be both B Corp and Regenified Certified – milestones driven by the sustainability leadership at Star Hill Farm, home of the Maker’s Mark Distillery, which strives to be the most endearing, culturally rich and environmentally responsible homeplace in the world.

Laphroaig 15 Returns

Laphroaig’s much-missed 15 Year Old expression returns as an official bottling for the first time in over a decade and as a permanent part of their range, too.

Aged in American oak bourbon barrels and bottled at 46% without chill-filtering, this is as characterful as you would hope for from Laphroaig. Citrus, hay, vanilla and toffee sit alongside big peaty, oily and briny notes on the nose.

The palate has a creaminess that provides a platform for all of those classic Laphroaig markers, while providing a rounder, fuller experience than the 10-year-old.

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Edradour 18 Year Old 2007 Amarone Small Batch

£108.95 GBP

Edradour 18 Year Old 2007 Amarone Small Batch is a rich and luxurious Highland single malt Scotch whisky, combining the distinctive character of Edradour with the sumptuous influence of Italian red wine oak. Nose Ripe black cherries, blackberries, and dark chocolate with hints of dried figs, vanilla, polished oak, and aromatic spice. Palate Rich and velvety, revealing flavours of dark berry compote, juicy plums, sweet malt, cocoa, dried fruits, toasted oak, and warming wine spice. Finish Long and luxurious, with lingering black cherry, dark chocolate, gentle tannins, dried fruit sweetness, and warming spice.

The latest expressions and releases

Peruse our new releases to whet your palate and wet your glass. Our buyers’ top picks include Glenallachie 21 Year Old – Batch 7 Speyside Single Malt Whisky – which uses superior Pedro Ximenez and oloroso sherry casks – and Glen Scotia 2013 12 Year Old from the esteemed Thompson Bros.

Islay Mist is an icon in blended whisky and has a limited release of their 17 Year Old with light peat smoke and orchard fruits. But these are just tasters, find whatever suits your taste.

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Festivals and tastings let you explore whiskies a bit more experimentally, often with insights from our ambassadors. Today, we’re getting into those insights with a few whiskies we can’t believe are still available online. Not only are these excellent sips, but they’re also a great example of the kinds of whiskies you’ll only find at the Society.

SHOP ALL WHISKY

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults, 87 Giles Street, Leith EH6 6BZ

Contact: sales@smws.com or call 0131 555 2929 (Mon-Fri 9am-4.45pm). Visit the Society at here for membership information

This is your chance to join and to take advantage of their great offers!

Spot the SMWS bottles in this amusing You Tube video

THE DALMORE UNVEILS 2026 RELEASE FROM DISTILLERY SELECT SERIES

Highland Single Malt, The Dalmore has unveiled the latest release in their Distillery Select Series, which offers truly limited-edition, hand-selected whiskies from its famed Highland home.

First launched in 2024, The Dalmore Distillery Select Series offers whisky fans hidden gems from The Dalmore’s dunnage warehouses. Intentionally chosen from small parcels of stock, each whisky is selected for its quality and uniqueness of character.

The Dalmore whisky makers intently review their storied stocks and identify expressions of spirit that reveal a different dimension of The Dalmore’s flavour profile. For 2026, the ambition was to select a whisky that showed The Dalmore in a distinctive light, while remaining clearly rooted in the signature house style. The resulting sumptuous whisky from this release, achieves that and more.

True to the ethos of the Series which focuses solely on small batch stocks, the 2026 release is exceptionally limited. Just one whisky has been hand-selected for the 2026 release, of which just 1,110 bottles will be available, non-chill filtered and of natural colour.

Distillery Select 2026 is a Semisecco Marsala finish, Aged 14 Years at 53.7% ABV. It has enjoyed an initial maturation in American white oak ex-Bourbon barrels, before a precise finish of one year and nine months in Semisecco Marsala casks.

Semisecco Marsala barriques add a distinctive layer of complexity to this special whisky. The medium sweet style of this Sicilian fortified wine brings sweetness, warmth, and depth, adding notes of candied citrus, honeyed fruit, roasted nuts, and gentle spice.

Together, these casks shape a whisky with depth of spirit, layered complexity, and a distinctive Semisecco Marsala finish, whilst maintaining the clear signature style of The Dalmore.

You are first welcomed with an aroma of floral overtones with sweet clementine, stoned fruits, honeyed malt, and a hint of grape must, and spiced vanilla. To taste, flavours of candied orange peel, sweet pear, toffee, brioche, with subtle hints of walnuts, clove, and cinnamon to be enjoyed. A sweet citrus and rich oak finish await, evoking a fading memory of festive spice.

This series was created to offer whisky enthusiasts a closer view of The Dalmore’s longstanding whisky making credentials. It provides a deeper understanding of The Dalmore, from the depth of New Make Spirit, through to the complexity built through meticulous cask curation, and the judgement and care exercised by The Dalmore whisky makers to produce this rare and extremely limited release.

The Dalmore Distillery Select Series has initially only been available to purchase via The Dalmore’s boutiques, either online or in selected countries. With the reopening of The Dalmore’s Highland home earlier this year, those who book to experience The Dalmore’s reimagined brand home, will have the opportunity to purchase this special series in person from the distillery boutique, exclusive to guests.

The Dalmore Distillery Select 2026 is priced at £350 and will be available on general release  from 31^st August 2026. Members of The Dalmore Guild will have the opportunity for advanced purchase and will be notified via email.

www.thedalmore.com

The Dalmore Distillery Select Series 2026: Semisecco Marsala Finish:

Aged 14 Years                ABV: 53.7%                     Price: £350                            Quantity: 1,110 bottles

Aroma: Floral overtones with sweet clementine, stoned fruits, honeyed malt, and a hint of grape must and spiced vanilla

Palate: Candied orange peel, sweet pear, toffee, brioche, with subtle hunts of walnuts, clove, and cinnamon

Finish: Sweet citrus and rich oak, and a fading memory of festive spice

About The Dalmore:

Founded in 1839 on the shores of the Cromarty Firth in the Scottish Highlands, The Dalmore creates Single Malt Whisky of rare depth and complexity, with each sip a testament to time better spent.

The 12-point silver stag which proudly adorns each bottle was bestowed upon the first chieftain of Clan Mackenzie in 1263 by King Alexander III of Scotland, as a reward for a moment of exceptional bravery, a moment that truly mattered. The stag became the whisky’s emblem when descendants of the clan took over the distillery in 1867.

The Dalmore whisky makers are a chain of visionary artists, pushing the boundaries of excellence, for nearly two centuries. The distillery’s collection of unique stills produce a remarkably rich depth of spirit, that is particularly well-suited to longer and more complex maturation, offering a house style of chocolate, orange and warming spice.

This decadent spirit is laid to rest in the rarest, most exclusive casks from the finest winemakers in the world, with their casks specially curated to offer the most exquisite whiskies. The Dalmore is a whisky not merely made, it is created to enrich.

In 2026, The Dalmore’s brand home reopened to visitors, with a reimagined and immersive guest experience that offers an exceptional reward for The Dalmore consumer. Guests will be hosted entirely private in groups of up to eight. Bookings available via www.thedalmore.com

The Dalmore Guild is free to join and is a way for members to be the first to hear about news, products, events, and experiences from The Dalmore. Join via www.thedalmore.com

For the first time ever at The Whisky Shop, we’re really excited announce our Whisky Windfall mystery drop, where everyone is a winner! And tickets are only £45!

We’ve teamed up with Islay-based distillery Laphroaig to bring you 638 bottles full of island character. The top prize is an ultra-rare 38 Year Old Laphroaig from the acclaimed Archive Collection – there are only 400 bottles in existence, making this super exciting and exclusive.

We have every bottle wrapped up, shrouded in mystery, and ready to be shipped. Every order placed is a complete mystery to both you and our Dispatch Team. Entry costs only £45, 26 bottles are worth over £1,000, 188 are worth over £100, and the minimum bottle price is £50. Today we’re inviting you to register your interest, and when the tickets go live on September 10th you’ll be first to know.

Fancy your chances? Are you due a stroke of good luck?

This limited release from Daftmill, Fife’s family-owned farm distillery, was distilled during the summer of 2013 and matured for 13 years before being bottled in June 2026. Just 3,775 bottles were produced. The whisky draws on a selection of fourteen first-fill ex-Bourbon barrels, all matured on the upper level of the distillery’s dunnage warehouse. The Concerto barley was grown in Daftmill’s South fields and harvested on 2nd and 3rd September 2011. It was then dried and stored on the farm before being malted in Alloa during the spring of 2012.

£99.00

TyndrumWhisky.com
The Green Welly Stop
Tyndrumwhisky, Tyndrum
Crianlarich, Perthshire FK20 8RY
United Kingdom

LATEST EDITION

This latest issue of Whisky Magazine includes the story of a new release from Laphroaig in collaboration with Hollywood actor and cover star Willem Dafoe. Dafoe was heavily involved in the decision-making for Willem by Willem, and the result is an incredibly exciting and tasty whisky!

This issue also explores two themes — bourbon, and industry leaders. Our bourbon content includes assessing the current landscape in Kentucky ahead of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in September, and learning about the many releases and updates for many of its distilleries. Our industry leaders features includes interviews with the co-founder of White Peak Distillery Max Vaughan, and one of the whisky world’s most influential educators, Dawn Maskell.

There’s so much to enjoy this issue and throughout the whisky world – enjoy!

Bradley Weir, Whisky Magazine editor