Cocktail of the Week: Maker’s Mark Classic Old Fashioned

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There’s something missing from Maker's Mark — but do you know what it is? It can’t be popularity, as it’s one of the world’s best-selling bourbon brands. It can’t be versatility either — few brown spirits move as easily between the serves and the shots of a well-oiled bar.

Turns out, it’s a letter. Just the one. Maker’s Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon spells its whisky without an ‘e’, unlike most of its corn-led contemporaries. It was a deliberate choice from founders Bill and Margie Samuels back in 1953 — less rule-breaking than quiet differentiation, and all the more effective for it.

But what Maker’s Mark lacks in vowels, the wax-dipped whisky more than makes up for in flavour. Built on a mash bill that swaps rye for soft red winter wheat, it delivers a softer, rounder profile: vanilla, caramel, a suggestion of fruit that never over-ripens into saccharine sweetness. And that makes it rather perfect for turning into that oh-so classic cocktail, the Old Fashioned.

Lucien Laviscount mixes a Maker's Mark Classic Old Fashioned

But don’t take our word for it. Above, British actor Lucien Laviscount — the latest ambassador for the Kentucky-based brand — is on hand to show you how to whip up the timeless serve from behind the bar of Hawksmoor’s new St Pancras steakhouse.

Built around a classic combination of bourbon, bitters, sugar and citrus oils, the Old Fashioned is one of the original whisky cocktails — and, on paper, relatively easy to make. But simplicity can be deceptive. With so little to hide behind, the whisky ends up doing most of the talking. Which is precisely why Maker’s Mark excels: soft-edged, gently sweet and already halfway to the aromatic intensity of a good Old Fashioned before you’ve added anything at all.