Maker's Mark

Bill Samuels Sr. famously burned his family's 170-year-old recipe and started over, replacing rye with soft red winter wheat; his wife Margie designed the label, the name and the hand-dipped red wax seal. The result changed bourbon: a soft, honeyed, approachable whisky (spelled the Scots way, another family quirk) that anticipated the premium era by decades. Still made in small batches at Star Hill Farm, still dipped by hand.