I’ll be honest: when Maker’s Mark dropped the first Star Hill Farm Wheat Whisky in 2025, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Here was a distillery that had been running the same corn-forward bourbon mashbill since 1953 — over 70 years without changing a grain — and suddenly they were making a straight wheat whiskey. No corn at all. It felt like a stunt.
It wasn’t a stunt. The 2025 was genuinely interesting, and I spent a few evenings with it trying to figure out exactly where it fit in my rotation. Then the 2026 landed, and Maker’s Mark did something unexpected again: they changed the recipe entirely.
Why This Release Actually Matters
When a distillery messes with their grain bill, it’s usually a quiet adjustment — a few percentage points here or there. What Maker’s Mark did for the 2026 Star Hill Farm is different. The 2025 was built around soft red winter wheat, the same variety they use in their flagship bourbon. The 2026 swings hard toward malted wheat, landing at 62% malted wheat, 27% wheat, and 11% malted barley. They also folded in hard red wheat and hard white wheat varieties alongside the original soft red winter wheat.
That’s not a tweak. That’s a new whiskey wearing the same name. And it’s pulled from barrels that saw a 20-point proof swing from different floors of the rickhouse — which, if you know anything about Maker’s rotational aging process, makes this even more of a departure from how they normally operate.
It’s also worth noting the bottle holds 700mL this year instead of 750mL, and the release expanded internationally — Japan, the UK, Australia, Duty Free. So if you’re hunting for it in the US, the allocation is probably thinner than last year.
Opening It Up
At 116.4 proof (58.2% ABV), this one demands at least 15 minutes in the glass before you stick your nose in. I poured it neat the first time, got hit with booze heat, and set it down. When I came back to it, I found a whiskey that had opened into something genuinely lovely.
The fruit-forward nose is the story here. For a cask-strength whiskey aged seven to eight years, it smells more like a fresh summer fruit bowl than a barrel-aged spirit. That’s the malted wheat doing its work — malting changes the enzymatic profile of the grain and pushes the flavor in a direction that feels almost European, closer to a single malt Scotch than anything Kentucky is known for.
The 2025 vs. 2026 Question
People are going to ask, so I’ll just say it: the 2025 was better for my palate. Last year had more dark fruit — big blackberry and raspberry notes, some barrel char, a richer body. It felt more cohesive. The 2026 is brighter and more expressive, but that drying tannic finish takes me by surprise in a way I’m still not sure I love. The transition from silky fruit entry to bone-dry finish feels like two different whiskeys in one glass.
That said, I’ve had this bottle open for four days and it keeps evolving. The caramel is more present now than when I first cracked it. I’d encourage anyone who buys this to give it at least a week open before making a final call. And honestly, if you can find both years, buy both — they complement each other more than they compete.
What to Smoke With It
The Star Hill Farm 2026 is fruit-forward and spice-forward on the back end, which narrows the cigar options considerably. You don’t want something sweet and creamy — that’ll clash with those drying tannins. You don’t want something extremely bold and peppery either, or it’ll drown out all that delicate apricot on the nose.
My pick: the Perdomo Habano Bourbon Barrel-Aged Natural Toro. The bourbon barrel-aged wrapper brings its own caramel and vanilla character that locks right into the whiskey’s midpalate. The Nicaraguan Habano filler underneath is medium-full — enough body to hold up to 116 proof without getting lost — and it adds an earthy, cedar note that plays beautifully against those dark chocolate and fig notes on the finish. I smoked one start to finish while I worked through my third pour of this whiskey, and it was one of the better pairings I’ve had all year.
The bourbon barrel-aged wrapper was made for a pairing like this — caramel and cedar against fruit-forward wheat whiskey.
Is the $100 Price Tag Justified?
Short answer: yes, but with an asterisk. At $100 for 700mL (not 750mL, remember), you’re paying around $143 per liter. That’s premium territory, and you’re getting a genuinely unusual American whiskey — Estate Whiskey Certified, cask strength, multi-variety wheat grain bill, produced at one of the most storied distilleries in Kentucky. It won World’s Best Wheat Whisky this year, and the award isn’t undeserved.
The asterisk is this: if you’ve never had a wheat whiskey before, this is an odd entry point. It doesn’t taste like bourbon. It doesn’t taste like rye. It doesn’t even taste quite like the 2025 edition. If you go in expecting Maker’s Mark in a different format, you’re going to be confused. Go in expecting something genuinely new, and you’ll get your money’s worth.
Browse medium-full cigars at Famous Smoke — ideal for cask-strength pours that need a smoke with enough backbone to keep up.
Final Verdict
Maker’s Mark Star Hill Farm 2026 is proof that a 70-year-old distillery can still surprise you. It’s not my favorite expression they’ve ever released, but it’s one of the most interesting bottles of 2026 — and in a year with a lot of interesting bottles, that’s saying something. The fruit-forward nose is extraordinary for American whiskey. The finish will polarize people. I’m already looking forward to the 2027 release to see where they take the grain bill next.
If you can find it at MSRP — and allocation is limited — grab it. Not to hoard, not to flip. Pour it, give it time in the glass, smoke something good alongside it, and pay attention to what wheat can actually do when a distillery treats it with this much intentionality.