Product Profile: Finishing Products
Contact our oak specialist, Amy LaHue, for personal service and product recommendations.
Customer Testimonial: Maker's Mark
For 50 years at Maker’s Mark we made one product. When the time came for Bill Samuels Jr. to leave his mark on his parents' iconic brand he immediately turned to ISC for their expertise and guidance. The Maker’s 46 stave was created to amplify all of his favorites parts of Maker’s Mark and create a bigger bolder expression with a longer finish. The innovation behind this stave is remarkable as well as the unique finishing process we were able to pioneer. None of it would have been possible without ISC.
For Maker’s Private Select we challenged ISC to create virgin oak finishing staves that would exaggerate and amplify key characteristics in Maker’s Mark. We asked them to consider taste and flavor as well as body and finish. Their expertise on where flavor lives in wood and how to capture it is truly mind-blowing. They have developed dozens of unique stave profiles that unlock and highlight flavors in Maker’s Mark we didn’t even know existed and taken our whisky to new and interesting places while making sure it is still Maker’s Mark. They are wonderful partners because they make our vision, their vision. They are truly world class when it comes to innovation, flavor and what it takes to make excellent whisky.
-Jane Bowie Maker's Mark Maturation Specialist
A Note from Andrew
Andrew Wiehebrink
Research & development
In the past 12 months, there has been a growing interest from distillers in using oak alternatives to finish their products. Using oak alternatives is an efficient method to enhance flavors in an existing product, add complexity to a base spirit or provide an economical way of creating special release or limited-time products. ISC’s Research and Development team uses proprietary equipment and processes to explore the wide array of flavors oak can produce. We currently have a vast portfolio of products and are constantly creating new products by tweaking recipes, developing new toasting methods and utilizing different wood species. As oak alternatives gain traction in the spirits industry, we look forward to the challenge of continuing to innovate and deliver exciting new products for spirit producers around the world.