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Maker's Mark vs Knob Creek 12 Year
Maker's Mark and Knob Creek 12 Year sit on opposite sides of a familiar divide: an old-guard, wheat-forward classic versus an old-guard, rye-forward classic.
Key Specifications
| Feature | Maker's Mark | Knob Creek 12 Year |
|---|---|---|
| Type / Style | Wheated Bourbon | High-Rye Bourbon |
| Mash Bill 1 | 70% corn, 16% wheat, 14% malted barley | 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley |
| Age | No age statement | 12 years |
| Proof | 90 proof (45% ABV) | 100 proof (50% ABV) +10 proof |
| Approx. Price 2 | ~$25 – $32 ~$34 less | ~$55 – $70 |
- Knob Creek 12 Year does not publish an official mash bill.
- US shelf prices as of 2026-08; they vary widely by market.
AG’s Rating and AG’s Notes
Maker's Mark
Not rated yetNo notes yet.
Knob Creek 12 Year
Not rated yetNo notes yet.
Flavor Profile
Maker's Mark Knob Creek 12 Year
Axis by axis, biggest gap first
oak 4/9 oak: Maker's Mark 4 out of 10, Knob Creek 12 Year 9 out of 10
spice 2/6 spice: Maker's Mark 2 out of 10, Knob Creek 12 Year 6 out of 10
nuttiness 3/7 nuttiness: Maker's Mark 3 out of 10, Knob Creek 12 Year 7 out of 10
sweetness 8/6 sweetness: Maker's Mark 8 out of 10, Knob Creek 12 Year 6 out of 10
heat 3/5 heat: Maker's Mark 3 out of 10, Knob Creek 12 Year 5 out of 10
fruit 4/3 fruit: Maker's Mark 4 out of 10, Knob Creek 12 Year 3 out of 10
Flavor Profile Differences
Oak is doing most of the differentiating here.
- Maker's Mark: The bottle that made wheated bourbon mainstream. Soft, sweet, and deliberately low on spice and oak, with baked bread and honey doing most of the work. Consistency is its real feature.
- Knob Creek 12 Year: Three more years in the barrel than the standard Knob Creek, and the wood does all the talking. Deep oak and leather over the familiar Beam peanut note, drying toward genuinely tannic on the finish.
Which One Should You Choose?
- Go with Maker's Mark if you want a reliably sweet, low-spice wheater that is easy to find and easy to drink at a significantly lower price point.
- Go with Knob Creek 12 Year if you want the Beam house profile pushed as far into oak as it goes while staying balanced with more proof behind it.
Best enjoyed neat, rocks, cocktails, highball (Maker's Mark); neat, rocks (Knob Creek 12 Year).