The flavor of Maker's Mark stood out from the crowd, so co-founder Margie Samuels wanted to ensure the bottle did the same on store shelves. It's said that Margie is the reason most folks buy their first bottle of Maker's Mark and Bill is the reason they buy their second. The shape of the bottle, look of the label, signature red wax topper and even the name itself are all thanks to Margie.
The Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Famer (the first woman involved with a distillery to be inducted, by the way) hand-dipped the first bottles in her kitchen using a home fryer to melt the wax. Margie's fried chicken was never quite the same, and neither was the whisky business. While every sip of Maker's tastes just like the one before it, no two bottles are exactly alike. Those red tendrils give each bottle its own unique flourish.
When naming this new bourbon, Margie was inspired by the "maker's marks" that pewter whitesmiths put on their best work. Her mark features a star for Star Hill Farm, the Bardstown farm where the family resided.
Margie's "S" is for Samuels, and the Roman numeral IV symbolizes her husband's status as a fourth-generation distiller. (Son, Bill, Jr., later discovered that his father was actually a sixth-generation distiller. But, SIV stuck and is here to stay.)
Margie was much more than a homemaker, but she sure knew how to make distillery visitors feel at home. Some even credit her with inventing bourbon tourism. Margie ensured the distillery would receive the same attention to detail as the whisky, from its picturesque landscape to its distinctive red shutters. Margie even made Bill, Sr., agree that for every dollar that went into the bourbon, another would go into restoring the distillery's buildings and grounds.
If character came in a bottle, it might look something like this one. Margie's signature red wax topper isn't the only feature that helps Maker's Mark stand out from the crowd. The shape of the bottle, look of the label and even the name itself are all thanks to Margie the marketer. That square shape was inspired by Margie's collection of 19th-century cognac bottles – as was the wax that typically sealed them.
