Released alongside FAE-01 in 2021, FAE-02 was designed as its mirror image. Where FAE-01 amplified the soft, creamy, vanilla side of American oak, FAE-02 was engineered to draw out the spicier, tannic, more structural elements — the dark chocolate, leather, and clove notes that hide inside a fully matured Maker's barrel.
The stave profile was developed with Independent Stave Company and inserted into cask strength Maker's Mark before a long, cool finish in the distillery's limestone cellar. The cold soak is essential to the Wood Finishing Series philosophy — at warmer temperatures these heavily toasted staves would push aggressive bitterness, but the chilled cave pulls structure without harshness.
Bottled at cask strength and unfiltered, FAE-02 is the more serious of the two. It is darker, drier, and more cerebral, the kind of pour that asks you to slow down and pay attention. Side by side with FAE-01 it makes a brilliant tasting flight — the same wheated heart wearing two very different oak coats.
For drinkers who think Maker's leans too sweet, FAE-02 is the answer.
