July 4, 2026 marks 250 years since America declared its independence. Maker’s Mark is marking the occasion the only way they know how: with good bourbon and a bottle worth keeping. The liquid inside is unchanged from the Maker’s Mark that has earned its place on back bars and home shelves around the world for generations. The mash bill is the same wheated recipe Bill Samuels Sr. settled on in the 1950s when he burned his family’s old rye formula and started over: corn, malted barley, and soft red winter wheat instead of rye, which is the decision that defines everything about how Maker’s Mark tastes. Softer. Rounder. Sweeter at the edges. The kind of bourbon that converts rye-skeptics and rewards people who come back to it year after year.

What makes the 250th Anniversary bottle worth picking up is everything on the outside. Maker’s Mark has never hand-dipped a bottle in red, white, and blue — until now. The iconic red wax that has sealed every bottle since the distillery opened in Loretto, Kentucky gets a patriotic makeover for the first time in the brand’s history: a layer of white wax beneath the signature red, with a blue logo seal completing the 1776 to 2026 tribute. It is the first and only time Maker’s has produced this colorway, which makes it a collector’s piece regardless of what’s inside.

At $30, it is also one of the most accessible limited-edition bottles released anywhere this year. Same price, same liquid, a once-in-a-generation bottle design.