THEDAILYWHISKY

The Maker’s Mark Artist Series City Edition is a global travel retail exclusive: 11 limited-edition bottles wrapped in city-inspired artwork by painter Alexandra Pacula, covering New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Dubai, Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney and Melbourne. Announced on 15 July 2026 by Maker’s Mark, owned by Suntory Global Spirits, the bottles roll out through airport retail from July to September 2026. The liquid is Kentucky straight bourbon. The label art, not a new recipe, is the draw. Maker’s Mark has not published a price, a bottle count or a confirmed ABV for the series.

What the Artist Series City Edition actually is

This is a design and collectibility play before it is a whisky release. The bourbon inside the bottle is Maker’s Mark. What changes is the wrapper: each of the 11 bottles carries a different cityscape painted by Alexandra Pacula, and the series is sold only through airport retail, one city at a time, so travellers can pick up the label that matches wherever they happen to be flying through.

Maker’s Mark has run artist-led bottles before, but tying each design to a specific airport and a specific city is a clear travel retail hook. Buy the New York bottle at JFK, the Paris bottle at Charles de Gaulle, and so on. It is built to be collected across trips rather than bought in one go.

Rob Samuels, eighth-generation whisky maker and managing director of Maker’s Mark, framed the launch around the brand doing things differently and capturing the creative energy of the cities involved. Ashish Sagar of Suntory Global Spirits was blunter about the commercial logic: travel retail is where premium spirits brands chase exclusive, experience-led purchases, and a collectible bottle stands out on an airport shelf.

The cities and the rollout: where and when

The series does not land everywhere at once. It stages across three months and specific airports.

July 2026: Sydney (SYD), Melbourne (MEL), Singapore (SIN) and Seoul (ICN). 
August 2026: London (LHR, LGW, STN) and Paris (CDG). 
September 2026: Dubai (DXB), Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM), and the two United States airports, New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX).

If you want a specific city bottle, the airport it appears in and the month it drops both matter. There is no confirmation yet that stock moves between airports, so the London label is a London bottle and so on.

Who is Alexandra Pacula

Alexandra Pacula, born 1979 in Poland and based in New York, is a cityscape painter who works in oil with a photorealist streak. She took her BFA at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and her MFA in painting and drawing at Montclair State University in New Jersey. She is represented by Gallery Henoch in New York, and her work sits in collections including Harvard Law School and PACE University.

Her signature is motion. Pacula paints cities at night as if caught in a long-exposure photograph, letting light smear and shapes dissolve into what she calls visual intoxication. That blur is the point. It is why these labels look like moving traffic and lit windows rather than tidy postcards.

For the Maker’s Mark commission she says she spent time in each city and translated its atmosphere into the artwork, with hand-painted details that nod to the brand’s red wax seal. Whether or not you chase the bottles, the pairing of her nocturnal cityscapes with the dipped red wax is a genuinely good visual fit.

What is inside the bottle: the ABV question

Here is where a whisky drinker should read the small print rather than the press release.

Maker’s Mark has not stated which expression fills the Artist Series bottles. The legal line on the release cites Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky at 56.65 to 59.4% ABV. That is well above the 45% flagship and sits in Maker’s Mark Cask Strength territory, which points to a higher-proof fill rather than the standard bottling. Treat that as the likely reading, not a confirmed spec, until Maker’s Mark or the airports publish per-bottle details.

House style is the constant either way. Maker’s Mark is the wheated bourbon: soft red winter wheat replaces the rye most bourbons use as the flavouring grain, which is what gives the whisky its rounder, sweeter, less spicy profile. And yes, Maker’s Mark is one of the few American producers that spells it whisky without the e, a nod to the Samuels family’s Scottish-Irish roots.

Maker’s Mark house profile

Nose: vanilla, caramel, soft baking spice, a little toasted oak 
Palate: wheated sweetness, caramel and butterscotch, red fruit, gentle char 
Finish: medium, warming, oak and vanilla, more so if this is the cask strength fill
Grain: wheated mash bill | Likely ABV: 56.65 to 59.4% per the release, unconfirmed by expression

We have not tasted the Artist Series bottles, so there is no TDW rating on this one. If the fill is confirmed as Cask Strength, expect a bigger, oakier version of that profile with the wheat sweetness carrying the higher proof.

Price, bottle count and the unknowns

As of the launch announcement, Maker’s Mark has not disclosed a recommended retail price, a per-city bottle count, or a total production run. There is also no age statement, which is normal for Maker’s Mark. Travel retail pricing tends to vary by airport and region, so expect differences between, say, Singapore and Heathrow once bottles are on shelves.

If pricing and allocation matter to you as a collector, the practical move is to check the specific airport’s duty free listing in the launch month rather than wait for a single global price.

Is it worth chasing?

For the collector and the frequent flyer, this is an easy yes to at least look at. The artwork is strong, the wax seal pairing works, and a set of city bottles picked up across real trips is a nicer souvenir than a fridge magnet. If the fill is Cask Strength, there is a decent dram inside too, not just a painted bottle.

For the drinker who only cares what is in the glass, this is harder to justify blind. Until Maker’s Mark confirms the expression and a price, you may be paying a travel retail premium for a label rather than for anything new in the liquid. Maker’s Mark Cask Strength is already widely available at home, often cheaper, in a plain bottle.

Who it is for: collectors, travellers who want a city-tied keepsake, and Maker’s Mark fans who like the artwork. Who it is not for: value hunters and anyone who wants a genuinely new whisky rather than a new wrapper. Watch for the September United States and India drops, and check per-airport pricing before you commit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Maker’s Mark Artist Series City Edition? It is a global travel retail exclusive from Maker’s Mark: 11 limited-edition Kentucky bourbon bottles with city-inspired labels painted by artist Alexandra Pacula. The cities are New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Dubai, Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney and Melbourne. It launched in July 2026 and is sold only in airports.

Where can I buy the Maker’s Mark Artist Series City Edition? Only through airport travel retail, one city per airport. It arrives in Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore and Seoul in July 2026, London and Paris in August, then Dubai, Delhi, Mumbai, New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX) in September. Check the specific airport’s duty free store in the relevant month.

How much does the Maker’s Mark Artist Series City Edition cost? Maker’s Mark has not published a recommended retail price for the series. Travel retail pricing usually varies by airport and region, so prices are likely to differ between locations. Check the individual airport listing once bottles are on shelves in the launch month.

What is the ABV of the Maker’s Mark Artist Series? Maker’s Mark has not confirmed the exact expression. The release’s legal line cites 56.65 to 59.4% ABV, which sits in Maker’s Mark Cask Strength territory rather than the 45% flagship. Treat this as the likely strength until per-bottle specs are published.

Who is Alexandra Pacula? Alexandra Pacula is a Polish-born, New York-based cityscape painter who works in oil in a photorealist, long-exposure style she calls visual intoxication. She holds a BFA from Rutgers and an MFA from Montclair State University, is represented by Gallery Henoch in New York, and has work in collections including Harvard Law School.

Is Maker’s Mark a bourbon or a whisky? Both. Maker’s Mark is a Kentucky straight bourbon, and bourbon is a legally defined type of American whiskey. Maker’s Mark uses a wheated mash bill, soft red winter wheat instead of rye, for a rounder, sweeter profile, and is one of the few American brands that spells it whisky without the e.