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I consider Maker's to be a high end mixing bourbon. It has a very clean taste, though I don't find the flavor to have a great deal of nuance. It's plenty good enough to drink by itself, and it's a great value, but there's definitely much more interesting stuff out there. If you like the wood flavors of bourbon, I'd recommend picking up a bottle of Woodford Reserve. Elija Craig makes a very good 18 year with rich apple flavors. Their 12 year is also good. I haven't been able to taste a meaningful enough difference between MM and Knob Creek to justify buying the latter unless it happens to be on sale so it's as cheap or cheaper than MM.
For mixing purposes, most people will assume your American whiskey is JD, so you're perfectly safe buying a bottle and, with mixers, most people won't be able to tell the difference. This works particularly well if you have a decent bottle of something else around to pour for people to drink straight so if they can tell the difference, they have the option of something better.
If you can afford it, it's really worth having one mixer-level and one sipping-level alcohol of every type. And, as Mal (I think) said, the best way to find out what you like is to buy really small bottles and just taste them. Everyone's alcohol palate works differently, and you will best discover what to buy by trying it.
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