Benchmark Top Floor Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskeyīottled at 86-proof, this top-floor whiskey is smooth and well-rounded to be enjoyed straight, with ice, or in your favorite cocktail.

The nose bears caramel notes with a delicate stone-fruit backdrop.Ģ. The bourbon has a robust and sturdy palate with some delicate leather notes mingling with dry tobacco, a touch of oak, and a hint of dried cherries. This bourbon honors the pioneering spirits of the three McAfee brothers who left Virginia westward to explore the uncharted territory that would later become known as Kentucky. Benchmark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Benchmark Bourbon Whiskey VariationsĪll the Benchmark Bourbon offerings share some characteristics, but their flavor profiles are distinct. It doesn’t taste much like bourbon but rather like a fruity corn brandy. We’d like to point out that Benchmark is good. It’s aged for about three years and bottled at 40% in a bottle with a plastic screw cap, then shipped. How is Benchmark Bourbon Made?īenchmark Bourbon is made from the same mash bill as Buffalo Trace, the Staggs, and the Eagle Rare: 75% corn, 10% rye, and 15% barley (for enzymes.) Despite having the number ‘8’ on the label, Benchmark Bourbon is not eight years old. It’s made at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. McAfee’s Benchmark is a brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey that the Sazerac Company produces. This was in honor of the McAfee brothers, who surveyed the site of the Buffalo Trace Distillery in 1775, long before it was built. The name Benchmark Bourbon was changed to McAfee’s Benchmark Old No.8 Bourbon. Sazerac put the label under their Buffalo Trace brand, creating the whiskey at the same Frankfort, Kentucky distillery as the name brand Buffalo Trace. Seagram sold Benchmark Bourbon to Sazerac corporation in 1989. The classic 7 Crown Whiskey was transferred to the UK-based Diageo, who still produce it in their Norwalk, CT plant.

The mixers division was sold to Coca-Cola, which still produces under the Seagram name. It used to be made at Four Roses back when Seagram owned them.īetween the late 1980s and the eventual dissolution of Seagram (in the early 2000s), the company’s various divisions were sold out to larger beverage manufacturers. Sometime in the late 1960s, Seagram decided to start a premium brand labeled Benchmark Bourbon. The Seagram company started as a Canadian distillery back in 1857 and grew to become one of the biggest spirits companies in Canada.

Benchmark full proof