McAfee's Benchmark

McAfee's Benchmark is a brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey produced by the Sazerac Company at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.[1] The full name of the brand that appears on the bottle is "McAfee's Benchmark Old No. 8 Brand" (with "Benchmark" rendered in much larger letters than the rest). The primary brand expression is an 80 U.S. proof (40% alcohol by volume) bourbon aged "at least 36 months" according to its label.

McAfee's Benchmark
TypeBourbon whiskey
ManufacturerSazerac Company
Country of originKentucky, United States
Alcohol by volume40.00%
Proof (US)80
Related productsBuffalo Trace

Three whiskey-based liqueurs of 70 U.S. proof (35% alcohol by volume) also carry the brand name – one with apple flavoring, one with peach flavoring and the third with brown sugar flavoring.[2][3]

History

The Benchmark brand was created by Seagram's in the late 1960s to be a luxury or premium-level bourbon. At that time, the whiskey was not called McAfee's, but simply Benchmark Bourbon; and the name McAfee came much later. Originally Benchmark was sold in a decanter-style bottle with a black label.[4]

The Benchmark brand name was purchased by the Sazerac Company in 1989 from Seagram's. It is still owned by Sazerac Brands of New Orleans which also now owns the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, where Benchmark is now made. The origin of the McAfee name is that Hancock McAfee was, in 1775, one of the first European settlers at the site where Buffalo Trace stands today. The original Benchmark was made at Lawrenceburg, Kentucky at the Four Roses Distillery when Seagram owned it.[4]

References
  1. Regan, Gary; Mardee Haidin Regan (October 15, 1995). The Book of Bourbon: And other Fine American Whiskeys. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 113, 129. ISBN 978-1881527893.
  2. Theakston, Rob (June 24, 2014). "MacAfee's Benchmark Peach Liqueur". Drink Hacker. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  3. "MaAfee's Benchmark Brown Sugar Liqueur". The Whiskey Exchange. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  4. Jim Murray reviews two McAfee's Benchmark expressions in his Whiskey Bible 2006 edition.
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