Benchmark Top Floor Bourbon Whiskey
Benchmark · Buffalo Trace Distillery
This is not a bourbon that demands your attention — it earns it by being unpretentious. Buffalo Trace's value-tier offering uses the same distillery pedigree at a fraction of the price, making it an ideal daily pour or cocktail backbone.
Kit Aromas
Nose
Clean corn sweetness with faint vanilla and a touch of caramel. There's a light breadiness beneath, with gentle oak and a whisper of cherry.
Palate
Thin but honest. Corn and wheat softness lead, followed by mild butterscotch and a brief flash of brown spices. The mouthfeel is light, but it doesn't feel hollow.
Finish
Short, clean, with lingering corn sweetness and a dusting of oak.
- Mash Bill
- Mash Bill #1
- Barrel Type
- New charred oak
- Bottled in Bond
- No
- Single Barrel
- No
- Wheated
- No
Cocktail Suggestion
Bluegrass Highball — 2 oz Benchmark Top Floor · 4 oz chilled ginger ale · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · Build over ice in a Collins glass, garnish with a lemon wheel.
Food Pairing
The bourbon's corn sweetness and mild oak balance the sweet-smoky glaze on pulled pork, while the light body keeps pace with soft brioche buns and pickled slaw.
Distilled at Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, Kentucky, Benchmark represents the distillery's commitment to making honest bourbon at an accessible price, using the same limestone-filtered water and copper stills that produce their most celebrated expressions.
Be the first to comment.
Leave a comment
Jura 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Jura
Jura 10 is an island malt that sidesteps the peat-bomb stereotype entirely. Its restraint is its strength — a whisky shaped by geography rather than process, tasting of the rain and wind that batter its remote island home. Ideal as a gateway to island Scotch.
Noah's Mill Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
Noah's Mill
Noah's Mill is barrel-proof bourbon without apology. Its intensity rewards patience — a splash of water opens the caramel and softens the leather into something rich and contemplative. A serious sipper for those who want their bourbon to push back.
Crossbill Highland Dry Gin
Crossbill
Crossbill is a gin that refuses to compromise on juniper. Using only Scottish juniper berries and rosehip, it delivers one of the most juniper-forward profiles available — a gin built for G&T purists and Martini devotees who want the pine to sing. It tastes like the Scottish Highlands in a glass.
Rhum Clément Select Barrel Rhum Agricole
Clément
Clément Select Barrel is an excellent entry point into aged agricole rhum. The barrel aging tames the raw grassy intensity without erasing it, creating a spirit that bridges the gap between agricole purists and aged rum lovers. At its price, it's one of the best values in the category.
Noah's Mill Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
Noah's Mill
Noah's Mill is barrel-proof bourbon without apology. Its intensity rewards patience — a splash of water opens the caramel and softens the leather into something rich and contemplative. A serious sipper for those who want their bourbon to push back.
New Riff Balboa Rye Bourbon
New Riff
A bourbon that earns its complexity through friction rather than finesse — the rare high-rye bourbon that tastes engineered for tension, then rewards patience with genuine grace.
Yellowstone Hand Picked Collection Single Barrel Bourbon 2023 Release
Yellowstone
This hand-picked single barrel delivers the kind of concentrated, oak-driven bourbon that rewards patience. It's not subtle, but it's disciplined — the heavy char never overwhelms the underlying grain character. A strong pour for anyone who wants their bourbon to carry some weight.
Wilderness Trail Cask Strength Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (Wheated Mash Bill)
Wilderness Trail
Wilderness Trail's sweet mash process and careful fermentation science pay dividends here. This cask strength wheated bourbon balances power and elegance in a way that rewards sipping neat. It's a serious whiskey from a distillery that earns its growing reputation through precision rather than hype.