
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.
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