Benchmark Bonded Bourbon (100 Proof)

Starts with a rich cherry nose, in fact the cherry is more prevalent than just about any BT product I've consumed to date. Hints of cola, cinnamon and corn sugars, it's not refined but it is bourbon. At the front the cherry indeed hangs in there, the richness of a nice sweet cornbread and cola are the meat of this juice, and that cola nut hangs in through the finish. It isn't complex but it is rich and pretty good even though the finish doesn't come off as anything special. The 4 years and 100 proof are just enough to give it a true heavy weight booze feel and makes a somewhat similar(Evan BiB) seem harsh in comparison. This blows standard Benchmark out of the water and makes Buffalo Trace namesake bourbon seem pretty pedestrian too. Finally a Benchmark label product I can enjoy. I'd give it higher marks if it was bit more refined or complex but for a BiB under 25 dollars this really makes the BT distillery seem like they actually care about us for a change. The typical BT fan should certainly pick this up and even if doesn't appeal to you the way it has to me, you've at least got a cheaper bottle you can make some really nice cocktails out of. Talk about a poor mans Eagle Rare.. Definite recommend. Cheers!

So I was impressed with the full proof, I guess I gotta give this a shot....it's technically the oldlest age statement lol Nose - I get right off the bat classic buffalo trace cherry. Then corn, oil, and just that kinda dusty oak muted thing. Very EH Taylor...boring but good stuff. Very much in that 15-40 dollar bourbon area if you like cherry and corn. Taste - This is that dusty oak and clay with some cherry vs cherry first like the nose. The nose was really good. This again takes me back to EH Taylor and bad blantons. Just element after element of good easy drinking bourbon and young rushed elements. I like it. I like a good bit. So yeah...this isn't the full proof. That's just better top to bottom. This is younger feeling, more meh. But for I think this was 16 bucks....if you like the more boring profile of buffalo trace that sweet soft stuff...it's a good buy. I'll give this a 1 star. It's well deserving of that kind of quality mark. I could consider a 1.25. And this does do well with mixers!

Drake’s bottle in bond night. Good

“Whiskey Credit Score.” It’s a concept a buddy and I came up with to describe what you’d be willing to drop on a new bottle you knew nothing about, purely based on the distillery. For example, for me Cleveland Distillery has a WCS so low that if I see a new offering on the shelf for cheap, I’m still more likely to buy Dogecoin. Don’t talk to me about science, you disgrace. On the other hand, Very Olde St. Nick has a very high Whiskey Credit Score with me. Did you know they released an even more rare version of their already pricey and hard-to find 17 year antique barrel? It literally has the word “unicorn” on it in purple letters. I’m thinking about selling my body to science antemortem to finance a bottle. Similarly, Buffalo Trace is certainly in the high WCS category. So there’s the scene. Enter Benchmark, stage bottom shelf. Out of thin air, one day my local liquor store had 5 new Buffalo Trace products on display that I had never seen. Thankfully, they were all under $20, because you can only sell your body once. The question may have been which one, but the answer was “yes.” So here’s the Benchmarks: Benchmark 8 (80 proof) Benchmark Top Floor (86 proof) Benchmark Small Batch (90 proof) Benchmark Single Barrel (95 proof) Benchmark Bonded (100 proof) Benchmark Full Proof (125 proof) These are all made using Buffalo Trace mashbill #1, which is BT’s low-rye mashbill. People that are smarter than me think it’s about 10% rye, 5% malted barley, and 85% corn. They think this, but I don’t think anyone outside of BT actually knows. I wanted to do a true mashbill #1 round robin, so I threw in: Buffalo Trace (90 proof) EH Taylor Small Batch (100 proof) Eagle Rare (90 proof) Stagg Jr. Batch 13 (132.3 proof) 10 mashbill #1 bourbons. 45 blind taste tests in glencairns. Only one can be the best. 10th place: Benchmark Small Batch 9th place: Benchmark 8 8th place: Benchmark Top Floor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7th out of 10: Benchmark Bonded. Nose is very astringent, mostly sugar and oats. There’s also cherries, dust, and I’ve never gone to this place before tonight but I think there’s tomato plant. I’ve grown tomato plants before, and this nose takes me there. Body is heavy on oats. This is far nuttier than the other BMs I’ve had so far. Gotta be a better way to say that. There’s also cane sugar, milk, and a pleasant creamy mouth feel to go with it. Finish is heavy cinnamon, vanilla, and a faint orange. This is genuinely enjoyable. This is the first Benchmark that I thought: I’ll probably buy another one of these. To be fair: the reason the other ones don’t get that treatment is that Benchmark has saturated this flavor space with other iterations of itself. Which is... an interesting marketing strategy. I still feel like BT is somehow screwing with all of us with this product line. 5 nearly indistinguishable bourbons, all better than many $40 bourbons on the shelf, all under $20. This whole thing feels like an augmented reality game. There’s gotta be a treasure map that reveals itself when you align the bottles in just the right way. That would make more sense. 16 dollars for this son of a *****. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have a few more Benchmarks, so if you want to play along next time, feel free to skip the intro. However, I did have trouble figuring out the best mad scientist to sell myself to, so I may have some fresh material next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fun new discovery about mashbill #1: You can mix all of them together in an infinity bottle and still have a truly spectacular bourbon.

For the price, this is a solid BiB. The nose is what you would expect from benchmark. The flavor is a bit more interesting. Since this is BiB, it has the same mash and age as EHT. This is what sparked my interest. Does it drink like EHT? No. Is it similar? Somewhat. The best part of this pour is the finish. Interested to do a side by side soon. Happy with this pickup

For the price it’s not bad, it’s a good bonded whiskey. We know it’s at least 4 years old and the proof definitely gives it a more complex flavor profile. Its is high for some drinkers but if you like bourbon, most definitely worth the price. Buffalo trace did a good job on this budget bourbon.