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Benchmark Top Floor Bourbon (86 Proof)
Bourbon — Kentucky, USA
Reviewed
November 3, 2022 (edited November 5, 2022)
N: Sweet corn, dust, earth, hay, mint, some shaving cream. Little bit of wood funk too. Interesting, but not terribly engaging either.
P: Sweet caramel, vanilla, sweet corn. Toffee, something like a vanilla ice cream note, Some herbs and dried grass. Thin mouthfeel, bordering watery.
F: Decent heat, but short and not a lot of distinct flavors. Some corn, vanilla, caramel. It's a typical bourbon finish.
Grabbed all four of the mainline Benchmark (this, Bonded, Single Barrel, Full Proof) bottles on a recent re-up. This was my least favorite of the four. That said, it's a perfectly serviceable bourbon (and the first I've finished, although the Bonded will be right behind it). It reminds of a pretty good young MGP. I would call that a decent compliment. Well priced, solid whiskey, but the thinness of it in the mouth hurts. The other bottles don't have that problem. I might do this again, but it's not on par with something like an Evan Williams Single Barrel, when those can be found, and only a few bucks cheaper. It's also not better than standard Buffalo Trace (but I'm a BT fanboy so YMMV).
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@LouisianaLonghorn Entirely possible. Don't really mind having a lower entry point for BT though, so long as it's good. And this easily outcompetes something like an Evan Williams White or Black.
I can’t help but feel like BT put these out to appease the masses while they scale up and age more stock in all those shiny new warehouses they built.