I’ve lamented for years the Buffalo Trace bottle problem: walk into majority of liquor stores and if you’re looking for a Buffalo Trace product you’ll find three bottom shelf dwellers and then the standard $25-30 90-proof Buffalo Trace. That’s it. Because everything else has been relegated to either waiting lists, raffles or the secondary market. I hope Benchmark Single Barrel and Full Proof is a sign of things to come as Buffalo Trace adds variety to their offerings. Nose: Stagg Jr is that you?? It’s the same recipe, and younger, but at this proof you get many hints of Stagg Jr. That got me excited. A decent amount of oak, vanilla, some cherries. Taste: okay, this is definitely a younger bourbon than something like Stagg Jr or even standard Buffalo Trace. But it’s not bad! Pretty rich and not as ethanol forward as I’d expect a young full-proofer to be. Finish: despite the proof it doesn’t stick around long at all. And so, we start off strong and end with a bit of a whimper, but this is not a bad bourbon by any stretch of the imagination. Now if BT can just get some variety in the Ancient Age line.