Well we’re off in the Top 5 Budget Bourbon rankings on the fine Testing Thursday! We’ll run through each of the 8 bourbons that competed in the blind tasting over the course of the next week or so, highlighting each one individually. We start with Buffalo Trace’s Benchmark Old No. 8 bourbon. 

Benchmark Bourbon was originally produced in the 1960’s, owned by Seagrams, and marketed as a premium whiskey. It was produced at Four Roses Distillery (owned by Seagrams at that time) until the brand was purchased by Sazerac where it is now produced at Buffalo Trace. 

Stats: NAS (at least 3 yrs); Buffalo Trace mashbill 1; $9

Verdict: Let’s be honest. With most of these budget bourbons you’re not going to get crazy complex profiles with deep notes. They just haven’t had the time in the barrel to develop. However, I do like to get something out of them. All around this one fell a little flat. Very muted flavors, even by budget bourbon standards. The notes I do get, and I have to strain to get those, are bitter oak, corn, and vanilla. Blinded against the others, this one comes out at the bottom of the list. But hey, it’s $9 so it’s hard to complain about it - you know what you’re getting into at the time of purchase.