Buffalo Trace's Benchmark Old No 8 Bourbon belongs to the mash bill #1 bourbon category and is priced as the most affordable among the brand's popular bourbons, including Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, EH Taylor Small Batch, and others. Being the youngest and lowest in alcohol content, it offers light hints of honey, grain, vanilla, fennel, dark apple juice, orange juice, and roasted oak.
Upon swirling, Benchmark Bourbon brings out slightly floral notes of honey, vanilla, pear, and cherry, along with herbal fennel and dry grain, caraway seed, oak, and cracker, indicating its youthfulness and underdevelopment. The taste profile features light honey, pear, toasted oak, vanilla, dry and roasted grain, cinnamon, and earthy rosemary, with a noticeable graininess and dryness that remind us of its young age. However, it lacks complexity and can become slightly bitter.
Despite this, Benchmark Old No 8 Bourbon has received accolades, including a Gold medal in the International Wine and Spirit Competition and the Los Angeles International Wine Competition