Type Bourbon whiskey Alcohol by volume 40.00% Related products | Manufacturer Sazerac Company Proof (US) 80 | |
Country of origin Kentucky, United States | ||
McAfee's Benchmark is a brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey produced by the Sazerac Company at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky. The full name of the brand that appears on the bottle is "McAfee's Benchmark Old No. 8 Brand" (with "Benchmark" rendered in much larger letters than the rest). The primary brand expression is an 80 U.S. proof (40% alcohol by volume) bourbon aged "at least 36 months" according to its label.
Three whiskey-based liqueurs of 70 U.S. proof (35% alcohol by volume) also carry the brand name – one with apple flavoring, one with peach flavoring and the third with brown sugar flavoring.
History
The Benchmark brand was created by Seagram's in the late 1960s to be a luxury or premium-level bourbon. At that time, the whiskey was not called McAfee's, but simply Benchmark Bourbon; and the name McAfee came much later. Originally Benchmark was sold in a decanter-style bottle with a black label.
The Benchmark brand name was purchased by the Sazerac Company in 1989 from Seagram's. It is still owned by Sazerac Brands of New Orleans which also now owns the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, where Benchmark is now made. The origin of the McAfee name is that Hancock McAfee was, in 1775, one of the first European settlers at the site where Buffalo Trace stands today. The original Benchmark was made at Lawrenceburg, Kentucky at the Four Roses Distillery when Seagram owned it.