Benchmark Bourbon History

[ratcheer]

I have a pair of these bottles from 1975, both contained in a Ft. Snelling stand/holder and issued to commemorate the annual American Legion convention in Minneapolis that year. I just picked up the second one in an old store around here last week, and thought maybe I'd open one soon for a taste.
Attachment 2497
(Sorry about the photo quality -- or lack thereof)

Tim, that is exactly the bottling I remember.

Tim

[Gillman]

Thanks Tim, a typically generous offer, I'll take you up on it.

And thanks to Tim (Ratcheer) for confirming your recollection.

I just want to add that amongst the bourbons available today, the one that reminds me most of the old Benchmark is Elmer T. Lee.

Gary

[cowdery]

I have a small correction for Gary and a couple of additional comments. The correction is that Benchmark was originally made at the big Seagrams plant in Louisville, not at Four Roses. I learned just the other day from an old Seagrams man that the Louisville plant was Mr. Sam's (Sam Bronfman, that is) pride and joy, so everyone was shocked when it was shut down in the early 1980s.

The other interesting fact about Benchmark is that it was the last new bourbon brand introduced, at least by a major producer, until Booker's and Blanton's debuted in the late 1980s. For some reason I vividly remember the ad campaign. It showed a man's lower legs, clad in jeans and wearing cowboy boots, crossed as if in repose, next to the bottle, on what looked like a weathered wooden fence or something like that.

Eagle Rare was another Seagrams bourbon that they introduced at about the same time. Sazerac picked both of them up in one of the first big brand sell-offs Seagrams did in the 1980s, probably at about the same time Seagrams closed the Louisville plant. This was before Sazerac bought Buffalo Trace. During that period, the whiskey was Heaven Hill.

McAfee is a name associated with the Buffalo Trace site in Frankfort and, as Gary says, it was a much later addition.

[gr8erdane]

I have the exact same bottle as the one shown on eBay and I believe I traded one just like it to Cliff or someone else at a prior Gazebo as I found two. Sounds like they run in pairs....

[ThomasH]

Ohio sell the 8yr, 80 proof version of Mcafee's Benchmark for 16.80 a 1.75L bottle or about 8.00 for a 750ml. The brand seems to sell well in its price range and I have heard favorable comments about it!

Thomas

[Ken Weber]

Benchmark is simply an entry level bourbon. It is 4 years old and I am sure the folks at InSpirit (our agency in the UK) used it to convey the idea that we do not sell it in the UK because it is vastly inferior to Buffalo Trace. That being said, they wanted to compare Jack to Benchmark. I really tried to word this as subtly as possible, but there just isn't any easy way to do it.

Ken