The nose bears caramel notes with a delicate stone-fruit backdrop. A robust and sturdy palate with some fine leather notes mingling with dry tobacco, a touch of oak and a hint of dried cherries. Benchmark is named after the intrepid McAfee brothers who carried out the original 1773 land survey of what later became Leestown. Produced at the Buffalo Trace Distillery, Benchmark starts out as the same mash bill that produces Buffalo Trace and George T. Stagg.