The nose bears caramel notes with a delicate stone-fruit backdrop. A robust & sturdy palate with some fine leather notes mingling with dry tobacco, a touch of oak & a hint of dried cherries. Benchmark is named after the intrepid Mc Afee 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 & George T. Stagg.