![]() The end is very faint and almost vodka-like with a tapwater vibe. The taste is “classic” bourbon with very watery hints of leather, spice, and cornmeal next to vanilla extract, caramel, and old buttered popcorn. Once the barrels are vatted, the whiskey is proofed all the way down to 80 proof for bottling.įaint lemon candies and honey lead to an old vanilla wafer and wet cornmeal on the nose but not much else. The juice in this bottle is from the aforementioned Buffalo Trace Mash no. All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits CompetitionĦ.We Tasted Bourbon Whiskeys ‘Double-Blind’ And Tried To Guess Each Bottle.The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked.We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner.We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller.Multitudes, folks!Īlright, let’s dive in and rank some great bourbon - on taste alone - from the bottom shelf.Īlso Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months That said, this is also a cheap bourbon that’s having a bit of a moment thanks to awards love over the last year or two (it’s still a Buffalo Trace product after all). If, say, a few barrels of Eagle Rare or Old Charter don’t quite meet the flavor profile standards of those brands, those barrels will likely end up (ie, be blended out) in a Benchmark, which is still a bottom-shelf whiskey. That said, Buffalo Trace is still a business with a bottom line too. Benchmark is batched, proofed, and bottled to match Benchmark’s flavor profile, not Taylor’s or Stagg’s. Each of the bourbons from that famed mash bill are still all housed and aged in unique ways that inform the flavor profile of the final product. While using the same mash bill doesn’t quite make Benchmark the “poor man’s Eagle Rare,” it does speak to the quality of the spirit that goes into the barrel and eventually the bottles. We do know that the same mash bill is used to make Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Stagg, Eagle Rare, Old Charter, and Colonel E.H. Of course, Buffalo Trace doesn’t divulge the exact parameters of any of their bills, so we don’t know how “low” the rye content is or how “high” the corn content is. 1,” which is their low-rye bourbon mash (one of Buffalo Trace’s four core mash bills overall). Benchmark is just such a whiskey, and today I’m going to rank the whole line.īenchmark is one of the many brands that come from Buffalo Trace’s “Mash Bill no. The thing is, Buffalo Trace is a massive distillery operation with 19 brands coming off their stills, which means they’re also producing plenty of inexpensive bourbon whiskey. I will not be drinking anymore Benchmark Full Proof straight but I’m sure it will be fine for cooking and cocktails.Buffalo Trace is renowned for high-priced bourbon whiskey that, these days, is damn near unattainable ( Weller, Pappy, Stagg, Eagle Rare…). I was once again surprised by how good Stagg Jr iseven right next to GTS. Stars: 3 - Excellent whiskey: I would be willing to hunt down a bottle Conclusion The finish is very long, slightly dry and a little spicy with fading cola and lingering oak and rye spice. The proof integration is excellent, it lets you know it’s a heavyweight without overwhelming. The palate has notes of rich oak, cherry cola, caramel, vanilla cream, baking spice and a bit of brown sugar. Notes: The nose is like an overly boozy holiday spiced cherry pie. Stars: 3 - Excellent whiskey: I would be willing to hunt down a bottle George T Stagg 2020 Great texture and mouthfeel that is thick but not oily.The long finish has notes of lingering spice, oak and faint cherry. The palate brings cherry cola, rich oak, baking spices, caramel and enough proof to let you know it’s there. Notes: The nose is all cherry and rye spice. ![]() Stars: 0 - Poor to Fine: I would not specifically choose to drink this over other readily available options Stagg Jr Batch 15 The mouthfeel is solid but the proof is not well integrated. The palate is slightly harsh with ethanol burn, caramel, baking spice and a bit of cherry. Notes: The nose brings ethanol with a bit of spiced cherry pie. Also, I apparently forgot to write a review of 2020 GTS so this will have to count as that too. The blind tasting video is on Instagram and YouTube if you want to watch it alternatively read below for the results and tasting notes. Between that and my own experience with EHT Single Barrel vs Benchmark Bonded I was intrigued. I was chatting with a friend who referred to Benchmark Full Proof as Stagg Jr Jr claiming he had heard it was pretty close to Stagg Jr.
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