The primary brand expression is an 80 U.S. proof (40% alcohol by volume) bourbon aged "at least 36 months" according to its label.

[2][3] The Benchmark brand was created by Seagram's in the late 1960s to be a luxury or premium-level bourbon.

Originally Benchmark was sold in a decanter-style bottle with a black label.

The origin of the McAfee name is that James, George and Robert McAfee (along with James McCoun, Samuel Adams and Hancock Taylor) were, in 1773, the first early American explorers to survey land at the site where Buffalo Trace stands today.

The original Benchmark was made at Lawrenceburg, Kentucky at the Old Prentice Distillery, now known as Four Roses Distillery (on the Salt River, fittingly located 5 miles north of McAfee, Ky) when Seagram owned it.