The Mcafee’s Benchmark brand was created by Seagram’s in the late 1960s to be a luxury or premium-level bourbon. At that time, the whiskey was not called McAfee, but simply Benchmark Bourbon; and the name McAfee came much later. Originally Benchmark was sold in a decanter-style bottle with a black label.

The Benchmark brand name was purchased by the Sazerac Company in 1989 from Seagram’s. It is still owned by Sazerac Brands of New Orleans which also now owns Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, where Benchmark is now made. The origin of the McAfee name is that Hancock McAfee was, in 1775, one of the first European settlers at the site where Buffalo Trace stands today. The original Benchmark was made at Lawrenceburg, KY at the Four Roses Distillery when Seagram owned it. Buffalo Trace has packaged McAfee’s Benchmark similar to Jack Daniel’s and markets it as a less expensive alternative to the Tennessee Whiskey.