Review #: 59
Description: New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon: Diamond in the R/iff
Spirit: Bourbon
Background: New Riff has emerged as a solid, high quality craft producer of bourbon and rye with their impressive distillery in Northern Kentucky. Their standard whiskies are all Bottled-In-Bond and no whiskies are under 4 years of age. Their single barrel line has also received praise and has been a great option for groups to select their own barrels, including a panel from the /r/bourbon community of reddit. A member of the community was gracious enough to send me a sample to try, as I was unable to get a bottle. New Riff’s bourbon is comprised of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley and non-chillfiltered.
Distillery – New Riff
Bottler – New Riff
Brand – New Riff
Selection – r/Bourbon
ABV – 55.5%
Age – 4 Years, 1 Day
Nose – Oak, tobacco, barrel spice, some slight ethanol present throughout
Taste – Rich cocoa, leather, pepper, caramel
Finish – Drying oak, barrel and rye spice, cinnamon lingers in the back of the throat
Score: 7
Would I buy a bottle? Yes and I wish I could have (it sold out nearly immediately)
Thoughts: This does not taste at all like a barely 4 year old bourbon. There is a lot of great oak influence going on here but not with the young astringency you might normally see. New Riff is doing some great things with their bourbon and I am very excited to try their stuff as it gets more and more mature. I think the low entry proof and high rye content are big parts of that. Big shoutout to the tasting panel for picking this great barrel and I think we should all be excited for the expanded picks to come!