“A rew riff on an old tradition.”
New Riff Distillery was established back in 2014 and has wasted no time in making a name for itself. When it opened, the distillery only produced products that were sourced from another distillery. This is a common practice for new, craft distilleries who need to build a quick profit, but New Riff had another reason to wait. As part of the “new riff,” the distillery wanted to exclusively produce products that were bottled-in-bond without chill filtration. To date, they’ve released a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey and a bourbon counterpart.
Bottled-in-bond is a classification that dates back to 1897, but has gained a lot of traction in the last few days. In fact, these days it’s almost expected for a distillery or line to offer at least one bottled-in-bond offering. So that means distilleries have had to find a new trendy factor to play with – chill filtration. For New Riff, a lack of chill filtration was the only way to go. Chill filtration is performed in bourbon to remove some of the chemical compounds and sediments created by the aging process. Some argue that this process makes the bourbon more pure, others say it makes it less so – who can really say?
In addition to the bottled-in-bond and lack of chill filtration, New Riff has also added in a high-rye mash bill as an homage to the whiskey history of the Cincinnati area (just across the river from the distillery). Now that’s all a lot of words and a lot of selling points, but in New Riff’s Straight Bourbon it all certainly pays off. The high-rye mash bill is no joke with a mouthful of clove, pepper, and those key spicy, herbal flavors you’d expect. In fact, if it wasn’t for the lingering sweet caramel and vanilla notes, you might almost forget you’re tasting bourbon.
New Riff Straight Bourbon is a smooth, crisp bourbon that definitely delivers on its promise to bring a little something different to the bourbon scene.
STATS: New Riff Straight Bourbon
- Price for us: $34 for 750 mL
- Proof: 100
- Aged: 4 Years
- Distillery: New Riff Distillery
- Recommendation: Neat
