New Riff - Kentucky Straight Malted Rye - 6 Year - BiB
$60
New Riff – Kentucky Straight Malted Rye – 6 Year – BiB
Proof: 100
Age: 6 Year
Distillery: New Riff Distilling
Type: Malted Rye Whiskey – Bottled in Bond
Mash: 100% Malted Rye Whiskey
Website: New Riff Distillery
*Disclaimer: A score of 5 is the midpoint for my reviews. Above 5 I like it. Below 5 I didn’t for some reason. Most of my reviews are between 4-7. It takes something really really special to go above 7 or below 4. See the methodologies for rating at the end of the article
Nose: Sweet Orange Peel, Obvious Rye Spice, Oatmeal Cookies, Pancakes, & Mild Vanilla.
Taste/Palate: Very sweet upfront. Orange Push Up, Rye and Cinnamon Spice, Vanilla, with Mild Charred Oak. Rye heat picks up in the midpalate.
Finish: Soft and creamy. The rye spice settles down on the finish and you are left with more Orange, Crème Brule, Lingering Cinnamon, Light Oak, and a touch of Maple.
Verdict: I very much enjoyed this. Zesty Fruit Forward with the right amount of Sweet and Spice. I feel like they could have pulled this Bottled in Bond at year 4, but they did it a favor and let it sit for 2 more year. I think that 6 years seems to be a good look on this dram. I’d love to see what 4 and 10 years look like for comparison sake, but this one hit the nail on the head. The Orange forward Slightly reminded me of Dragon’s Milk – Origins.
The Story: The first time I saw New Riff on the shelf it was a Single Barrel Bourbon, but it was young (~ 4 Years). It had a $60+ price tag on it and I immediately put the bottle down. There were too many other options in that price range that I wanted to try first and I was a little salty about the 4 year bourbon costing what it did. Years later I returned to New Riff to give it a go. I WAS impressed by the 4 year bourbon and I would say that it’s worth to take a look at, even for $60. When I saw the Malted Rye 6 Year it peaked my interest, and here we are today.
The Distillery’s Story: “We are a new riff on an old tradition, that tradition or theme being Kentucky Bourbon. Founded in 2014 by Ken Lewis, a visionary Kentucky liquor retailer and entrepreneur, New Riff is led by a team of corporate refugees ranging from craft beer to politics and more. New Riff crafts a range of whiskeys—Bourbon, Rye, and eventually Malted Rye and a host of specialty recipes—as well as Kentucky Wild Gin. Our mission is simple: to someday be counted among the world’s great small distilleries. Becoming one of the great small distilleries of the world is a long term play, with no exact ring to win, or title to be declared.
We are independently owned by one family, and that independence, the freedom from outside pressures and interests has allowed us to make an unforeseen declaration for quality: for perhaps the first time since the inception of the Bottled in Bond Act in 1897, a Kentucky sour mash whiskey distillery has committed itself exclusively to that quality standard, the world’s highest. And we proudly lift that bar even higher by bottling without chill filtration. We stand behind this combination of classic American entrepreneurship and ingenuity; passion and knowledge born from one of the world’s great spirit regions; and a talented team individually committed to doing things the right way.
We are inspired by the great Bourbon makers of the past and the wider tradition in Kentucky—but we will play our own riff, on the Sour Mash Kentucky Regimen, both with our standard of Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration, and through applying that production regimen to wholly new styles of Kentucky whiskey. Yet we also observe the tremendous whiskey history of Greater Cincinnati, and we inhale that rye-rich backstory as well. At the end of the day, despite playing a free hand to improvise and create Kentucky whiskey anew, we uphold above all else the time-honored Sour Mash Kentucky Regimen: we believe it’s a fantastic way to make whiskey, fully the equal of the traditions of the world’s great whiskeys.”
“New Riff Malted Rye is elegant. Graceful. It presents plenty of spice but in a much more sophisticated fashion than our standard 95% rye. It actually makes more sense to us to think of it as a malted whiskey first, and a rye whiskey second. At a generous six years old, our New Riff Malted Rye Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration is the oldest New Riff whiskey yet released, and will remain at six years as something of an exclamation point atop our standard portfolio.”
Methodologies for Rating:
1. Dump it down the drain or regift it to someone you don’t care for.
2. This doesn’t even belong in a mixed drink. Use in case of an emergency.
3. It’s really not for me, but I heard some people like it.
4. Its only good when I’ve had too many and it’s decent in a mixer.
5. Average. Not bad, but not special.
6. Above average. Good to bring to an event and you wouldn’t expect any guff from it.
7. Buy two if you see it to make sure you have one on reserve.
8. Very Very good. Constantly a GREAT POUR.
9. Superb. If I were to drink this and only this from now on I’d be a happy person.
10. Perfection is impossible. But this really comes as close as you can possibly get.
Reviewer: David S
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