If you spend a lot of time on Instagram like me, you might have seen them come by, photos of a bottle of New Riff. This relatively young American distillery (founded in 2014) appears to be extremely popular. The design of these bottles is very striking, and it looks like the whole US is getting excited about this distillery.
Personally, I don’t know much about American whiskey and I don’t drink it too often either. Which resulted in me having only reviewed this Heaven Hill so far. But I think that will soon change, because I’m starting to find it more and more interesting, but also because Jason has given me some homework in the form of a batch of samples of American whiskey, including this New Riff. By the way, if you are interested in more information about this distillery, I recommend you to read Jason’s review/interview. Certainly worth it!
This New Riff consists of 95% rye and 5% malted rye. And it has matured in virgin oak barrels for 4 years and is bottled at 50% ABV.
New Riff tasting notes:
Nose: Somewhat spicy in the beginning, black peppers. Vanilla in the background. Coconut and a hint of strawberries. Some wood here too. Later it goes towards oranges.
Taste: Plenty of vanilla here. It’s quite peppery actually, that black pepper from the nose shows up here too. Coconut. Then some honey sweetness. Werter’s Original (a caramel candy) and a hint of sweet oranges. Dark chocolate and spices, such as cinnamon and cloves.
Finish: mid-long, drying and oaky. Somewhat spicy. And a bitter edge.
It’s a nice and solid young rye whiskey. But I find the finish a bit too dry for me.
Many thanks to Jason for the sample and photo!
