New Riff Distillery hasn’t been slowing down one bit. They lately accomplished a major growth at their Newport, Kentucky distillery, growing manufacturing capability by 50%, and so they’ve added the mandatory barrel warehousing at a close-by web site. In addition they elevated their distribution footprint to incorporate whiskey-hungry Florida and Illinois. And so they stay, as ever, devoted to creating what they name “whiskey riffs.” The newest, nevertheless, is definitely a riff on a riff. I’ll allow them to clarify:
“Final yr we launched our Malted Rye Whiskey, and experiencing its remarkably elegant, refined character gave us one other concept,” mentioned co-founder Jay Erisman. “We consider it as a malt whiskey first and a rye whiskey second, which raised the query: what would occur if we handled it like different malt whiskies and aged it in sherry casks?”
New Riff’s first batches of 100% Malted Rye Whiskey had been distilled in 2014, and the preliminary launch landed in Could 2021. For this sherry completed elaboration, New Riff imported custom-made 53-gallon Spanish sherry casks and crammed them with 5-year-old New Riff Malted Rye Whiskey. Twelve oloroso and three Pedro Ximenez casks had been full of whiskey and aged one other yr, earlier than being vatted within the fall of 2021 and left to marry and situation collectively for a number of following months till they had been bottled in spring of 2022 (at cask power).
The distillery has put out no scarcity of successful “riffs” in recent times, together with the malted rye on the coronary heart of this expression. Let’s see how the newest version stacks up.
The sherry ending and better proof have undoubtedly added some heft to the aroma in comparison with the usual malted rye with ample spice cupboard and leathery notes of darkish berries and candy almond paste. The sherry isn’t overpowering although, and issues stay pretty wood-driven with cinnamon stick and toasty barrel char rising extra outstanding because it opens within the glass. The palate showcases much more candy sherry character with daring, syrupy notes of blackberry cobbler and raspberry candies. The rye spice is unusually a bit extra outstanding than within the unique, with black pepper and clove popping on the mid-palate and segueing to a beneficiant end of cooked purple fruits, some gentle oaky astringency, and lingering notes of tobacco and cherry juice.
Like previous restricted editions, this bottle was made out there solely to New Riff’s Whiskey Membership and choose retailers. Nevertheless, the success of Malted Rye final yr has landed it within the New Riff core lineup, so maybe we shall be seeing much more of this sherry-finished expression sooner or later.
112.7 proof.
A- / $65 / newriffdistilling.com
New Riff Malted Rye Sherry End
$65
About Submit Creator
