When New Riff opened for business, an 8-year-old bourbon was likely just a stock photo on a vision board. At that time, there were about 400 distilleries in the US, and the name of the game for all craft distilleries was pretty much “do what you need to do to stay afloat.”
For many that meant making vodka or gin, selling unaged whiskey, or buying whiskey from someone else… whatever it took. And while most distillers dreamed of selling amazing aged whiskey, that meant stashing away barrels even though the business could hardly afford to wait. Nearly a decade later, the fruits have come to bear for New Riff.
New Riff didn’t need to wait eight years for recognition. The same spirit – a non-chill filtered, 100-proof whiskey with a mashbill of 65%, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley – garnered acclaim in the flagship bottle and single barrels when it was just four years old. But time has a way of making even good things better.
New Riff 8-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
The backbone of the New Riff 8-year-old bourbon is still readily apparent, with its excellent pairing of sweetness and big rye spice kick. Waiting four more years brought additional levels of complexity to the spirit, though, showing off more fruit and oakiness and a bigger mouthfeel… a term that, to this day, I still feel weird using.
The one thing missing from the 8-year bourbon is the bottled-in-bond monicker that adorns almost all New Riff’s whiskeys. This isn’t a nefarious attempt to skirt the rules, though. Because this was the first extra-aged whiskey out of the gate, they had to combine barrels from two different distilling seasons to have enough. Sadly, that’s against the rules. So, for the first year, you’ll have to suffer the indignity of lacking a government stamp of approval.
The upside is that they believe the flavors still have room to evolve before hitting that tipping point, so we might see an even older New Riff bourbon down the road.
“Oaky flavors throughout are richer yet, importantly, not at all tannic or drying. Rather, the freshness evidenthereis exceptional, suggesting a barrel of New Riff bourbon at 8years old has a long life of aging ahead of it.”
Jay Erisman, Co-founder of New Riff
If you’re a fan of bourbon that surpasses the decade mark, that should be music to your ears.
Tasting notes
Appearance: deep amber, copper
Nose: copious cherries and red fruits, fresh spearmint leaves
Taste: dark berries, cedar plank, savory rye spice
Finish: rich tannic oak balanced with a sweet cream butteriness.
New Riff 8-Year-Old Bourbon – $65
