Gary

Managing apostle and whiskey enthusiast

New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon

/ / Bourbon, Review /

New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon

Distilled Fall 2015, Bottled Fall 2019
Barrel 15-4134
55.8% ABV
$50
Website
New Riff Single Barrel Bourbon

What the Distillery Says

BARREL PROOF WITHOUT CHILL FILTRATION
AGED AT LEAST 4 YEARS
HIGH RYE MASH BILL – 30 % RYE

New Riff Distilling’s core Bourbon expression is a genuinely high-rye, full bodied whiskey offering savory, spicy character, bottled at Barrel Proof without Chill Filtration. Featuring a mash bill of non-GMO grains at 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley, it represents a new riff on Kentucky’s most hallowed whiskey traditions. Aged four years in 53-gallon toasted and charred new oak barrels, there are no shortcuts taken in our production. All New Riff whiskeys are made with the full sour mash Kentucky Regimen; all carry an age statement, and are always bottled without chill filtration.

At New Riff, single barrel expressions are a way of life. As former Kentucky liquor retailers, we are intimately familiar with some of Kentucky’s most famed private barrel Bourbon selections ever, and we bring that experience to New Riff. A New Riff Private Barrel selection, whether for trade or private clients, offers an unparalleled experience, replete with tasting notes and an immersive process in our warehouse. Each New Riff single barrel has been tasted and approved by our production panel. Our retail and on-premise partners then select each of their private barrels themselves. In the end, you can taste a New Riff Single Barrel knowing it was fully vetted and thoroughly tasted and approved.

TASTING NOTES
While each Single Barrel owns its specific flavor profile, New Riff Bourbon generally shows big and spicy flavors. This is not a light, delicate, simple whiskey—we have crafted for robust and fulsome flavor from start to finish. Our unfiltered bottling regimen allows all the character of the barrel to shine through in the glass.

Appearance: Extra rich, unfiltered deep amber color.
Nose: Butterscotch rounding into fresh oak, with hints of vanilla and rye spice.
Taste: Broad, fulsome mouthfeel, leading to a sweeter vanilla accent, before a gathering of rye spices (clove, cinnamon, mint, dark berry) into the finish.
Finish: Long, rye-led finish, with brambly red-black fruits amid white pepper and clove.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Corn flakes, vanilla, light caramel cremes, cinnamon, oak with a bit of anise and clove.
Palate:  A tad sharp and on the spicy side with caramel and vanilla, brown sugar, oak, hints of dark chocolate and toffee.
Finish:  Short, drying with toffee, brown sugar and spice.
Comments:  For a four year old bourbon, this is solid. I like that New Riff isn’t cutting corners, and using full sized barrels (and appreciate the non-chill filtration!)  Also really liked what I heard in an interview with Ken Lewis by Bourbon Pursuit (which was after I wrote this review).  At this price point, you’re paying a premium like you would with a craft distillery – but getting a solid whiskey, and supporting folks who are in the whiskey business to make great whiskey. I’m hoping that as products get some age (and they recoup some of their fixed costs) the prices will come down.  One thing I’m not a big fan of is their bottle.  I like to see the color of my whisk(e)y in the bottle, and the matte black treatment done to the top half (which I find is well executed as it fades, and artistically is attractive) tends to make it more difficult to see the true color of the whisk(e)y.  I’m not throwing that out as an accusation (the bourbon in the glass has a nice color, even at just four years old), but just an observation.

Rating: Stands Out

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New Riff Rye Bottled In Bond

/ / Review, Rye Whiskey /

New Riff Kentucky Straight Rye Bottled In Bond
Distilled Spring 2015; Bottled Spring 2019

50% ABV
$50
Website
New Riff Bottled in Bond Rye

What the Distillery Says

BOTTLED IN BOND WITHOUT CHILL FILTRATION
100% RYE (95% RYE, 5% MALTED RYE)
AGED AT LEAST 4 YEARS

New Riff Distilling’s core Rye whiskey is full-bodied, offering hugely spicy character. Building upon America’s 1897 Bottled-in-Bond Act—already the highest quality standard for aged spirits in the world—New Riff Rye is Bottled In Bond Without Chill Filtration. Featuring a unique mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye, it represents a new riff on our hallowed local Rye whiskey traditions. Aged four years in full-size 53-gallon toasted and charred new oak barrels, there are no shortcuts taken in its traditional production. All New Riff whiskeys are made with the full sour mash Kentucky Regimen; all carry an age statement and are always bottled without chill filtration.

Our distillers learned the black arts of the hardest whiskey in the world to make—the famed 95% Rye—under the direct tutelage of the distiller who mastered it in Indiana, Larry Ebersold of Seagram’s. Taking Master Larry’s instruction in hand, we put a riff on it to the tune of adding 5% malted rye, a unique twist that aids in pulling additional flavors out of the rye and adds a touch of the elegance of malted rye. New Riff Rye is splendid with a splash of water, and of course folds magnificently into classic Rye Manhattan and Old Fashioned cocktails.

TASTING NOTES
Appearance: Extra rich, unfiltered deep amber color.
Nose: Spicy and detailed, showing mint, black pepper, and vanilla with hints of orange and oak.
Taste: Cinnamon spice, vanilla and sweet toffee moving into a bold mouth feel with rich Rye spice, caramel and toasted oak. Complex flavors drink older than four-year-old.
Finish: Bold Rye spice with vanilla buttercream and lingering brown sugar, plus a mineral-grassy Rye tone that fades slowly.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Big time rye spice with mint, dill, citrus spice tending more towards lemon/lime than orange, some vanilla with cracked pepper, pine, and subtle oak.
Palate:  Nice creamy mouthfeel with a sharp rye bite, vanilla, mint, cinnamon, pepper, a lemon/lime citrus zip with a bit of caramel.
Finish:  Short with minty pepper notes and lingering caramel sweetness.
Comments:  I’ll agree with that that this drinks better that most four-year old ryes. I appreciate the non-chill filtration, and that definitely helps. This takes water well, opens up the pine on the nose and mellows the rye bite a bit, bringing up a bit of honey. I won’t lie – $50 for a 4 yr bottle-in-bond rye stung at the register, but in a blind tasting – I liked this markedly more than Rittenhouse Bottled-in-Bond (and only a tad less than Pikesville 110 Rye, which is a bit higher ABV and 2 yrs older). After listening to an interview with Ken Lewis by Bourbon Pursuit (which was after I wrote this review), I’m an even bigger fan – and can’t wait to see how New Riff’s whiskey is with some age on it.

Rating: Stands Out

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Maker’s Mark Private Select – Dekalb Bottle House 2018

/ / Bourbon, Review / ,

Maker’s Mark Private Select
Exclusive Oak Stave Selection – Dekalb Bottle House (TANSTAAFL)

55.7% ABV
$70
Website

What the Distillery Says

At Maker’s Mark, our wood-finishing series was created to explore new, unique expressions of our signature whisky. Beginning as fully matured Maker’s Mark® at cask strength, Private Select is created by adding 10 custom wood finishing staves to each barrel. It’s then aged in our limestone cellar to extract a unique, flavorful taste profile. Participants in this special barrel program get their say in the selection of these wooden staves. The finishing staves can be any combination of five flavor profiles chosen especially for this program. With 1,001 possible stave combinations, each expression of Private Select has a customized finish and taste profile that is unique, yet undeniably Maker’s®. Maker’s Mark Private Select® is available in select markets and also at our distillery.

Below are the notes on the different staves
The Maker’s 46® stave: The one that started this whole experiment. It delivers notes of dried fruit, vanilla and spice that you may be familiar with if you’ve tried Maker’s 46.
The Baked American Pure stave: Baked American Pure is American oak that’s slowly toasted. It adds notes of brown sugar, vanilla, caramel and spice.
The Seared French Cuvée stave: Seared French Cuvée is a French oak stave that’s cooked with infrared heat. It imparts toasty notes of oak and caramel.
The Roasted French Mocha stave: Roasted French Mocha is French oak cooked on high in a convection oven. It adds pleasant traces of char, maple and cacao.
The Toasted French Spice stave: Toasted French Spice is a French oak stave, cooked at both high and low temperatures in a convection oven. This stave has a flavor profile of smoke, coumarin and spice.

The finishing with the additional staves is typically 9 weeks.

This specific barrel’s stave selections were:

Seared French Cuvée: 1
Maker’s 46: 4
Roasted French Mocha: 4
Toasted French Spice: 1

What Gary Says
Nose:  Caramel, toffee, butterscotch, bits of dark chocolate, hints of anise, cinnamon, french oak.
Palate:  Sweet but spicy, caramel corn, toffee, nutmeg, dusting of pepper and cinnamon, hints of clove and vanilla.
Finish:  Moderately long with lingering baking spices.
Comments:  Like other Maker’s Mark Private Selections, this is more spicy than your typical Maker’s Mark (even the cask strength version).  I like this a lot, and this makes an outstanding Old Fashioned.  Takes a bit of water well, keeping the spice while tamping down the edges a bit.

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

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Chattanooga Whiskey 1816 Cask Unfiltered Barrel Proof Bourbon

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Chattanooga Whiskey 1816 Cask
Unfiltered Barrel Proof Small Batch Bourbon

56.8% ABV
$37-$42
Website
Chattanooga Whiskey 1816 Cask Unfiltered Barrel Proof Bourbon

What the Producer Says

Unfiltered Barrel Proof
Proof: 113.6 (56.8% ALC/VOL)
Mash Bill: 75% corn, 21% rye, 4% malted barley
Age: Blend of barrels between 2 and 10 years old
Created by selecting barrels from the hottest and driest portions of the rick house – which are not only higher proof – but exhibit a bolder, sweeter, spicier, more barrel-forward character. Richness is preserved by omitting a traditional filtration step and bottling at 113.6 proof. With distinct notes of baking spices, toffee pudding and brown sugar, the result expresses whiskey in its truest form – straight from the cask.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Freshly baked fudge brownies, oak, corn flakes, caramel, subtle cinnamon and vanilla.
Palate:  A brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, oak, corn syrup, pepper spice near the back and cinnamon spice.
Finish:  Short to moderate, drying with chocolate and pepper notes.
Comments:  I was pleasantly surprised with this – hats off to the blender. I’ve had some blends of old and young bourbon where the young whiskey is too prominent, and to me is a waste of the older stock.  I get some notes from the young whiskey, but a lot of chocolate which I really enjoy in a bourbon. Fair amount of oak, but not too much – and a bit of water tamps that.

Rating: Stands Out

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Knob Creek Quarter Oak

/ / Bourbon, Review /

Knob Creek Quarter Oak
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

50% ABV
$50
Website
Knob Creek Quarter Oak
We would like to thank Beam Suntory and Multiply for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distillery Says

Knob Creek® Bourbon, a leader in the Small Batch Bourbon category for more than 25 years, is excited to announce a new, limited edition bourbon in its award-winning portfolio, Knob Creek® Quarter Oak. This special, limited-time release uses a secondary finishing approach to continue the vision founding distiller Booker Noe set for Knob Creek decades ago: to craft bourbon with the fullest flavors characteristic of pre-prohibition style.

With its latest release, Knob Creek explores and deepens the influence of oak on its flagship bourbon. Knob Creek Quarter Oak takes the brand’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, crafted in the pre-prohibition style fans expect from Knob Creek, and finishes it for a minimum of four years in quarter cask, American oak barrels to increase the amount of contact between the whiskey and wood. A small amount of this unique, secondarily finished whiskey – which delivers richer notes of oak – is then mingled with Knob Creek® Kentucky Straight Bourbon to create the final product that boasts a harmonious balance of oak influence and traditional, sweeter notes.

“When Dad created Knob Creek in the early 90s, he wanted to bring back the big, bold flavors that bourbon offered before the days of Prohibition,” said Fred Noe, Booker’s son and Beam Family 7th Generation Master Distiller. “Dad loved to experiment in his quest for flavor, and I like to think we carry on that same spirit today with releases like this. Finishing our full-flavored liquid in quarter casks delivers a really nice, deepened wood flavor to the bourbon our fans enjoy.”

Knob Creek Quarter Oak is bottled with the following characteristics:

Proof: 100
Color: Dark Honey
Aroma: A nice blend of brown sweets, char and toasted oak with hints of dried fruits
Taste: Sweet, heavy oak with background notes of char, dried fruits and brown spices
Finish: Slightly sweet charred oak with a lingering dryness

What Gary Says

Nose:  Oak prominent, vanilla, burnt caramel, dark chocolate, blood orange, cigar paper with hints of dark roast coffee grounds and a bit of anise.
Palate:  Sweet to start with caramel, chocolate covered cherries, loads of baking spices – allspice, clove, a citrus-spice note, and oak.
Finish:  Moderately long, drying with cocoa and oak pepper spice.
Comments:  Compared to Knob Creek, I get more dark chocolate and spice notes throughout, along with plenty of oak. I’m not a big fan of ‘oak bombs’ – and to be clear, this isn’t that. It is definitely heavier on the oak as you’d expect, but is balanced well with some lovely spice notes. If you do like a lot of oak in your bourbon, you’ll probably love this.

Rating: Stands Out

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