Tasting notes

nose

fresh-cut barley and bright grain, with green melon, tangerine and orchard fruit, then darker fruit and leathery sherry below

palate

grain leads, joined by sherry and gentle savory notes; cracker-like malt and citrus offset the richness

finish

long, thick and coating; sherry and tangerine dominate and linger well after the swallow

Mash bill

57% malted barley, 37% raw barley, 6% rye. Barley, the grain shared by brewing and distilling, makes up almost the whole recipe, split between malted barley for enzymes and cracker-like malt flavor and unmalted raw barley for a firmer, grainy character. The small rye portion adds a thread of spice. The recipe was built with Cincinnati brewery Rhinegeist, whose brewers work daily with malt and barley.

Why it's craft

Duet is a mostly barley whiskey, half malted and half raw grain, built with Rhinegeist brewers and married in one of the brewery's beer foeders before going back into used oak. Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks join new American oak in the blend. New Riff, founded in 2014 in Newport, distilled every drop itself and bottled it at barrel strength without chill filtration.