Tasting notes

nose

nougat and toasted brown sugar set against black pepper, clove, grains of paradise and pink peppercorn, with malty grain and a touch of allspice below

palate

broad and mouth-filling, moving between sweet, spicy and savory; peppermint and scorched caramel open onto rose petal, cherry and blackberry jam

finish

long and peppery; rye spice, ginger root and sweet mint linger, with a hint of dill before it dries to oak and honey lozenge

Mash bill

95% rye, 5% malted rye. With no corn or barley in the recipe, this is an all-rye whiskey, and the malted rye supplies the enzymes the rest of the grain needs to convert into fermentable sugar. That near-total rye content is what drives the black pepper, clove and pink peppercorn spice. The mash is fermented sour mash style in open fermenters.

Awards

• Gold Medal — New Orleans Spirits Competition 2024
• Gold Medal — San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2024

Why it's craft

This is 100% rye grain, made on site in Newport and bottled one barrel at a time, so each bottle shows what a single cask did to the spirit. Each barrel is tasted and approved by New Riff's panel, then bottled at the strength it left the wood, with no dilution and no chill filtration. The distillery, founded in 2014, ferments by sour mash in open tanks and draws its water from a limestone aquifer under the building.