New Riff Kentucky Straight Bourbon

The first release of New Riff’s Straight Bourbon is a dram ahead of its time.

Ken Lewis has been selling Spirits for more than thirty years. He owned and ran one of the most successful retail stores in the country — The Party Source in Bellevue, Kentucky. He sold the company to his employees in 2014 and used the funds to launch New Riff Distillery with co-founder Jay Erisman in Newport that same year — just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. As head distiller Brian Sprance was distilling Spirits and laying down casks for aging, they sourced Spirits from MGP in Indiana and sold them under the O.K.I. band (now retired). They are now releasing their own complete line of house-crafted Spirits and are an official stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

New Riff Kentucky Straight Bourbon is taking a bit of a different approach. To begin with, this new and modern distillery is embracing the oldest of designations. Their Straight Bourbon (and Rye) has “Bottled In Bond” pressed into the glass. That means that the Spirit meets a bunch of specifications for strength, purity, and labeling and that this process is overseen by federal agents in their warehouse. This is uncommon at start-up craft distillers. The Bourbon has a mash bill of 65% corn, 30% Rye, and 5% malted barley that are certified 100% non-GMO. This Double-Gold winner is aged four year and bottled at 50% without chill-filtration, so let’s get the party started.