If you’ve been selling whiskey as long as I have, it’s easy to get jaded. The Bourbon gold rush of recent years hasn’t helped things either. Many of the bottles I used to recommend to customers are now either priced well beyond their relative value, or are simply unavailable. New products from producing distillers are few and far between. And while there are plenty of new products on the shelf, the majority of these are little more than labels. They are “produced” at the distillery listed on the bottle, but only infrequently are they actually distilled at that location. More often, the contents of the bottle will have been purchased from a much larger distillery (Heaven Hill, Dickel, MGP, etc.). In some cases, inexpensive whiskies purchased from Canada are even dressed up to resemble Bourbon or American Rye. What a mess!

Rest assured though, all is not lost. A handful of producers, like New Riff, have chosen the harder path. They’ve chosen to make their own whiskey. And that’s no small feat. “Producing” whiskey is almost as simple as getting a distiller’s license and a bottling line. But actually distilling and aging the stuff requires a significant outlay of capital. Investing in equipment, rickhouses and ingredients only to wait four or more years for a finished product isn’t a business plan that appeals to most investors. That’s why it’s really something special when a new distillery finds its footing, and begins releasing properly aged Bourbon. It’s why I’m a fan of New Riff and similar operations, and why I think they’re especially deserving of your attention.

Despite the name and their young history, New Riff feels like an established player. The whiskies hold their own against any of the industry’s giants. New Riff speaks with a unique voice, but feels immediately classic, as though they’ve been making this stuff since your grandpappy drank it. It’s almost impossible to believe they’re less than a decade old.

Our single barrel bottling is a great example. It was distilled in January of 2019, and bottled this March. The bottle clocks in at 109.8 proof, only a minute shift from its entry proof of 110. It wears it well, opening up to flavors of tobacco, tea and citrus. These delicate flavors were a hit with our tasters, and probably owe more to individual barrel variation than to New Riff’s proprietary two-stage toasting/charring process. It’s savoriness puts me in mind of older bottlings of the Evan Williams Vintage Single Barrel. I’d call it a “sit and think” kind of whiskey. But ultimately it doesn’t taste like Evan, or Knob Creek or Blanton’s or anything else. Instead, it tastes exactly like New Riff. Boy that feels good to say.

The Randall’s 25th Anniversary bottling of New Riff Bourbon is available now at all Missouri Randall’s locations.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!