New Riff Straight Rye

Flavor, flavor, and more flavor in a 95% Rye Whiskey powerhouse.

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. brand (now retired). They are now releasing their own complete line of house-crafted Spirits and are an official stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

If you are into Rye Whiskey then you know that to qualify as a Rye Whiskey, the mash bill must contain at least 51% rye grain. But rye is notoriously hard to work with, so most producers make sure to have a healthy amount of corn or wheat in the mash to smooth out the bumps. New Riff Straight Rye did NOT make it easy. Their mash bill is 95% rye grain with only 5% malted rye to help kick-start fermentation. And making a rye at this level is no simple thing to do. Moreover, this is their own distillate from their own still aged four years and bottled in bond at 50% ABV — making this a flavor bomb delicious on its own or as the foundation of one kick-butt Manhattan.