New Riff Kentucky Straight Rye Bottled In Bond

Bold, rich, spicy. Quality stuff

Sharp ethanol nose touch of apple. Spice on palate and finish just like a rye should be. Cinnamon and pear lingers. Very nice.

Rating: 12/23 N: Kind of smoky with a creosote woodiness. It smells fairly rich, but not incredibly strong. I get some apple with dry rye spices and herbs. There's a dash of light floral character here too. P: Light floral notes spring out along with dry rye spices before giving way to some apple and moderately lightly cooked caramel that occasionally borders slightly on banana. I get plenty of mint too. There's a bit of a harsh burn here unfortunately too. The sweetness seems about right - it's mostly dry, but there's enough sweetness to add some life without being more than a bit cloying. The wood with creosote shows through just enough to help balance the sweetness; despite its presence I'd still call this a somewhat lightly flavored whiskey. The highish proof really helps to keep this from tasting too light. F: The edge on the sweetness dissipates a bit, leaving some more apple richness and a hint of green banana with the wood. And still some mint. I feel like there's more going on here, but I'm having trouble picking it out. The lighter elements fade here, leaving me with a better impression of this whiskey as it finishes. - Conclusion - This is certainly better than Templeton 4, so it's at least a 12. Russell's Reserve 6 tastes much more mature, more rich, and a bit more complex, so this is certainly not as good as that, capping it at a 15. Realistically, I think that this is closer in quality to Templeton 4 than to Russell's Reserve 6 (it certainly tastes like this isn't more than 4 years old). So a 15 isn't happening. I think this means that I'm going to be landing on a 13 for this one, but I still can definitely imagine giving this a 12. Actually, that burn here is just too much. I'm going with a 12. Thanks to @ctbeck11 for the sample.

Wonderful floral aromas on the nose Some honey notes. Smooth vanilla on the palate, somewhat challenging to find anything on first taste. A spicy charred oak finish with some late mint as well. This taste was distilled in spring of 2016... Possibly the first model off the line so to speak for New Riff, I'm biased bc they're local, but a very impressive first effort for them.

Great flavor, very smooth. Notes of cherry and maple syrup.

Big fan, side by side with single barrel, which made the sb pop even more!