New Riff Malted Rye Bottled in Bond

Finally. Not so much an excitement that New Riff is finally getting around to anything particular, but instead that I finally have possession of the product that I paid for quite some time ago. It was really quite an unprofessional process that was needed to get this bottle, but that's not really important on this platform. Focusing on the product itself, and I am very excited that this is the one that came out (or at least, was released early). All rye whiskey should be no less than 90% rye, so 100% can't be argued, and with all of it being malted rye, this is a significantly rare, delicious creation. 6 years is a perfect baseline age, and although 100 proof is my personal bare minimum, I'm hoping it allows some of the grain flavor to shine through. The color does have dark brown depth to it, more than you'd seemingly find from just a 6 year, but New Riff has been known to have much darker whiskies than seen traditionally, no matter the proof or age. Some traditional rye notes pop on the nose, like grass, cinnamon, mint, etc, but they're all a slightly more savory version. Although chocolate is not traditionally considered savory, the scent of cocoa with none of the sweetness and is also present. I would attribute this to the slightly longer age, because I also get good oak, vanilla, and caramel notes. The initial taste gives off the brighter notes of the rye, with cinnamon and herbaceousness moving around the gums. Fairly decent charred oak is also present, thanks to the couple extra years of aging to traditional New Riff. What seems like it would be very standard so far isn't so as the finish approaches; add some air, and you realize that you'll get no gum burn with this whiskey. This is a factor I love from malted rye as opposed to traditional rye, in addition to also letting more flavors of the grain get unlocked without dealing with a spice bomb. I do wish that the proof was higher, because this would mean more grain flavor detected from the presence of less water, and would make up for the total lack of burn whatsoever. The finish is nothing but malty grain, with the charred oak sweetening this up just so slightly. This has definitely been a great entry from New Riff into a proper rye, especially a malted rye. Nothing very exciting or uniquely done (this is more one of the old riffs), but I'm glad it is what it is, because a 100% malted rye is rare enough to find as it is, so enjoying the grain for what it can be should be all your focus is on. I'm glad I acquired this, even though a hoop amusement park was built for the specific purpose of watching me suffer just to get this bottle. It was certainly less special to find out that this was just an early release for the distillery club members, but I am hoping that we at least got a good deal from it. Unfortunately, this whiskey is only worth it for what I got it for ($60), and not a dollar more, so here's hoping that the distillery club just got it earlier, and not cheaper.

Neat. Neck pour. Just picked this up from the distillery two hours ago, time to enjoy it on the porch surrounded by my closest 100+ cicada friends that are making quite the ruckus out here. Oh man, it’s dark and my first nosing note was the oak! The oak on a New Riff! So excited to see them reach this mile Stone of a 6 year age statement. This is dark on first impression. Oak, malt, charred caramel and pepper. Starting to find a very nice floral layer and powder sugar sweetness. The nose is mostly subtle though. Only 100 proof and it smells lower than that. Mouthfeel is coating but not quite creamy. Very sweet on first impression on the tongue. It has this familiar childhood cereal flavor initially, I’m going with Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Transitions to a fabulous caramel and butterscotch mid palate. The rye doesn’t come in until the finish and it has a delicious malted milk ball and chocolate note with it. More floral is coming mid palate as I spend time with it, mirroring the nose. This is a deceptive rye. Either the malting process or the extra age really creates more of a profile I would associate with a bourbon than rye. The rye pops up on the finish but it’s honestly nothing more than the rye in a New Riff bourbon or a MGP high rye bourbon. I like this so much. I don’t want to overhype it, but for the $60 price tag this is a fantastic Sunday afternoon sipper. If it were more expensive, my score would go down. In the price range, this is one of my favorite ryes and one of my favorite experimental bottles.