New Riff 4 Year Single Barrel Rye

Smooth and great candy like texture. 124.5 proof, barrel 15-5940. Review taste after bottle open for 3 months. One of my fav straight barrel strength rye at any age/location. Def not for most new rye drinkers

I love this nose. It is a wonderful rye nose with a very strong cinnamon and baking spice influence. Lots of mint, too. The palate is just way too hot for me. This is a bartender’s DREAM rye, though. Makes a wonderful spicy Manhattan or Boulevardier. It’s got all the classic rye notes, just turned up to 11. I’m torn on this one. It’s just too much rye spice (might just be this barrel) for me to genuinely enjoy neat, but it’s an amazing cocktail rye or with a few drops of water to open it up. I don’t know of any other whiskies using a 100% rye without any malted barley at all. That in itself is commendable.

I like licorice

Not my taste profile

Bad rye whiskey for someone trying to venture out into the rye whiskey world. I liked knob creek rye and thought this would be a nice upgrade... I quickly found out, rye whiskey is not for me.

Aroma starts kind of light and muted, but after a few minutes in the glass it blossoms and becomes a nice bouquet of oaky, spicy and sweet citrusy notes with a touch of dark sweetness; Palate comes through as a more complex version of the aroma with more fruit notes and a bigger dose of the dill-like spice; Finish is the perfect dark fade of oak and sweets with a bright pop of citrus.

Neat. Opened 12 months. Bottle kill! I loved this Single Barrel and this bottle seemed to past forever. Sad to see it go but a proper tasting feels like a good send off. The nose starts with a deep rye bread. Deep and dark and spicy with salt sprinkled on top. Behind that intense rye though is a ton of sweetness and citrus. Vanilla icing (like the kind that goes on cinnamon rolls). Orange. Lemon. Cinnamon. Clove. It’s just so nice. What I love about New Riff Rye is that there is zero dill and zero black licorice. My hate for those notes has declined over the years but I still find them in so many high rye Ryes. This nose is so delightful. Mouth feel is nice and creamy. Flavors perfectly match the nose. Starts with the rye and very little sweetness, but transitions into the citrus and leaves with the cinnamon and vanilla icing. The cinnamon and vanilla icing last forever on the legs too and it’s delicious and unrelenting. Good bye barrel 15-1941. You served me well.

Barrel no. 16-9066 notes of fall and winter baking. Baked banana bread, cinnamon, vanilla, oaky, and Christmas sugar cookies.