cascode
New Riff Kentucky Straight Rye Bottled In Bond
Rye — Kentucky , USA
Reviewed
June 12, 2022 (edited November 7, 2022)
Nose: Cointreau, clove, allspice, cinnamon, dill seed, mint, green apple, honey, vanilla bean, very faint oak. Fruity, warm, clean and soft with excellent balance.
Palate: Sweet, spicy and very approachable. The palate is precisely in line with the nose with clove, allspice, cinnamon, orange, menthol and apple all immediately apparent. The development does not bring a great deal more forward, but there is cherry tart, butterscotch muffin and caramel sauce, grilled banana and some drying oak tannin. The texture is good.
Finish: Medium/short. Spicy/sweet notes and stewed peaches.
The profile of this rye is very close to that of the New Riff Bottled in Bond Bourbon that I just reviewed - they are almost mirror images. This is very much a soft young rye with bourbon highlights, while the other expression is a soft young bourbon with rye highlights. Both whiskies are delightful and like the bourbon this is not improved by dilution and I’d recommend it neat. I did not try it over ice but I imagine it would be addictively easy to drink that way.
Sadly, however, this has the same issue locally as the bourbon, being priced at a point that is simply prohibitive.
Tasted from a 30ml sample.
“Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)
219.0
AUD
per
Bottle
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
@ContemplativeFox I would say that any drinking I do as a result of scrolling random @cascode knowledge is enjoyable - and makes me less likely to doomscroll the news, so in a way Distiller is contributing to my health!
Stop, @Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington , don't make me drink. Or maybe do actually?... :P
@cascode you just made me feel better about America for the first time in a while…
... and just to expand, beer and wine don't get away free either. 30% of the cost of a bottle of wine is tax. For beer it is 30-40%. For whisky it is anywhere from 55-72%, depending on abv. This applies to locally made stuff as well as imports.
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington Absurd is the word @PBMichiganWolverine Australian spirits producers, importers and retailers are a soft target. The industry is worth a tiny fraction in comparison to the beer and wine industries so the government can crush them with impunity. We also have a long history of temperance activism here (we never had prohibition, but came close) and there are several influential lobby groups who want to see total prohibition, and spirits are their no. 1 target. The government plays along to keep them quiet, and also to placate the WHO by "limiting consumption" via huge spirits taxation, both for import and local production. Spirits are thus the "whipping boy" of the alcohol scene here. The fact it makes the government a truckful of easy money in tax is a bonus for them. Earlier this year the excise tax went up to just over $90/litre 🙁
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington it’s the taxes based on ABV. Smells like beer lobby has something to do with it
Yikes, even with the currency conversion that’s an absurd price (~$150 USD) for something that luckily goes on sale for close to $45 locally. Price aside I love their take on rye and seems to pay homage to their background sourcing MGP 95/5 rye, sharing the same mash bill.