I love rye and I love rye distilleries that are getting things right, whether they’re producing their own stuff or MGP. In a recent review, I gave a shoutout to Sagamore, one of the rye distilleries doing it right. Here I’m going to give a shout out to New Riff, another. The only difference is New Riff has a single barrel bourbon that in my experience is very good, and a BiB bourbon that is decent enough, though not my favorite BiB bourbon. The commonality between Sagamore and New Riff is the limited selection in my area. With Sagamore, we get the standard rye bottling and every once in a while, one of the special finishes. This means, whenever I’m in Jersey or Delaware and I hit a store, I keep an eye out for Sagamore bottles. I also look for New Riff, though the selection in my region has the New Riff Rye BiB, Bourbon BiB, Rye Single Barrel and Bourbon Single Barrel. That said, I’m always jealous when I see specialty versions of New Riff reviewed on the sites I visit. Malted Rye, Heirloom Grain, Red Wheat…I believe they even do something involving a peated version. I have no idea what effect these specialty grains or methods have on the rye, but I want to find out, oh, how I want to find out. So this summer I was in Jersey, and they had the Malted Rye 6 Year New Riff and the Balboa Rye, and I bought both of them for around 60$. This is what their reputation does, makes me buy cold, without sampling, at $60 thinking I’m probably getting a deal. And all the time I’m wondering, is this so much better than the standard BiB Rye or Single Barrel that I should pay more? Well, on the nose this is definitely a New Riff Rye. It’s resinous and malty. The aroma is strong with pine and spearmint, which I remember the BiB being, but I think the intensity is on the upswing here, particularly if you like the nose on your rye full of mint and pine. It smells like a freshly cut tree pouring sap on top of nutmeg, for there’s an underlying spice element here that’s rather closer to a savory spice than a sweet one. The palate itself is spicy caramel with a bit of milk chocolate, and quite frankly, amazing. While the nose is an enhanced version of the BiB, the palate on this one is where it’s at. It’s so rich at 100 proof as to remind you of a cask strength rye without the burn. There’s a sort of switch from the palate where what’s prominent is the caramel and spice while the mint and pine move to the background. The finish then mingles the two balancing what you find on the nose with what you find on the palate in a perfect ratio. All in all, a very fine rye, one I don’t regret picking up and would buy again. Actually, I don’t have the New Riff BiB Rye and maybe need to pick up a bottle when the credit card rolls over, though I have my eye on the Single Barrel bourbon, which was a favorite the last time I had it. So many choices, so limited my cash.