About
Founded in 2014 by Ken Lewis, a visionary Kentucky liquor retailer and entrepreneur, New Riff is led by a team of corporate refugees ranging from craft beer to politics and more. New Riff crafts a range of whiskeys—Bourbon, Rye, and eventually Malted Rye and a host of specialty recipes—as well as Kentucky Wild Gin. Our mission is simple: to someday be counted among the world’s great small distilleries. Becoming one of the great small distilleries of the world is a long term play, with no exact ring to win, or title to be declared.
In addition to our flagship New Riff Bourbon and Rye, our distilling team has stretched their creative muscles over the years, producing a number of what we call “specialty whiskeys”. New Riff Balboa Rye is one of the first specialties we made. Our corn farmer Charles Fogg has been growing heirloom rye on his family’s farm for many years. His chosen variety was Balboa rye, an heirloom grain which dates back to the 1940s as a rye variety popular in Indiana. He offered it to us and we distilled it into rye whiskey, probably the first time in decades that Balboa has been made into whiskey and quite surely the only example on the market today.
Now it has grown up in the barrel! Typical of heirloom rye, the Balboa grain is a little smaller than modern varieties, with a lower output per acre of planting — but it’s no less flavorful for that! Our Balboa Rye whiskey offers shimmering notes of spiced fruit unique from our flagship New Riff Rye.
Tasting Notes
NOSE: Clean ripe oak, controlled & even. With time, develops waxy/honeyed (yet not sweet) fruits. Water yields colorful (black-blue-red skinned) rye fruits and spice.
PALATE: Rounded and full-bodied, midpalate of spiced fruit compote.
FINISH: Very long and simply gorgeous, as the fruits are subtly shaded with many spices (clove, wintergreen, nutmeg).
Related products
