Bellevue’s New Riff Distilling has announced a release date for its first batch of bourbon: Fall 2018.
The spirit, which has been patiently aging for the past four years, is bottled in bond (the product of one distillation season, by one distiller at one distillery and aged at least four years) without chill filtration and is a “high-rye, full-bodied whiskey with a savory, spicy character.” The non-GMO bourbon is made with 65 percent corn, 30 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley mash.
“Bottled in Bond is the highest quality standard for aged spirits in the world,” says Ken Lewis, founder of New Riff Distilling, in a press release. “Rather than reserve it for special or limited releases, it is the signature of our bourbon. Moreover, we are taking the standard one step further by eliminating chill filtration to ensure that not a single molecule of flavor is sacrificed. We are firmly grounded in Kentucky’s revered bourbon tradition, but this is very much our own riff.”
The bourbon is made with water from the Ohio River Alluvial Aquifer, serendipitously located 100 feet below the distillery’s parking lot. “The aquifer’s water is naturally filtered, loaded with minerals and at an ideal constant temperature of 58 degrees, even in summer,” says the release.
“At New Riff Distilling, we uphold the hallowed Kentucky Regimen with open fermentation, sour mashing and distillation on grain,” says Jay Erisman, co-founder and V.P. of strategic development. “Our stills are all copper, from our 60-foot column still to our doubler, and the whiskey is aged exclusively in 53-gallon new oak barrels that are toasted and charred. New Riff Bourbon is truly a distillation of who we are as people.”
New Riff Distilling is located on The B-Line, a Northern Kentucky grouping of restaurants, bars and distilleries that promote and highlight excellent bourbon — conveniently located at the gateway to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.