Two of Cincinnati’s biggest names in alcohol have linked up for a collaboration sure to delight whiskey fans across the region.
Rhinegeist and New Riff released “DUET,” a new American whiskey, this past Friday. Since barley is a primary ingredient in the production of both beer and bourbon, the collaboration uses barley to focus on showcasing both Kentucky’s rich distilling tradition and Cincinnati’s storied brewing heritage.
“This collaboration wasn’t intended to recreate something that already exists,” said New Riff’s master distiller Brian Sprance. “Brewers work with an incredible range of grains, malts and yeast strains, and with our shared background in brewing, that creative overlap between us and Rhinegeist felt very natural. The result is a whiskey that’s a little unexpected for Kentucky, and a great reflection of what can happen when distillers and brewers who’ve known each other for years come together to create something new.”
Made with an unusual mashbill of 57% malted barley, 37% raw barley and 6% rye, DUET American Whiskey also features an uncommon aging process. The majority of the whiskey was aged in new American oak barrels, along with select Spanish oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. The final blend was married together in a massive foeder used for beer maturation, then re-barreled into used American oak barrels, allowing the whiskey to symphonize and develop a deeper balance of flavor.
A little spicy, a little fruity, and very grain-heavy, DUET is aged for at least 6 years and is bottled at 111.2 proof. Sherry and tangerine dominate the flavor, alongside the savory notes you’d expect from such a barley-forward whiskey.
“The best part of this was collaborating with Luke Cole and the whole Rhinegeist team forever. We’ve known them forever. They’re all very dear friends,” Sprance said. “We knew we use a good amount of malted barley for our whiskey, and we knew we really wanted to incorporate the foeders down in their basement. There’s not a lot of examples of this kind of stuff out there, so we were just making it up on the fly … It was kinda just putting our peanut butter in their fudge and seeing what we could do.”
What’s on the outside of the bottle is as collaborative as what’s inside, thanks to the work of Jared Wagner and Chloe Rethman. Graphic designers for New Riff and Rhinegeist, respectively, the two were married last May after meeting while working at FC Cincinnati and ended up creating the label for DUET together.
“We’re thrilled to add another layer of meaning to Spirit of the Rhine, Rhinegeist’s eponym, when limited quantities of DUET are released across Ohio and Kentucky in concert with our friends across the river at New Riff Distilling,” said Rhinegeist CEO Adam Bankovich in a statement. “The project was inspired by the mutual appreciation our teams have for each other, and it is no surprise the past year of collaboration has been so harmonious.”
DUET American Whiskey is available now at New Riff’s gift shop and at select retailers in Ohio and Kentucky. DUET American Whiskey is also available by the pour in The Aquifer Tasting Room at New Riff and at Rhinegeist’s Tap Room. For more information, head to New Riff’s official website.
