New Riff Distilling has announced the second release of its award-winning Sour Mash Single Malt Whiskey—a 2024 version featuring a compilation of mashbills. New Riff started distilling batches of malt whiskey shortly after its founding in 2014 and deemed the first batch ready for release last fall.
The earliest distillations of the guarded internal project started in the first few months of the distillery’s existence. Over the years, New Riff has explored additional mashbills and barrels, filling barrels at 110 proof and letting them age quietly in Northern Kentucky.
While this blend is comprised of the same mashbills as the initial release, which used barrels ranging from seven to eight years old, this year’s blend features 9-year-old barrels, along with Madeira Cask-aged malt whiskey.
The 2024 Sour Mash Single Malt Whiskey is bottled without chill filtration at 114.5 proof with a mashbill comprised of 100% barley varietals — Golden Promise, Maris Otter, and Scottish peated barley malt — as well as two beer-inspired mashbills based on classic barleywine and Belgian quadrupel recipes.
Jay Erisman, co-founder and vice president, commented: “This year's blend has evolved in a way that will still be familiar to fans of last year's single malt, especially in the balance of sherry cask and peaty-smoky flavors, despite changes to the internal blend. In fact, I believe it’s even more cohesive and well-integrated. I'm truly thrilled with how it has turned out. Our single malt program represents a level of complexity and exploration in malted barley not seen before in Kentucky’s whiskey history.”
New Riff’s monthly whiskey education series, WHSKY NRD, will be presenting single malt seminar classes on 6 September and 8 November, where guests can hear the distillery’s single malt project origin story and taste through the whiskeys with the whiskey makers themselves, including New Riff’s Jay Erisman.
The 2024 Sour Mash Single Malt (RRP $69.99) will be available for purchase at New Riff’s distillery gift shop beginning 30 August at 11am. It will be available for online shipping and at retailers across the distillery’s distribution network in the coming weeks. For more information, visit New Riff Distilling’s website.
