Skip to main content

New Riff is launching a rye whiskey made with biscuit malt

New Riff's new whiskey is made with an ingredient usually found in beer

New Riff Distilling
New Riff Distilling

New Riff Distilling is well-known for its limited-release expressions. Recently, it announced a new, unique whiskey. It’s a Kentucky straight rye whiskey explicitly made with biscuit malt.

Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey made with Biscuit Malt

New Riff Distilling
New Riff Distilling

It’s Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, made with Biscuit Malt. It’s the newest release in the “New Riff High Note Series,” created to showcase unique barrel aging, limited releases, and other special expressions.

Recommended Videos

This limited-release whiskey was made with a mash bill of 51% rye, 26% corn, and 23% Weyermann Abbey Malt (also called Biscuit Malt). This non-chill filtered, 109.4-proof rye whiskey was matured for four years. The result is a complex sipping whiskey with biscuit notes, honey, candied nuts, and dark chocolate.

“This combination creates a profile that’s entirely unique, setting this rye whiskey apart from any other rye whiskey we’ve made before,” Master Distiller Brian Sprance said in a press release.

“Abbey Malt is also featured in one of our Single Malt Whiskey recipes that is a component of our yearly release of Sour Mash Single Malt Whiskey, and we loved its contribution to it, so we really thought it could create a very unique and new riff on Rye Whiskey,” he added. “This continued exploration of flavors landed us at this exceptionally quality whiskey from working with an excellent company.”

Where can I buy it?

Pouring a glass of whiskey
wiratgasem / Getty Images

Sadly, you can’t buy this limited-edition rye whiskey at your local liquor store. It will only be available for New Riff Whiskey Club members at www.newriffwhiskeyclub.com beginning on October 25 for $49.99. You can also order a pour at The Aquifer Tasting Bar.

Buy Now

Christopher Osburn
Christopher Osburn is a food and drinks writer located in the Finger Lakes Region of New York. He's been writing professional
Dewar’s is releasing a new 38-year-old blended Scotch whisky
This blended Scotch whisky spent almost four decade maturing
Dewar's

There are only a handful of household names in the blended Scotch whisky world. They include Johnnie Walker, The Famous Grouse, Chivas Regal, and Dewar's. The latter is what we're most interested in today. That's because the iconic brand recently launched a new 38-year-old blended Scotch whisky.
Dewar's Double Double 38-Year-Old Whisky

This limited-edition whisky was created to pay homage to Scotland's rugged Northern Highlands. It starts with Dewar's Master Blender Stephanie MacLeod selecting single malt whiskies from Islay and the Highlands. This remarkable whisky includes some Dewar's Double Double 27-Year-Old from 2023.

Read more
The best high-rye bourbons: A unique blend of spice, sweet, and complexity
Our favorite high-rye bourbons available everywhere
Whiskey glass

At its simplest, bourbon is a whiskey with a mash bill of at least 51% corn. While many distillers opt for a higher percentage of corn, others mix in more secondary grains like barley, wheat, and rye. And while we could spend a whole article writing about the flavors and aromas added by adding the various grains, today, we’re all about rye—specifically high-rye bourbon.

If you don’t know what high-rye bourbon is (and that’s okay), we’re here to help. High-rye bourbon is precisely as the name suggests. It’s a type of whiskey with more rye in its mash bill than most bourbon. Rye is also the secondary grain after corn. It usually makes up 20-30% of the total mash bill.

Read more
The whiskey sour cocktail: History, evolution, and different takes on the classic
Learn to make all these recipes of this historical drink
George Dickel Whiskey Sour

Even if you're a keen whiskey sour drinker, you might not know about the long history of the whiskey sour cocktail and how it came to be such an iconic part of the cocktail canon. But what is a whiskey sour? For over 150 years people have been enjoying this cocktail, which dates back to the 1860s, and it follows in the footsteps of the spirit and citrus combination that was commonly drunk in the British Navy by sailors looking to avoid scurvy by imbibing lemons and limes -- which is where Brits get the nickname Limeys from.

Finally, sugar and water were added for taste. At this point, the drink is probably starting to sound familiar. (Grog, the rum-based favorite of pirates across the seven seas, is made from the same components, substituting whiskey for the sugarcane-based spirit.) When it comes to the official record, there are three main points of reference for the whiskey sour. The first written record comes in the seminal 1862 book The Bartender’s Guide: How To Mix Drinks, by Jerry Thomas. The original recipe is below.
Original whiskey sour recipe

Read more