Day Drinking with David: New Riff Edition

New Riff is simply the most exciting distillery to be built in Kentucky in at least a generation, if not more than one. Medium in size - much larger than your typical craft distillery, but no where near the bohemouths Kentucky is known for, New Riff has the ability to make super traditional KY Striaght Bourbon and enough flexibility to push the envelope in relevant and unique ways. One of the most underappreciated ways to differentiate your whiskey is through fermentation. Four Roses has made hay out of their 5 different yeast strains and 2 different mash bills - but this leads to a wide variety of recipes to keep track of. New Riff on the other hand, uses a subtler approach to acheive the similar results in the splendor of their single barrels. Each fermentation, rather than going into a beer well to be mixed for consistency, is distilled separately. The end result is that with every fermentor you've got a unique ecosystem leading to different flavors, but all with the same mashbill and yeast backbone. Combine that with the inherent unique nature of single barrels as they age, bottle at cask strength and without filtration and you have one of the most compelling single barrel programs in all of Bourbondom.