Credit: New Riff
New Riff Sour Mash Single Malt is an upcoming release from New Riff Distilling. It will be released in different batches, and the first is set to hit shelves in Fall 2023 with a 7-year age statement.
The distillery began distilling single-malt mashbills in 2014, within the first six months of operations. Head Distiller Brian Sprance has 15 years of professional brewing experience, and often innovates new beer-inspired grain recipes. “Through the reimagination of both old world and new world beer styles, the New Riff Distilling team set out to produce a whiskey that showcased all the wonderful malted varieties they’ve experienced as brewers,” the company said in a statement.1Press Release
Six different barley malt recipes were distilled:
- 100% Golden Promise barley mashbill
- 100% Maris Otter barley mashbill
- 100% Chevallier Heirloom mashbill
- Peated Scottish barley-inspired mashbill
- Barleywine beer-inspired mashbill
- Belgian Quadrupel beer-inspired mashbill
The whiskeys were aged in several types of barrels, including new charred oak, de-charred toasted oak, red wine casks, Portuguese brandy casks, classic sherried oak casks, and more.
For the Fall 2023 release, five of those six recipes were blended (the distillery didn’t specify which didn’t make the cut), and bottled at 110-proof cask strength without chill filtration.
