New Riff Maltster Bottled In Bond Malted Wheat Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 750mL

From the very beginnings of New Riff’s distillery design, we incorporated the ability to add any bag of grain into our recipes. It’s called the “auxiliary grain conveyor.” We use this grain handling feature every week when we add 50-lb bags of malted rye into our standard New Riff Rye Whiskey. But we also use it to make a new riff on classic whiskey traditions…

Introducing Maltsters, a project that explores different malted grains used in a Bourbon recipe. Our distilling team delved into their background as craft brewers and pulled out of their hat a couple of magical recipes: Malted Rye Bourbon and Malted Wheat Bourbon. These unique mashbills offer bold interpretations of traditional Bourbon styles, from a refined and sophisticated rye experience to a darker and deeper version of wheated Bourbon.

From the opening aroma of our Malted Wheat Bourbon, there is shade of dark, husky grains to the whole production; yet it also drinks in a classical Bourbon fashion with plenty of oak. A splash of water releases a whiff of dark fruit. In the mouth, it enters large-scaled and full-bodied, tending to dryness. There’s plenty of oak but, behind that, lies that notion of dark (black currant?) fruit. A wood spice element tinges the finish, which grows on the taster precipitously.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Butterscotch rounding into fresh oak, with hints of vanilla and rye spice.

Palate: Large-scaled & full-bodied, dryish and plenty of oak backed by grainy depth; that dark fruit (currant?) appears in the mid-palate, partly hidden by the oak; finishing with hints of wood spice, bread crust, grassy-grainy minerals.

"Made from a mash of 65% corn, 18% Bohemian floor-malted wheat, 10% unmalted wheat, and 6% dark wheat, aged at least 5 years. Designed as a “rich, darker riff” on sour mash, this is indeed an unexpected bottling, offering a nose of bittersweet cocoa, turned earth, and gunpowder, all in a heady, fairly savory mix." - Christopher Null, Drinkhacker (90 Points)

"The nose begins with malted milk balls and vanilla, alongside salty caramel pretzels, sour cherry and cacao. The palate offers oak and an astringent bitters along the lines of coffee grounds, baking chocolate and peanut shells, as well as tart blackberries. The finish features a lingering chocolate syrup alongside cedar, orange zest, and spice." - Jake Emen, Distiller (88 Points)

"Well well…I’m impressed with New Riff Maltster Malted Wheat Bourbon. It’s a rich caramel, orange, and apple dense bourbon with an extra dose of clove that continually reminds me that it’s heavily wheated. It may only be 5 years old, but it smells and tastes older than that, so New Riff did a great job making this delicious bourbon." Alex, The Whiskey Shelf