Review #581 - New Riff High Note Kentucky Straight Rye Made With Biscuit Malt

New Riff's High Note series is a collection of experimental or one-off whiskies which are generally released through their online whisky club. These club releases are available twice per year; this rye made with 'biscuit malt' was the Autumn 2024 bottling.

Most of New Riff's ryes use at mashbill of 95% rye and 5% malted rye, a style meant as a 'new riff' on MGP's classic 95% rye and 5% malted barley mashbill, one of the most prominent in US whisky. For this High Note release, however, they changed the mashbill drastically: we now get a 'barely legal' rye in the typical Kentucky style with only 51% rye grain in the mashbill. The rest of the recipe is 26% corn and 23% malted barley.

The grain that New Riff is highlighting with this release is actually the malted barley - in addition to being a much higher proportion of the mashbill than usual for their whiskies, they also used an unusual type of barley for production: Weyermann Abbey Malt. This 'biscuit malt' is a very high-quality variety of malted barley which is typically used in the brewing of beer; it's said to bring notes of biscuits, honey, nuts, and chocolate to the flavor profile. How will that translate into whisky form, instead of the beer that it's typically used for?

Like the other High Note releases, instead of New Riff's typical bottled-in-bond presentation and its 50% ABV bottling strength, this 4 year old rye is bottled at barrel proof: 54.7% ABV (109.4 proof).

New Riff High Note Kentucky Straight Rye Made With Biscuit Malt

USA - Rye

Price: USD 50 (2024)

Age Statement: 4 Years

Strength: 54.7% ABV

Details: Not chill filtered; bottled 2024

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 3 months; bottles at 100%, 80% (blind tasting), and 70% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: A wide variety of flavors, and very different from a typical New Riff rye: sweet cereal grains, perfumed oak, and quite a strong dark fruit profile of Luxardo cherries, dark raisins, and prunes. The oak takes on a dusty character, but it's accented by soft floral notes; chocolate, a hint of bitterness, and vanilla come next.

Palate: Sugar cookies, some herbal rye grain, but then oatmeal-raisin cookies, chalky chocolate, and medicinal cherry; quite unusual. Vanilla and caramel add a baking side, and we get some raspberry and linen in the background. Time brings more herbal bitterness, like an amaro; it's a medium thickness mouthfeel. There is some soft oak, and it's quite an oily spirit.

Finish: Herbal and drying, with strong amaro-style bitterness and some tannic oak. Spiced caramel, vanilla, and hints of those cookie flavors linger; we still get some fruit as well, like raisin and cherry cough medicine. There's a soft fizz from the rye grain, and it's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: A very unusual profile for a rye whisky, especially from New Riff, but we enjoyed it for that. The rye grain was present, adding soft herbal notes, but this whisky had a strong red fruit and spice note. Tons of cherry and raisin, and that amaro note is something we've found in New Riff whiskies before; they combine for an interesting yet balanced profile. Relatively complex - this one is fun to dig into.

Value is great - New Riff maintains there very fair pricing model, and this special release was available for just $50. Maybe that's fair considering the age statement of 4 years, but this is cask strength rye of very high quality with an interesting twist on the grains - it's well worth the price. This is one of the rare instances that, if you have an opportunity to buy, we would suggest picking up a couple of them.

Our Average Rating: 7.4 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 7.96

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.