Review #636 - New Riff High Note First Decade Bourbon

The oldest whiskies from New Riff to date - in the Spring of 2025, for the distillery's whisky club releases, they bottled a 10 year old bourbon and 10 year old rye. These are the first 10 year old products from the distillery, although there have been 11 year old components now in some of their blends. These bourbons and ryes were distilled within the first year of New Riff's operations after they first opened in 2014.

This First Decade 10 year bourbon is a part of the distillery's 'High Note' series. While many of these High Note whiskies are focused on a unique mashbill or grain experiment, this 10 year whisky uses New Riff's normal bourbon mashbill: 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley.

As always, New Riff bourbon is not chill filtered - this should give us plenty of oily flavor, especially considering the barrel proof bottling strength of 60.25% ABV (120.5 proof). So, how does 10 year bourbon taste from a relatively young distillery?

New Riff High Note First Decade Bourbon

USA - Bourbon

Price: USD 90 (2025)

Age Statement: 10 Years

Strength: 60.25% ABV

Details: Not chill filtered, bottled 2025

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 60% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a nosing glass, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Leather and hints of tobacco - older oak than we've seen on other New Riff bourbons. Sweetness comes from dark fruit like cherry and plum, and there's a soft black pepper scent; cardamom and nutmeg round out the baking notes.

Palate: There's a nice spice kick - minty rye spice, leathery oak. Orange peel adds subtle fruit, but we get a lot of baking notes: brown sugar, clove, nutmeg, some maple syrup. The oak is relatively strong but not dominant; it's a medium-thick mouthfeel.

Finish: Syrup and brown sugar continue from the palate; the oak grows stronger, adding more drying notes. There's an oily texture lingering, and in the aftertaste, we get more brown sugar and cinnamon; it's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: Really nice bourbon - this is beginning to show off more of those well-aged traits that we see from old bourbon from heritage distilleries. Nice leathery and tobacco-forward oak notes, but there's still a good sweetness to balance the flavor profile. The texture is nice, too, courtesy of that high bottling strength; decent complexity in this pour, although we think even more will come with extra aging time.

Value is excellent if you managed to pick this up from the New Riff club release - this level of flavor for $90 is hard to match. Secondary prices are hovering much higher at the moment, but if this is a sign of things to come from New Riff, we think there will be plenty of opportunity to get higher age products from the distillery at a fair price in the future.

Our Average Rating: 8.5 / 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: 7.59

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.