Review #920 - New Riff High Note 10 Year Bourbon (2026)

New Riff released their first 10 year products a year ago - the First Decade Bourbon and First Decade Rye - and they've followed that this year with another pair of 10 year High Note bottlings as their Spring 2026 Whiskey Club release. This bourbon is again paired with a rye release, and they're bottled at barrel proof. For the bourbon, that's a strength of 58.45% ABV (116.9 proof), and New Riff guarantees that this is non-chill filtered.

Other than the age and strength, there isn't actually much information about this bourbon on the bottle. The press release did disclose that this was made using their normal bourbon mashbill of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley; New Riff states that they created this as "a blend of standout barrels selected for their exceptional depth and character." We enjoyed the first 10 year bourbon release quite a bit; let's see how this 2026 edition follows it up.

New Riff High Note 10 Year Bourbon (2026)

USA - Bourbon

Price: USD 90 (2026)

Age Statement: 10 Years

Strength: 58.45% ABV

Details: Not chill filtered; bottled 2026

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 2 months; bottles at 100%, 90%, and 80% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Oaky, strong brown sugar and caramel notes, nice sweetness; we also get leather, molasses, and a little bit of an alcohol prickle. Spices like cinnamon and black pepper build, and we find accents of bruleed sugar, vanilla, tobacco, and toast. On occasion, a mild red fruit and a dry nuttiness appeared.

Palate: Toasty pecans, spices of anise and licorice, and then strong sweet notes of caramel and molasses. There's a decent amount of oak and tannins, and we get some cinnamon and cardamom, too. Accents included plum or dark cherry, as well as leather; the mouthfeel is thick.

Finish: Oak becomes quite strong - tannic, very leathery, pretty spicy. It's still rich and dense, and we get more flavors of caramel, candied pecans, vanilla, molasses, and brown sugar. In the aftertaste, there are just hints of blackberry and soft rye spice; it's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: A solid release from New Riff, nothing too exceptional. We found that the caramel notes were quite strong across the entire tasting, and the oak notes really picked up in the late palate and into the finish, making it quite spicy. Due to the nutty notes we found at times, this almost drank like a decent batch of Booker's bourbon from Jim Beam, although there was that little thread of dark red fruit throughout as well. It's densely flavored, but we didn't find it to be particularly complex; it's also a bourbon that needs a lot of time in the glass to show more nuance.

Value is decent, above average, as New Riff still uses their fair pricing strategy, and these limited releases sell for under $100 if you join their free whiskey club. A good bourbon overall, but not our favorite from their limited bottles in the past couple of years.

Our Rating: 7.5 / 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: 6.69

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.