Review #486 - New Riff High Note 8 Year 100% Malted Rye

Written By Me, My Wife & Whisky

Image Credit: New Riff Distilling

New Riff's whisky club offers limited special releases twice a year - once in the Spring, and once in the Autumn. This High Note 100% Malted Rye was part of the Autumn 2023 release, paired alongside the Bohemian Wheat Bourbon.

Actually, New Riff already has a regularly-available 100% malted rye whisky, which carries a 6 year age statement and is bottled at 50% ABV (100 proof). For this limited release, though, they bumped that age statement up to 8 years - this was only possible because they used barrels from their first year of malted rye fermentation and distillation.

Instead of choosing a strength of 50% ABV to go along with their typical bottled-in-bond presentation, they chose to bottle this release at barrel proof: 59.1% ABV (118.2 proof). As usual, New Riff has also refused to chill filter this rye to ensure that maximum flavor and texture makes it from the barrel to the bottle.

This was the oldest whisky that New Riff had released, though at the time of writing, the relatively young distillery now has stocks of barrels in their rickhouse that have been matured for at least 10 years. When this bottle was available from the online whisky club, pricing was quite reasonable for a special release: $70.

New Riff High Note 8 Year 100% Malted Rye

USA - Rye

Price: USD 70 (2023)

Age Statement: 8 Years

Strength: 59.1% ABV

Details: Not chill filtered, bottled 2023

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times over 2 months; bottles at 50% and 60% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Subtle at first, starting out delicate, but soon we find rich caramel and brown sugar, some vanilla, butterscotch - lots of sweet baking notes. There's a little floral side to this, and the rye spice is quite soft - pepper, peppermint candy canes. With time, we get a bit of leather from the oak.

Palate: A medium-thick mouthfeel; now, this becomes much more rye-forward. Mint, strong pepper, a bit of dill, and menthol; spearmint and cinnamon add a mixture of sweetness and more spice. It's a little spirity with that high strength, but that's rounded out by leathery oak and a hint of wood smoke. With time, the palate grows more creamy in texture.

Finish: Warming, full of cinnamon, oak, and brown sugar. There's a subtle savory flavor in the background, along with some earthy notes; butterscotch and pepper bring a nice mixture of sweetness and spice in the aftertaste. It's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: This is a great rye - subtle at times, but it definitely packs more of that classic rye spice on the palate. Quite deep and rich, and though the oak wasn't always dominant, it did show some nice maturity with those soft leather notes. The balance of sweetness, spice, and herbal flavor was also very well done.

Value is great, too, since New Riff prices their releases so reasonably. This release is now sold out (has been for more than a year), but the quality here gives us the confidence to purchase further limited releases from the distillery, as long as the pricing stays fair.

Our Average Rating: 8.1 / 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: 7.89

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.

Me, My Wife & Whisky
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