Review #70 - New Riff 6 Year Malted Rye

Specialty Rye Mini-Series: Part 1 of 3

Today we're starting a short series on specialty ryes - this won't necessarily be referring to cask finishes, but rather the rye grains themselves, or some unique part of the distillation process. To start, we have New Riff's 6 year old Malted Rye, which has a mash bill consisting of 100% malted rye grain. This is unusual in that most ryes have at least some proportion of malted barley, and the vast majority also have some amount of corn grain included; additionally, most are made using unmalted rye.

When we first found this bottle in a bar a couple of years ago, it was a new product that was hard to find, with most of the production being pushed out bar establishments on an allocated basis. Production has ramped up, it seems, and we're now seeing this semi-regularly in local liquor stores here in the Midwestern USA, so there is at least some availability now for us regular people to buy it. Price is pretty reasonable at $55 currently, especially considering that specialty grains are used to produce it (rye is notoriously somewhat difficult to work with, and malting is an extra step with some amount of additional cost), and it isn't being released after only a year or two of aging. We have high hopes for this bottle going into our reviews.

New Riff 6 Year Malted Rye

USA - Rye

Price Paid: USD 55 (2023)

Current Locally Available Price: USD 55 (2023)

Age Statement: 6 Years

Strength: 50% ABV

Details: 100% malted rye mashbill, bottled-in-bond, not chill filtered

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 13 months; bottles at 90%, 100%, and 70% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes

Nose: Somewhat mellow or soft at first, but creamy with mild spice, much less spice than the typical rye. There is a sort of candy, like creme fruit hard candies, with caramel and sweet malt coming through afterward. We are getting mild black pepper and nutmeg, even a bit of wood char, but those more bitter notes are easily balanced by baking spices of maple sugar and plenty of vanilla. One-off notes of red grape and smoked paprika can be found, and with time, the oak grows stronger, complemented by grain character and maple syrup. Overall, this is a well-balanced nose.

Palate: Mellow at first again, but then more of a spice kick on this palate. It's a medium-thick mouthfeel, quite oily or even slightly syrupy, quite a nice texture. The spice is coming from pepper and nutmeg, anise and cinnamon, even some paprika and toasty oak. There are plenty of sweet notes here, too: maple sugar, vanilla and dark brown sugar, orange candy, blood oranges. The grain variety is adding some earthy notes, and some black tea later as well. Given more time to open up, strong caramel flavors appear, and the texture (not taste) becomes buttery and smooth.

Finish: The finish is medium length, with lots of spice now lingering: black pepper warmth, rye, a hint of char, and buttery oak. With time, there are strong malty grain notes in here, almost like a milkshake, and a lingering soft, creamy mouthfeel. We have sweet notes, too, of vanilla, syrupy sugar, and rich orange; overall, it's a relatively mellow, restrained affair.

Final Note: This is really nice, one of the most interesting ryes we've tasted that didn't involve some ridiculous cask finish used in the aging process (looking at you, Barrell). Unlike a lot of ryes, which boast quite a strong herbal and spicy taste, this is a much more subtle and mellow experience, but it's all the better for it. The creamy malty notes mixed in with baking spice are a delight. If you can find a bottle of this, value is generally pretty good, too - MSRP seems to be $50 or so, which we would happily pay again when our bottle runs out.

Our Average Rating: 7.6 / 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: 7.49