New Riff Winter Whiskey (2020) Review

Anyone familiar with my writing will know that I absolutely love when bourbon is done differently, especially by way of using atypical grains. New Riff Winter Bourbon went above and beyond with that thought and used two grains not often used in Bourbon. Malted oats and chocolate malted barley.

Oats are, or were, a staple in Irish Whiskey production. While not used anywhere near as much as they once were, you do see them used from time to time. The biggest thing I feel that oats brings to the table in distillation is textural. The viscosity of the end resulting whiskey is much silkier. You also get a cerealy note on the palate from it.

Chocolate malted barley is another fun grain. Chocolate malt is what you call a grain that is so heavily roasted during the malting process that it becomes a brown color, very similar looking to cocoa powder. This type of malt can often produce richer and deeper flavors of coffee and even chocolate.

The expectations on this bottle of bourbon just on the look of the label and what grains are used is simple. An ideal cold winter night sipping whiskey. Something rich, with lots of depth, and a ton of warm spice, chocolate, and fruit notes. Something that tastes kinda like Christmas.

Expectations are often designed to be subverted. My assumptions were wrong on this one.

This whiskey has a nose of roasted green chili peppers, burnt coffee bean, menthol, eucalyptus, and flaked oats. After letting it sit for a bit, a second nosing brings out some cherry medicinal notes. Reminds me of either Triaminic or a Sucrets losenge. A touch of burnt caramel shows up way in back.

The palate is pretty much right down the line the same as the nose. The biggest difference is the peppery note is far more vegetal and intense. The cherry medicinal notes don’t follow over though. The body of this whiskey is a little thin for what I would expect out of something with oats and chocolate malt. The flavor profile almost makes me think of a thin molé.

The finish is again, very green chili peppery with a lingering heat. The alcohol balance itself is actually quite nice. Being bottled-in-bond the proof is exactly 100. Another cool note I get on the back palate into the finish is seat-salted caramel, but not overly sweet.

The verdict here is probably going to subvert your expectations just as this whiskey subverted mine. I don’t hate it. I think this is the perfect geek-out whiskey. If you’re into the technical aspect of whiskey and care a lot about alternative grains and mashbill formulation — this is fun. If you’re a brewer or distiller, this is a great whiskey to pick apart and discuss what worked and what didn’t and why. Something to learn from.

But if you’re looking for your winter-warmer — this sadly is not it.

This was not a completely objective review as it was not done blind. I was aware of what I was drinking at the time of drinking it. The bottle was purchased by myself and was not provided by New Riff Distilling for review.