New Riff Distilling

Some distilleries lean on borrowed history. New Riff Distilling built its reputation the slower way: by distilling everything itself, aging its whiskey a full four years, and bottling most of it under the strictest legal standard American whiskey has, the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897. Founded in 2014 in Newport, Kentucky, directly across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, New Riff went from newcomer to benchmark in barely a decade, capped by its Bottled In Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon being named World's Best Bourbon at the 2026 World Whiskies Awards.

History & Heritage

New Riff was founded in 2014 by Ken Lewis, the Kentucky retailer behind The Party Source, one of the largest spirits stores in the country, together with co-founder Jay Erisman. Lewis built the distillery beside his store with a pointed ambition: a new riff on an old tradition, and a hand in restoring Northern Kentucky's standing as a bourbon destination. As of July 2026, the distillery remains independently owned by one family, with no outside investors. Rather than bottle its own whiskey young, New Riff waited, releasing its first house-distilled whiskeys in the fall of 2018 after the full four-year maturation it had promised. Lewis was honored in 2024 with the Kentucky Distillers' Association's Parker Beam Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame, the same year he retired as chief executive. Leadership passed to Hannah Lowen, one of the distillery's original employees, as chief executive, with Lewis's daughter Mollie Lewis as president, while Lewis remains the owner and keeps a seat on the board. Brian Sprance, a former Boston Beer Company brewer who had been with New Riff since the beginning, was named its first master distiller in January 2024. In the distillery's early years, Larry Ebersold, the retired Seagram's distiller often called the godfather of rye whiskey, served as consulting master distiller.

The Whiskey

The house style is defined by discipline. Every whiskey is made with a full sour mash regimen, aged at least four years in toasted and charred new oak barrels, bottled in bond at 100 proof in most cases, and never chill filtered. The water is drawn from a limestone-rich aquifer 100 feet beneath the distillery, which the distillery says holds a constant 58 degrees year round. New Riff Kentucky Straight Bourbon carries a high-rye mash bill of 65 percent corn, 30 percent rye, and 5 percent malted barley, giving it a savory, spicy backbone. New Riff Kentucky Straight Rye pushes further, at 95 percent rye and 5 percent malted rye with no corn at all. The New Riff Bourbon Single Barrel is bottled at barrel proof without chill filtration, and the distillery's aged releases, including the New Riff 8 Year Old Bourbon, show how the house style deepens with time. The portfolio extends beyond whiskey to the New Riff Kentucky Wild Gin Bourbon Barreled Cask Aged Gin, made with foraged Kentucky botanicals and rested five to seven months in fresh New Riff bourbon barrels.

Why It Matters

New Riff answers a fair question: can a distillery founded this century stand alongside Kentucky's old houses? Its record says yes, from ten medals at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, including a Double Gold for its 6 Year Malted Rye Whiskey, to the 2026 World's Best Bourbon title. For those who appreciate good whiskey, New Riff offers something rare, a young producer whose bottled in bond commitment means every age statement and every proof point is guaranteed by law. That transparency, and the quality behind it, is why The Sentinel Room keeps seven of its expressions in the Reserve Whiskey Library.

Visiting the Distillery

New Riff welcomes visitors in Newport, Kentucky. The Bonded Tour offers a behind-the-scenes look at the distillery, home to a 60-foot copper column still, with guided tastings of its spirits. The Aquifer Tasting Room on the third floor serves cocktails, flights, and pours, including limited releases, with views of the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline, and a gift shop is on site.