Breaking Bourbon Award Winning Single Barrel Club picks are selected by Breaking Bourbon, and whenever possible with the help of Patreon supporters. The bottles are made available to Patreon supporters first by pledge tier. If any bottles remain after all supporters have had an opportunity to purchase, they are made available to the public on a first come, first served basis. Each barrel is sponsored by a retailer partner, who sells the bottles directly to end purchasers.

Retailer Partner: Seelbach’s

Classification: Straight Bourbon

Company: New Riff Distilling

Distillery: New Riff Distilling

Age: 4 Years

Proof: 107.3

Mashbill: 65% Corn, 30% Rye, 5% Malted Barley

Yield: 223 Bottles

Release Date: February 2022

Single Barrel Club Rollout Schedule

$25 - Friday 2/25/2022 @ 2PM ET

$14 - Saturday 2/26/2022 @ 2PM ET

$7 - Sunday 2/27/2022 @ 2PM ET

$3, $2, $1 - Monday 2/28/2022 @ 2PM ET

For this pick, we partnered with Seelbach’s, which was founded by Blake Riber, also the creator of Bourbonr and the Bourbonr Facebook group. An online-only retailer with a twist, we interviewed Riber to discuss how he’s running his shop differently than everyone else. “Unlocking Craft Spirits” he calls it - seeking out up-and-coming craft distilleries and learning about their process and tasting through their products to find hidden gems.

To make this selection, we were joined by Single Barrel Club members Bret, James, and Kay along with Blake Riber (Seelbach’s) and Jake Warm (O.K.I.). Our plan was to pick two barrels - one for the Single Barrel Club and one for Seelbach’s.

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Starting with distillery-provided tasting notes, we narrowed the selection down to five barrels we would choose from. While the New Riff folks pulled samples from the barrels, Creola Dickerson, New Riff’s Senior Single Barrel Ambassador, led us on a tour of the facility. After the tour concluded, we went back to the tasting room and settled in.

Narrowing barrels down gets progressively easier the more you do this, but finding consensus among eight people still leads to some healthy discussion. Moreover, having each selected a barrel (some selected the same) based on the initial New Riff tasting notes, but not knowing which was which, meant we were tasting the samples blind. We had a bit of fun trying to guess which barrels lined up with which New Riff tasting notes, and while no one got all five correct, a few barrels exhibited much more prominent flavor notes than others.

What we did find agreement on was which barrels we liked, with two emerging as the clear favorites. Moreover, Blake had a preference for one, and we had a preference for the other, so it was easy to decide which would be the Breaking Bourbon barrel and which would be the Seelbach’s barrel. Enjoy!

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For the sticker we had a unique offer from Single Barrel Club member Mitch Gerads, a professional artist who some of you might recognize from his work with DC Comics. Playing off the Calvin & Hobbes Spaceman Spiff character, a result of Calvin’s constant daydreaming, as Gerads puts it he “managed to homage Bill Watterson and myself in one image.” This one of a kind sticker will come loosely packaged with each bottle purchased. An extremely big thank you goes out to Mitch!

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Tasting Notes:

From Breaking Bourbon:

Nose: Rye spice | Aged leather | Cinnamon syrup | Underlying candied berries | Inviting

‍Palate: Sharp rye spice | Summer fruits | Clove | Peppercorn | Oak | Touch of brown sugar | Maple syrup | Nice viscosity

‍Finish: Muddled dark berries | Aged oak | Leather | Tobacco leaf | Cigar box | Hint of cinnamon and rye spice |  Noticeable lingering simmering spice | Aged earthy flavors


From James:

The nose tells you there is a little spice and a sublime - soon to be tasted - sweetness.

The first sip almost completely fills your mouth, there is almost no weight to the liquid.

The flavor opens up and grows for fifteen or twenty seconds.

There is an overriding soft sweet caramel note.

The light spice lingers and lingers.

A very complex and approachable bourbon.

Distillers, Producers, and Retailers: If you would like to be a part of this program and get your name in front of millions of bourbon enthusiasts, contact us.

‍Please note these bottles will not be sold by Breaking Bourbon, but will be sold by retailers we partner with in order to fulfill the orders and ship the bottles directly to Patreon supporters. Breaking Bourbon will receive no compensation from our partner retailers under these agreements (with the exception of a bottle from each barrel for editorial purposes). If you represent a retailer and ship to consumers and you’re interested in partnering just let us know!