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, 2 Months

Proof: 114.6

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

Yield: 206 Bottles

Release Date: April 2023

In 2019 we interviewed New Riff Distilling Co-Founder Jay Erisman to learn more about the distillery and share with our readers. Since then, we’ve selected five barrels, with this latest barrel being our 5th. New Riff Distilling’s onsite barrel selection process is extremely well thought out, and we couldn’t recommend it more highly if you have an opportunity to select a barrel.

One of the most exciting aspects of selecting New Riff barrels is the extreme variation in flavor profiles they achieve across barrels in the sample set. It’s proof that barrels derived from the same mashbill can taste dramatically different due to other factors, and highlights the purpose of selecting single barrels in the first place - to find something unique that doesn’t taste quite like anything else. In this particular case, we tasted barrels showcasing this extreme variation to the max.

We easily drew the sample set down to two, but then found ourselves in a more complex debate than we typically would. We had two barrels we all really liked, and the discussion was not so much “who likes what” but more “which would the club prefer” style of discussion. On the one hand, we had a barrel that was so incredibly dark in color, rich with deep oak and caramel, but also (arguably) overly punchy. The color was insane. On the other hand, we had a barrel that was complex, balanced between sweet, savory, and spice, had a near perfect body, and was highly drinkable.

Ultimately, we found the balance so on point with the latter, we decided it outweighed the uniqueness of the punchy, dark barrel. The main takeaway: selecting New Riff barrels is always a lot of fun.

For the sticker we decided on one last Riffler’s Mom edition…putting a cap on the Riffler’s Mom trilogy. Club eyes only - you’ll have to join the club via Patreon to check it out.

Tasting Notes

‍Nose: Buttercream | Peaches | Brown sugar butter | Toffee | Rich

Palate: Very sweet | Butterscotch | Gingerbread | Graham cracker | Brown sugar butter | Viscous mouthfeel | Tobacco | Nougat | Easy drinker | Medium body

Finish: Tobacco | Vanilla | Caramel creams | Light lingering spice

About Seelbach’s

For this pick, we partnered with spirits retailer 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.

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!