New Riff entered all three of the whiskeys and both gins it currently produces: New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, New Riff Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, New Riff Kentucky Wild Gin, and New Riff Bourbon Barreled Kentucky Wild Gin. Its entries were judged against more than 3,000 of the world’s best spirits—the largest number of entries in the 19-year history of the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. In a rare sweep and as one of the youngest distilleries represented, New Riff was awarded the highest award of Double Gold for each bottle it entered. Double Gold is awarded only when every judge in a category votes to give the Gold medal to an entrant.
“It’s like being a new horse farm entering five horses in five races on Derby Day and winning all five,” said Ken Lewis, New Riff’s owner and co-founder. “We were judged against the best bourbons, ryes, and gins in the world and came away in every category we entered with one of the very few Double Golds. Our mission statement is ‘to become one of the great small distilleries of the world,’ and we are profoundly honored to have taken a big step on that long journey.”
New Riff’s Awards included:
DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL and BEST BARREL AGED GIN, New Riff Bourbon Barreled Kentucky Wild Gin
DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL, New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL, New Riff Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL, New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
DOUBLE GOLD MEDAL, New Riff Kentucky Wild Gin
Fred Minnick, a leading bourbon expert and writer as well as one of the competition judges, wrote for Forbes in March 2019: “If New Riff is not on your radar, you need to follow them. They’re one of the most exciting new distilleries in the world.”
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About New Riff Distilling—–Located in Newport, Ky., New Riff Distilling’s mission is to become one of the great small distilleries of the world. Co-founded in 2014 by Ken Lewis and Jay Erisman, formerly owner and spirits buyer respectively for The Party Source, New Riff is a resolutely independent, 100% family owned, Greater Cincinnati distillery, grounded in tradition yet unafraid to riff and innovate. The distillery’s New Riff Bourbon and New Riff Rye are aged four years and embrace the ultimate quality benchmark, Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration. New Riff’s Gins are pot distilled using locally foraged botanicals. For more information please visit newriffdistilling.com, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NewRiffDistilling/ and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @newriff.
