New Riff Sour Mash Single Malt Whiskey

New Riff Sour Mash Single Malt Whiskey is the annual Kentucky single malt from New Riff Distilling in Newport: 100% malted barley run through the distillery's sour-mash, open-fermentation, and column-still regimen, then vatted from several barley mashbills aged at least seven years in new charred oak, used bourbon, toasted casks, and sherry wood. Peated barley in the blend is why smoke rides beside cacao and dark fruit. It is a limited yearly release, bottled at cask strength without chill filtration. Make it an after-dinner dram.

Dark fruit and cacao lead, with citrus peel, sherried oak, and a thread of peat smoke. The body is big and chewy, drying but not tannic. Raspberry, orange marmalade, and lingering smoke close the sip.