AN INTRODUCTION TO NEW RIFF DISTILLING
Founded in 2014 by Kentucky liquor retailer and entrepreneur Ken Lewis, New Riff Distilling sits just over the Ohio River from Cincinnati - often described as the gateway to Bourbon Country.
In 2024, Ken stepped aside after an extraordinary founding chapter. Leadership passed naturally to the next generation, with his daughter Mollie Lewis stepping into the role of President. Alongside her, you have Hannah Lowen as CEO, who has been part of the distillery since day one, and Master Distiller Brian Sprance, whose background in craft brewing informs New Riff’s approach to mash bills, fermentation and yeast management.
New Riff is independent, family-owned and deeply serious about quality. And this comes through in every drop of spirit they make. They make whiskey the hard way. No shortcuts. How?
- They follow the full sour mash Kentucky regimen — reserving a portion of fermented wash and carrying it forward into the next batch. Like maintaining a sourdough starter, this lowers pH, controls bacterial growth and protects consistency across distillations.
- Fermentation takes place in open tanks, allowing natural distillery microflora to contribute to flavour development. Distillation happens on grain in a column still, followed by a continuous doubler for the second distillation.
- And after maturation in New American Oak casks, nothing artificial is added. No flavourings. No colouring. And they proudly bottle without chill filtration.
Because if you’re going to respect tradition, you do it properly.
Many of New Riff’s flagship bottlings carry the Bottled-in-Bond designation — one of the most stringent quality standards in American whiskey. Established in 1897 to protect drinkers from poorly made or falsely labelled spirits, Bottled-in-Bond remains a marker of integrity and transparency today.
On top of all these production steps, every release is bottled without chill filtration. Chill Filtration is a process that removes natural oils and fatty acids from a whiskey to stop it from becoming ‘cloudy’ when it drops below a certain temperature or strength (46%abv). All New Riff whiskies are non-chill filtered to give a richer, more full-bodied mouth-feel.
HEADING TO KENTUCKY?
Check out our tried and tested guide to our favourite bars, restaurants, coffee shops and other cool things to do whilst visiting New RIff Distilling or passing through Kentucky. Enjoy!
Other New Riff Distilling expressions we enjoy
New Riff Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon
New Riff Distilling’s main Bourbon is a high-rye, full-bodied, bottled-in-bond whiskey. Aged for four years in toasted and charred new oak barrels, it’s brimming with notes of butterscotch, vanilla, baking spices and juicy black berries in every warming, rolling sip.
As delicious neat as it is stirred into a classic Rye Manhattan, New Riff’s Bottled-in-Bond Rye is a must for any Rye Whiskey drinker and has quickly built a following with rye drinkers the world over.
