Distillery – New Riff
Spirit – Gin
ABV/Proof – 47%/90

New Riff Distilling is pleased to release another member of our Kentucky Wild Gin family.  Call it the older, wiser cousin: our usual house-distilled Kentucky Wild Gin, with the same ratio of classic and foraged gin botanicals, rested in freshly dumped Bourbon barrels.  Its seven months in our used O.K.I. Bourbon barrels have lent a subtle vanilla note to the proceedings, as well as a light golden hue.  Try it in place of a whiskey in an Old Fashioned, or in its ultimate home: a Martinez cocktail.

My first experience with the booze from New Riff is a good one (though, I’m sure they’re all going to be good).  I grabbed a bottle of their Bourbon Barrel Aged Kentucky Wild Gin the last time I was in the Party Source in Newport because, well… it sounded amazing.

I am a huge fan of gin, but I have to admit that my experience with barrel aged gins is extremely lacking, if not non-existent.  This has set the bar in a very nice high place for me now.

The gin takes on a slight honey color from its seven month trip in a bourbon barrel, but the aromas that I get from the nose of my glass still scream gin all the way.  This one hits squarely in the citrus camp for me, with a nice juniper pine note too, of course.  The taste is nice and dry, with a tannic snap.  The citrus is fresh, but leaves very quickly, left with a nice outdoorsy juniper taste that finishes with just a little heat.

If you find yourself in Northern Kentucky, don’t skip out on snagging a bottle of this to put on your home bar.  It’s unique enough to start a conversation, and familiar enough that you’ll know exactly what to do with it.  Delicious.