For some drinkers, the difference between Kentucky Bourbon and Indiana Bourbon is massive. One is the classic name they know, reminiscent of all the romance they read about in the Bourbon marketing materials. The other reminds them of Hoosiers basketball and Larry Bird, not so much whiskey.
Here’s what’s funny to me: MGP distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana is the producer of countless contract brands over the last decade-plus. Yet, despite the seismic difference in the way people think about Kentucky and Indiana, MGP sits along the literal state line of not just Kentucky and Indiana, but also Ohio. It’s basically a Cincinnati suburb that happens to be in Indiana. It’s just fifteen miles west of the Cincinnati airport (which is actually in Kentucky). From where I sit, it’s almost more Cincinnati than it is Kentucky or Indiana!
New Riff, perhaps my personal favorite distillery in Kentucky right now, gets all the love from the traditional Bourbon crowd because it’s a classic bottled-in-bond Bourbon, made in Kentucky, that sells delicious Kentucky Bourbon for a great price. Yet, for all intents and purposes, it’s an urban distillery that sits on the direct border of downtown Cinncinati, Ohio; a literal five minute drive from the Reds baseball stadium along the river.
You might think of rolling green hills, lush forests, and the bucolic serenity of rural Kentucky when you think of Bourbon, but the God’s honest truth is that most of the Bourbon you like to drink is made in urban Louisville, jutted up against the edge of the northern border with Indiana. Brown-Forman and Heaven Hill’s distilleries are about two miles south of the state line, while Angel’s Envy, Rabbit Hole, and Peerless are less than a half mile from Indiana territory. What all of these distilleries have in common is the Ohio River, which is what separates Indiana from Kentucky, and Kentucky from Ohio, yet unites these producers under one umbrella. Take away the government-issued distinctions, and we’re talking about meters of difference geographically.
But what about the limestone water that makes Kentucky Bourbon so distinctive, you ask? Depending on who you talk to, it would appear that some of the urban distilleries in Louisville proper rely on local municipal water for their production, rather than mineral-rich well water filtered through Kentucky’s natural limestone springs. New Riff, on the other hand (through sheer luck), happens to have highly-mineral, Kentucky limestone-filtered water from a well right under its parking lot, which runs off the final hillside you come over on the I-71, revealing the Cincinnati skyline as you descend down the freeway.
If you know the story of New Riff and its origins in retail, then you know that Ken Lewis built the Party Source just across the river from Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side of the border, because Ohio has state-controlled liquor. It’s located in Kentucky, but 90% of its clientele is coming from Cincinnati. While Ken no longer owns the Party Source, New Riff Distillery is located in its parking lot because Ken still owns that land. Fortuitously, that lot had access to the aforementioned limestone water source that goes into all of New Riff’s cooks and fermentations. Co-founder Jay Erisman believes it’s a big reason why New Riff’s whiskies taste so good in their youth.
So what were we doing in downtown Cincinnati today, then just across the river from Cincinnati at the New Riff barrel house? Selecting single barrels of New Riff Bourbon, of course! As we were driving up from Louisville this morning, Vic asked me what made New Riff my favorite distillery in Kentucky right now. “Because they make Kentucky whiskey on a traditional multi-story column still just like all the big boys—none of that pot-column hybrid stuff—and they age their whiskies in an old fashioned rickhouse, no different from the classic distillers we know and love,” I responded; “It’s exciting to have new blood in the game.”
For those who may be confused, in no way is New Riff a craft producer, or micro-distillery making some whiskey alternative. They’re simply a smaller version of everything we already enjoy. Their whiskey is honest and distinctive. Their vision is humble and community-driven. Their production is time-tested. As their company motto states, it’s simply a new riff on an old tradition.
Sitting down with Mollie, Jay, and Ken today—our industry partners of almost two years now at Mission—and selecting single barrels for the first time in person was a real treat and four hours wasn’t nearly enough time to soak it all in. Jay is a real historian of Cincinnati’s whiskey history and there’s a lot of info he shared with me that I want to feature on a future post. Needless to say, I had no idea of New Riff’s proximity to Cincinnati, a city I visited today for the first time. In the grand scheme of things, only a river separates MGP from Kentucky, Angel’s Envy from Indiana, and New Riff from Ohio. Maybe we shouldn’t get too bent of shape about the state’s distinction on our whiskey labels.
-David Driscoll