New Riff Winter Whiskey & Sherry Finished Malted Rye

This week, we’re kicking off 2026 by spotlighting some Seelbach’s Classics. These are releases from distilleries that have been part of Seelbach’s since the very beginning: before the releases piled up and before “craft” meant what it does today.

We’re starting with New Riff, a distillery that played a major role in shaping what Seelbach’s would eventually become.

Two of the very first single barrels I ever selected for Seelbach’s came from New Riff. I still remember taking those samples to the Bourbon Roundtable guys and watching their disbelief when I told them it was New Riff distillate. That moment felt important. It was proof that craft whiskey was moving in the right direction.

Today, we’re featuring two New Riff releases that show just how far they’ve come, and how willing they still are to push boundaries.

First introduced in 2022, New Riff’s Sherry Finished Malted Rye builds on their long-running exploration of malted rye whiskey. Bottled at barrel strength and non-chill filtered, it begins as a 100% Malted Rye and is then finished in a thoughtful combination of Spanish oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks.

New Riff isn't exactly a distillery known for finishing, which is why this release stands out. By treating their Malted Rye as a malt whiskey first and a rye whiskey second, the sherry cask influence feels a bit more natural.

The sherry cask element is forward and deeply pitched, yet beautifully leavened by the piquant grains, which burst into the finish like a sunrise. It takes an already girthy rye and amplifies the body and mouthfeel. In short, our Malted Rye has indeed taken sherry cask aging very well in hand—and arguably proved itself as a malt whiskey of the world.

Winter Whiskey is one of the most unique bourbons New Riff has ever made, and unlike much of what exists in the category.
 
Inspired by chocolate oatmeal stouts from the team’s brewing backgrounds, Winter Whiskey is built around a mashbill that includes raw and malted oats alongside chocolate malt. 
 
The experience is something of a three-way conversation between the dry cocoa quality of the chocolate malt; a balanced amount of oak; and this unique spicy quality (sort of like kasha-style buckwheat, perhaps blueberry skin) quite distinct from that of rye. The finish dances away on the oaty spice, dusted with Belgian cocoa. Despite the suggestion of “chocolate” in the grains and the name, it never turns cloying, tending to delicate dryness.