Secondly, I've lived long enough in the state of Ohio to feel comfortable with saying that, "Cincinnati is basically Kentucky." That is not an insult to that city nor either state. As one drives south of Columbus, The American South reveals itself quickly. It can be heard in the accents and trucks, tasted in the food, and seen on the fire-and-brimstone billboards. And of course, Cincy is right on the border of the Bluegrass State. Now, on to the adventure!
It is raining in Kentucky as you read this. Parts of the state have been flooding for most of 2025, as the downpour does not stop. And, much like last year's Paris adventure, I did not pack appropriately for the weather.
Luckily the sun held off the dark clouds for the first few hours of day one, as I sped (read: drove incredibly safely) to Covington, KY, because I left my house an hour later than I'd intended. One minute before the tour was to begin, I parked at New Riff Distillery, right across the bridge from Cincinnati.
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| Kentucky is happy to see me |
In 2014, Ken Lewis sold his ownership stake in The Party Source to the employees so that he could build a distillery in their parking lot. He brought on Larry Ebersol, the retired master distiller of the late great Old Seagrams Distillery to consult, and hired Brian Sprance of Sam Adams to run the 60' x 2' massive column still. In 2024, Ken retired, leaving ownership in the hands of his daughter Mollie Lewis and Hannah Lowen.
New Riff Distillery gets its water from a natural aquifer beneath the building, the corn from Indiana, and rye from Germany. Their bourbon comes from a 65/30/5 mash bill, while the rye goes with the MGP-like 95/5 mash. Those mashes undergo a 4-day open fermentation until they've become a ~7%abv distiller's beer. The first distillation goes through that huge 18-plated column still, then the low wines are further distilled in their thumper pot still to get the desired high wines. Their #4 char barrels come from two Kentucky coopers, and each final bottled batch is fashioned from 30-35 of those barrels. They have one bonded warehouse on site, and another off-site.
The tour guide (whose name I did not record, sadly) did an excellent job handling all of my pestering very well. The group tried a bunch of their products during the tour, and I found their Bottled-In-Bond bourbon to be my favorite thanks to its unique tobacco and dark chocolate notes. Afterwards, I went upstairs to their great bar and tried three of their single malts — the 2023, 2024, and 2025 releases — and liked all of them, though the long-gone 2023 was my favorite.
New Riff was a very pleasant surprise. Their whisky feels neither rushed nor raw nor over-oaked. I'd be happy to buy a bottle of that BIB, and the 2023 single malt if I ever find it in the wild.
Afterwards, I went to The Party Source and bought one liter of 190-proof Everclear, as one does.
As soon as I got to my hotel in Cincinnati, the thunder and lightning began, which was fabulous because I had very good tickets to the Reds vs. Nationals game. Though I did not pack a jacket, nor even a sweatshirt, I did have a good umbrella. So after I walked to the stadium, I sat down in my seat, watched the storm, and waited.
Okay, I didn't sit for the full two-hour wait. I ate ballpark pizza and forced down a Yuengling tall boy. And then the rain stopped! And a great ballgame commenced, with Hunter Greene striking out 12 Nationals in six innings, leading the Reds to a 6-1 win.
The rain started again during the eighth inning and did not stop for three days.
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