Contrary to wide belief, bourbon does not have to be made in Kentucky, but more than 90% of it is. Over the past several years, I have become a bit of a bourbon aficionado.
I enjoy fine bourbon the way it is supposed to be consumed, slowly sipping and savoring it. There is a wonderful bourbon bar relatively near me in Dayton, Ohio that is consistently named one of the best in the country. But if you go in, you will inevitably see many young people buying a shot of expensive whiskey then downing it in one swallow. If your only plan is to become intoxicated, why waste your money on superior, handcrafted brown water? A good bourbon is a “sipping whiskey” as far as I am concerned. And I personally never drink to excess. Rather, I enjoy bourbon for its flavor and history.
Now that I have finished recounting my past trips to Mayberry Days (though I have yet to discuss this year’s festival), I will get around to other topics more often. I will definitely return to discussing bourbon, but I recently got to experience what is likely a once-in-lifetime event for me.
Four years ago, as a Christmas gift for me, my lovely wife purchased a membership in a just-opened distillery in Northern Kentucky called New Riff. The distillery was started by the owner of The Party Source, the second largest individual liquor store in the country. He sold the store to his former employees and launched New Riff. The distillery itself is on the same grounds as the store. Their water source is right outside the distillery and is accessed by a deep well underneath the parking lot.
The membership made me a “New Riff Ranger” and entitled me to receive one the first bottles of bourbon they were producing when it was ready. Close to 5000 people become New Riff Rangers. New Riff did their bourbon right. They aged it four years and had a tasting party each year. Sadly, I was only able to go to the first one but it was a great concept for the members. My wife purchased the membership early on so I was among the first to get one of the early bottles of bourbon they produced.
I was notified my bourbon was ready and invited to a “bottling party” last month. I assumed that was a clever name for a gathering where members who got their membership the same month I did could go and pick up their bottles.
The bottling party was held at their new rickhouse (a warehouse where the bourbon is aged in barrels on a wooden framework) and bottling plant. New Riff’s rickhouses are about a 10-minute drive from their distillery. They are new with the barrels having spent most of their lives aging in rickhouses owned by other Kentucky distilleries before being moved to their new aging location.
New Riff had purchased the former home of a trolley line called the Green Line. The building was built in 1903. What appears to be the middle wall of the building was actually the original rear wall. New Riff added to the building behind the wall. That main building is used for supply storage and bottling. The rickhouse was a new building they had constructed. They were also using a second building built in the late 1800s but used a Scottish method of storing the barrels as the space would not support the normal framework.
When one enters a rickhouse, there is normally a strong, delightful smell of bourbon that has evaporated from the barrels, That is called the angel’s share. New Riff’s rickhouse was so new, the characteristic smell was absent. Instead, the smell was of the freshly cut wood which formed the structure that supports the barrels.
The real treat for me was that the term “bottling party” was not a clever name of the event. I found out when I arrived that I was going to actually get to bottle it myself!
I had already seen New Riff on the shelf, being sold in bottles that look like an amber wine bottle. The Rangers received a special bottle shaped differently and with a line drawing of the distillery on the back, allowing the image to be seen through the bourbon when looking at the front. The bourbon had been transferred to a metal barrel which was elevated with a hose leading to machinery used to fill the bottle.
I was given an empty bottle which I then placed over a dispenser at a 45-degree angle and pushed upward to activate the device. I then straightened the bottle and sat it down with the dispenser automatically shutting off when the bottle was full. I was allowed to cork the bottle myself and then place a label on the bottle which contained my New Riff Ranger membership I.D. number.
I later had the bottle autographed by New Riff’s founder, who was present and passing out tastes of the same bourbon in our barrel in case anyone planned to never open the bottle in order to keep it as a collector’s item.
As simple as it sounds, when am I ever going to have an opportunity to do something like that again? It was a great way to finish up the four-year wait for my bottle of New Riff bourbon.