New Riff Distilling — Attraction in Bellevue

New Riff is a nice trip. I really like the rooftop patio when the weather's nice and the selection of single barrel bottles in the gift stop that you won't find anywhere else, and most of them are available at the bar to try. I also have purchased dozens of their Single Barrel pick releases from around NKY and Cincy over the years.

That said, I was really disappointed by the recent changes for the New Riff Whiskey Club releases. They used to provide free 1/2 oz samples of the club releases during pickup when you purchased the $55 bottles. This felt like a nice token of appreciation or small gesture to their most loyal customers to help determine whether you like the bottle enough to open it (we buy all of these bottles without the chance to try them first and without seeing the tasting notes upfront because they sell out so fast). [If you think about this in retail cost, you get 100x 1/2 oz samples in a $55 bottle, so the unit cost is only $0.50 a piece, and the overall number of club release bottles they sell is pretty small... so it's a drop in the bucket marketing expense.]

They recently increased the price for those 1/2 oz samples from $0 to $10 each, which was an unfortunate surprise. $10 per 1/2 oz is the equivalent of $40 for a standard 2 oz pour, which is the kind of rate that local bars charge for things like BTAC or the high-end Weller products. Even for their Silver Grove shelfer they are charging $10 per 1/2 oz. Why charge your most dedicated fans the most? It just felt like getting nickled and dimed immediately after supporting NR by buying the special release.

They also usually provide a discount when you get a flight of 3 pours, but instead this time the bartender said it could only be 1 of the new bourbons in the flight, not all 3. (Weird way to advertise the brand new prodcuts, but okay...)

I couldn't help but feel ripped off paying the equivalent of $40 a pour for a $55 bottle. The quality of these two Spring 2023 club releases (New Riff Yellow Leaming and New Riff Blue Clarage) was also unfortunately not up to par with previous NRWC releases. These two aspects combined put a real damper on what used to be a unique and fun experience once or twice a year.

I usually leave NR thinking "what an awesome experience, I should go back more", but with this release that just wasn't the case. Historically they have charged reasonable prices and prioritized guest experience over making tons of profit. Now I couldn't help but ask myself if this is the beginning of the transition to...

Fantastic experience and whiskey.

Tour: The tour itself was great to see the process but does not include the barrels/rickhouse because they cannot do so onsite (in the city). That's okay though as the rest of the process is shown well and, for such a young distillery, they have an interesting story.

Tour Guide: Grover - just awesome - best guide I've had on a distillery tour yet. He was really interesting and friendly. Just a great guy.

Tasting: Best tasting I've done yet not just because I really like their whiskey, but it's done in the format where they teach you what to look for in the whiskey, how to sniff, etc.. Some distilleries don't do that (several do) but I prefer when they do for folks who are newer to whiskey. Also, the samples were fairly generous. One thing of note is the 'strategy' they have for their whiskey: Every distillery you go to, they claim some sort of unique strategy for their whiskey from a uniqueness in how/where they age, leaning into science, the corn, the water...everyone has a story. These guys I actually believe as to get to 100 proof but not sacrifice much flavor is something noticeable (vs some others) and why that is is their strategy and, for such young whiskey, it works.

Whiskey: The whiskey itself is new to me but my friend and I loved it immediately (especially the single barrel bourbon). Again, for such a young whiskey, they nail it - a bright future for these folks.

Gift Shop: Well stocked with branded gifts and lots of whiskeys to choose from which you probably won't find elsewhere. Lots of distilleries just have the stuff you'll find at your local liquor store so this variety is great.

Final thoughts: Love it! Again, though - no barrels/rickhouse in this tour. I'd say if you are heading down towards Bardstown, take the Heavens Hill tour as well as they focus on the Rickhouses and the heritage of their master distillers. I don't like their whiskey nearly as much, but as far as the aging process aspect goes, they fill in the gaps nicely (but the basic tour doesn't cover the actual distilling process which is why these two tours go...

Not a fan of how they run their operations at all. I took a tour and it was lovely and very fun. However it was a shame to hear that the staff is not treated fairly. As a business owner myself I always comp my staffers meals and drinks per shift but I found out that New Riff doesn’t. They talk about being no filters and they have nothing to hide? They treat their staff horribly. Now I understand staff shouldn’t depend on their job to give them a meal but in the world we live in I’d be more than happy to provide a meal because you never know anyone’s situation. But I’m not here to totally complain but to call some people out as well. While everyone was well uniformed. A young lady I think the bartenders called her Catherine but she didn’t seem to be apart of the staff. While everyone had something branded she stood out like sore thumb. And when I asked my tour guide why she got to wear what she wanted and my tour guide responded by letting me know that she was Director. Overall the downstairs team was phenomenal. The bartenders were too busy to answer questions so the staff downstairs was so helpful and they definitely carry their team. It’s a shame to know a multi-million business won’t spend money or is afraid to lose money and not provide a comped meal or a comped drink for their staff. Having to watch their staff pay full price for food that was not even worth the 11$ or be sad that they can’t even afford or indulge in food. New Riff. I am truly disappointed and will only be enjoying the retail space with those delightful people. The bar was horrible. The people running New...