New Riff Balboa Rye Review | The Daily Pour
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89Great

New Riff Balboa Rye

Rye New Riff
  • Distiller

    New Riff

  • Bottler

    New Riff

  • ABV

    50%

  • Age

    NAS

  • Price $30 to $59.99

Deemed a specialty whiskey by the producer, New Riff, this rye focuses on a heritage rye grain, not seen for years in the distillation space. Bottled at barrel proof, produced with a mashbill of 95% balboa rye and 5% malted rye and with no filtering.

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Aggregated Reviews
  • Raided Score: 85
  • SpiritSurveyor
  • By Lane Southard
  • This has gotta be one of the fruitiest ryes I’ve ever had. Bright and sweet, but then the rye spice is there and offers great balance.
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  • Raided Score: 88
  • The Daily Pour
  • By t8ke
  • There's no doubting the rye character of this beast. Nobody will confuse this for a barely legal rye, and it works in all the right ways. Perhaps a bit too expressive for mixology, this Heirloom rye kicks like the bass drum at a rock show. The entire taste profile seems built around it. Delightfully rich, bold, spicy and aggressive.
  • Read Full Review
  • Raided Score: 95
  • Whiskey Consensus
  • By Matthew Evans
  • They’ve managed to release yet another whiskey that’s more than deserving of two thumbs up. Balboa Rye is a very well balanced 95% rye whiskey that has a nose, palate, and finish that are equally enjoyable.
  • Read Full Review
  • Raided Score: 88
  • The Bourbon Finder
  • By John H.
  • While it’s not going to change your life, it’s absolutely a great pour. Something I’m happy to have on the bar, and I break out for occasions where I’m sitting down with someone who truly appreciates rye whiskey.
  • Read Full Review

Raided Score is a conversion from an external site's score, to our in house uniform scoring system. Please see the FAQ for more.

House Review
  • Nose:

    Rich and spicy - impressive almost hickory and cherry wood notes to it. Bold clove, pepper, brown sugar and a delightfully sweet oak component.

  • Taste:

    Bold once more - the nose was no lie. Toffee, caramel, fat tannin influence, silky texture on the palate. Powerful and brash rye character on the back palate. A touch hot, but it's almost indistinguishable from the raw rye spice.

  • Finish:

    Long finish. Powerful again. Orange peel, hickory, maple and toffee. Sweet cream for a moment, then the rye returns with a vengeance. Clove, cracked pepper, tannin.

  • Overall:

    There's no doubting the rye character of this beast. Nobody will confuse this for a barely legal rye, and it works in all the right ways. Perhaps a bit too expressive for mixology, this Heirloom rye kicks like the bass drum at a rock show. The entire taste profile seems built around it. Delightfully rich, bold, spicy and aggressive.

  • Score:

    88

  • By t8ke
  • Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources