New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 100 Proof 750ml

The World Whiskies Awards is one of the most rigorous and most broadly respected blind spirits competitions in the world. In 2026, after two rounds of judging that included every major bourbon from every major Kentucky producer at every price point, the panel arrived at a unanimous conclusion. The World's Best Bourbon is New Riff Bottled-in-Bond Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It costs $40.

Let that land for a moment. Not Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Not Pappy Van Winkle. Not any of the allocated, limited, secondary-market-priced expressions that dominate bourbon conversation in 2026. The best bourbon in the world — as judged blind by the most comprehensive international whisky competition — is a $40 non-chill-filtered, 100-proof, high-rye Kentucky straight bourbon from an independent craft distillery in Newport, Kentucky that was founded in 2014 and refused to release its first whiskey until it could qualify as Bottled-in-Bond.

The Whiskey Ramble, reviewing New Riff before the World Whiskies Awards recognition, said: "I'd probably suspect this was closer to 7 years. I regret sleeping on New Riff for as long as I did." Breaking Bourbon observed that New Riff "didn't release their own distilled whiskey until it was able to qualify as a Bottled in Bond product" — a founding quality commitment that anticipated exactly the kind of result the World Whiskies Awards 2026 delivered.

The World Whiskies Awards tasting notes confirm what the competition's judges found most extraordinary: "lemon zest and butterscotch on the nose" before "a bright palate with cinnamon, caramel, fresh fig, vanilla cookie, sweet pastry, dried leather, pumpernickel rye, corned beef and brine." The finish: "warm and sweet — caramel, lemon peel, crumb cookie and coffee." This is a 30% rye mash bill bourbon bottled at 100 proof without chill filtration, built on the Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, at four years of age. It is the World's Best Bourbon 2026. And it is on the shelf at Blackwell's.

Origins & Craftsmanship

New Riff Distilling was founded in 2014 in Newport, Kentucky — across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, on the site of the old B&B Riverboat liquor store, by Ken Lewis, whose vision for New Riff was simultaneously reverent and ambitious: build a distillery that honors Kentucky's most hallowed whiskey traditions at their highest standard while playing a genuinely new riff on those traditions through craft, independence, and an absolute refusal to compromise quality for commercial convenience.

The founding quality commitment is encapsulated in the distillery's self-described standard: "Bottled in Bond Without Chill Filtration — the world's highest quality standard." Not just Bottled-in-Bond, which the 1897 Act already defines as single distillery, single season, four-year minimum, 100 proof exactly — but Bottled-in-Bond without the chill filtration that even many BiB producers use to remove the natural oils and proteins that create cloudiness in the bottle. New Riff preserves those natural oils. The "extra rich, unfiltered deep amber color" that the official tasting notes describe is the visual evidence of that decision — a bourbon that looks genuinely different from chill-filtered expressions because it contains everything the barrel produced.

The mash bill is 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley — a genuinely high-rye formulation, with the 30% rye content significantly above the category's standard 10–15% range and more than double Maker's Mark's 16% wheat component. The non-GMO grain sourcing reflects New Riff's commitment to ingredient quality at the foundation of production. The 53-gallon toasted and charred new oak barrels — standard bourbon cooperage — are filled at a low entry proof that the Whiskey Ramble specifically noted as the likely reason the bourbon's richness is so developed at only four years: "I suspect a fairly low entry proof, which allows the whiskey to retain its richness without feeling overblown." The full sour mash Kentucky Regimen — using a portion of the previous fermentation's spent mash to acidify the new fermentation, the traditional process that controls bacterial contamination and contributes flavor complexity — is applied consistently across every New Riff expression.

The result is what the 2026 World Whiskies Awards confirmed: a bourbon of extraordinary completeness for its age, its price, and its proof.

Critics Reviews

World Whiskies Awards 2026 — World's Best Bourbon · Best Kentucky Bourbon Two gold medals at the most comprehensive international whisky competition: the highest possible global recognition for any American bourbon released in 2026.

World Whiskies Awards 2026 official tasting notes: "Lemon zest and butterscotch on the nose, before a bright palate with cinnamon, caramel, fresh fig, vanilla cookie, sweet pastry, dried leather, pumpernickel rye, corned beef and brine. The finish is warm and sweet, with caramel, lemon peel, crumb cookie and coffee."

The Whiskey Ramble (pre-WWA review): "I'm particularly impressed with how borderline complete this tastes and feels for a 4-year product. I suspect a fairly low entry proof, which allows the whiskey to retain its richness without feeling overblown. The fruity rye notes are probably my biggest clue that this isn't older distillate, but otherwise I'd probably suspect this was closer to 7 years. I regret sleeping on New Riff for as long as I did."

New Riff official tasting notes: Nose: "Butterscotch rounding into fresh oak, with hints of vanilla and rye spice." Taste: "Broad, fulsome mouthfeel, leading to a sweeter vanilla accent, before a gathering of rye spices — clove, cinnamon, mint, dark berry — into the finish." Finish: "Long, rye-led finish, with brambly red-black fruits amid white pepper and clove."

Breaking Bourbon: "New Riff Straight Bourbon is able to hold its own thanks to its sip that is full of sweeter flavors. New Riff didn't release their own distilled whiskey until it was able to qualify as a Bottled in Bond product."

Bourbon & Banter: "New Riff Distilling's core Bourbon expression is a genuinely high-rye, full-bodied whiskey offering savory, spicy character. All New Riff whiskeys are made with the full sour mash Kentucky Regimen; all carry an age statement, and are always bottled without chill filtration."

Secret Whiskey Society: "If you haven't had New Riff Bourbon before, do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle."

Tasting Profile

Nose Extra rich, unfiltered deep amber — the non-chill filtration's most immediate visual statement, a color of genuine warmth and depth that communicates the natural oils and congeners preserved intact rather than removed. The nose opens with the bright, lively combination that the World Whiskies Awards panel found most immediately compelling: lemon zest arrives with a clean, slightly tart citrus brightness that is the 30% rye mash bill's most specifically high-rye contribution — vivid, precise, and entirely characteristic of genuinely high-rye Kentucky bourbon at 100 proof. Butterscotch follows with warm, caramelized sweetness — the 65% corn's most generous aromatic contribution developing into the specific butterscotch quality that the four-year American oak barrel deposits most completely. Fresh oak adds structural backbone. Vanilla and rye spice thread through alongside hints of cinnamon and clove. The overall nose is bright, inviting, and considerably more complex than four years of maturation would suggest — the low entry proof's most directly apparent aromatic consequence, the richness preserved intact by the chill filtration's absence.

Palate Broad, fulsome, and bright — three qualities that the official tasting notes and the WWA notes together confirm as the most consistently impressive and most specifically unexpected qualities for a four-year 100-proof Kentucky bourbon. The entry delivers the sweeter vanilla accent first — the 65% corn's natural sweetness arriving with the warmth and richness that the non-chill filtered oils contribute to the mouthfeel. Then the 30% rye's gathering of spices: cinnamon, clove, mint, and dark berry building through the mid-palate with genuine force and specificity. Fresh fig adds the most surprising and most specifically memorable fruit note from the WWA panel — vivid, slightly jammy, and entirely characteristic of a high-rye bourbon's fruit compounds at optimal development. Vanilla cookie and sweet pastry add dessert-adjacent richness. Dried leather and pumpernickel rye add the savory dimension that makes New Riff Bottled-in-Bond so specifically distinctive from simpler, sweeter bourbons at the same proof and age. Corned beef and brine — the most unexpected and most specifically umami-adjacent flavor note in the WWA description — add a complex, slightly saline savory quality that is the 30% rye mash bill's most specifically unusual and most specifically memorable palate contribution. The mouthfeel is the expression's most immediately impressive quality: broad and fulsome despite 100 proof and four years.

Finish Long, rye-led, and warm. Brambly red-black fruits carry the close alongside white pepper and clove — the high-rye mash bill's most enduring contribution cycling through the finish with the specific fruit-and-spice combination that distinguishes high-rye bourbon's finish from lower-rye expressions. Caramel and lemon peel from the WWA note persist alongside crumb cookie and coffee — the finish's most complex and most specifically satisfying final dimension. The non-chill filtration's natural oils extend the finish considerably beyond what filtered expressions at the same proof achieve. Long, warm, and entirely complete.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Neat at room temperature or with a small splash of water — Bourbon & Banter specifically notes that water "mutes the pepper but it's still there, and the finish actually seems longer." The non-chill filtration's natural oils mean this bourbon is genuinely transformed by the addition of even a small amount of water — the richness expanding and the high-rye spice integrating into something particularly harmonious. A single large ice cube works beautifully for a slower pour where the fig, caramel, and vanilla cookie notes deepen as temperature drops. The World's Best Bourbon 2026 deserves a proper glass and a moment of genuine attention — and then it deserves to be bought again and again, because it is $40.

Cocktail Suggestions

New Riff Old Fashioned (the flagship serve) 2 oz New Riff BiB · 1 tsp Demerara syrup · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · expressed orange peel. Stirred over a large ice rock. The lemon zest, fig, and cinnamon carry naturally through the Old Fashioned format — the 30% rye's gathering of spices building progressively through the cocktail's development.

BiB Manhattan 2 oz New Riff BiB · 1 oz sweet vermouth · 2 dashes Angostura bitters · Luxardo cherry. Stirred over ice, served up. The pumpernickel rye and dried leather character bridges sweet vermouth's botanical sweetness in a Manhattan of unusual savory depth — the brambly red-black fruit echoing the Luxardo cherry garnish.

Whiskey Sour 2 oz New Riff BiB · ¾ oz fresh lemon juice · ½ oz simple syrup · optional egg white. Shaken hard over ice, served up. The lemon zest note that the WWA judges found most immediately compelling on the nose aligns perfectly with fresh citrus — the high-rye spice carrying through the sour with complete authority.