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New Riff High Note Collection – Biscuit Malt Rye Whiskey Review

New Riff High Note Collection – Biscuit Malt Rye Whiskey Review

New Riff’s High Note Collection added another new whiskey to their impressive collection at the end of 2024. In order to get this bottle, you have to be a member of their Whiskey Club. I’m not, but I have a couple friends who are. I should join at some point because it’s free and it makes you eligible to buy bottles like this one.

What is “Biscuit Malt Rye Whiskey?”

The creation team at New Riff loves to use unique malted grains in their whiskey. Their motto is “the weirder, the better.” Just kidding, that’s the motto I like to think they use. But for real, which other distillery have you ever seen put the words “Biscuit Malt” on the label?

New Riff obtains a lot of these unique malted grains from the German malthouse “Weyermann.” This is where they sourced the malted rye whiskey for their 6 Year Old 100% Malted Rye Whiskey and much of the malted barley types found in their Sour Mash Single Malt Whiskey. Speaking of their Sour Mash Single Malt, the Biscuit Malt that is found in this bottle of High Note was also used in one of the recipes for that release. This time around, they’re pairing it with rye and corn to make a rye whiskey. The exact breakdown is 51% rye, 26% corn and 23% Weyermann Abbey Malted Barley (which is the biscuit malt).

New Riff High Note Biscuit Malt Rye Whiskey

When New Riff first started distilling operations, I took them for a distillery that would shun using corn in a rye whiskey. I say this because their first rye whiskey was based off of Larry Ebersold’s (the godfather of rye) 95/5 rye whiskey mash that he oversaw during his tenure at Seagram’s. But recently we’ve seen New Riff experimenting with a style of rye whiskey that’s more in-tune with the kind that Kentucky is known for. Another example is the recipe they used for Ol’ New Riff Rye Whiskey – it also contains corn.

While other details are a little bit scarce, we can probably assume that New Riff has put this into the barrel at 110 proof and let it age for four years. The final barrel proof (109.4) wasn’t too far off from where it started. And I know this isn’t a very scientific thing I’m about to say, but this could mean that there wasn’t as much liquid-to-wood interaction from wherever it was stored in their warehouse. Conjecture aside, how does it taste? My friend James has given me the opportunity to find out. As usual, I sampled this neat in a glencairn.

Tasting Notes

Nose: Scents of shortbread cookies, unfrosted pop tarts and angel food cake give this dram an unmistakable “baked goods” vibe. I’m also finding slightly floral scents along with lemon and cherries. The fruit notes don’t stop there, I’m finding some dried fruit notes like banana and apricot as well. I don’t know how to describe the differences between smelling dried fruit and fresh fruit, but I’d say dried has a more concentrated and less fresh aroma to them. Finally, one odd scent that sticks out the most is like a beaten “Crisco” note with added sugar. Maybe it’s just hinting at a creamy texture on the palate?

Palate: The palate sees strong spice notes that add a nice amount of heat to each sip. The spice isn’t like pepper or cinnamon, it’s like an obscure Asian spice that concentrates on the tip of my tongue. Following that, I can taste coffee beans, baking chocolate and toasted crackers. Even stranger are notes of Nut Brown Ale and a little bit of wintergreen mint. I guess that the Biscuit Malt is responsible for some of these unusual flavors.

Finish: The heat dies down after the sip is complete and the baked goods – toasted crackers in particular – increases. The finish has a lot of bready notes, but I’m struggling to find any of the fruit notes from the nose. Strange!

Score: 6.5/10

The one thing I’ll give credit to with New Riff‘s High Note lineup is that I can always find something new that I’ve never experienced before. While this bottle of Biscuit Malt isn’t one that I am craving to revisit, it’s still pretty fun overall.

The flavor profile of this bottle will satisfy the fans of whiskies that deliver lots of baked goods flavors and scents. Biscuits, crackers, cakes – this has them all. The spice and fruit notes weren’t as powerful as I wanted them to be, so it kind of turned into a starchy, one-trick-pony after a few sips. Maybe that’s your jam, but it isn’t something I want my whiskey to dwell on.

Final Thoughts

If I had to sum up my experience with New Riff High Note Biscuit Malt, it would be like drinking a rye whiskey that tastes like a malt whiskey. The two closest whiskies that I can compare it to would be the Journeyman Farm Rye and New Riff‘s own Malted Rye. It’s very different from any other style of rye whiskey or malt whiskey out there which I appreciate because change is good in a world of similar-tasting whiskies. But the heavy concentration of malt doesn’t always work how distillers think it does and in the end, I was a little more lukewarm to the experience.

I’ll end this review just like I end most New Riff reviews by saying that I am eternally appreciative of their willingness to always experiment with new grains and methods of making whiskey. I know that one day they’ll find a combination that really works well

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