Established: 2014
Location: Newport, Kentucky
Origins: To become a whiskey maker, New Riff founder Ken Lewis divested himself of liquor megastore the Party Source, built a distillery on the other end of its parking lot, and recruited craft-brew vet Brian Sprance from across the Ohio River in Cincinnati as head distiller (now master distiller). “I had no distilling experience, but Ken gave me creative license to do what I wanted,” Sprance says. “I wasn’t going to fail for lack of trying.”
Flagship bottle: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Bottled in Bond, a high-rye mash bill, four-year-old expression that was the underdog winner of World’s Best Bourbon at the prestigious 2026 World Whiskies Awards. “It’s notable that the judges do blind tastings that remove bias,” Sprance says. “People say awards don’t matter, but when you win one like that, it means something.”
What makes its whiskey special: On the front end, New Riff draws water that Sprance calls “big and delicious” from an aquifer directly under the distillery. On the back end, it bottles without chill filtration, a process many distilleries use to remove fatty acid esters for clarity. “If we’re working hard to source good ingredients, why would we want to strip those flavors out?” he asks.
Visitor experience: After a production tour that includes tasting stations, visitors can hit the upstairs bar, the Aquifer, for cocktails and small bites.
Where to find: As of 2026, New Riff is distributed in all fifty states.
Steve Russell is a Garden & Gun contributing editor who also has written for Men’s Journal, Life, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. Born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee, he resided in New Orleans and New York City before settling down in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it’s far enough south that biscuits are an expected component of a good breakfast.