Kentucky is more than prepared to meet the growing demand for its signature spirit. According to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, production has risen 250 percent since 1999. And it hasn’t yet hit a plateau. The state’s legacy distillers are certainly doing their share. But as Patti and I were to discover on our tour through northern Kentucky, there’s plenty of room for newcomers.
NEW RIFF PICKS UP THE BEAT
New Riff (859-261-7433; newriffdistilling.com), a family-owned small distillery, was established in 2014 with a plan to follow time-honored practices to maximize flavor. For example, the distillery brews by adding sour mash to the grain bill. It also eschews cold filtration to preserve volatile flavors from the yeast.
The operation has two facilities in Newport, just across the Licking River from Covington and the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Those interested in a tour of the distilling process should reserve a tour and tasting ($10) at the New Riff distillery (24 Distillery Way). Constructed of concrete block, stone, exposed steel, and glass, the facility’s thoroughly modern design befits its status as one of the few freestanding distilleries constructed in the last half century.
In a nod to tradition, New Riff ages its barrels in a renovated historic building (1104 Lowell Street) that was once home to the Green Line Trolley that served northern Kentucky until 1950. Tours ($25) of the rickhouse and bottling facility are offered a couple of times a month and conclude in an elegant tasting room with brick walls and crystal chandeliers. Participants sample five different spirits, including one Bourbon from the barrel. Be sure to register far in advance.
Like other distilleries, New Riff allows aficionados to sample from single barrels and select one for purchase. Now, that’s a lot of Bourbon. Unlike other distilleries, New Riff’s Single Barrel Program will also sell a half or quarter barrel to a group of up to eight tasters.
A quarter barrel, by the way, equals roughly sixty bottles. That’s still a lot of Bourbon—much more than Patti and I were in the market for. But Aly Fossett, Director of the Single Barrel program, was kind enough to give us a taste of the experience.
“My mother turned me on to Bourbon,” Aly told us. “Her New Year’s resolution was to dive into Bourbon and become more knowledgeable. She brought a lot of different bottles into the house.”
EVALUATING SINGLE-BARREL DIFFERENCES
Aly’s mother was on to something. As it turns out, the Single Barrel Program is run entirely by women, including Single Barrel Ambassador Creola Dickerson (above, pouring. Aly contends that women have more sensitive palates than men. Perhaps that’s because Yale University researchers have found that women have more taste buds on their tongues than men. Now was the time to put those extra taste buds I hadn’t been aware of to the test.
Participants in the Single Barrel program select three barrels to sample from a list of flavor profiles of ten Bourbons. Patti and I selected two of the three for our tasting. She went for a Bourbon with a nose of butterscotch, oak, sweet tobacco, and orange zest. I selected more floral notes of lavender and cardamom. The tasting is done blind. We sniffed, we tasted, we let the Bourbon fall across our palates. Then we added a few drops of water and tasted again. My extra taste buds clearly need sharpening. I was unable to detect the lavender and cardamom in my choice. In fact, I preferred Patti’s selection, while she gravitated to the third sample in the mix. At this point, a group of purchasers would have to come to agreement on a single barrel. Patti and I, fortunately, were saved from making that decision and moved on with our friendship intact.
VISIONARY DISTILLATES AT SECOND SIGHT SPIRITS
High school buddies Carus Waggoner (above) and Rick Couch were working on Cirque du Soleil productions in Las Vegas when they built a still in an apartment. “We experimented on our circus friends,” Carus told us. ‶They are the heartiest people.”
As craft distilling took off, the pair returned to their native Kentucky in 2014 and harnessed their can-do attitude and mechanical ingenuity to launch Second Sight Spirits (301 Elm Street, 859-488-7866, secondsightspirits.com) in a downtown Ludlow storefront. They are proof positive that distilling spirits can be serious fun.
‶Problem-solving trips our brains,″ Carus explained. They built their still using a stainless steel pot purchased on Craig’s List, a “crystal ball” condenser made from a dismantled street light, and a double boiler from a timpani drum manufacturer. It sits on a cross-legged figure and resembles a turbaned genie. “We’re developing a mechanism so that the still can tell your future,” says Carus.
Carus and Rick, who is the distiller, haven’t managed to limit their repertoire. ‶We need a ‘no person’ on staff,″ Carus admits. Second Sight’s current 13 products include four moonshines and six rums. Waggoner favors the smoked cherry rum made with cherries that they smoke in the parking lot. Their only Bourbon (Oak Eye) is ‶the first legal Bourbon in Kenton County since Prohibition,” according to Carus. Fortunately, drinkers don’t need the hearty constitutions of circus hands.
Tours and tastings ($5-$7) are usually offered Friday through Sunday, when a bar and coffee shop are also open. A few times a month, Second Sight hosts performances that can range from burlesque shows to drag seances to play readings.
The name Second Sight denotes a ‶vision for the future,″ says Carus. I’m certainly curious to see what this self-described ‶compatible crazy″ pair come up with next.