Day 16

Cedar Ridge BIB Rye

Style: Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey

Mashbill: 85% Rye, 12% Corn, 3% Malted Barley

Aged: 4+ Years

Proof: 100.0

MRSP: $49.99

Why I chose it: I make it an objective to try some new distilleries and states that are unfamiliar to the calendar. I saw several positive reviews from YouTubers about Cedar Ridge, particularly their ryes. I was hunting for the Port Cask Finished Straight Rye at 105 proof (that really excited one reviewer), but I never found it. Their distillery is in Swisher, Iowa (just south of Cedar Rapids), and they only use Iowa corn in their whiskey (but it looks like their rye and barley are grown in Saskatchewan, Canada). They've been around for 20 years, so let's give it a try!

Today's mashbill is another new combo, containing the lowest amount of barley of any mashbill thus far. Their educational website shares that they use unconditioned rickhouses and lose about 50% more angel share annually than other US whiskey distillers because of the larger temperature fluctuations. That likely partially explains why some of their products are on the lower age range, but still mature.

For those keeping track, it's our first bottled-in-bond (BIB) bottle, but it follows two that are effectively that as well (save for the fact that they blended two adjoining growing seasons.

Distiller's page: https://www.newriffdistilling.com/spirits/8-year-old-kentucky-straight-rye-whiskey/