December 8, 2025 • 42 mins
In music, most of us are attracted to a song’s continually repeated musical rhythm, "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, or "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, but once those were new to us. Our guest today is here to remind us of the pleasure we get when discovering a new riff.
Sponsored by Visit Cincy, I am thrilled to introduce you to Mollie Lewis, the President of New Riff Distilling, which took Kentucky’s leitmotif of bourbon and sprinkled in a few eighth-note surprises to create a liquid that is winning awards not only at home but around the world. Her story proves there’s always room for a new tune in town.
Not only am I excited to introduce Mollie to you, but also the whole Cincy Region — where North meets South and Ohio meets Kentucky. Just a bridge apart, Cincinnati’s German heritage and urban energy connect with Northern Kentucky’s Southern charm.
While you are there, you can sip bourbon, sample craft beer, and savor award-winning cuisine. There are tons of vibrant street art, historic landmarks, and stunning architecture to explore — all along a riverfront that’s buzzing with festivals year-round.
You can plan your trip at visitcincy.com.
Our cocktail of the week is the New Fashioned:
INGREDIENTS
- 2 oz. New Riff Bottled in Bond Bourbon
- 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 3 dashes Orange Bitters
- 1/4 oz. Rich Demerara Syrup*
METHOD
- Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass
- Add ice and then stir until chilled
- Strain over a large rock in a rocks glass or coupe
- Garnish with an orange peel
*Rich Demerara Syrup - In a large pot, mix 12 oz of water and 24 oz of demerara sugar together on low heat. Use a spoon to slowly stir as the mixture heats up. Heat through until sugar dissolves, never allowing the mixture to come to a boil. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.
You’ll find this recipe and all the cocktails of the week at alushlifemanual.com, plus links to most of the ingredients.
Full Episode Details: https://alushlifemanual.com/new-riff-with-mollie-lewis-president/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
>> Susan Schwartz (00:07):
In music, most of us are attracted to a song's
continually repeated musical rhythm. Think Smoke
on the Water by Deep Purple, I Can't get no
Satisfaction by the Stones, or Seven Nation army
by the White Stripes. But once those were new to
us. Our guest today is here to remind us of the
(00:29):
pleasure we get when discovering a new riff. I'm,
um, Susan Schwartz, your drinking companion and
this is Lush Life podcast. Every week we're
inspired to live life one cocktail at a time.
Sponsored by Visit Cinse. I'm, um, thrilled to
introduce you to Molly Lewis, the president of New
(00:52):
Rift Distillery, which took Kentucky's light motif
of bourbon and sprinkled in a few eighth note
surprises to create a liquid that is winning
awards not only at home, but around the world. Her
story proves there's always room for a new tune in
town. Not only am I excited to introduce Molly to
(01:14):
you, but also the whole Cincy region, where north
meets south and Ohio meets Kentucky. Just a bridge
apart, Cincinnati's German heritage and urban
energy connect with Northern Kentucky's Southern
charm. While you're there, you can sip bourbon,
sample craft beer and savor award winning cuisine.
(01:39):
There's tons of vibrant street art, historic
landmarks and stunning architecture to explore all
along a riverfront that's buzzing with festivals
all year round. You can plan your trip
and@visitcincy.com now grab that Old Fashioned and
let's join Molly. So it's really great to have you
(02:02):
on the show.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I can't wait to hear your story.
>> Speaker C (02:05):
Ah. Uh, thank you. Thanks, Susan, for having me.
>> Susan Schwartz (02:08):
Absolutely. I've already given you an intro, but
why don't you introduce yourself again?
>> Speaker C (02:13):
Absolutely. Well, my name is Molly Lewis and my
current title is president of New Riff Distilling.
A New Rift Distilling is actually my family
business. We're located here in Northern Kentucky
in a pretty small town called Newport. It runs
right along the river of Cincinnati. So we have
Ohio to the north and we consider ourselves the
(02:35):
top of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail or the beginning
of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail here in Newport.
>> Susan Schwartz (02:40):
I love Newport. It's such a fun town. And if
people have listened to my first episode about,
uh, Northern Kentucky, we talked about Newport
being the Las Vegas of its day. So how exciting.
You're right in there with the, with the
prohibition stuff and everything.
>> Speaker C (02:57):
There's a lot of storied history here in Newport.
It has a pretty checkered but interesting past and
we're pretty proud to be a part of that too.
>> Susan Schwartz (03:07):
So let's get into it. New rift. Tell me the
beginnings. I know you're.
>> Speaker C (03:11):
You're.
>> Susan Schwartz (03:11):
I believe your dad started it. And maybe you can
tell us a little bit about how he even thought to
create a bourbon company.
>> Speaker C (03:18):
Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up here in Kentucky.
So did my father. Actually, my. Our, uh, grand.
His father, my grandfather, came to Kentucky from
New York after immigrating from northern Europe.
>> Susan Schwartz (03:30):
Is there a reason why he decided to leave New York
and come to Kentucky?
>> Speaker C (03:34):
No. He was an engineer, and he was a businessman
as well. He was trying to find his way. He was a
young man. And I believe the story is that a
friend told him that things would be easier in the
south and that he would have more opportunity to
do all the things that he wanted to do. And there
(03:55):
was less opportunity in crowded New York. He was
in Rochester. And so he took a leap of faith. I
believe he and some friends moved down to
Kentucky, and then he met my grandmother, and they
planted roots, and so be it. But I never remember
him having a Kentucky accent. And therefore, I
don't think a lot of us in the family had this
strong Kentucky accent, but we're certainly
(04:17):
Kentuckians at this point, you know, so the story
is. It's fun. So my grandfather started a
consolidated store. They were selling a lot of
army surplus and things, and there was a small
liquor section in the store. His brother, my
father's uncle, was running that store. And you
know, the story, the family story, is that he was
a gambler and that he was drinking all the
(04:38):
profits. And so my grandfather kicked him out and
asked my father, who was in early 20s, he had just
finished college, to help him run the store. And
it wasn't really what my father wanted to do, but
he said, sure, I'll help you out. Family
obligations. And then he found out that he really
had a knack for it and was really good at putting
the store together and was really interested in
(05:00):
the product. And so he never went back. You know,
he never. He was studying to be a teacher, and he
was sort of a teacher by osmosis, uh, all of his
life, teaching, teaching me and teaching. So many
people that have worked with and for him. But he
never went back formally to the classroom and just
continued to build stores and create a beverage
(05:21):
alcohol chain here in Kentucky. And then the last
one that he built, uh, which is the largest one,
is a store called the Party Source. And the Party
Source folks in the area know it. It's actually
still, to date, the largest independent beverage
alcohol store in the United States still today,
which is really neat. So he built the store in the
(05:43):
early 90s. It's right on the border with Ohio.
Ohio has state laws that control the pricing of,
uh, spirits and whatnot. And so it was a success.
Folks would travel over the border and shop. And,
you know, he had his finger on the pulse of what
was happening in Kentucky and the bourbon scene.
You know, he has amazing stories about in the 90s
(06:05):
being offered full barrels of, you know, you name
it, Pappy x 15 year old this and, you know, four
roses that and all the buffalo trace items that
are special. And, um, he just saw the boom
starting to happen. And he remembers when
Blanton's was on the shelf and you had to dust it
off, you know, nobody wanted to buy it. And so
that really, he fell in love with Berman and fell
(06:27):
in love with the fact that it was America's native
spirit. Uh, America's only native spirit. And that
really the good stuff comes from Kentucky.
>> Susan Schwartz (06:36):
Yeah.
>> Speaker C (06:37):
And so this is a long winded way of saying that he
fell in love with bourbon and then kind of took a
look around here in Northern Kentucky and realized
that since Prohibition, there really hadn't been
anything of significance in the distilling world
here in Northern Kentucky there were a couple
small, small operations, you know, uh, uh, pot
still operations, a barrel a week kind of thing,
(07:00):
but nothing really of significance. Putting
Northern Kentucky on the map as far as being a
bourbon destination in the state of Kentucky. And
so his, his second chapter, if you will, was to
try to change that.
>> Susan Schwartz (07:12):
All right, before we get to the second chapter,
let's go back to the first chapter for a second.
I, as a Pennsylvanian, have heard of the Party
Source. It is huge. It is huge. It must have been
really interesting for him in the 90s being in
Kentucky, because that was of course, the time
when vodka was king. And when you say that, you
know, he could have all these barrels, I mean,
(07:32):
they just probably didn't know what to do with
them really.
>> Speaker C (07:35):
They were probably giving them away to an extent.
I mean, you know, it was an interesting time. And
as we've been told, bourbon is really a cyclical
market item. And so certainly in the 80s
particularly and early 90s, it was, there was a
real slump. Right. I mean, some of the heritage
distilleries were still making some production,
but it was, it was a hard item to sell. Didn't
(07:57):
have certainly anything near the cachet that it
started to accumulate as it got more in more
recent times. Yeah.
>> Susan Schwartz (08:04):
And I guess being a Kentuckian, he was had bourbon
in his veins. Was this something that he drank at
home?
>> Speaker C (08:12):
You know, it was around. It was something that he
was aware of and he drank socially and he learned
about. I don't remember him drinking a lot of
bourbon at home growing up. I remember he smoked a
pipe and, you know, would drink cocktails and
things. I don't remember bourbon being
particularly the most meaningful thing that he
(08:32):
drank until I was in high school. And a little bit
later, I remember the interest growing. Uh, and I
remember there was an interest in rye whiskey as
well. You know, the stories are. Back in the early
90s, there were one, two, maybe three selections
on the shelf. Now in the party source, there's a
whole wall of. Of rye. But I remember when he
talked about rye being, ah, a growing category
(08:54):
too. So he just. He was in it every day. He saw
what was coming in the door, he saw that there was
going to be a boom. Um, he envisioned this
trajectory that ended up really happening.
>> Susan Schwartz (09:04):
And you, by osmosis, must have just.
Been not even realizing, but soaking it all in.
>> Speaker C (09:11):
Uh, you know, it was a really exciting time. I
learned a lot about a lot of different species. I
was allowed to drink wine at the table when I was
18 and we were a family that really embraced
drinking being part of the table. I like to think
we were a little Italian or European in that
regard. Yeah, it was a part of life. It was a part
of our family life in a way that maybe it wasn't
(09:33):
for a lot of Americans at the time growing up.
>> Susan Schwartz (09:35):
Yeah. And, um, through my research, I know that
you were an artist and although you were drinking
at the table, that you then got to drink in other
places in other countries. Tell me about how you
got. Before we get to the second chapter, but your
first chapter before you got involved with New
Riff.
>> Speaker C (09:51):
Yeah. Well, thank you. So, you know, there was
always. I'm the firstborn. And, uh, there was
always a lot of pressure that at some point I
would come into the family business. Right. There
was, uh, an expectation that just sort of like
lived in the ethos. But I was really encouraged to
figure out what my passion was and what I was good
(10:12):
at. And so I gravitated to. To the arts at a young
age. Painting, visual arts was really my thing. I
had the privilege of going to a magnet art high
school, which was unusual, especially in Kentucky,
that that thing was. That kind of thing was even
offered. But it really was. I went to a pretty
interesting magnet high school where we had some
(10:33):
fascinating teachers who really encouraged
personal development. And so I was also Encouraged
to go to art school. And I felt like that was
really my calling. Uh, we looked at a number of
different schools. I was awarded a couple of
scholarships. I'm proud to share. And I ended up
going to Parsons School of Design in New York. And
Parsons is known for fashion in all transparency,
(10:56):
but they actually have a very interesting art
program. And one of the strengths of Parsons is
that it's located in New York City. So you're
soaking up all the culture and, uh, the arts and
the multiculturalism just by, just by being in
that city. So that's, that's where I went. And I'm
so glad that I did.
>> Susan Schwartz (11:14):
And, and then I know that you, um, you took that
passion for wine and ended up in Italy.
>> Speaker C (11:21):
Yeah, yeah, I did. I did absolutely. Well, I, you
know, I dabbled in the arts. I did a five year
degree program at Parsons. Loved living in New
York, but it's hard to make money in the arts.
Right. And so I remember, uh, in my early 20s,
having a conversation with my father. I call him
Ken, you know, at work. But I remember talking
with him and he was like, well, you drink enough
(11:43):
wine, why don't you learn something about it? You
know? And I think the impetus was to always to
have me learn something about wine and then come
back to the family business, which was still
retail at the time.
>> Susan Schwartz (11:54):
And it makes me laugh. It sounds so much like my
dad too, but is that right? Yeah.
>> Speaker C (12:00):
So I, I got a job in the tasting room in, uh, at
Behringer. Poured some white zinfandel when I was
24 years old. Uh, but it was really a great
learning experience to learn about. Just to learn
about wine, to see what people, the kinds of
questions people were asking. I mean, it was a
great starting point. It was a great experience,
and I'm fortunate to have had that opportunity.
(12:22):
And then I did. I worked in a number of different
wine positions through distribution, I worked in
restaurants, and then had the opportunity to go to
Italy in 2007, which was very exciting, I will
say. I followed a guy to Italy who I am no longer
with, but ended up being the best thing that I
(12:42):
ever did for myself. And I ended up staying there
for five years.
>> Susan Schwartz (12:46):
What do you feel that you.
I know you're no longer in wine, but I'm sure you
still love it and love Italy.
But what do you feel that you.
Brought back with you from Italy?
>> Speaker C (12:58):
Absolutely. No, that's a great question. I don't
know if I've ever been asked that question so
directly. And I love it. Um, I think there's such
a, just a wonderful culture around food and
beverage coming out of Italy. It's in people's
veins, you know, just sitting at the table, uh,
wine or even a spirit cocktail being a part of the
table. And, uh, that's how I think too. So it was
(13:20):
a really exciting time. I absorbed a lot. I
learned a lot about authenticity and a sense of
place, terroir. And I really was excited to come
back to Kentucky when. And we'll get back to it, I
think about how we decided to move forward with
New Rift, but there were a lot of parallels. You
know, we're talking about America's native spirit,
(13:41):
we're talking about bourbon. And although you can
make bourbon in any state, in the entire 50
states. There'S a theory that all the best stuff,
all the best bourbon comes from Kentucky. And so
the idea of being in a family business
representing a sense of place was a great parallel
to what I was learning and what I was doing in
(14:02):
Italy. And I do think that I brought some of my
hospitality that I learned over in Italy back to
what we do here at New Rif. Um, I don't want to
skip too far ahead, but we decided early on that
we were going to be champions in Single Barrel, in
our Single Barrel program.
>> Susan Schwartz (14:20):
Wait, uh, before we do get to that, let's go to
the second chapter and let's talk about New Riff
and why your dad from the Party Source decided to
bite off a huge, you know, this is a huge thing
that he did to create a distillery. Uh, it had to
be a huge passion.
>> Speaker C (14:40):
It was a huge thing. Yeah. And he wasn't young. I
mean, I'll give you that. You know, he had had
his, his career in retail. He'd been in as a
retailer for over 40 years. Right. And I will be
completely transparent, the Party Source at this
point was a debt free business. I mean, a lot of
folks in his shoes might have just moved to
Tahiti. You know, and sometimes he probably
wishes, why didn't I do that? But you know, he had
(15:02):
a real passion. He's an entrepreneur. He, he, he
doesn't sit still. You know, he doesn't like it
when things get too comfortable. He has that
crazy, crazy. I'm not necessarily like that. But,
you know, he likes to push the limit and the
envelope and the edge. And so he got it into his
head that he wanted to create a bourbon, a real
bourbon destination here in Northern Kentucky and
(15:23):
put Northern Kentucky on the map as being one of
the, the Meccas, one of the Focal points in
Kentucky for bourbon and bourbon tourism. And so,
you know, we say that New Riff was created in
2009, 2010, around the dinner table. A little bit
of it had to do with Kent, you know, him visiting
me in Italy and experiencing some of the family
(15:45):
wineries that we spent time in. You know, I think
that definitely kind of fueled the interest. And,
um, he started really putting, putting the layers
into practice and making it happen. Uh, what I
always love to point out is that the Party Source,
which we actually share a parking lot with,
believe it or not. But he, in 2014, one of the
(16:05):
best days and most memorable day, memorable days
of my life was when he told the employees at the
Party Source, and there are about a hundred
employees in that store, a hundred different
families. And when he sold the store to the
employees. So I, I love to point that out because
I do feel that that gives an image of the value
(16:25):
system and the ethos that New Riff was built on.
But he could have made so much more money selling
to a total wine and more or one of these larger
chains or who knows, might have been interested.
But he wanted to take care of his people and he
wanted to take care of his employees and he made
them all owners of the store. You know, it's, uh,
(16:46):
being an ESOP is a profit sharing opportunity for
the employees of the store. So to this date, you
walk into that store, which is still the largest
independent retail store in the country. That's
amazing. And it's employee, which is, it's such.
>> Susan Schwartz (16:59):
A generosity of spirit.
>> Speaker C (17:01):
I love that. It's a generosity of spirit. It's
taking care of people. You know, he, of course he
wants to live well. He wants to make money. I
mean, who doesn't? But he also believes in
sharing. And I think that's a really important
value system that we have now adapted or always
had to as the second generation of leadership here
at New Rift. But I don't want to get too far ahead
(17:22):
from that. So that enabled us financially to build
New Rift from the ground up. So we got the money,
Party Source was being run by the employees, and
we started to build this building that I'm
currently in right now from the ground up. And we
finished construction in 2014 and had our first
distillation in May of 2014.
>> Susan Schwartz (17:42):
So what, what had you planned? Did you have then
the MASH bill? Did you have a bottle design? Did
you have the name?
>> Speaker C (17:50):
Yeah, you know, we none, none of us had done this
before. Ken certainly hadn't. I certainly hadn't.
And then we had, uh, an awesome team who mostly
are still here. We had an eight team, an eight
member team. Hannah Lohan, who's our current CEO,
and Brian Sprantz, who's our master distiller,
were all already on board, already part of the
(18:10):
team. The naming of the distillery, it's really
hard to do. It's like naming a child. There's a
lot of responsibility there. Right? We had a lot
of other names. We kept thinking about, do we call
it north of the south or do we talk about
Kentucky? And none of that really resonated with
us because we felt that we weren't being
authentic. You know, we don't have grandpa's
(18:32):
recipe under the bed. We don't have hundreds of
years of distillation culture in our family, or,
um, the original dsp, you know, here in the state.
So we felt that those names were a little
inauthentic. But we kept coming back to being a
new rip on Ken's life. You know, here he was,
(18:52):
older than midlife, making a complete career
change, starting a whole new business, very
capital intensive. And so we, we kept going back
to it being a new riff on Ken's life. And then we
started thinking about products that we envisioned
making and that we were planning to make and that
it was based in tradition. It was based on the
(19:13):
sour mash regimen, which is what we consider the
Kentucky regimen. It's how whiskey is made here in
Kentucky. So we were honoring that. But our plans
were to really to innovate and to create something
new and something special and something a little
different. And so we started talking about, hey,
wait a second, we're a new riff on an old
tradition, right? So it just, it just sort of fell
(19:35):
into place in a nice way and felt real and felt
authentic. And then with the bottle, you know,
when we had decided on the name, we wanted to have
a bottle that was a nod to traditional. Right. The
shape of the bottle is actually a relatively known
bottle shape. You might have seen it in the
market. There are a number of important brands,
(19:56):
whiskey brands that did do use this bottle shape.
We modernized it or we put our riff on it or a
spin on it by this ombre, which really hadn't been
done before in the industry. So we think that that
was really neat. You know, there were lots of
evolutions. At first the ombre was on the bottom
and it graduated to the top. And then we switched
it and, you know, we had a lot of fun designing
(20:18):
this bottle, but it was a risk. You know, we took
a risk with this sort of modern take on a, uh,
traditional bottle. Now you see it a little bit
more in the industry, but at the time it was
really one of the first.
>> Susan Schwartz (20:29):
And, and the recipe, how do you even start? How
many different trial and errors did you have? Or
did you just come up with it in the first
iteration?
>> Speaker C (20:39):
So that's, it's an interesting story in and of
itself. So, you know, Ken had not been in the
distilling business. None of us had. Right. We
all, we, we consider ourselves almost like
corporate refugees. Is a, is a term we used early
on for a employees here at New Rift. And so our
master distiller, Brian Sprance, actually, uh,
(20:59):
people find this hard to believe, but he had
actually never distilled a thing in his life when
we hired him. So.
>> Susan Schwartz (21:05):
Wait, wait, I have to stop you there. So he
answered an ad for a master distiller.
>> Speaker C (21:10):
Well, he, he, he had experience. He had worked for
Sam Adams for over 15 years. So he was a master
fermenter.
>> Susan Schwartz (21:18):
Which by the way, everyone, Sam Adams is in
Kentucky. It is not in Boston.
>> Speaker C (21:23):
Absolutely it is. And it's, it's industry here and
it's important. And so Brian worked there. He was
a master fermenter. I mean, a title doesn't really
exist, but he really knew fermentation backwards
and forwards. And so the vision that Ken felt very
strongly about was, I don't want to hire an
assistant master distiller from Maker's Mark or
from Woodford. Bring them up here and have Makers
(21:46):
north or Woodford North. You know, I want to, I
want to have something unique and something
representative of northern Kentucky. And so that
was why strategically, we went out and found Brian
because he had the base down. I mean, being an
expert, you have to keep everything so clean. I
mean, fermentation is really, really, really a
(22:06):
skill to master. And we had a clean slate. You
know, he was interested, he was excited, and you
know, he dug right in. We did have a consulting
master distiller who really took Brian under his
wing and train Brian and help us put together our
distillery down to what fermenters to build and
what pipes to put in. His name was Larry Ebersole.
(22:29):
Uh-huh. And he, folks might have heard of him. He
is a world renowned master distiller that had
worked for Seagrams, the former Seagram's plant,
for over 30 years. And rye was really his area of
expertise. That's where he particularly shined. So
we were his first consulting project. And he came
in and Brian likes to say that Larry taught Him
(22:51):
everything he knew, he knows about distillation.
>> Susan Schwartz (22:54):
Yeah, See it's a new riff on his career as well.
>> Speaker C (22:57):
New riff on a lot of things in the industry. And
you've probably heard this too. When we first
started, there was sort of a, uh, word on the
street that the fermentation wasn't as important,
you know, that the beer, the distiller's beer
wasn't super important. And we approached it from
a very different angle where from the get go we
said this is extremely important. We need to have
(23:19):
uh, absolute best distiller's beer we could
possibly make to be the foundation of our whiskey.
And so Brian, no one better to bring in than
someone who really knew fermentation.
>> Susan Schwartz (23:29):
Absolutely. And so about how long did it take from
starting it to your liquid or having the right
recipe?
>> Speaker C (23:37):
Well, so we were committed to doing things what we
call the right way. I mean that's our
interpretation. But our, our interpretation was to
be as transparent as possible. Right. Uh, which
was also more rare at the time. Now you're seeing
things like mash bills put on bottles and, and
things like that. But that wasn't the case when we
first started. So when we first came out of the
(23:58):
gate we said, okay, we're going to wait. We're
going to wait at least four years until our uh,
whiskey tells us that it's ready. It sounds silly
but really that was what we were saying back then.
We want to release it at four years but if it's
not going to, if it's not ready, we'll wait. That
was the commitment to the quality. And we also
wanted our entry level spirit to be bottled and
(24:19):
bond, which you're seeing a lot more of in the
industry now. There's been a resurgence in, in
bottled and bond products. But we were one of the
first to actually make our uh, I think we were the
first distillery that I know of to make our first
entry level product also bottled in bond. So to be
bottled in bond it has to be at least 4 years old.
(24:40):
It has to be 100 proof come from. Followed by the
same distilling team its entire life. So we were
that committed to quality. In fact we embossed it
on the bottle. So we didn't release anything until
uh, 2018. So we hurried up, we distilled and then
we waited.
>> Susan Schwartz (25:00):
Now you kind of let it slip. Were you making any
gin or anything else while you were waiting?
>> Speaker C (25:06):
We also, one of the things that we said was we
were only going to make things that we like to
drink. So gin was Something that we made right out
of the gate. We love, we love gin. We still make
it. We do a, what we call a Kentucky wild gin and
then we also make a bourbon barrel aged gin, um,
which is really exciting and fun. We sold a little
(25:26):
bit of that along the way. We did some contract
distilling for some larger clients to keep the
lights on. And we waited until 2018 and then we
released bourbon and rye here in the Kentucky
market. And it was worth the wait. I'm so glad we
did.
>> Susan Schwartz (25:41):
It must have been so exciting.
>> Speaker C (25:43):
Uh, it was such an exciting time. You know, it's,
I mean it's like creating anything, right? It's
almost can be across the board in any industry.
When you're releasing a product to the world for
the first time, you don't know what folks are
going to say. You don't know how people are going
to respond. You know, it's, it's a very nerve
wracking moment. The one thing we were sure about
(26:04):
was we knew what was in the bottle was good. We
knew the flavor was there. We priced things
fairly, we priced our bottles. Not what the market
could have borne at that time. But that was Ken's
retailer background. You know, he wanted it to be
fair. We wanted the whiskey to be your favorite
thing to drink on a Tuesday night and also what
you wanted to drink on Saturday too. And so, but
(26:26):
Gary, it's unnerving. You never know what folks
are gonna say. And luckily the response was
wonderful. Mhm. So we've been riding the wave ever
since. It's been, I have to pinch myself sometimes
that it's only been 12 years because, um, we've
come a long way.
>> Susan Schwartz (26:42):
Now, right off the bat, were you thinking, okay, I
know we're gonna do bourbon first and then we're
gonna have a rye and maybe a single malt later. Or
were these ideas after you wanted to see how the
bourbon went?
So.
>> Speaker C (26:54):
Well, uh, our bourbon is a high rye bourbon.
Right. So the mash bill, that's something else we
do. We put it on the back of the bottle. The mash
bill is always, always. Yes.
>> Susan Schwartz (27:02):
We didn't talk about that on the back.
>> Speaker C (27:04):
Right. And so our bourbon is 65% corn, 30% rye,
which is pretty high when you think of, you know,
rye percentages and 5% malted barley. And so out
of the gate we knew we were going to make a rye.
Larry, from his former Seagram's years had shared
the, what we sometimes refer to as the original,
(27:25):
the bullet Bourbon. The Bullet rye recipe. Sorry.
At uh, 95 rye, 5% malted barley. And so we made
that out of the gate too. But we. We put a riff on
it. We put our spin on it. We made 90, 95% rye, 5%
malted rye. So that was a product we made out of
the gate. And we also made a little bit of 100%
(27:49):
malted rye pretty early on, too. Brian asked Larry
his favorite thing that he ever made at Seagrams,
and Larry's at. I made this thing. I made this.
This mash bill one time. It was so good, but, you
know, the higher ups wouldn't let me make it
because it was too expensive, so I never made it
again. And Brian said, well, what was it? And he
said, well, it was this a hundred percent malted
(28:10):
rye, which is still a very unusual mash bill. So
we started making that early on.
>> Susan Schwartz (28:16):
So what is that like?
>> Speaker C (28:17):
Oh, it's so good. It's so good. Susan, do you
still make it your bottle? We do, we do. It's.
It's part of our core line. You know, it's not
everywhere like our bourbon and rye. I mean, none
of our products are everywhere, but, uh, it's not
as easy to find, but it is exceptional. And, you
know, we learned a lot, too. We expected it to be
just like a rye on steroids, you know, bold and
(28:38):
spicy. And it's not. When you malt the grain, it
actually gives a softer, more elegant flavor. And
so it's a real. It's a real fun whiskey to try. I
would love anyone listening to try to pick up a
bottle if you can find one. It's hard to know
where to put it on the shelf. I think that's.
That's the issue, because it doesn't. Calling it a
(28:59):
malt whiskey doesn't really do it justice. Right.
And it's not really a rye because the flavors are
so different because of the malting. So it's kind
of this unknown category, but it's just another
nod to our innovation and experimenting. You know,
Ken, one of the things that he was really good at
was getting out of people's way and saying, brian,
you know, I trust your palate. I trust what you're
(29:20):
learning. Like, let's make some. Some great
whiskey.
>> Susan Schwartz (29:23):
Yeah.
>> Speaker C (29:24):
And you mentioned our single, single malt program,
which we just disclosed to the public three years
ago now. But it was something that we started
producing early on as well, actually. You know,
there was a, uh, love for scotch whiskey and a
love for international whiskies here from the get
go, Brian. And some of his teammates traveled to
(29:45):
Scotland to learn about how scotch was made. And
single malt particularly, so came back and started
dabbling a little bit. It's still about 2% of our
overall production. It's pretty small, but it is
delicious. Mhm. And the commitment to quality and
the commitment to what ends up going into the
(30:05):
bottle. I mean, there's so much work, it's so much
tasting there. It's pretty special.
>> Susan Schwartz (30:11):
How old is it?
It's also the four years or is it older?
>> Speaker C (30:14):
No. So we released our first single mall at seven
years. So it's aged at least seven years and we've
released a new offering of it every year. So we
make just a little bit and then the following year
we'll make a little bit. But it's, it's seven
years old or older generally. And it's, you know,
it's 100% malted barley. It's our nod to Scott
Scotland.
>> Susan Schwartz (30:34):
And so I know also that people can come and visit
you.
>> Speaker C (30:38):
Yeah. Northern Kentucky is the most underrated
place to visit in Kentucky and it shouldn't be
that way. It's such a great place to visit. I will
say we planted our roots here and then now we
actually have nine distilleries in the Northern
Kentucky area. So there's been a lot of growth.
And because of that growth, we have some amazing
(30:59):
restaurants, we have some amazing bars, giant
bourbon and whiskey selections. We actually also
have the international airport. We have CVG
Cincinnati Airport, but it's in Kentucky about 20
minutes from here. And we have a direct flight to
London every day on British Airways from this
airport.
>> Susan Schwartz (31:18):
Yes, yes. It wasn't around, uh, when I came. Uh,
and uh, yes, I can vouch. I love Covington and I
love Newport. I think they're great. But I meant
they can actually visit your distillery and have a
drink there.
>> Speaker C (31:32):
Oh, uh, well, 100%.
>> Susan Schwartz (31:33):
Yeah.
>> Speaker C (31:34):
Everyone should come. They should come on the
international flight or drive in and we do. We
have a tasting room bar on our third floor of our
distillery we're very proud of. We renovated it
about two years ago and we call it the Aquifer. So
one of the things about New Riff that's really
special, sometimes we refer to it as our secret
weapon is that the entire distillery is run on an
(31:56):
alluvial aquifer that runs right underground,
right under the distillery. So it's very, very
hard water, very mineral rich water. Calcium.
What's in limestone? Calcium. Right. It's
limestone calcium rich water and it fuels
everything we do here at the distillery. So we
named our tasting room after it. So come visit us
(32:17):
at the aquifer. You can have world class
cocktails, beer, um, wine, and most importantly,
you can try over every. Everything we've ever
made. We have Apora. We've held back bottled, so
you can try all of our whiskey club offerings as
well as our core staff.
>> Susan Schwartz (32:33):
Did Ken know when he was building the Party source
that there was an aquifer below it or just. It
happened?
>> Speaker C (32:39):
He didn't know. He didn't know. It'd be a great
story if he did. We didn't even know it when we
were building the foundation for this building. In
all transparency, I think it's a.
>> Susan Schwartz (32:48):
Better story that you don't know that you didn't
know. It just happened, right? It just happened.
And it was meant to be.
>> Speaker C (32:54):
It hap. You know, the plan was to use municipal
city water, right? Which, you know, Newport water.
It's not the best, I'll tell you. It's certainly
not the best in Kentucky. It's fine. It's
filtered. It's not that, you know, it's kind of
empty water. It's water you drink. Right. Um, but
when the foundation was being laid and the plans
were being built for the distillery, we realized
(33:15):
100ft underground was this alluvial aquifer, which
is really amazing. You know, you think about
serendipity and those kinds of things, it's hard
not to believe in them, um, when one's. A well is
running right under our distillery. But it's been.
We test it all the time. We test it year after
year to make sure it's. It's good quality. And
it's just. It hasn't changed. It stays the same
(33:38):
temperature all year long. It provides a, uh,
tremendous energy, green energy savings for us.
And it's just. It's great water for our whiskey.
>> Susan Schwartz (33:46):
It was, it was meant to be.
>> Speaker C (33:48):
It was kismet. It was meant to be.
>> Susan Schwartz (33:51):
One last thing that I wanted to ask you was, as an
artist, hopefully you get a, uh, fulfillment from
creating something and that can fulfill the need.
It may not be visual, but it's definitely pleasing
people. That's for sure.
>> Speaker C (34:07):
Yeah. Well, thank you for saying that. There's so
many interests, there's so many things to do in
life. Right. And I think it's really fun to draw
parallels and have the opportunity to experiment.
Um, I don't make art anymore. I'm a little bit of
an all or nothing kind of person, so I don't paint
anymore. At least I don't right now. But I
(34:27):
definitely believe that Whiskey is an art. I, um,
really believe that. I think that what Brian and
his team do is artistic. Every day it's a little
bit of magic, a little bit of science and a little
bit of art all mixed together. And that is so
exciting. And creating something and delivering it
to the public and I get to talk about it every
(34:49):
day. I mean it's. I love what we do. So I don't
miss, miss painting because I get to be creative
in other ways. You know, we have this beautiful
architectural building here. It was really fun
being involved in the team to design the tasting
room. So I certainly have my creative outlet that
I'm able to use. And you know, it all makes us who
(35:11):
we are. Right. I wouldn't be the same person that
I am if I didn't go to art school and didn't have
that ability. Right.
>> Susan Schwartz (35:18):
And how lovely it is that you are the next
generation to take over. I assume that's the goal,
is to keep it a family business.
>> Speaker C (35:27):
It is the goal to keep a family business
wholeheartedly. Um, my father retired two years
ago. We have an unbelievable leadership team. You
know, like a lot of startups, he kind of wore a
bunch of hats. We all wore lots of hats in the
early days. And as we've grown and as we've, we've
grown our business, we have now we have 62 full
time employees and over 90 part time when you
(35:50):
include like modeling staff and whatnot. So we've
grown tremendously. We've taken Ken's
responsibilities and we've divided them into a
number of different, a couple of different people.
So I'm m proud to be the president of the company.
Uh, we have another female CEO. Her name is
Hannah. I might have mentioned her to you before.
(36:12):
We have a lot of women in leadership here and
that's always something that I love to talk about
because it's an upward battle here in the bourbon
industry. It's changing. There are a lot more
women in the industry than even 10 years ago when
I first came and got involved. But um, we
particularly have a lot of women on staff. And
(36:33):
that wasn't intentional, I'll be honest. We put
the right people in the right seats. Our director
of hospitality, our chief sales officer. And we
looked around and we said, oh my gosh, 2/3 of this
company is female. This is amazing. So that's
something that we're proud of too.
>> Susan Schwartz (36:48):
Fantastic. Not only liquid, but a lot of other
things too. So what is the future? Are you going
to be making something Like a big splash with
something new. Are you going to continue doing
what you do?
What's a little bit of the future?
>> Speaker C (37:03):
Uh, the industry, as we all know, probably
everybody listening to this podcast, the industry,
the landscape's changing dramatically right now.
Our main goal is to remain independent. It's
harder and harder to do that. To be family owned
and independent is capital intensive. And so we're
holding on tight. That's our goal. Um, we believe
(37:25):
that makes our whiskey taste better. So I wouldn't
say that we have a lot of growth plans. We do plan
to expand more within Europe and internationally.
That's certainly not been our focus for the first
10 years. So now that's something on our horizon
as the category of American whiskey is growing
internationally. You know, we're also trying to
(37:47):
figure out what the apex of our aging is. Right.
So as a young distillery, last year we released an
eight year old bourbon. Um, that's part of our
core offerings at this point. And we have in our
whiskey club released some 10 year old whiskey.
But we still don't know how far our whiskey's
gonna go. We think it's delicious now and still
(38:07):
really vivacious and young. So we're gonna taste
it at 12 years, we're gonna taste it at 15. You
know, that's, that's going to be an exciting point
on the horizon when we feel like it's hit its best
point so that we still don't know when it will be
yet. Just to continue really focusing on the
culture here internally and makes people feel
(38:29):
taken care of and seen and heard and continue to
want to come to work here every day, to work in a
great place.
>> Susan Schwartz (38:35):
Well, it sounds like it is. And, um, everyone out
there, uh, in the uk, you definitely can get it
here, which is exciting.
>> Speaker C (38:43):
Yes. I would be remiss not to point out that the
Whiskey Exchange voted our bourbon, our bottled
and bond bourbon, as the whiskey of the year this
year for 2025 too. Had to put a plug in there.
>> Susan Schwartz (38:56):
Yes. Congratulations on that. That's a big deal.
>> Speaker C (38:58):
Thank you.
>> Susan Schwartz (38:59):
Um, that's really great. And they will find links
to it at the Whiskey Exchange and then everywhere
else and to your website. And thank you so much
for going through the history and having a chat
here.
>> Speaker C (39:10):
A real pleasure. Please come back, come see us.
Uh, Susan here in Newport again and I hope to be
able to come over and enjoy, uh, a dram with you
in London at some point soon.
>> Susan Schwartz (39:22):
Yes, definitely. We can't wait to have you here.
So thanks again.
>> Speaker C (39:26):
Thanks.
>> Susan Schwartz (39:29):
I so want to thank Molly for joining me on the
program. Now let's raise a glass to the region
where beer culture runs deep and bourbon is a way
of life. With breweries, distilleries and a
culinary scene overflowing with award winning
restaurants and one of a kind flavors, the Cincy
region is a feast for the senses. Of course, our
(39:50):
Cocktail of the Week is a new riff on an old
cocktail. Our cocktail of the week is the new
fashioned. An old fashioned, but the new Rif way.
First, make your rich Demerara syrup. So in a
large pot, mix 12 ounces of water and 24 ounces of
(40:13):
demerara sugar together. On low heat. Use a spoon
to slowly stir it as the mixture heats up and heat
through until the sugar dissolves, never allowing
the mixture to come to a boil.
Or you might have caramel.
You can then store it in an airtight container in
the fridge for up to one month. Now that you have
that, add all of the following ingredients to a
(40:36):
mixing glass. Two ounces of Nu Rif bottled in Bond
bourbon, three dashes of Angostura bitters and
three dashes of Orange bitters and then a quarter
ounce of the rich Demerara syrup you just made.
Add ice and then stir, stir, stir. When chilled,
(40:58):
strain over a large rock in a rocks glass or a
coupe, then garnish with an orange peel. You'll
find this recipe in all the Cocktails of the
week@alushlifemanual uh.com. As you see, the
(41:22):
scentsy region is like no no other destination.
Two states, one stay and endless experiences. Here
you'll find stunning architecture, vibrant
neighborhoods and streets alive with murals and
music. You'll taste why their beer, bourbon and
culinary scenes are making headlines and you'll
(41:43):
feel the energy of festivals and riverfront
celebrations that bring it all together. It's
history, flavor and creativity all flowing into
one one unforgettable trip. Discover
more@visitcincy.com if you live for lush life,
then make sure you head out to the bars you love
and order a drink. And lush life is always and
(42:06):
will be forever. Produced by Evoterra and Simpler
Media Productions which leads me to say the wise
words of Oscar Wilde, all things in moderation,
including moderation. And always drink
responsible. This is our last episode before the
holidays, so stay safe and have fun.
(42:27):
Until next time. Bottoms up.
In music, most of us are attracted to a song's
continually repeated musical rhythm. Think Smoke
on the Water by Deep Purple, I Can't get no
Satisfaction by the Stones, or Seven Nation army
by the White Stripes. But once those were new to
us. Our guest today is here to remind us of the
(00:29):
pleasure we get when discovering a new riff. I'm,
um, Susan Schwartz, your drinking companion and
this is Lush Life podcast. Every week we're
inspired to live life one cocktail at a time.
Sponsored by Visit Cinse. I'm, um, thrilled to
introduce you to Molly Lewis, the president of New
(00:52):
Rift Distillery, which took Kentucky's light motif
of bourbon and sprinkled in a few eighth note
surprises to create a liquid that is winning
awards not only at home, but around the world. Her
story proves there's always room for a new tune in
town. Not only am I excited to introduce Molly to
(01:14):
you, but also the whole Cincy region, where north
meets south and Ohio meets Kentucky. Just a bridge
apart, Cincinnati's German heritage and urban
energy connect with Northern Kentucky's Southern
charm. While you're there, you can sip bourbon,
sample craft beer and savor award winning cuisine.
(01:39):
There's tons of vibrant street art, historic
landmarks and stunning architecture to explore all
along a riverfront that's buzzing with festivals
all year round. You can plan your trip
and@visitcincy.com now grab that Old Fashioned and
let's join Molly. So it's really great to have you
(02:02):
on the show.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I can't wait to hear your story.
>> Speaker C (02:05):
Ah. Uh, thank you. Thanks, Susan, for having me.
>> Susan Schwartz (02:08):
Absolutely. I've already given you an intro, but
why don't you introduce yourself again?
>> Speaker C (02:13):
Absolutely. Well, my name is Molly Lewis and my
current title is president of New Riff Distilling.
A New Rift Distilling is actually my family
business. We're located here in Northern Kentucky
in a pretty small town called Newport. It runs
right along the river of Cincinnati. So we have
Ohio to the north and we consider ourselves the
(02:35):
top of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail or the beginning
of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail here in Newport.
>> Susan Schwartz (02:40):
I love Newport. It's such a fun town. And if
people have listened to my first episode about,
uh, Northern Kentucky, we talked about Newport
being the Las Vegas of its day. So how exciting.
You're right in there with the, with the
prohibition stuff and everything.
>> Speaker C (02:57):
There's a lot of storied history here in Newport.
It has a pretty checkered but interesting past and
we're pretty proud to be a part of that too.
>> Susan Schwartz (03:07):
So let's get into it. New rift. Tell me the
beginnings. I know you're.
>> Speaker C (03:11):
You're.
>> Susan Schwartz (03:11):
I believe your dad started it. And maybe you can
tell us a little bit about how he even thought to
create a bourbon company.
>> Speaker C (03:18):
Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up here in Kentucky.
So did my father. Actually, my. Our, uh, grand.
His father, my grandfather, came to Kentucky from
New York after immigrating from northern Europe.
>> Susan Schwartz (03:30):
Is there a reason why he decided to leave New York
and come to Kentucky?
>> Speaker C (03:34):
No. He was an engineer, and he was a businessman
as well. He was trying to find his way. He was a
young man. And I believe the story is that a
friend told him that things would be easier in the
south and that he would have more opportunity to
do all the things that he wanted to do. And there
(03:55):
was less opportunity in crowded New York. He was
in Rochester. And so he took a leap of faith. I
believe he and some friends moved down to
Kentucky, and then he met my grandmother, and they
planted roots, and so be it. But I never remember
him having a Kentucky accent. And therefore, I
don't think a lot of us in the family had this
strong Kentucky accent, but we're certainly
(04:17):
Kentuckians at this point, you know, so the story
is. It's fun. So my grandfather started a
consolidated store. They were selling a lot of
army surplus and things, and there was a small
liquor section in the store. His brother, my
father's uncle, was running that store. And you
know, the story, the family story, is that he was
a gambler and that he was drinking all the
(04:38):
profits. And so my grandfather kicked him out and
asked my father, who was in early 20s, he had just
finished college, to help him run the store. And
it wasn't really what my father wanted to do, but
he said, sure, I'll help you out. Family
obligations. And then he found out that he really
had a knack for it and was really good at putting
the store together and was really interested in
(05:00):
the product. And so he never went back. You know,
he never. He was studying to be a teacher, and he
was sort of a teacher by osmosis, uh, all of his
life, teaching, teaching me and teaching. So many
people that have worked with and for him. But he
never went back formally to the classroom and just
continued to build stores and create a beverage
(05:21):
alcohol chain here in Kentucky. And then the last
one that he built, uh, which is the largest one,
is a store called the Party Source. And the Party
Source folks in the area know it. It's actually
still, to date, the largest independent beverage
alcohol store in the United States still today,
which is really neat. So he built the store in the
(05:43):
early 90s. It's right on the border with Ohio.
Ohio has state laws that control the pricing of,
uh, spirits and whatnot. And so it was a success.
Folks would travel over the border and shop. And,
you know, he had his finger on the pulse of what
was happening in Kentucky and the bourbon scene.
You know, he has amazing stories about in the 90s
(06:05):
being offered full barrels of, you know, you name
it, Pappy x 15 year old this and, you know, four
roses that and all the buffalo trace items that
are special. And, um, he just saw the boom
starting to happen. And he remembers when
Blanton's was on the shelf and you had to dust it
off, you know, nobody wanted to buy it. And so
that really, he fell in love with Berman and fell
(06:27):
in love with the fact that it was America's native
spirit. Uh, America's only native spirit. And that
really the good stuff comes from Kentucky.
>> Susan Schwartz (06:36):
Yeah.
>> Speaker C (06:37):
And so this is a long winded way of saying that he
fell in love with bourbon and then kind of took a
look around here in Northern Kentucky and realized
that since Prohibition, there really hadn't been
anything of significance in the distilling world
here in Northern Kentucky there were a couple
small, small operations, you know, uh, uh, pot
still operations, a barrel a week kind of thing,
(07:00):
but nothing really of significance. Putting
Northern Kentucky on the map as far as being a
bourbon destination in the state of Kentucky. And
so his, his second chapter, if you will, was to
try to change that.
>> Susan Schwartz (07:12):
All right, before we get to the second chapter,
let's go back to the first chapter for a second.
I, as a Pennsylvanian, have heard of the Party
Source. It is huge. It is huge. It must have been
really interesting for him in the 90s being in
Kentucky, because that was of course, the time
when vodka was king. And when you say that, you
know, he could have all these barrels, I mean,
(07:32):
they just probably didn't know what to do with
them really.
>> Speaker C (07:35):
They were probably giving them away to an extent.
I mean, you know, it was an interesting time. And
as we've been told, bourbon is really a cyclical
market item. And so certainly in the 80s
particularly and early 90s, it was, there was a
real slump. Right. I mean, some of the heritage
distilleries were still making some production,
but it was, it was a hard item to sell. Didn't
(07:57):
have certainly anything near the cachet that it
started to accumulate as it got more in more
recent times. Yeah.
>> Susan Schwartz (08:04):
And I guess being a Kentuckian, he was had bourbon
in his veins. Was this something that he drank at
home?
>> Speaker C (08:12):
You know, it was around. It was something that he
was aware of and he drank socially and he learned
about. I don't remember him drinking a lot of
bourbon at home growing up. I remember he smoked a
pipe and, you know, would drink cocktails and
things. I don't remember bourbon being
particularly the most meaningful thing that he
(08:32):
drank until I was in high school. And a little bit
later, I remember the interest growing. Uh, and I
remember there was an interest in rye whiskey as
well. You know, the stories are. Back in the early
90s, there were one, two, maybe three selections
on the shelf. Now in the party source, there's a
whole wall of. Of rye. But I remember when he
talked about rye being, ah, a growing category
(08:54):
too. So he just. He was in it every day. He saw
what was coming in the door, he saw that there was
going to be a boom. Um, he envisioned this
trajectory that ended up really happening.
>> Susan Schwartz (09:04):
And you, by osmosis, must have just.
Been not even realizing, but soaking it all in.
>> Speaker C (09:11):
Uh, you know, it was a really exciting time. I
learned a lot about a lot of different species. I
was allowed to drink wine at the table when I was
18 and we were a family that really embraced
drinking being part of the table. I like to think
we were a little Italian or European in that
regard. Yeah, it was a part of life. It was a part
of our family life in a way that maybe it wasn't
(09:33):
for a lot of Americans at the time growing up.
>> Susan Schwartz (09:35):
Yeah. And, um, through my research, I know that
you were an artist and although you were drinking
at the table, that you then got to drink in other
places in other countries. Tell me about how you
got. Before we get to the second chapter, but your
first chapter before you got involved with New
Riff.
>> Speaker C (09:51):
Yeah. Well, thank you. So, you know, there was
always. I'm the firstborn. And, uh, there was
always a lot of pressure that at some point I
would come into the family business. Right. There
was, uh, an expectation that just sort of like
lived in the ethos. But I was really encouraged to
figure out what my passion was and what I was good
(10:12):
at. And so I gravitated to. To the arts at a young
age. Painting, visual arts was really my thing. I
had the privilege of going to a magnet art high
school, which was unusual, especially in Kentucky,
that that thing was. That kind of thing was even
offered. But it really was. I went to a pretty
interesting magnet high school where we had some
(10:33):
fascinating teachers who really encouraged
personal development. And so I was also Encouraged
to go to art school. And I felt like that was
really my calling. Uh, we looked at a number of
different schools. I was awarded a couple of
scholarships. I'm proud to share. And I ended up
going to Parsons School of Design in New York. And
Parsons is known for fashion in all transparency,
(10:56):
but they actually have a very interesting art
program. And one of the strengths of Parsons is
that it's located in New York City. So you're
soaking up all the culture and, uh, the arts and
the multiculturalism just by, just by being in
that city. So that's, that's where I went. And I'm
so glad that I did.
>> Susan Schwartz (11:14):
And, and then I know that you, um, you took that
passion for wine and ended up in Italy.
>> Speaker C (11:21):
Yeah, yeah, I did. I did absolutely. Well, I, you
know, I dabbled in the arts. I did a five year
degree program at Parsons. Loved living in New
York, but it's hard to make money in the arts.
Right. And so I remember, uh, in my early 20s,
having a conversation with my father. I call him
Ken, you know, at work. But I remember talking
with him and he was like, well, you drink enough
(11:43):
wine, why don't you learn something about it? You
know? And I think the impetus was to always to
have me learn something about wine and then come
back to the family business, which was still
retail at the time.
>> Susan Schwartz (11:54):
And it makes me laugh. It sounds so much like my
dad too, but is that right? Yeah.
>> Speaker C (12:00):
So I, I got a job in the tasting room in, uh, at
Behringer. Poured some white zinfandel when I was
24 years old. Uh, but it was really a great
learning experience to learn about. Just to learn
about wine, to see what people, the kinds of
questions people were asking. I mean, it was a
great starting point. It was a great experience,
and I'm fortunate to have had that opportunity.
(12:22):
And then I did. I worked in a number of different
wine positions through distribution, I worked in
restaurants, and then had the opportunity to go to
Italy in 2007, which was very exciting, I will
say. I followed a guy to Italy who I am no longer
with, but ended up being the best thing that I
(12:42):
ever did for myself. And I ended up staying there
for five years.
>> Susan Schwartz (12:46):
What do you feel that you.
I know you're no longer in wine, but I'm sure you
still love it and love Italy.
But what do you feel that you.
Brought back with you from Italy?
>> Speaker C (12:58):
Absolutely. No, that's a great question. I don't
know if I've ever been asked that question so
directly. And I love it. Um, I think there's such
a, just a wonderful culture around food and
beverage coming out of Italy. It's in people's
veins, you know, just sitting at the table, uh,
wine or even a spirit cocktail being a part of the
table. And, uh, that's how I think too. So it was
(13:20):
a really exciting time. I absorbed a lot. I
learned a lot about authenticity and a sense of
place, terroir. And I really was excited to come
back to Kentucky when. And we'll get back to it, I
think about how we decided to move forward with
New Rift, but there were a lot of parallels. You
know, we're talking about America's native spirit,
(13:41):
we're talking about bourbon. And although you can
make bourbon in any state, in the entire 50
states. There'S a theory that all the best stuff,
all the best bourbon comes from Kentucky. And so
the idea of being in a family business
representing a sense of place was a great parallel
to what I was learning and what I was doing in
(14:02):
Italy. And I do think that I brought some of my
hospitality that I learned over in Italy back to
what we do here at New Rif. Um, I don't want to
skip too far ahead, but we decided early on that
we were going to be champions in Single Barrel, in
our Single Barrel program.
>> Susan Schwartz (14:20):
Wait, uh, before we do get to that, let's go to
the second chapter and let's talk about New Riff
and why your dad from the Party Source decided to
bite off a huge, you know, this is a huge thing
that he did to create a distillery. Uh, it had to
be a huge passion.
>> Speaker C (14:40):
It was a huge thing. Yeah. And he wasn't young. I
mean, I'll give you that. You know, he had had
his, his career in retail. He'd been in as a
retailer for over 40 years. Right. And I will be
completely transparent, the Party Source at this
point was a debt free business. I mean, a lot of
folks in his shoes might have just moved to
Tahiti. You know, and sometimes he probably
wishes, why didn't I do that? But you know, he had
(15:02):
a real passion. He's an entrepreneur. He, he, he
doesn't sit still. You know, he doesn't like it
when things get too comfortable. He has that
crazy, crazy. I'm not necessarily like that. But,
you know, he likes to push the limit and the
envelope and the edge. And so he got it into his
head that he wanted to create a bourbon, a real
bourbon destination here in Northern Kentucky and
(15:23):
put Northern Kentucky on the map as being one of
the, the Meccas, one of the Focal points in
Kentucky for bourbon and bourbon tourism. And so,
you know, we say that New Riff was created in
2009, 2010, around the dinner table. A little bit
of it had to do with Kent, you know, him visiting
me in Italy and experiencing some of the family
(15:45):
wineries that we spent time in. You know, I think
that definitely kind of fueled the interest. And,
um, he started really putting, putting the layers
into practice and making it happen. Uh, what I
always love to point out is that the Party Source,
which we actually share a parking lot with,
believe it or not. But he, in 2014, one of the
(16:05):
best days and most memorable day, memorable days
of my life was when he told the employees at the
Party Source, and there are about a hundred
employees in that store, a hundred different
families. And when he sold the store to the
employees. So I, I love to point that out because
I do feel that that gives an image of the value
(16:25):
system and the ethos that New Riff was built on.
But he could have made so much more money selling
to a total wine and more or one of these larger
chains or who knows, might have been interested.
But he wanted to take care of his people and he
wanted to take care of his employees and he made
them all owners of the store. You know, it's, uh,
(16:46):
being an ESOP is a profit sharing opportunity for
the employees of the store. So to this date, you
walk into that store, which is still the largest
independent retail store in the country. That's
amazing. And it's employee, which is, it's such.
>> Susan Schwartz (16:59):
A generosity of spirit.
>> Speaker C (17:01):
I love that. It's a generosity of spirit. It's
taking care of people. You know, he, of course he
wants to live well. He wants to make money. I
mean, who doesn't? But he also believes in
sharing. And I think that's a really important
value system that we have now adapted or always
had to as the second generation of leadership here
at New Rift. But I don't want to get too far ahead
(17:22):
from that. So that enabled us financially to build
New Rift from the ground up. So we got the money,
Party Source was being run by the employees, and
we started to build this building that I'm
currently in right now from the ground up. And we
finished construction in 2014 and had our first
distillation in May of 2014.
>> Susan Schwartz (17:42):
So what, what had you planned? Did you have then
the MASH bill? Did you have a bottle design? Did
you have the name?
>> Speaker C (17:50):
Yeah, you know, we none, none of us had done this
before. Ken certainly hadn't. I certainly hadn't.
And then we had, uh, an awesome team who mostly
are still here. We had an eight team, an eight
member team. Hannah Lohan, who's our current CEO,
and Brian Sprantz, who's our master distiller,
were all already on board, already part of the
(18:10):
team. The naming of the distillery, it's really
hard to do. It's like naming a child. There's a
lot of responsibility there. Right? We had a lot
of other names. We kept thinking about, do we call
it north of the south or do we talk about
Kentucky? And none of that really resonated with
us because we felt that we weren't being
authentic. You know, we don't have grandpa's
(18:32):
recipe under the bed. We don't have hundreds of
years of distillation culture in our family, or,
um, the original dsp, you know, here in the state.
So we felt that those names were a little
inauthentic. But we kept coming back to being a
new rip on Ken's life. You know, here he was,
(18:52):
older than midlife, making a complete career
change, starting a whole new business, very
capital intensive. And so we, we kept going back
to it being a new riff on Ken's life. And then we
started thinking about products that we envisioned
making and that we were planning to make and that
it was based in tradition. It was based on the
(19:13):
sour mash regimen, which is what we consider the
Kentucky regimen. It's how whiskey is made here in
Kentucky. So we were honoring that. But our plans
were to really to innovate and to create something
new and something special and something a little
different. And so we started talking about, hey,
wait a second, we're a new riff on an old
tradition, right? So it just, it just sort of fell
(19:35):
into place in a nice way and felt real and felt
authentic. And then with the bottle, you know,
when we had decided on the name, we wanted to have
a bottle that was a nod to traditional. Right. The
shape of the bottle is actually a relatively known
bottle shape. You might have seen it in the
market. There are a number of important brands,
(19:56):
whiskey brands that did do use this bottle shape.
We modernized it or we put our riff on it or a
spin on it by this ombre, which really hadn't been
done before in the industry. So we think that that
was really neat. You know, there were lots of
evolutions. At first the ombre was on the bottom
and it graduated to the top. And then we switched
it and, you know, we had a lot of fun designing
(20:18):
this bottle, but it was a risk. You know, we took
a risk with this sort of modern take on a, uh,
traditional bottle. Now you see it a little bit
more in the industry, but at the time it was
really one of the first.
>> Susan Schwartz (20:29):
And, and the recipe, how do you even start? How
many different trial and errors did you have? Or
did you just come up with it in the first
iteration?
>> Speaker C (20:39):
So that's, it's an interesting story in and of
itself. So, you know, Ken had not been in the
distilling business. None of us had. Right. We
all, we, we consider ourselves almost like
corporate refugees. Is a, is a term we used early
on for a employees here at New Rift. And so our
master distiller, Brian Sprance, actually, uh,
(20:59):
people find this hard to believe, but he had
actually never distilled a thing in his life when
we hired him. So.
>> Susan Schwartz (21:05):
Wait, wait, I have to stop you there. So he
answered an ad for a master distiller.
>> Speaker C (21:10):
Well, he, he, he had experience. He had worked for
Sam Adams for over 15 years. So he was a master
fermenter.
>> Susan Schwartz (21:18):
Which by the way, everyone, Sam Adams is in
Kentucky. It is not in Boston.
>> Speaker C (21:23):
Absolutely it is. And it's, it's industry here and
it's important. And so Brian worked there. He was
a master fermenter. I mean, a title doesn't really
exist, but he really knew fermentation backwards
and forwards. And so the vision that Ken felt very
strongly about was, I don't want to hire an
assistant master distiller from Maker's Mark or
from Woodford. Bring them up here and have Makers
(21:46):
north or Woodford North. You know, I want to, I
want to have something unique and something
representative of northern Kentucky. And so that
was why strategically, we went out and found Brian
because he had the base down. I mean, being an
expert, you have to keep everything so clean. I
mean, fermentation is really, really, really a
(22:06):
skill to master. And we had a clean slate. You
know, he was interested, he was excited, and you
know, he dug right in. We did have a consulting
master distiller who really took Brian under his
wing and train Brian and help us put together our
distillery down to what fermenters to build and
what pipes to put in. His name was Larry Ebersole.
(22:29):
Uh-huh. And he, folks might have heard of him. He
is a world renowned master distiller that had
worked for Seagrams, the former Seagram's plant,
for over 30 years. And rye was really his area of
expertise. That's where he particularly shined. So
we were his first consulting project. And he came
in and Brian likes to say that Larry taught Him
(22:51):
everything he knew, he knows about distillation.
>> Susan Schwartz (22:54):
Yeah, See it's a new riff on his career as well.
>> Speaker C (22:57):
New riff on a lot of things in the industry. And
you've probably heard this too. When we first
started, there was sort of a, uh, word on the
street that the fermentation wasn't as important,
you know, that the beer, the distiller's beer
wasn't super important. And we approached it from
a very different angle where from the get go we
said this is extremely important. We need to have
(23:19):
uh, absolute best distiller's beer we could
possibly make to be the foundation of our whiskey.
And so Brian, no one better to bring in than
someone who really knew fermentation.
>> Susan Schwartz (23:29):
Absolutely. And so about how long did it take from
starting it to your liquid or having the right
recipe?
>> Speaker C (23:37):
Well, so we were committed to doing things what we
call the right way. I mean that's our
interpretation. But our, our interpretation was to
be as transparent as possible. Right. Uh, which
was also more rare at the time. Now you're seeing
things like mash bills put on bottles and, and
things like that. But that wasn't the case when we
first started. So when we first came out of the
(23:58):
gate we said, okay, we're going to wait. We're
going to wait at least four years until our uh,
whiskey tells us that it's ready. It sounds silly
but really that was what we were saying back then.
We want to release it at four years but if it's
not going to, if it's not ready, we'll wait. That
was the commitment to the quality. And we also
wanted our entry level spirit to be bottled and
(24:19):
bond, which you're seeing a lot more of in the
industry now. There's been a resurgence in, in
bottled and bond products. But we were one of the
first to actually make our uh, I think we were the
first distillery that I know of to make our first
entry level product also bottled in bond. So to be
bottled in bond it has to be at least 4 years old.
(24:40):
It has to be 100 proof come from. Followed by the
same distilling team its entire life. So we were
that committed to quality. In fact we embossed it
on the bottle. So we didn't release anything until
uh, 2018. So we hurried up, we distilled and then
we waited.
>> Susan Schwartz (25:00):
Now you kind of let it slip. Were you making any
gin or anything else while you were waiting?
>> Speaker C (25:06):
We also, one of the things that we said was we
were only going to make things that we like to
drink. So gin was Something that we made right out
of the gate. We love, we love gin. We still make
it. We do a, what we call a Kentucky wild gin and
then we also make a bourbon barrel aged gin, um,
which is really exciting and fun. We sold a little
(25:26):
bit of that along the way. We did some contract
distilling for some larger clients to keep the
lights on. And we waited until 2018 and then we
released bourbon and rye here in the Kentucky
market. And it was worth the wait. I'm so glad we
did.
>> Susan Schwartz (25:41):
It must have been so exciting.
>> Speaker C (25:43):
Uh, it was such an exciting time. You know, it's,
I mean it's like creating anything, right? It's
almost can be across the board in any industry.
When you're releasing a product to the world for
the first time, you don't know what folks are
going to say. You don't know how people are going
to respond. You know, it's, it's a very nerve
wracking moment. The one thing we were sure about
(26:04):
was we knew what was in the bottle was good. We
knew the flavor was there. We priced things
fairly, we priced our bottles. Not what the market
could have borne at that time. But that was Ken's
retailer background. You know, he wanted it to be
fair. We wanted the whiskey to be your favorite
thing to drink on a Tuesday night and also what
you wanted to drink on Saturday too. And so, but
(26:26):
Gary, it's unnerving. You never know what folks
are gonna say. And luckily the response was
wonderful. Mhm. So we've been riding the wave ever
since. It's been, I have to pinch myself sometimes
that it's only been 12 years because, um, we've
come a long way.
>> Susan Schwartz (26:42):
Now, right off the bat, were you thinking, okay, I
know we're gonna do bourbon first and then we're
gonna have a rye and maybe a single malt later. Or
were these ideas after you wanted to see how the
bourbon went?
So.
>> Speaker C (26:54):
Well, uh, our bourbon is a high rye bourbon.
Right. So the mash bill, that's something else we
do. We put it on the back of the bottle. The mash
bill is always, always. Yes.
>> Susan Schwartz (27:02):
We didn't talk about that on the back.
>> Speaker C (27:04):
Right. And so our bourbon is 65% corn, 30% rye,
which is pretty high when you think of, you know,
rye percentages and 5% malted barley. And so out
of the gate we knew we were going to make a rye.
Larry, from his former Seagram's years had shared
the, what we sometimes refer to as the original,
(27:25):
the bullet Bourbon. The Bullet rye recipe. Sorry.
At uh, 95 rye, 5% malted barley. And so we made
that out of the gate too. But we. We put a riff on
it. We put our spin on it. We made 90, 95% rye, 5%
malted rye. So that was a product we made out of
the gate. And we also made a little bit of 100%
(27:49):
malted rye pretty early on, too. Brian asked Larry
his favorite thing that he ever made at Seagrams,
and Larry's at. I made this thing. I made this.
This mash bill one time. It was so good, but, you
know, the higher ups wouldn't let me make it
because it was too expensive, so I never made it
again. And Brian said, well, what was it? And he
said, well, it was this a hundred percent malted
(28:10):
rye, which is still a very unusual mash bill. So
we started making that early on.
>> Susan Schwartz (28:16):
So what is that like?
>> Speaker C (28:17):
Oh, it's so good. It's so good. Susan, do you
still make it your bottle? We do, we do. It's.
It's part of our core line. You know, it's not
everywhere like our bourbon and rye. I mean, none
of our products are everywhere, but, uh, it's not
as easy to find, but it is exceptional. And, you
know, we learned a lot, too. We expected it to be
just like a rye on steroids, you know, bold and
(28:38):
spicy. And it's not. When you malt the grain, it
actually gives a softer, more elegant flavor. And
so it's a real. It's a real fun whiskey to try. I
would love anyone listening to try to pick up a
bottle if you can find one. It's hard to know
where to put it on the shelf. I think that's.
That's the issue, because it doesn't. Calling it a
(28:59):
malt whiskey doesn't really do it justice. Right.
And it's not really a rye because the flavors are
so different because of the malting. So it's kind
of this unknown category, but it's just another
nod to our innovation and experimenting. You know,
Ken, one of the things that he was really good at
was getting out of people's way and saying, brian,
you know, I trust your palate. I trust what you're
(29:20):
learning. Like, let's make some. Some great
whiskey.
>> Susan Schwartz (29:23):
Yeah.
>> Speaker C (29:24):
And you mentioned our single, single malt program,
which we just disclosed to the public three years
ago now. But it was something that we started
producing early on as well, actually. You know,
there was a, uh, love for scotch whiskey and a
love for international whiskies here from the get
go, Brian. And some of his teammates traveled to
(29:45):
Scotland to learn about how scotch was made. And
single malt particularly, so came back and started
dabbling a little bit. It's still about 2% of our
overall production. It's pretty small, but it is
delicious. Mhm. And the commitment to quality and
the commitment to what ends up going into the
(30:05):
bottle. I mean, there's so much work, it's so much
tasting there. It's pretty special.
>> Susan Schwartz (30:11):
How old is it?
It's also the four years or is it older?
>> Speaker C (30:14):
No. So we released our first single mall at seven
years. So it's aged at least seven years and we've
released a new offering of it every year. So we
make just a little bit and then the following year
we'll make a little bit. But it's, it's seven
years old or older generally. And it's, you know,
it's 100% malted barley. It's our nod to Scott
Scotland.
>> Susan Schwartz (30:34):
And so I know also that people can come and visit
you.
>> Speaker C (30:38):
Yeah. Northern Kentucky is the most underrated
place to visit in Kentucky and it shouldn't be
that way. It's such a great place to visit. I will
say we planted our roots here and then now we
actually have nine distilleries in the Northern
Kentucky area. So there's been a lot of growth.
And because of that growth, we have some amazing
(30:59):
restaurants, we have some amazing bars, giant
bourbon and whiskey selections. We actually also
have the international airport. We have CVG
Cincinnati Airport, but it's in Kentucky about 20
minutes from here. And we have a direct flight to
London every day on British Airways from this
airport.
>> Susan Schwartz (31:18):
Yes, yes. It wasn't around, uh, when I came. Uh,
and uh, yes, I can vouch. I love Covington and I
love Newport. I think they're great. But I meant
they can actually visit your distillery and have a
drink there.
>> Speaker C (31:32):
Oh, uh, well, 100%.
>> Susan Schwartz (31:33):
Yeah.
>> Speaker C (31:34):
Everyone should come. They should come on the
international flight or drive in and we do. We
have a tasting room bar on our third floor of our
distillery we're very proud of. We renovated it
about two years ago and we call it the Aquifer. So
one of the things about New Riff that's really
special, sometimes we refer to it as our secret
weapon is that the entire distillery is run on an
(31:56):
alluvial aquifer that runs right underground,
right under the distillery. So it's very, very
hard water, very mineral rich water. Calcium.
What's in limestone? Calcium. Right. It's
limestone calcium rich water and it fuels
everything we do here at the distillery. So we
named our tasting room after it. So come visit us
(32:17):
at the aquifer. You can have world class
cocktails, beer, um, wine, and most importantly,
you can try over every. Everything we've ever
made. We have Apora. We've held back bottled, so
you can try all of our whiskey club offerings as
well as our core staff.
>> Susan Schwartz (32:33):
Did Ken know when he was building the Party source
that there was an aquifer below it or just. It
happened?
>> Speaker C (32:39):
He didn't know. He didn't know. It'd be a great
story if he did. We didn't even know it when we
were building the foundation for this building. In
all transparency, I think it's a.
>> Susan Schwartz (32:48):
Better story that you don't know that you didn't
know. It just happened, right? It just happened.
And it was meant to be.
>> Speaker C (32:54):
It hap. You know, the plan was to use municipal
city water, right? Which, you know, Newport water.
It's not the best, I'll tell you. It's certainly
not the best in Kentucky. It's fine. It's
filtered. It's not that, you know, it's kind of
empty water. It's water you drink. Right. Um, but
when the foundation was being laid and the plans
were being built for the distillery, we realized
(33:15):
100ft underground was this alluvial aquifer, which
is really amazing. You know, you think about
serendipity and those kinds of things, it's hard
not to believe in them, um, when one's. A well is
running right under our distillery. But it's been.
We test it all the time. We test it year after
year to make sure it's. It's good quality. And
it's just. It hasn't changed. It stays the same
(33:38):
temperature all year long. It provides a, uh,
tremendous energy, green energy savings for us.
And it's just. It's great water for our whiskey.
>> Susan Schwartz (33:46):
It was, it was meant to be.
>> Speaker C (33:48):
It was kismet. It was meant to be.
>> Susan Schwartz (33:51):
One last thing that I wanted to ask you was, as an
artist, hopefully you get a, uh, fulfillment from
creating something and that can fulfill the need.
It may not be visual, but it's definitely pleasing
people. That's for sure.
>> Speaker C (34:07):
Yeah. Well, thank you for saying that. There's so
many interests, there's so many things to do in
life. Right. And I think it's really fun to draw
parallels and have the opportunity to experiment.
Um, I don't make art anymore. I'm a little bit of
an all or nothing kind of person, so I don't paint
anymore. At least I don't right now. But I
(34:27):
definitely believe that Whiskey is an art. I, um,
really believe that. I think that what Brian and
his team do is artistic. Every day it's a little
bit of magic, a little bit of science and a little
bit of art all mixed together. And that is so
exciting. And creating something and delivering it
to the public and I get to talk about it every
(34:49):
day. I mean it's. I love what we do. So I don't
miss, miss painting because I get to be creative
in other ways. You know, we have this beautiful
architectural building here. It was really fun
being involved in the team to design the tasting
room. So I certainly have my creative outlet that
I'm able to use. And you know, it all makes us who
(35:11):
we are. Right. I wouldn't be the same person that
I am if I didn't go to art school and didn't have
that ability. Right.
>> Susan Schwartz (35:18):
And how lovely it is that you are the next
generation to take over. I assume that's the goal,
is to keep it a family business.
>> Speaker C (35:27):
It is the goal to keep a family business
wholeheartedly. Um, my father retired two years
ago. We have an unbelievable leadership team. You
know, like a lot of startups, he kind of wore a
bunch of hats. We all wore lots of hats in the
early days. And as we've grown and as we've, we've
grown our business, we have now we have 62 full
time employees and over 90 part time when you
(35:50):
include like modeling staff and whatnot. So we've
grown tremendously. We've taken Ken's
responsibilities and we've divided them into a
number of different, a couple of different people.
So I'm m proud to be the president of the company.
Uh, we have another female CEO. Her name is
Hannah. I might have mentioned her to you before.
(36:12):
We have a lot of women in leadership here and
that's always something that I love to talk about
because it's an upward battle here in the bourbon
industry. It's changing. There are a lot more
women in the industry than even 10 years ago when
I first came and got involved. But um, we
particularly have a lot of women on staff. And
(36:33):
that wasn't intentional, I'll be honest. We put
the right people in the right seats. Our director
of hospitality, our chief sales officer. And we
looked around and we said, oh my gosh, 2/3 of this
company is female. This is amazing. So that's
something that we're proud of too.
>> Susan Schwartz (36:48):
Fantastic. Not only liquid, but a lot of other
things too. So what is the future? Are you going
to be making something Like a big splash with
something new. Are you going to continue doing
what you do?
What's a little bit of the future?
>> Speaker C (37:03):
Uh, the industry, as we all know, probably
everybody listening to this podcast, the industry,
the landscape's changing dramatically right now.
Our main goal is to remain independent. It's
harder and harder to do that. To be family owned
and independent is capital intensive. And so we're
holding on tight. That's our goal. Um, we believe
(37:25):
that makes our whiskey taste better. So I wouldn't
say that we have a lot of growth plans. We do plan
to expand more within Europe and internationally.
That's certainly not been our focus for the first
10 years. So now that's something on our horizon
as the category of American whiskey is growing
internationally. You know, we're also trying to
(37:47):
figure out what the apex of our aging is. Right.
So as a young distillery, last year we released an
eight year old bourbon. Um, that's part of our
core offerings at this point. And we have in our
whiskey club released some 10 year old whiskey.
But we still don't know how far our whiskey's
gonna go. We think it's delicious now and still
(38:07):
really vivacious and young. So we're gonna taste
it at 12 years, we're gonna taste it at 15. You
know, that's, that's going to be an exciting point
on the horizon when we feel like it's hit its best
point so that we still don't know when it will be
yet. Just to continue really focusing on the
culture here internally and makes people feel
(38:29):
taken care of and seen and heard and continue to
want to come to work here every day, to work in a
great place.
>> Susan Schwartz (38:35):
Well, it sounds like it is. And, um, everyone out
there, uh, in the uk, you definitely can get it
here, which is exciting.
>> Speaker C (38:43):
Yes. I would be remiss not to point out that the
Whiskey Exchange voted our bourbon, our bottled
and bond bourbon, as the whiskey of the year this
year for 2025 too. Had to put a plug in there.
>> Susan Schwartz (38:56):
Yes. Congratulations on that. That's a big deal.
>> Speaker C (38:58):
Thank you.
>> Susan Schwartz (38:59):
Um, that's really great. And they will find links
to it at the Whiskey Exchange and then everywhere
else and to your website. And thank you so much
for going through the history and having a chat
here.
>> Speaker C (39:10):
A real pleasure. Please come back, come see us.
Uh, Susan here in Newport again and I hope to be
able to come over and enjoy, uh, a dram with you
in London at some point soon.
>> Susan Schwartz (39:22):
Yes, definitely. We can't wait to have you here.
So thanks again.
>> Speaker C (39:26):
Thanks.
>> Susan Schwartz (39:29):
I so want to thank Molly for joining me on the
program. Now let's raise a glass to the region
where beer culture runs deep and bourbon is a way
of life. With breweries, distilleries and a
culinary scene overflowing with award winning
restaurants and one of a kind flavors, the Cincy
region is a feast for the senses. Of course, our
(39:50):
Cocktail of the Week is a new riff on an old
cocktail. Our cocktail of the week is the new
fashioned. An old fashioned, but the new Rif way.
First, make your rich Demerara syrup. So in a
large pot, mix 12 ounces of water and 24 ounces of
(40:13):
demerara sugar together. On low heat. Use a spoon
to slowly stir it as the mixture heats up and heat
through until the sugar dissolves, never allowing
the mixture to come to a boil.
Or you might have caramel.
You can then store it in an airtight container in
the fridge for up to one month. Now that you have
that, add all of the following ingredients to a
(40:36):
mixing glass. Two ounces of Nu Rif bottled in Bond
bourbon, three dashes of Angostura bitters and
three dashes of Orange bitters and then a quarter
ounce of the rich Demerara syrup you just made.
Add ice and then stir, stir, stir. When chilled,
(40:58):
strain over a large rock in a rocks glass or a
coupe, then garnish with an orange peel. You'll
find this recipe in all the Cocktails of the
week@alushlifemanual uh.com. As you see, the
(41:22):
scentsy region is like no no other destination.
Two states, one stay and endless experiences. Here
you'll find stunning architecture, vibrant
neighborhoods and streets alive with murals and
music. You'll taste why their beer, bourbon and
culinary scenes are making headlines and you'll
(41:43):
feel the energy of festivals and riverfront
celebrations that bring it all together. It's
history, flavor and creativity all flowing into
one one unforgettable trip. Discover
more@visitcincy.com if you live for lush life,
then make sure you head out to the bars you love
and order a drink. And lush life is always and
(42:06):
will be forever. Produced by Evoterra and Simpler
Media Productions which leads me to say the wise
words of Oscar Wilde, all things in moderation,
including moderation. And always drink
responsible. This is our last episode before the
holidays, so stay safe and have fun.
(42:27):
Until next time. Bottoms up.
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