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New Riff Malster Wheat and Rye Bourbon Reviews and Big Changes at Maker’s Mark Distillery
May 9, 2026
Today I'm reviewing two of last year's biggest releases from the New Riff Distillery, Malted Wheat Bourbon and Malted Rye Bourbon. These "Malsters" are a project that explores different malted grains used in a Kentucky Straight Bourbon recipe. Both come in at 100 proof and are aged at least 5 years. Plus, I'm sharing breaking news from Maker's Mark, as Denny Potter (General Manager & Master Distiller) and Jane Bowie (Head of Innovation & Blending) plan to depart the company on September 2nd.
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Today on the Bourbon Bites Podcast, I'm reviewing and comparing two New Riff Maltster bourbons
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and sharing breaking news from Maker's Mark that could shake up the bourbon industry
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Hello everyone and welcome to the Bourbon Bites Podcast. I'm your host Clifton and today's going
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to be a little bit of a shorter episode, kind of like a few I've done recently. That's because
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I'm actually packing right now to go to Las Vegas. There's a bit of a whiskey tube kind of meetup
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Not official, of course. It's just because our friends Chris and Lil from Australia are going to be in Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend
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And quite a few of us from the community are going to meet up with them out there, share plenty of pours, and go out to some really cool dinners
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So some of you guys I know are coming along with us. So if you are listening to this podcast, we are already there or we have been there
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I'm really excited for it, but I'm going to put this out on Friday
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So by then we're probably going to be extremely hungover. But hopefully all of you out there are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend
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Enjoy the time off and thank you for spending part of it with me. Or if you're listening to this after the fact, then thank you for spending part of your day with me
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So today I'm actually going to review two different whiskeys that I, for some reason, have never reviewed
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So these are from New Riff, which is actually a distillery that I'm a huge fan of
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I just don't have the opportunity to try a lot of their limited releases. Most of them stay in-state, so it's really hard for me to get my hands on them
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The one that I was able to get my hands on for today's review is the Maltster Bourbon that is made with malted wheat
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This one, for some reason, made it to California, yet the other one didn't
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So I am thankful to my friends Tammy and Brian Brinecke, who I'm partying with in Vegas right about now
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who sent me this sample of the rye recipe. So these came out, I believe, early last year
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They were announced at the end of 2020. And they're pretty cool. So let me tell you a little about them
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So first of all, just want to make sure it's clear. These are not to be confused with the 100% malted rye whiskey that came out this year
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These were kind of the precursor to that. It does use some of the same whiskey in the actual rye mash bill one
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But they're a different release. Like I said, came out a year earlier. So these are both bourbons
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And they're kind of like an experiment that New Rift put on. They were already making malted rye because it was part of their 95.5 recipe for their rye whiskey, which is really, really great for the money
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So they thought, hey, why don't we do different malted grains, put them into a bourbon mash bill, and see what happens
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And that's where the malster line began. So like I said, they're both bourbons
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One is just a wheat mash bill, and the other is a rye. The only one I've had before is this wheat one
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Like I said, this is the bottle that I picked up last year. So these are actually bottled in fall of 2020
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I believe they didn't hit shelves until early 2021. But I'm looking at the bottle now and it does say bottled fall 2020
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These are at least five years old. So this wheat one is a mash bill of 65% corn, 18% bohemian floor malted wheat, 10% unmalted
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wheat, and 7% dark wheat. Of course, it is a bourbon, so it's still majority corn
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But I'm really excited to give this another try because like I said, I picked this up
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last year and haven't really visited since so let's get it open
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so these both actually come in at 100 proof and they were about 50 when they first came out and
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that one of the things i love about new riff even their experimental things or limited editions are so fairly priced i just wish they were easier to get outside of the state And I believe this is the first whiskey I ever reviewed that has a malted wheat element So I not really sure what that going to taste like
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Like I said, it's been a while since I've had this. So let's go ahead and give it a nose first. Oh yeah, this is really different from what I'm used to with New Riff. I've been enjoying just
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their bottle and bond bourbon lately. It's actually one of my favorite house bourbons that we keep
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here for cocktails or just when we want something that we don't have to think about. I love just
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having New Riff bourbon, but this is very different. Obviously, it's missing the rye
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grain, so it's a lot softer. It's reminding me a lot of other weeded bourbons I've had
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I'm not getting any of those malty elements, at least on the nose. Like I said, I'm not sure what
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malted wheat even tastes like, but it does nose like a really nice weeded bourbon. There's none
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of the spice that you come to expect from New Riff or just bourbon in general. It's sweet from the
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corn, but there's a bit of like a bread element on the nose that kind of is the giveaway to me
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that this is a weeded mash bill. From my experience with wheat whiskey and weeded bourbons, it really
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takes a tasting to get a full impression of it. So let's go and give it a try. Cheers
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Oh wow, that's even better than I expected it to be. That wheat really highlights those really
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great dessert elements that I love on a good bourbon. This is like some sort of baked vanilla
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pastry. That's the first thing that comes to mind with a bit of like an orange zest on it as well
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so i'm imagining like maybe a fruit tart there's some other fruits there as well
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but wow that is it is so so bready so deserty there's such a balanced element of like cinnamon
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spice that you know i typically associate with rye grains but there is some cinnamon on this
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for sure and it could just be an aspect of the wood like i said five years old which is a pretty
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good age for you know a craft bourbon but there's a little bit of spiciness there that that wasn't
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apparent on the nose but on the palate it just complements that baked good note and mouthfeel
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wow this it drinks like a higher proof bourbon believe it or not i i know it's 100 proof but
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it based on mouthfeel and just the amount of flavors i'm getting on this you know first couple
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sips is so rich i would even predict this to be a 107 or maybe 110 proof whiskey just because of
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how much richness is on the flavor now in terms of it being malted i'm actually not detecting any
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kind of like funkiness or like sourness or anything that kind of I've gotten from like
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malted rye or malted barley. This one, I feel like it's a lot more subtle and I'm struggling
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to find what gives it that malted element, at least on the flavor profile. But maybe
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it's just enhancing these notes that I already love with those dessert characteristics. Man
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this is so much better than I expected. I'm sorry, I'm kind of at a loss for words. But
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yeah, for $50, I mean, holy moly, this is a must buy. I wish it was still available
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But before I go any deeper or give it a rating, I have to pour the maltster bourbon rye recipe
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which is the same story. Like I said, it's just kind of an experiment where they're using malted grains in their recipes
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Now, this one's interesting because this malted rye is something I'm familiar with with their
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rye recipe, but this one is definitely a bit exaggerated with the amount that's in there
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So like the last one, this one is 65% corn, 30% malted rye, and 5% malted barley
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so they added a bit of barley in there as well so this honestly is kind of similar to some of
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their other mash bill it's just a malted rye versus a standard rye so i'm really excited to
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get into this like i said same five-year age statement 100 proof and about 50 when it first
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came out all right got that one poured let go ahead and give it a nose yeah much more familiar um i wouldn necessarily say this smells like every other new if I ever had but it does have more of a typical bourbon flavor profile The rye is kind of expressing itself differently here than I used to though
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It's not like the grassy or even dill kind of notes. It's more of the actual grain
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So it's like a rye bread, like you have the little pieces of rye in there. It's definitely grain forward compared to the last one
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But there's still like a dessert element there. It's less of the orange zest and it's almost going more like lemon tart
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if I were still sticking to the pastry category. It's a lot brighter for sure
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Let's go and give it a taste. Cheers. Interesting. I'm getting a whole different experience with that one
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To me, the first thing I noticed is that it's a bit thinner, and it also doesn't kind of linger as long as the wheat
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which is funny because I normally associate those with the opposite. Normally wheat kind of dissipates fast
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whereas rye kind of hangs around. But this one, being the same proof, it's kind of dissipating pretty quickly
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I'm still keeping with that lemon note, though. There is a bit of like a creaminess on the palate
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Not necessarily in terms of mouthfeel, but kind of like a meringue kind of taste
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It's just so funny that the rye isn't expressing itself like I typically expect
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which I guess could make sense with it being a malted rye. I've had other malted ryes, and they haven't been quite as citrusy
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So this one's an interesting one. I'm going to have to take another sip of the weeded one just to do a little comparison
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because I wasn't expecting this to be so different. I've got to go back to the wheat. Oh yeah, the maltster wheat recipe is definitely heavier, darker, more caramel, more kind of like toasted bread or like a pie crust note
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I really like the wheat one. The rye one though, it's surprising me how different it is even though it's literally the same concept
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It's just malted rye over malted wheat, which is way more popular, which is what's kind of blowing my mind here
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Are there any other malted wheat recipe bourbons or wheat whiskeys out there
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If you guys know, please let me know. Send me an email, contact at bourbonbites.com, or let me know on our Discord server, which
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by the way, if you can join at bourbonbites.com. I'm not aware of any, but there's a good chance that there are more of them out there
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But wow, it's funny because I've had this bottle over a year and I don't think I've
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revisited it in at least probably a year. I'll be real. I have not tried this and I'm kind of regretting it because this is a really great bourbon
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And the rye one is not bad either. I just think it's a little more standard. Again, for $50, I mean, they're both absolutely..
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Give it a try if you can. Now, of course, that was last year's pricing. I have not seen these on the shelf in 2022
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So I'm going to be judging this based on the fact that, you know, these were both released last year
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I'm judging it based on that. I know I'm a little late to the game, but I still want to give it a fair rating
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So for the rye recipe, which is the second one I had, I'm going to give that one, you know, considering price
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considering it is a cool experiment and I do love New Rift bourbon. I'm going to give that a
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five out of eight. It is better than average. I don't think it's necessarily drinks like a
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limited edition or like a special release. It just drinks like a solid, you know, rye-based bourbon
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and for 50 bucks, I can't complain. So yeah, five out of eight, you know, it's above average. I
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would definitely recommend buying it if you're looking for something, you know, that's in that price range. But when it comes to the malted wheat maltster, I think this one is, this drinks like a
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really special whiskey so I'm gonna give this a seven out of eight I think for the price 50 bucks
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I mean five years old really cool experimental you know idea that I've never seen done before
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yeah that's a that's a solid seven out of eight I think it's it's drinks like a really good special
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release whiskey I wish I had more of it I wish I would have bought more of it so highly recommend that Give the rye a try if you see it for retail But yeah I glad that I finally getting to this and sharing it with you guys So let me know if you tried either of these Do you have a
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favorite or did you, you know, maybe not care for it? I'm really curious to hear what you guys say
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And thank you again, Brian and Tammy, for the sample. All right. Like I said, shorter episode
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today, but I do have one piece of breaking news that came out earlier today. This is from the
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Maker's Mart Distillery, which I haven't really had anything from Maker's Mart lately. I used to
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love their limited releases. They've just gotten so hard to get. I did just pick up a new private
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select that I'm a big fan of. So Maker's Mart is still, you know, high up there on my list of
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distilleries. I just haven't tried many of their limited releases lately. But as of today, well
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when you hear this, it'll be September 2nd, which is the actual day that this is happening. But
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it was announced earlier this week that Denny Potter, who is the general manager and master
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distiller and Jane Bowie, who is the head of innovation and blending will be departing the
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company on September 2nd. So the day that this podcast comes out, um, I've had the pleasure of
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meeting Jane. I have not met Denny, but she is such a enthusiastic person. And I think she
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she's obviously passionate about the whiskey and she is so generous too. Like when I went to a
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tasting with her, she was just pouring and pouring and pouring. I think, I think she was pouring for
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herself too. She was, she was a lot of fun, but yeah, she was so great. I, like I said, I haven't
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met Denny but yeah they are leaving Maker's Mark which is a pretty big deal Denny Potter actually
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just recently started there after leaving Elijah Craig which was where he was working with Heaven
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Hill but yeah it seems really quick that he's leaving I mean of course Jane's been there a while
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but it says that they expressed a desire to blaze their own trails in the bourbon industry with a new
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venture and that's the key info that I'm really excited about I mean like I said I've met Jane
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And she is incredible. She has such an amazing palette. I can't wait to see what she's up to next
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And bringing on board someone that has experience at Heaven Hill, has experience at Maker's Mark
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And, you know, her and him combined, that is a power duo
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I am really excited to see what this next venture is. Again, this was just announced as of the day I'm recording this
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So I don't have much more info on that other than Maker's Mark. It seems like it's an amicable split
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Maker's Mark's president, Rob Samuels, is giving them a huge shout out
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thanking them for their contributions and the impact they had on Maker's Mark. I'm hoping that we hear more soon about what those two are up to
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because whatever it is, I want to get in on it. So stay tuned for that
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I definitely will keep you guys updated as more news comes in. But the question is, though, what does this mean for Maker's Mark
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I mean, these are two of their big, you know, power forces here. I'm really hopeful that they find someone that, you know
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can replicate how much these people have impacted the distillery. but I'm also just as hopeful to see what comes next from both of them
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because they are just two really incredible people and I think they're on to something good here
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I have a good feeling about this. So thank you guys so much for listening to this shorter episode
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It's been a lot of fun. If I'm hanging with you in Vegas, I hope we have the best weekend of our lives
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But if you're not there, you know what, I'll keep you guys updated anytime we do another meetup or hangout or anything like that
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I would love to hang with you guys and meet you. a lot of you guys I have already but a lot of you I haven't so if you want to hang out um hit me up
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that sounds weird I don't know where I'm going with that anyways this has been the bourbon bites podcast cheers and I will talk to you next episode
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