Jay Erisman 

“The Whiskey Man”

Jay Erisman was born in 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He attended Ohio University and received his B.A. English in 1992. His dad is a martini man and Jay says he “raised me to respect a good cocktail - ultimately leaving college with a collection of single malt Scotch and a talent for home brewing.”

After college he worked in a biotechnology firm which he says “served me well, I started formal work in 1997 in what would turn out to be various sectors of the drinks industry - fine wine retail, craft brewing and distribution - before joining the iconic Northern Kentucky retailer The Party Source in 2001.” At The Party Source he worked a number of roles, but primarily as their 1st fine spirits manager.

During his time at the Party Source, “Working closely with the Kentucky Bourbon industry, I enjoyed rare access to the warehouses and whiskey brands of the state.” He also held cooking classes and created wine and spirits tasting classes. Jay being work-driven and focused by the world-class entrepreneurial spirit of Party Source owner Ken Lewis - blossomed into New Riff Distilling, which Mr. Lewis founded with me in 2014.” He goes on to say, “Years later, New Riff has a growing portfolio of award winning whiskeys, and a burgeoning worldwide reputation in fine American whiskey.”

Jay is the Vice President of Strategic Development, distiller, Co-founder, “the whiskey man” and part time truck driver for New Riff. He has also written for articles for Whisky Advocate among others.

Jay and team wanted New Riff to be a “Rye House”, with rye as predominant component in their bourbon and of high rye content ryes. They believe that rye is the driver for very rich and complex bourbons. According to Jay “we had zero desire to be Loretto North, with a gentle wheated Bourbon. Would New Riff ever make a heated Bourbon? Sure! And we have done so.” He goes on to say, “But this is a rye-led distillery, all the way. We make big, spicy rye-centric whiskeys and we don’t apologize for it.” He continues to say “Nor did we see the need to make something lighter to please some average Everyperson’s palate.”

Jay and the team at New Riff appreciate that trends and taste profiles have shifted to bigger bolder flavors. Jay says that “we absolutely were going to make not only Rye whiskey, but Bourbon whiskey with a strong rye background.” And they reached out and worked with a master distiller consultant and according to Jay “was none other than the high priest of high rye, arguably the greatest rye distiller in modern times and, in the words of Jim Rutledge, “the best master distiller alive.”” This master distiller was none other than Larry Ebersold.

So along with the excellent limestone filtered and plentiful water source at a constant cool temperature year-round that was an extremely fortunate find right under the property of the New Riff distillery next to the Party Source they also worked with the best master distiller who helped Jay, Ken and the team constructed the New Riff distillery.

New Riff first used a mash bill of 75% corn, 20% rye and 5% malted barley suggested by Larry which he used at Seagram’s, later LDI, and later MGP. Jay felt this was a good starting point, but then went to a 30% rye mash bill and felt that was very good and have used that since. Their rye mash bill is 95% rye and 5% malted barely based on Larry’s legendary recipe, except of course for their 100% malted rye brand. According to Jay, “Those two core whiskeys have remained unchanged since.”