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Eagle Rare 12 Year vs New Riff Single Barrel
Eagle Rare 12 Year and New Riff Single Barrel sit on opposite sides of a familiar divide: an old-guard, classically built classic versus a new-wave, rye-forward craft style.
Key Specifications
| Feature | Eagle Rare 12 Year | New Riff Single Barrel |
|---|---|---|
| Type / Style | Traditional Bourbon | High-Rye Bourbon |
| Mash Bill 1 | 78% corn, 10% rye, 12% malted barley | 65% corn, 30% rye, 5% malted barley |
| Age | 12 years +7 yr | 5 years |
| Proof | 95 proof (47.5% ABV) | 105 proof (52.5% ABV) +10 proof |
| Approx. Price 2 | ~$50 – $80 | ~$55 – $70 |
| Availability | Allocated | Widely available easier to find |
- Eagle Rare 12 Year does not publish an official mash bill.
- US shelf prices as of 2026-10; they vary widely by market.
AG’s Rating and AG’s Notes
Eagle Rare 12 Year
Top 3, behind George T. Stagg and Jack Daniel's 14.
New Riff Single Barrel
Not rated yetNo notes yet.
Flavor Profile
Eagle Rare 12 Year New Riff Single Barrel
Axis by axis, biggest gap first
spice 5/9 spice: Eagle Rare 12 Year 5 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 9 out of 10
sweetness 7/4 sweetness: Eagle Rare 12 Year 7 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 4 out of 10
heat 5/7 heat: Eagle Rare 12 Year 5 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 7 out of 10
oak 7/6 oak: Eagle Rare 12 Year 7 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 6 out of 10
fruit 6/5 fruit: Eagle Rare 12 Year 6 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 5 out of 10
nuttiness 4/3 nuttiness: Eagle Rare 12 Year 4 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 3 out of 10
Flavor Profile Differences
The gap between these two is mostly about spice.
- Eagle Rare 12 Year: Two more years and five more proof points than Eagle Rare 10. Brown sugar and toffee lead, with a drier, more astringent oak finish.
- New Riff Single Barrel: The single-barrel expression of New Riff's 30% rye mash, non-chill-filtered and at higher proof than the bonded version. As dry and peppery as bourbon gets before it stops being bourbon.
Which One Should You Choose?
- Go with Eagle Rare 12 Year if you want an older, richer step up from Eagle Rare 10 with more brown sugar and oak with an older age statement.
- Go with New Riff Single Barrel if you want the most aggressively spice-driven bourbon in this list, with single-barrel variation on top with more proof behind it.
Best enjoyed neat, rocks (Eagle Rare 12 Year); neat, old-fashioned (New Riff Single Barrel).