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Knob Creek 12 Year vs New Riff Single Barrel
Knob Creek 12 Year and New Riff Single Barrel sit on opposite sides of a familiar divide: an old-guard, rye-forward classic versus a new-wave, rye-forward craft style.
Key Specifications
| Feature | Knob Creek 12 Year | New Riff Single Barrel |
|---|---|---|
| Type / Style | High-Rye Bourbon | High-Rye Bourbon |
| Mash Bill 1 | 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley | 65% corn, 30% rye, 5% malted barley |
| Age | 12 years +7 yr | 5 years |
| Proof | 100 proof (50% ABV) | 105 proof (52.5% ABV) +5 proof |
| Approx. Price 2 | ~$55 – $70 | ~$55 – $70 |
- Knob Creek 12 Year does not publish an official mash bill.
- US shelf prices as of 2026-08; they vary widely by market.
AG’s Rating and AG’s Notes
Knob Creek 12 Year
Not rated yetNo notes yet.
New Riff Single Barrel
Not rated yetNo notes yet.
Flavor Profile
Knob Creek 12 Year New Riff Single Barrel
Axis by axis, biggest gap first
nuttiness 7/3 nuttiness: Knob Creek 12 Year 7 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 3 out of 10
spice 6/9 spice: Knob Creek 12 Year 6 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 9 out of 10
oak 9/6 oak: Knob Creek 12 Year 9 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 6 out of 10
sweetness 6/4 sweetness: Knob Creek 12 Year 6 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 4 out of 10
fruit 3/5 fruit: Knob Creek 12 Year 3 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 5 out of 10
heat 5/7 heat: Knob Creek 12 Year 5 out of 10, New Riff Single Barrel 7 out of 10
Flavor Profile Differences
Nutty, grain-driven character is the divider.
- Knob Creek 12 Year: Three more years in the barrel than the standard Knob Creek, and the wood does all the talking. Deep oak and leather over the familiar Beam peanut note, drying toward genuinely tannic on the 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 Knob Creek 12 Year if you want the Beam house profile pushed as far into oak as it goes while staying balanced 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 the texture that comes from skipping chill filtration.
Best enjoyed neat, rocks (Knob Creek 12 Year); neat, old-fashioned (New Riff Single Barrel).