Medium & Craft Distillery Founders
Midwest U. S. States
1.) Larry Ebersold, New Riff
2.) Kenneth Lewis, New Riff
3.) Jay Erisman, New Riff
4.) Brian Sprance, New Riff
5.) Paul Hletko, Few Spirits
6.) Robert & Sonat Birnecker, Koval
7.) Ted & Greg Huber, Starlight Distillery
8.) Ben Holladay, Holladay Distillery
9.) Jeff & Laurie Quint, Cedar Ridge
Larry Ebersold
Larry Ebersold over his career has become known as the “godfather of rye whiskey”. Larry holds his Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville attending there from 1967 and graduating in 1972. Larry started working at a distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana in 1972 which at the time was under the ownership of Seagrams. Larry became the Master Distiller and held the title for 20 years at the distillery in a career spanning 38 years.
Kenneth Lewis
Ken and his team at New Riff appreciate that trends and taste profiles have shifted to bigger bolder flavors. They reached out and worked with a master distiller consultant and according to Jay Erisman “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.
Jay Erisman
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.”
Brian Sprance
Brian joined New Riff in 2014 when it was founded and is their Head Distiller today. He studied under the guidance of consulting Master Distiller Larry Ebersold and today uses his background in fermentation and creates his own spin on various whiskies using grains from his beer background to create new and unique flavor profiles. One example of this different thinking lead to their Winter Whiskey which has a very different mash bill of 65% corn, 20% malted oats, 7% pale ale malt, 5% steel cut raw oats and 3% chocolate malt.
Paul Hletko
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Robert & Sonat Birnecker
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Ted & Greg Huber
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Ben Holladay
Ben was able to purchase the land for the distillery in 1849 after discovering the limestone spring on the site. Ben, a native Kentuckian, knew the water was perfect for producing bourbon. He went to work with his brother David to securing the necessary equipment and materials and was able able to begin distilling whiskey as the Blue Springs Distillery in 1856. The first whiskey was sold for 35 cents for a gallon the following year. Ben transferred ownership of the distillery to David in 1858.
Jeff & Laurie Quint
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