A Letter From the Lewis Family
Ten years ago, New Riff fired up its brand new boiler and produced our first thirteen barrels of bourbon.
The distillery project was “born” years before that; as the ideation, planning, financing, construction, and initial staffing all took place well before we were ever able to even think about a mash bill!
You would think that we, the ownership family, would be most proud of the world class bourbon, rye, and other whiskies that resulted from those first few months (and thereafter) of the distillery’s life. But no, you would be wrong! We are most proud, not of the result of our dreams and hard work but the “why”; “why” did we take on this challenge? The answer to that “why” is succinctly contained in our unusual mission statement:
To become one of the great small distilleries of the world, putting quality, reputation and our stakeholders (owners, employees, the interests of familial generations, and the communities and environments in which we do business, in that order) above the exclusive drive for profits.
We sold The Party Source (which Ken created and owned for 20 years), proudly, to its employees who own it 100% in an ESOP to this day, in order to become licensed with a DSP (Distilled Spirits Plant) number. We went from being 100% debt free and operating an iconic “cash cow” to going heavily in debt and starting a business that had little cash flow for its first five years! (It’s OK to call Ken “crazy”–he’ll just enigmatically smile). And what was the goal? Not to produce big profits or sell the distillery to a global spirits company. No, the goal was to bring a world class distillery to Greater Cincinnati propelling our great region into the top tier of “bourbon tourism” and maybe even more importantly, to share the pride and unsurpassed reputation for quality with all the stakeholders as defined in the above mission statement.
Hence New Riffs “mantra”: we believe quality and maximum profitability cannot logically exist in the same sentence. We believe in profitability, of course, but in the sense that it enables us to make unambiguously great whiskey and sell it for a price that all bourbon lovers can afford. (New Riff never sells whiskey for “what the market will bear”!)
It is correctly said that “it takes a village”– in our case we could not produce and market our world class whiskey without you, our loyal and patient (waiting with us as those barrels age to ten, twelve, fifteen years) Rangers and customers, our long time suppliers, our distributors who assiduously sell New Riff and preach our gospel, and all our local government, media, and non-profit friends.
In an increasingly speeding world of same day delivery and constant “selfies” (real and metaphorical), distilling with its patient waiting for whiskey to age (and age and age) is truly an anachronism. But what we get in return for all that patience (in addition to great whiskey!) is a “comfortable certainty” that unlike most businesses our next ten years will be pretty similar to the first ten (although hopefully with a little more order!). You can count on New Riff to continue to pursue quality over profits, to stay completely independent and 100% family owned, to never sell out the company nor our values.
That’s something worth celebrating, and we invite you to celebrate with us at the distillery and The Aquifer Tasting Room through Sunday. July 21. Each day during that time will have a special bottle release of a product from our past. We will also have drink specials, live music, food partners and plenty of other surprises. The full list of events and information is available at newriffdistilling.com/anniversary
Let’s toast to great whiskey, good health, kindness when needed, and to one small company’s steadfast commitment to doing everything “the right way”!
CHEERS!
The Lewis Family
