DUET American Whiskey is the product of friendship, shared passions, and a love for great spirits.

The story of DUET begins with decades of friendship. New Riff Master Distiller Brian Sprance and Rhinegeist specialty Brewer Luke Cole first connected years ago through their shared brewing roots. When the opportunity came to work together, it was less about a “project” and more about the excitement of combining our talents and expertise. Between lots of conversations, shared pours, and plenty of laughs, the idea for DUET started to take shape.

Every stage of DUET carries the fingerprints of both teams, each barrel picking up a little bit of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati along the way. The majority of the whiskey was aged traditionally in new American oak barrels at New Riff, with select Spanish oloroso and pedro ximenez sherry casks woven into the final blend to add complexity. From there, the blend spent time in Rhinegeist’s foeder (a massive oak barrel normally used for beer maturation) before returning to used American oak barrels to harmonize and develop a deeper, balanced flavor back at New Riff. The process was a true collaboration, with each team contributing their expertise, taste, and care at every step.