Frey Ranch Distillery is celebrating a decade of distilling and five generations of agricultural achievements with the launch of Harvester Series: 10th Anniversary edition, a new limited-edition release. Co-founders Colby and Ashley Frey collaborated with master blender Nancy Fraley to handpick barrels that highlight the grains cultivated and harvested on the Frey Ranch Farm.
Featuring all five of the grains grown on-site at the farm, including non-GMO dent corn, winter wheat, winter rye, barley, and oat, the Harvester Series: 10th Anniversary Edition (also known as “First Harvest”) is an American whiskey expertly blended from Frey Ranch master distiller Russell Wedlake’s favorite single barrels. This blend was achieved after the team tasted more than 100 barrels and 14 different mash bills, ensuring that the final expression showcased the selection of grains from Frey Ranch.
The resulting mash bill includes 71.2 per cent winter rye, 9.3 per cent soft white winter wheat, a 10.5 per cent blend representing 66 per cent corn, 10 per cent wheat, 12 per cent malted barley and 11.4 per cent oat, and a 9 per cent blend representing 66.6 per cent corn, 11.4 per cent rye, 12 per cent malted barley and 10 per cent oat.
Colby Frey commented: “As farmers first and foremost, the Harvester Series is a culmination of more than 170 years of growing the highest quality grains on our family farms in Northern Nevada. We’re excited to launch this new series starting with our Anniversary Edition—or what we are affectionately referring to as First Harvest, as this is the first Harvester release. Collaborating with Nancy (Fraley) on our anniversary liquid was honestly a career highlight. She brings so much knowledge and passion, and really pushed us in an interesting direction.”
Fraley added: “Frey Ranch is really doing something unique in the whiskey space by growing all their own grains. Provenance as it relates to grains will grow in importance for whiskey drinkers, as more consumers think about where their spirits are sourced. What we’ve delivered with the first expression in the Harvester Series is a balanced, high proof whiskey where the grains are truly the star of the show.”
Tasting notes provided by Frey Ranch Distillery say this expression has notes of butterscotch and oatmeal raisin cookie on the nose, followed by custard and marshmallow on the palate, and ending with a long finish of nutty milk chocolate and pinyon pine nut.
While the liquid represents the high-quality, slow grown grains harvested by Colby, the bottle itself is a homage to the Frey family’s legacy of farming in Nevada. The traditional Frey Ranch stopper is replaced with a vintage tractor topper made from 100 per cent recycled metal. The commemorative anniversary bottle is held in exterior packaging reminiscent of a grain silo—a nod to the grains silos that populate the landscape at the Frey Ranch farm in Fallon. The Frey family motto "Be good to the land and the land will be good to you” is prominently featured on the packaging as a reminder of Frey Ranch Distillery’s approach to sustainability.
Frey Ranch Distillery’s Harvester Series: 10th Anniversary Edition (SRP $249.99) is bottled at 121.14 proof and features whiskey as old as seven and a half years old. Bottles will be available in the Frey Ranch tasting room from April 26, online via pre-sale from April 30 through May 6 via the Frey Ranch Distillery website, and at select retail locations in Nevada thereafter.
