Review: Frey Ranch Harvester Series 10th Anniversary American Whiskey

Nevada’s Frey Ranch has been operating for 10 years now, and to mark the occasion, it did what all good distilleries do: It released another whiskey as a celebratory bottle.

Frey Ranch Harvester Series 10th Anniversary Edition, made in collaboration with Master Blender Nancy Fraley, is a blend of whiskeys (not a bourbon) featuring all five grains grown on Frey Ranch’s farm. This is incidentally the first whiskey in the Harvester Series. Additional expressions are in the works.

A little more info on what’s in the bottle:

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 carefully selected and expertly blended from Colby, Ashley, Nancy, and Frey Ranch Master Distiller Russell Wedlake’s favorite single barrels. To achieve this blend, this powerhouse whiskey team tasted more than 100 barrels and 14 different mash bills to ensure that the final expression showcases the Frey Ranch grains while also shining a spotlight on the whiskey inside the bottle.

The resulting mashbill is truly unique, including 71.2% winter rye; 9.3% soft white winter wheat; 10.5% a blend representing 66.6% corn, 10% wheat, 12% malted barley and 11.4% oat; and 9% a blend representing 66.6% corn, 11.4% rye, 12% malted barley, and 10% oat.

While the liquid inside the bottle is a testament to the high-quality, slow grown grains harvested by Colby, the bottle itself is an 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% recycled metal. The commemorative anniversary bottle is nestled in exterior packaging reminiscent of a grain silo – a cheeky nod to the grains silos that pepper the picturesque 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 commonsense approach to sustainability.

The finished product hit the bottle at 121.14 proof and features whiskeys as old as 7 1/2 years of age.

The 500 bottles produced sold out reportedly in one minute when released, but we managed to score a sample — and hopefully you’ll run into it once or twice, too. With that in mind, thoughts follow.

Frey Ranch Harvester Series 10th Anniversary American Whiskey Review

Butterscotch is immediate and prominent on the nose, though the ample heat driven by a more than 60% abv keeps any overt sweetness at arm’s length. Red pepper and cinnamon mix to give the whiskey a bold, lively quality, while time in glass help notes of chocolate sauce, menthol, and cloves emerge.

A daunting, fiery whiskey at full strength, some water helps the palate showcase its charms more clearly. Notes of orange marmalade dominate at first, chased by crushed graham crackers, toasted marshmallows, and a reprise of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Frey Ranch refers to this as a deconstructed s’more, and that is as apt a description as I’ve ever encountered given the above tasting notes. There’s a hint of maple and some raisin on the finish — neither part of the classic s’mores recipe — but wonderfully complementary all the same. The menthol hinted at on the nose makes an interesting and appropriately after-dinner return on the finish, giving the fade-out a cleansing quality that comes across as a little surprising, in the best possible way.

I’ve had plenty of Frey Ranch releases over the years, and it’s possible that this is the best. Pity, of course, that it’s already gone.

121.14 proof.

A- / $250

The post Review: Frey Ranch Harvester Series 10th Anniversary American Whiskey appeared first on Drinkhacker: The Insider’s Guide to Good Drinking.