Frey Ranch Distillery
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Buckle up, fellas, because one of the best American whiskeys ever bottled is about to hit shelves and you will want to chase down a dram if you can. The Frey Ranch Distillery Harvester Series: Second Harvest has arrived.
This 122.44 proof American whiskey is a blend of wheat-forward whiskeys where everything in the bottle was grown by Frey Ranch on the distillery’s property where the master distiller is also originally a farmer by trade and selected very special winter wheat for this whiskey.
Frey Ranch Harvester Series: Second Harvest Details
Frey Ranch Distillery
I was fortunate enough to sit with the Frey Ranch team a few weeks ago for a preview tasting of the Harvester Series: Second Harvest to learn more about their farm-to-glass bourbon and American whiskeys while tasting the Harvester Series: Second Harvest.
Firstly, here’s what is in the bottle:
- 52.5% of 100% Wheat Whiskey
- 14.25% of Four Grain Bourbon
- 9.5% of 100% Unmalted Barley Whiskey
- 9.5% of 100% Malted Barley Whiskey
- 9.5% of 100% Barley Whiskey (half malted & half unmalted)
- 4.25% of Quad Malt Whiskey
The first Harvester Series release from Frey Ranch last year sold out within minutes online. Before it even went on sale at the distillery there was a line that began forming before dawn.
The thing is, once you learn about Frey Ranch Distillery’s whiskey and how everything that goes into the bottle was purposefully grown on site in order to produce the absolute best possible ingredients and not just the most convenient ingredients, you quickly understand the hype is warranted and their whiskeys are second to none.
This release, the Harvester Series: Second Harvest, is named in part to celebrate the start of Harvesting Season at the distillery and in part because when they pull barrels at the distillery and log them within the system it’s marked as ‘harvesting.’ So there is dual meaning to this name at Frey Ranch.
Environmental Factors
Fallon, Nevada where the Frey Ranch Distillery is located sits due East of Reno. There’s not much out there but desert, and thankfully for the distillery, the massive Carson Lake to the south. They are located in region that soaks up all the snow melt from the Sierra Nevada mountain range. So while the surrounding region might be arid desert, they are an oasis.
But they also have desert weather out there. Extremely hot days and cold nights. Scorching summers and frigid winters. These massive temperature swings only enrich the grains grown on the Frey Ranch Distillery property and imbue the whiskeys with deeper flavor while aging, not dissimilar from rum aging in the Caribbean.
With a ‘quality over quantity’ approach, Frey Ranch has complete control over every ingredient, the soil, the harvesting timeline, aging process, and more. The only thing they don’t exert control over is the aging process. They do control humidity but they otherwise allow the drastic temperature fluctuations to run its course.
Flavor Profile Of Frey Ranch Harvester Series: Second Harvest
Frey Ranch Distillery
The Harvester Series #1 was a smash hit. It won Douple Platinum at Fred Minnick’s Awards with tasting notes of s’mores, graham cracker, oatmeal raisin, milk chocolate, marshmallow texture.
So what’s this one taste like? I got tasting notes of figgy pudding, toffee, baklava, honey, mint, candied orange, and tangerine blossom.
At 122.44-proof, there’s heat to be sure but it is backed out with flavor. This is neither a ‘flavor bomb’ or a whiskey that’s strong for the sake of being strong. Everything about it was carefully chosen and blended to create a masterful finished product.
It goes on sale online and at the distillery’s tasting room in Fallon, Nevada and through an online lottery that opens at September 26 at 10am PST and runs through Monday, September 29th at midnight. The distillery has announced that just 333 bottles will be available through the online lottery with an additional 150 bottles available for purchase at the tasting room in Fallon, NV.
If you want to enter that lottery, you can do so here on the Frey Ranch Distillery’s website. They will be mailed out and you won’t actually have to make the trek to the desert though you should because it’s a stunning oasis property in the middle of Nevada.