I Taste Hundreds of Whiskeys a Year. Frey Ranch's New 10-Year Bourbon Is My Absolute Favorite

At the beginning of the craft spirits boom about 15 years ago, upstart whiskey distilleries were struggling to keep the lights on and the stills going. They needed something to sell while their bourbon and rye aged. As a result, a lot of brands produced vodka, gin and “moonshine” – basically any type of liquor that didn’t need to be aged and could be sold immediately. 

There was also plenty of whiskey on store shelves that was aged for just a year or two. These incredibly young expressions were often very tannic and not particularly enjoyable to drink. Some distilleries even tried using small barrels to speed up the aging process. Spoiler alert: These supposed maturation hacks didn’t work. There is really no substitute for good old aging.

Frey Ranch has been carefully aging the barrels for this 10-year- old bourbon.

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So it’s quite a milestone that a number of these now established craft distillers have not only survived but also prospered. And now they are bottling fully mature whiskeys. The latest is the award-winning Frey Ranch in Fallon, NV, which just announced its oldest whiskey yet—a ten-year-old bourbon. 

While it would be impressive enough to bottle a bourbon after a decade of aging in full-size barrels, Frey Ranch also grows, mills and ferments all of the grains that it uses for its whiskey. Founders Colby and Ashley Frey built their distillery on their family’s 2,500-acre farm. It’s truly a field-to-glass spirit. The new bourbon is made from a mash bill of 66.6% non-GMO corn, 11.4% winter rye, 10% soft winter wheat and 12% two-row malted barley. (The brand's Four Grain Bourbon is made from the same recipe.) It’s not chill filtered and is a robust 102 proof.

The Frey Ranch distillery is located on a 2,500 acre farm in Nevada.

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Frey Ranch is only releasing 500 bottles of this first batch of 10-year-old bourbon. The anticipated demand is going to be high so in order to get your hands on a bottle you need to sign up for a lottery. If you happen to be selected, you’re also limited to buying just two bottles. There will also be 500 bottles available at the distillery, which will go on sale on June 13. Future releases of the brand’s 10-year-old bourbon will be more widely available at the distillery and in select retailers.

So is the whiskey worth the hassle of entering a lottery? Well, after tasting an advanced sample, I can tell you it is absolutely worth the trouble of tracking down. (This didn't comes as a great surprise given the brand’s barley whiskey really impressed us when it came out this past March.) The whiskey has an incredibly velvety mouthfeel and has a delicious flavor profile with big notes of chocolate and tobacco. At $99 it is actually a bargain for such a well-made whiskey. I can’t wait to taste future batches of this bourbon.

Frey Ranch is one of the few distilleries in the United States that grows all of the grain it uses to make it whiskeys.

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The bourbon also proves that the quality of the grain and how it is milled plays a huge role in the final taste of a whiskey. These are things that are often talked about in the abstract but are actually essential for making the best spirits.

source https://www.mensjournal.com/drink/frey-ranch-harvester-series-10-year-american-whiskey-review