On a 1,500 acre farm in Fallon, Nevada comes some of the best whiskey we have tasted to date. The Frey family has been farming this ground east of the Sierra Nevada mountains for about 170 years, which has resulted in them producing true grain to glass products. They maintain complete control over every step in the process and their dedication to the craft results in wonderful products.
Colby and Ashley Frey establised Frey Ranch Distillery in 2006, all while still farming the family ground. They are deliberate about each action they take from the obvious milling, mashing, fermeting (you kow, the "whiskey stuff") to the bottle and stopper design and label colors. No detail goes unnoticed and no decision is made without the hands on approach of this team.
The Frey Ranch Bottled In Bond Straight Rye Whiskey is comprised of 100% slow-grown winter rye, aged for at least five years and is an absolute rock star in our opinion! It bothers us that many whiskey lovers had a bad experience with Rye previously and they have completely shut it down. We get it. Some Rye can be over-peppered tongue tinglers that aren't enjoyable. But that's not even close to what you're getting here.
Golden-brown-red sunset color in the bottle, this whiskey gives you lifting aromas of citrus, lemongrass, candied jam and subtle smoke initially. We let this one have some time in the glass and came back to it. There is a floral and cocoa bean undertone that presents itself and almost a sugar cookie presence as well. To say there is a LOT going on here would be a huge understatement. Tasted neat, we welcome flavors of warm baked pumpernickel bread, lemon custard, vanilla candy, more citrus with a very well-balanced and frankly, minuscule amount of spice. While we think this would create a beautiful cocktail, we believe this whiskey stands on its own and is best enjoyed neat. We are going to go ahead and say that we will be seeing this one again in our 2024 Best Whiskey list later this year! This is absolutely, without a doubt, a Rye whiskey that you need to taste.
ABV: 50.0% (100 proof)
Distillery: Frey Ranch Distillery
Drink The Bottles score: 95/100
