Frey Ranch Farm Strength Uncut Bourbon

122.28pf

 

Frey Ranch Distillery has actually been in operation since 2006, but it’s really been in the last few years that they’ve come into their own and achieved a lot more national recognition for their whiskey program as many of their products reached a moderate level of maturity. The 1,500 acre farm located just east of the Sierra Nevada mountains grows all the various grains for Frey Ranch’s program–all the more impressive give that the distillery’s house bourbon style is a four-grain bourbon that utilizes Dent Corn (66.6%) winter wheat (10%), winter rye (11.4%) and two row barley (12%). All of that is grown, harvested, milled and distilled on site by co-founder Colby Frey. 

 

On the nose, Frey Ranch Farm Strength Uncut Bourbon balances itself neatly between impressions of sweetness, grain and more earthy and herbal tones. Up front there’s caramel and clove-like spice, with an underlying, slightly musty/earthy graininess and suggestion of some of the biscuity/bready quality possibly derived from the wheat or malted barley.

 

On the palate, most of these same impressions hold true–I’m getting plenty of caramel, honey and mint, combined with significant rye spice. The clove is joined by a little more cinnamon, but the star of the show is a complex sort of herbaceousness from the rye and maybe from the wheat as well–it’s floral and maybe a little bit resinous, but doesn’t lose track of its moderate residual sweetness.