One of America’s Best Craft Distillers Just Dropped a New Grain-to-Glass Barrel Strength Bourbon

Jonah Flicker
·3 min read

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There are hundreds of craft distilleries around the country making whiskey. And while this is fantastic for innovation and creativity in the industry, the truth is that more than a few of them are still working out the kinks. But there are some that really stand out from the pack in terms of quality and flavor, and Nevada’s Frey Ranch is one of them. This grain-to-glass distillery just launched a new barrel-proof expression called Farm Strength Uncut Bourbon, which dials up the intensity of its already excellent Four Grain Straight Bourbon by bottling the whiskey without cutting it down to proof.

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This isn’t the first time that Frey Ranch has released a high-proof whiskey—last fall we covered the limited release of the 140.18 proof Hazmat Single Barrel Bourbon. At that strength, you have to be careful not to burn your tongue and blow out your palate when you sip (adding some water will definitely help). The new Farm Strength is a much more reasonable 124.3 proof, not far off from many batches of Booker’s that you might have tried before. The mash bill is the same as the signature Four Grain Bourbon—66.6 percent dent corn, 10 percent winter wheat, 11.4 percent winter rye, and 12 percent two row barley—and it’s non-chill filtered and aged for about five years.

“Every time we blend a batch of our flagship Frey Ranch Four Grain Straight Bourbon, we taste it at cask strength before we proof it down,” said co-founder Colby Frey in a statement. “That uncut liquid is always a big hit with our distillery team. We’re excited to now offer the Farm Strength version of the signature whiskey that put Frey Ranch on the map with our grain-forward approach. For the best tasting experience, we recommend a side-by-side comparison of our signature 90-proof against this new uncut version.”

Colby and his wife and co-founder Ashley call Frey Ranch a “whiskey farm” due to the fact that they grow all the grains used to make their spirits on their 1,500-acre farm just east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. According to the distillery team, everything else is done onsite as well, from malting to distilling to maturation, making this whiskey a true grain-to-glass (or “ground-to-glass” as they like to call it) operation. But what really makes the liquid stand out is that this craft distillery is making whiskey that can stand with anything you might have tried from the big boys in Kentucky like Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, or Buffalo Trace.

You can purchase Frey Ranch Farm Strength Uncut Bourbon (SRP $80) from various retailers in California and Nevada, and while it is sold out at the distillery’s web store there are other online retailers that have it in stock. And if you’re looking for something that’s not quite as strong, you can find the flagship Frey Ranch bourbon and rye available to order from ReserveBar.

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