7 Things You Should Know About Frey Ranch, Nevada’s Farm-to-Glass Distillery

Soon after Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., pioneered and popularized farm-to-table cooking in the 1970s, a movement began to take shape, and fine-dining restaurants around the world adopted the local-first style. Ever since, the commitment to regionality has become so pervasive that it has even infiltrated the spirits category. That’s where Frey Ranch in Nevada comes in: It touts itself as a “ground-to-glass” distillery, as it harvests, malts, and distills all of the grains used in its whiskey on-site.

Husband and wife duo Ashley and Colby Frey founded Frey Ranch Distillery in 2006. Colby operates the 1,500-acre farm in Fallon, Nev., while Ashley covers branding and day-to-day business operations. Despite being a relative newcomer to the long tradition of American whiskey, Frey Ranch — under the direction of master distiller Russell Wedlake — has become a popular choice among enthusiasts.

From starting off as a farm without a distillery to being named VinePair’s Next Wave Awards Spirits Brand of the Year in 2023, here are seven things you should know about Frey Ranch.

The Frey family has been farming in Nevada for over 170 years.

The distillery at Frey Ranch was only founded 20 years ago, but the Frey family began farming in Nevada in 1854. According to the brand’s website, the Freys were granted some of the first deeded property in Nevada, but the family’s current property — where now both the farm and distillery sit — wasn’t acquired until 1944 when Colby’s grandfather purchased the plot of land in Fallon.

It took 13 years for Frey Ranch’s first products to hit the market.

Before Frey Ranch distilled whiskey, Colby was exporting the farm’s grains internationally, including to China, Dubai, and Japan. Worldwide markets and various industries vied for his crops for their high quality. But Colby and Ashley wanted to see what would become of their crops after harvest and craft a financially viable product of their own from their top-notch grains. So, they decided to launch a distillery and obtained a federal distilling license in 2006. But at that point, Nevada had no state laws that governed commercial distilling. Finally, in 2013, Nevada enacted a law that permitted commercial distilleries.

Colby and Ashley spent the ensuing years learning how to properly make whiskey. Once they were able to actually produce and sell the whiskey, they decided to play around with aging it, which further delayed their market entry. Frey Ranch’s booze finally hit shelves in late 2019.

100 percent of Frey Ranch’s production is done on-site.

Frey Ranch’s status as a ground-to-glass distillery is no overstatement. One hundred percent of the grains that go into its whiskey are grown on-property. Frey Ranch also conducts every step of the whiskey-making process, which includes malting, distilling, and bottling, itself. While there is no exact statistic on how many distilleries around the world grow their grains on-site, farmer-distillers are a rare breed.

Its Straight Rye Whiskey features an unusual mash bill.

The Frey Ranch whiskey lineup offers four expressions: Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Straight Rye Whiskey, Single Barrel Whiskeys, and Farm Strength Uncut Bourbon. Of all its offerings, the most atypical is the Straight Rye Whiskey. For a whiskey to legally be called a rye, at least 51 percent of its mash bill must be made up of the grain. But Frey Ranch’s version goes all-in on rye: The Straight Rye Whiskey’s mash bill is 100 percent single grain. The team decided to do this to highlight the pure excellence of its rye strain.

Across its portfolio, brand tasting notes highlight caramel- and oak-forward flavors. According to Frey Ranch, its bourbon is flavorful enough to feature in cocktails yet palatable enough to enjoy neat. Frey Ranch’s Farm Strength Uncut Bourbon is a boozier, cask-strength version that highlights the grains’ earthy flavors.

Each bottle is embossed with the ranch’s motto.

The bottom of every Frey Ranch bottle is embossed with the phrase: “Be good to the land and the land will be good to you.” That ethos comes from Colby’s upbringing on the farm, where he shadowed his father to learn how to steward the land. In addition to being written on every whiskey handle, the motto is listed on every page of the farm/distillery’s website.

The farm practices crop rotation to replenish its soil.

Each field at Frey Ranch undergoes a seven-year crop rotation. That means each plot is planted with alfalfa every seven years between growing whiskey-making grains to keep the soil as fresh and fertile as possible, ensuring the crops continue to meet the distillery’s high standards. Frey Ranch decided to intermittently exchange its typical grains with alfalfa because it imparts carbon, nitrogen, and microbes — all of which boost the quality of its barley, corn, rye, and wheat — into the soil.

The water that hydrates the farm is from the same source as Lake Tahoe’s.

Just like nearby Lake Tahoe, Frey Ranch receives its water from the Sierra Nevada snowmelt. The farm, which operates a flood irrigation system, does not rely on any electricity to move its nutrient-rich water through the fields. Instead, the farmers shift water from field to field through a series of canals. Frey Ranch also uses the water from the mountain range as a cooling system for its stills and other fermenting vessels, reducing its reliance on excess electricity.

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