Frey Ranch Distillery has entered the American Single Malt category with the release of their limited edition Frey Ranch American Single Malt Smoked Whiskey, announced Monday.
Aged for six years and seven months, like all Frey Ranch whiskeys, the new smoked American single malt was produced solely from slow-grown barley harvested on the distillery’s Fallon, Nevada grounds.
“American Single Malts are having a moment, so we figured this was an opportune time to showcase our Nevada grown and harvested barley — putting our own stamp on it by smoking it,” said Frey Ranch Distillery co-founder Colby Frey in a press release.
That singular stamp was accomplished through a custom smoker made by Frey and master distiller Russell Wedlake. Rather than purchasing a new industrial-sized smoker, the duo reconstituted a smoker from an old grain silo and a fireplace to smoke the barley rather than roasting it.
“Like everything we do at the Ranch, the team and I had some fun putting together our custom smoker — taking a few days to welt, cut, and wire it to our precise specifications,” Frey says. Taking things a step further, Frey also manually produced the peat used in the distillation process, pressing decomposed plant matter from the Fallon farm into bread pans to dehydrate. This process allowed the team to smoke the whiskey in a more precise manner to achieve the desired taste profile and texture.
According to the brand, the whiskey is intended to be sipped and offers aromas of campfire, huckleberry, and sweet pipe tobacco. The palate offers similar notes accompanied by leather and a thick mouthfeel, and carries a lengthy finish with notes of sweet cigarillo. This release is also the first whiskey in the distillery’s Smoked Series, and will be followed up with the launch of Frey Ranch Rye & Smoked Oat Whiskey.
Frey Ranch American Single Malt Smoked Whiskey is bottled at 110 proof and is now available online at Frey Ranch Distillery’s website in 375 mL bottles for $59.99.
