What we’re drinking: Frey Ranch Harvester Series: Second Harvest
Where it’s from: Frey Ranch, founded in 2006 by Colby and Ashley Frey, is a whiskey distillery based in Fallon, Nevada, on the Frey family’s 2,000-acre property. The whiskeys only use grains grown on-site at the farm.
Why we’re drinking this: I’ve been excited by the farm-to-glass or estate movement in whiskey, and Frey Ranch has been releasing quality expressions for years. And their limited-edition Harvester Series might be their most coveted release (see Fun Fact, below).
Second Harvest is a wheat whiskey utilizing grains grown exclusively on the Frey Ranch farm in northern Nevada. Its release coincides with the distillery’s annual whiskey harvest, a period between August and October when the family harvests the corn, wheat, barley, rye and oats that make up Frey Ranch’s whiskeys. “Just like the wineries can celebrate crush when they bring their grapes from the vineyard into the winery, we celebrate our harvest here on the farm,” says Ashley Frey.
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Colby Frey’s family has been farming in Nevada for over 150 years, but with Frey Ranch, he’s the first one to take the grain and turn it into spiritsAs Master Distiller Russell Wedlake points out, Frey Ranch is more about showcasing grains than barrel aging. “We’re using grains that are grown specifically for distillery, not the feed industry, which is a big difference,” he says. “You can have high-quality grain for the feed industry, but very poor quality for the distilling industry.” Additionally, the distillery does a separate pot distillation after the initial stripping/column distillation. “It gives us a high-quality whiskey without having to age it for a long time,” he adds. “Aging for that long time, you’re covering up things. And there aren’t a lot of things we want to cover up.”
The single barrels for this release were chosen by the Freys alongside Wedlake and Master Blender Nancy Fraley. “We have hundreds of different single barrels of wheat, rye, barley, corn and four-grain bourbons,” says Colby Frey. “But we also had 14 different mash bills that we tasted through, and we really tried to cherry-pick the best of the best for this release. Nancy really liked the idea of having a blank canvas. We didn’t have any requirements — it was just to take all of these hundreds of whiskeys and create the best product that you can out of them.”
Let’s try it out.
How it tastes: Second Harvest comes in at 122.44 proof and primarily utilizes a soft, white winter wheat in its mash bill. The barrels selected ranged in age from eight years and seven months to four years and six months. This one is unique (in a good way!), with notes of baklava, crème de menthe, vanilla, biscuit and candied orange, and a hint of grassiness.
Fun fact: If you want a bottle, you’ll want to act quickly; the rye-forward First Harvest, released in April, sold out in 17 minutes online and in the Nevada tasting room in under an hour. (Also note that due to a packaging snafu, two Harvester editions were released this year, but normally it would be just a single release.) If you find the first bottle, definitely grab it — while there’s a bit of earthiness from the rye, it offers a creamy mouthfeel and unexpected sweetness (a bit like oatmeal raisin cookies). It’s my favorite Frey Ranch release and will likely be in my list of favorite whiskeys of 2025.
Where to buy: Only 600 numbered bottles of Second Harvest will be available. An online lottery will be held from Sept. 26-29, with winners earning the right to purchase the bottles (for $250).. On Sept. 27, 150 bottles will be available at the distillery’s tasting room, with a “very limited number of bottles” available afterwards at retailers in Nevada and California.
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