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Colby says. "If we don't take really good care of the land,
then we don't have a future. It's really important to us
to not take without giving back to the soil and our farm
and our climate." e bottle has a heavy metal topper and
a label shaped like Colby's belt buckle, which was origi-
nally his grandfather's: "We wanted something modern,
without being too old-timey Western." It's a custom bot-
tle, and they had to speak to four bottle vendors before
finding one who could actually make what they wanted,
but they accepted no substitutes and eventually got what
they wanted.
Rapid Gains Until the Pandemic
Frey Ranch launched its flagship bottled-in-bond
straight bourbon whiskey, 5 years old and aged entirely
in full-size barrels, in December 2019. e initial release
was limited to the relatively small northern Nevada mar-
ket (which includes Reno) and quickly gained traction. "I
think we were in over 300 locations within a week and we
sold almost 1,000 cases in that initial launch," Colby says.
is was particularly impressive considering the launch
window; most distributors consider December one of the
worst times to launch, since retailers and consumers have
already spent most of their holiday money. "Our distribu-
tor said it was the exact opposite of what they anticipated,
and the best launch that they've ever had," Colby says.
Frey Ranch expanded to Las Vegas this February.
Because the distillery only had about 4,000 cases to sell
and was committed to a 5-year age statement, it leaned
into a heavy focus on on-premise sales. e brand started
gaining early traction, just in time for the state's casinos
and bars to shut down in late February. A quick pivot to
the Nevada off-premise market hit another wall when most
liquor stores were temporarily shut down. Overall, Frey
Ranch has focused on the off-premise more than it ini-
tially planned but has also tapped into online sales through
Bounty Hunter Rare Wine & Spirits, a California-based
retailer with a robust online presence that can ship to a
number of states. Overall, sales still outperformed the dis-
tillery's post-COVID projections, while coming in under
the initial pre-COVID expectations. Although the timing
certainly wasn't ideal, it doesn't faze the Freys. "As farmers,
Frey Ranch barrel house, Photo © Jeff Dow
