Table Of Contents

The Details

Rating 89
Style
Whiskey
Produced In Nevada
United States
ABV 55%
Availability Limited
Price $60.00 
Reviewed By
Reviewed 2025-04-08

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Review

Nevada’s Frey Ranch is one of just a handful of truly grain-to-glass distilleries to distribute (almost) nationwide. While the brand’s four-grain bourbon has built quite the reputation — especially the “Farm Strength” expression — Frey Ranch’s Single Grain Series consistently produces some of the most fascinating whiskey in America.

Previous expressions in the line include American Single Malt Smoked Whiskey, made with the farm’s own decaying “peat,” along with 100 percent oak and corn whiskeys. The single barrel, single grain 100 percent wheat whiskey I reviewed last year was one of the most fun drams I tasted in 2024. (A whiskey that tastes like cream cheese frosting and red velvet cake can certainly capture my attention.) Like all Frey Ranch whiskeys, these bottlings are made entirely from grain that’s grown, ground, milled, mashed, and distilled on site.

Now, the Single Grain Series returns to barley, but this latest expression is made from 100 percent unmalted barley. Using unmalted barley is relatively rare in whiskey making outside of Irish single pot still whiskey, which must contain at least 30 percent each of malted barley and unmalted barley.

For context, malted barley is a common ingredient in most whiskey mash bills because of its enzyme content, which helps break down starch into sugar before fermentation. Even corn-heavy bourbon usually contains some malted barley to help that process. Whiskey mash containing zero malt — for example, Canadian 100 percent corn or rye whisky — often needs a little help to kickstart starch breakdown, most commonly through the introduction of exogenous enzymes.

While it requires jumping through some extra hoops, Frey Ranch’s Single Grain Series makes no exceptions to its “100 percent” rule. The whiskey we’re reviewing today is made entirely from two-row unmalted barley. It’s pot distilled and aged for four years, eight months before bottling at 110 proof.

Let’s see how it tastes!

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey review.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey: Stats and Availability

Frey Ranch’s 100 Percent Barley Whiskey is available on the brand’s website and its Fallon, Nev. tasting room. The suggested retail price is around $60 for a 375-milliliter bottle.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

The nose kicks off with equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg, followed by dark vanilla extract; early aromas are halfway between natural root beer and cream soda. Roasted hazelnuts are up next. After another couple minutes, the nose gets significantly sweeter, bordering on confectionery-like vanilla icing. A little tart fruit joins in to evoke raspberry-filled donuts, hot out of the oven. Burnt oak chips round out a complex — and to be clear, intriguing — first act.

Interestingly, without even touching lips to liquid, the smell itself evokes creaminess, perhaps because the nose is so adjacent in my mind to Irish single pot still whiskey.

Taste

The whiskey is subtle on the front of the tongue and quickly builds in spice toward the middle of the tongue. In that sense, one could say it starts off as simple syrup before turning quickly toward cedar planks, cinnamon sticks, allspice, vanilla extract, and — more predominantly with each sip — fennel seeds. There are more herbal components layered in behind the allspice, including cardamom and clove. The back palate quickly transitions to both spearmint and wintergreen, with the continued presence of vanilla. I taste less nuttiness than expected, and that roasted hazelnut note doesn’t carry over much from the nose. Instead, that quadrant of flavor mostly comes through via fatty macadamia, carried by a notably thick mouth feel.

To that end: Frey Ranch’s latest delivers on the expected creaminess, with a lightly oiled texture moving evenly across every part of the palate. There’s a relatively faint thread of oak starting at the midpalate, but while wood shows up appropriately for a four-year product, it feels like grain is doing most of the talking here. Given the context of Frey Ranch’s Single Grain series, that’s likely the point.

Finish

The finish is coating and again grain-forward, like moderately oily porridge or a moist, unsweetened cornbread. A final pop of dark, dried fruit (figs and dates) lends both sweetness and variety where the whiskey needs it most.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Rating

89/100

Recap

Frey Ranch’s latest is a single grain whiskey worth your time, partly for the flavor and partly due to its rarity in the spirits world. It’s a purposefully grain-forward whiskey that highlights the farm distillery’s roots. While it isn’t the most boisterously flavorful Frey Ranch whiskey I’ve tried, it excels well beyond the minimum for the experiment at hand.

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89
POINTS
Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey
Nevada’s Frey Ranch is one of just a handful of truly grain-to-glass distilleries to distribute (almost) nationwide. While the brand’s four-grain bourbon has built quite the reputation — especially the “Farm Strength” expression — Frey Ranch’s Single Grain Series consistently produces some of the most fascinating whiskey in America. Previous expressions in the line include American Single Malt Smoked Whiskey, made with the farm’s own decaying “peat,” along with 100 percent oak and corn whiskeys. The single barrel, single grain 100 percent wheat whiskey I reviewed last year was one of the most fun drams I tasted in 2024. (A whiskey that tastes like cream cheese frosting and red velvet cake can certainly capture my attention.) Like all Frey Ranch whiskeys, these bottlings are made entirely from grain that’s grown, ground, milled, mashed, and distilled on site. Now, the Single Grain Series returns to barley, but this latest expression is made from 100 percent unmalted barley. Using unmalted barley is relatively rare in whiskey making outside of Irish single pot still whiskey, which must contain at least 30 percent each of malted barley and unmalted barley. For context, malted barley is a common ingredient in most whiskey mash bills because of its enzyme content, which helps break down starch into sugar before fermentation. Even corn-heavy bourbon usually contains some malted barley to help that process. Whiskey mash containing zero malt — for example, Canadian 100 percent corn or rye whisky — often needs a little help to kickstart starch breakdown, most commonly through the introduction of exogenous enzymes. While it requires jumping through some extra hoops, Frey Ranch’s Single Grain Series makes no exceptions to its “100 percent” rule. The whiskey we’re reviewing today is made entirely from two-row unmalted barley. It’s pot distilled and aged for four years, eight months before bottling at 110 proof. Let’s see how it tastes! Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey review.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey: Stats and Availability

Frey Ranch’s 100 Percent Barley Whiskey is available on the brand’s website and its Fallon, Nev. tasting room. The suggested retail price is around $60 for a 375-milliliter bottle.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

The nose kicks off with equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg, followed by dark vanilla extract; early aromas are halfway between natural root beer and cream soda. Roasted hazelnuts are up next. After another couple minutes, the nose gets significantly sweeter, bordering on confectionery-like vanilla icing. A little tart fruit joins in to evoke raspberry-filled donuts, hot out of the oven. Burnt oak chips round out a complex — and to be clear, intriguing — first act. Interestingly, without even touching lips to liquid, the smell itself evokes creaminess, perhaps because the nose is so adjacent in my mind to Irish single pot still whiskey.

Taste

The whiskey is subtle on the front of the tongue and quickly builds in spice toward the middle of the tongue. In that sense, one could say it starts off as simple syrup before turning quickly toward cedar planks, cinnamon sticks, allspice, vanilla extract, and — more predominantly with each sip — fennel seeds. There are more herbal components layered in behind the allspice, including cardamom and clove. The back palate quickly transitions to both spearmint and wintergreen, with the continued presence of vanilla. I taste less nuttiness than expected, and that roasted hazelnut note doesn’t carry over much from the nose. Instead, that quadrant of flavor mostly comes through via fatty macadamia, carried by a notably thick mouth feel. To that end: Frey Ranch’s latest delivers on the expected creaminess, with a lightly oiled texture moving evenly across every part of the palate. There’s a relatively faint thread of oak starting at the midpalate, but while wood shows up appropriately for a four-year product, it feels like grain is doing most of the talking here. Given the context of Frey Ranch’s Single Grain series, that’s likely the point.

Finish

The finish is coating and again grain-forward, like moderately oily porridge or a moist, unsweetened cornbread. A final pop of dark, dried fruit (figs and dates) lends both sweetness and variety where the whiskey needs it most.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Rating

89/100

Recap

Frey Ranch’s latest is a single grain whiskey worth your time, partly for the flavor and partly due to its rarity in the spirits world. It’s a purposefully grain-forward whiskey that highlights the farm distillery’s roots. While it isn’t the most boisterously flavorful Frey Ranch whiskey I’ve tried, it excels well beyond the minimum for the experiment at hand.

Reviewed On: 04-08-2025
89
POINTS
Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey
Nevada’s Frey Ranch is one of just a handful of truly grain-to-glass distilleries to distribute (almost) nationwide. While the brand’s four-grain bourbon has built quite the reputation — especially the “Farm Strength” expression — Frey Ranch’s Single Grain Series consistently produces some of the most fascinating whiskey in America. Previous expressions in the line include American Single Malt Smoked Whiskey, made with the farm’s own decaying “peat,” along with 100 percent oak and corn whiskeys. The single barrel, single grain 100 percent wheat whiskey I reviewed last year was one of the most fun drams I tasted in 2024. (A whiskey that tastes like cream cheese frosting and red velvet cake can certainly capture my attention.) Like all Frey Ranch whiskeys, these bottlings are made entirely from grain that’s grown, ground, milled, mashed, and distilled on site. Now, the Single Grain Series returns to barley, but this latest expression is made from 100 percent unmalted barley. Using unmalted barley is relatively rare in whiskey making outside of Irish single pot still whiskey, which must contain at least 30 percent each of malted barley and unmalted barley. For context, malted barley is a common ingredient in most whiskey mash bills because of its enzyme content, which helps break down starch into sugar before fermentation. Even corn-heavy bourbon usually contains some malted barley to help that process. Whiskey mash containing zero malt — for example, Canadian 100 percent corn or rye whisky — often needs a little help to kickstart starch breakdown, most commonly through the introduction of exogenous enzymes. While it requires jumping through some extra hoops, Frey Ranch’s Single Grain Series makes no exceptions to its “100 percent” rule. The whiskey we’re reviewing today is made entirely from two-row unmalted barley. It’s pot distilled and aged for four years, eight months before bottling at 110 proof. Let’s see how it tastes! Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey review.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey: Stats and Availability

Frey Ranch’s 100 Percent Barley Whiskey is available on the brand’s website and its Fallon, Nev. tasting room. The suggested retail price is around $60 for a 375-milliliter bottle.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Review

As with all of VinePair’s whiskey reviews, this was tasted in a Glencairn glass and rested for at least five minutes.

Nose

The nose kicks off with equal parts cinnamon and nutmeg, followed by dark vanilla extract; early aromas are halfway between natural root beer and cream soda. Roasted hazelnuts are up next. After another couple minutes, the nose gets significantly sweeter, bordering on confectionery-like vanilla icing. A little tart fruit joins in to evoke raspberry-filled donuts, hot out of the oven. Burnt oak chips round out a complex — and to be clear, intriguing — first act. Interestingly, without even touching lips to liquid, the smell itself evokes creaminess, perhaps because the nose is so adjacent in my mind to Irish single pot still whiskey.

Taste

The whiskey is subtle on the front of the tongue and quickly builds in spice toward the middle of the tongue. In that sense, one could say it starts off as simple syrup before turning quickly toward cedar planks, cinnamon sticks, allspice, vanilla extract, and — more predominantly with each sip — fennel seeds. There are more herbal components layered in behind the allspice, including cardamom and clove. The back palate quickly transitions to both spearmint and wintergreen, with the continued presence of vanilla. I taste less nuttiness than expected, and that roasted hazelnut note doesn’t carry over much from the nose. Instead, that quadrant of flavor mostly comes through via fatty macadamia, carried by a notably thick mouth feel. To that end: Frey Ranch’s latest delivers on the expected creaminess, with a lightly oiled texture moving evenly across every part of the palate. There’s a relatively faint thread of oak starting at the midpalate, but while wood shows up appropriately for a four-year product, it feels like grain is doing most of the talking here. Given the context of Frey Ranch’s Single Grain series, that’s likely the point.

Finish

The finish is coating and again grain-forward, like moderately oily porridge or a moist, unsweetened cornbread. A final pop of dark, dried fruit (figs and dates) lends both sweetness and variety where the whiskey needs it most.

Frey Ranch 100 Percent Barley Whiskey Rating

89/100

Recap

Frey Ranch’s latest is a single grain whiskey worth your time, partly for the flavor and partly due to its rarity in the spirits world. It’s a purposefully grain-forward whiskey that highlights the farm distillery’s roots. While it isn’t the most boisterously flavorful Frey Ranch whiskey I’ve tried, it excels well beyond the minimum for the experiment at hand.

Reviewed On: 04-08-2025