Latest news with #FredMinnick
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FREY RANCH® NAMED "MOST AWARDED DISTILLERY OF THE YEAR" AT THE 2025 ASCOT AWARDS
Nevada-Based Farm-to-Glass Distillery Receives Five Double Platinum and 16 Platinum Medals at Fred Minnick's Prestigious Spirits Competition FALLON, Nevada, June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Frey Ranch® Distillery – one of the only true farm-to-glass American Whiskey distilleries – received high honors at this year's ASCOT Awards with a total of 28 medals awarded to its portfolio of bourbon, ryes, and specialty American Whiskeys. The Fallon, NV-based distillery took home the title of "Most Awarded Distillery of the Year" with five double platinum medals and an astounding 16 platinum medals in a variety of categories. Out of hundreds of submissions across multiple spirits categories – including domestic and international whiskey, tequila, gin, vodka, rum, and others – Frey Ranch was the most awarded distillery in this year's competition. The ASCOT Awards is an international spirits competition created by spirits personality and veteran tasting judge, Fred Minnick. "Fred has one of the best palates in the business, so to receive such high marks on the world whiskey stage from the ASCOT Awards and its prestigious panel of judges is truly one of our career highlights. Since the day we started distilling in Nevada, my wife and co-founder Ashley and I have been committed to making great whiskey where the grains we grow and harvest on our farm take center stage in each bottle we release. As the farm-to-glass movement grows, we're incredibly proud to bear the title of 'Most Awarded Distillery of the Year,'" said Frey Ranch Co-Founder and Whiskey Farmer Colby Frey. Frey Ranch Single Barrel Distiller's Reserve Aged in Malbec Barrels is up for "Best Special Barrel-Finished" Whiskey of the Year while the brand's inaugural limited-edition Harvester Series: Anniversary Edition (First Harvest) is a contender for Best American Whiskey of the Year in the ASCOT Awards taste off with winners announced on June 6th. Double platinum medal winners include Frey Ranch Single Barrel Bourbon, Barrel #1406, Frey Ranch Quad Malt, Frey Ranch Bottled-in-Bond Straight Rye, Frey Ranch Single Barrel Distiller's Reserve Aged in Malbec Barrels and Frey Ranch Harvester Series: 10th Anniversary Edition. The platinum medal winners include Frey Ranch Farm Strength Uncut, Frey Ranch 100% Barley Whiskey, Frey Ranch 100% Wheat Whiskey and Frey Ranch 100% Oat Whiskey, among other expressions. The Frey family values a common-sense approach to sustainable farming, with Colby's inspiration to build a distillery born from a desire to create a distinctive, long-lasting product from the quality grains his family has been growing and perfecting for generations. The family has long abided by the motto, "Be good to the land and the land will be good to you," which is embossed on the bottom of each bottle of Frey Ranch Whiskey. Follow Frey Ranch Distillery on Instagram: @freyranchdistillery | Facebook: @freyranchdistillery About Frey Ranch Distillery Frey Ranch Distillery was founded in 2006 by Colby and Ashley Frey on the Frey family's 2,000-acre farm in Fallon, Nevada. The family has a deep history of farming in Northern Nevada that dates back 170 years and continues today with Frey Ranch Distillery, one of the only distilleries in the country to grow 100% of its whiskey grains on-site. Today, Frey Ranch is one of the top-selling ultra-premium bourbons in the US and one of the largest whiskey producers on the West Coast. Frey Ranch is a year-round working farm that also offers tours and tastings to the public every Saturday from 12-4 p.m. Its award-winning portfolio of bourbons, ryes, and specialty whiskeys are available for purchase in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, and online at To learn more, visit Media Contact:Sarah Bessette; Frey Ranch Distillerysarah@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Frey Ranch Distillery Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Cruzan's New Aged Rum Could Be A Hit Among Bourbon Fans
Cruzan Island Reserve 13 Year 'Next year will be rum's big breakout!' It's an ongoing joke among whiskey writers, which inevitably crops up when we're filing year-end predictions and trends lists. For decades, we've been predicting that bourbon fans, tired of chasing hard-to-find bottles and looking for novelty, will branch out into rum. After all, it's an incredibly diverse category, filled with bold flavors, hefty age statements, and stories aplenty—just the sort of thing bourbon nerds should gravitate toward. Alas, the 'Rum Renaissance' hasn't caught on as much as the 'Bourbon Boom.' Or at least, it hasn't converted the hordes of seasoned whiskey drinkers many of us predicted. Still, slowly but surely, more Americans are coming to love high quality sipping rum in all its broad and intricate manifestations. For the 'rum curious' (a term likely coined by the prolific Fred Minnick), the best bridges between whiskey and rum are often spirits that play to the strengths of both . A new, 13 year-old offering from Suntory-owned Cruzan might be just such a pour. Located on Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cruzan produces rum starting with sugarcane molasses, which is then distilled in a special five-column setup. In contrast to pot distilled rum, column distillation tends to produce a more refined spirit, with fewer compounds that produce heavy esoteric flavors or 'funk.' As Cruzan states on their website, the result is a rum 'as smooth as you can get.' Of course, not everyone is after the smoothest of the smooth, especially seasoned rum nerds. But with a 13 year age statement, Cruzan's new Island Reserve blend checks a lot of boxes bourbon fans might like, minus some of the notes they're less familiar with. It's also Cruzan's oldest rum to date, a blend of 13 year (48%), 16 year (22%), and 20 year (30%) distillate aged in a variety of American oak barrels. And while American whiskey drinkers are used to hefty price tags for 10+ year bourbon, the rum category can be a bit more wallet friendly. This 13 year expression has an MSRP of $40 for a 750 milliliter bottle. So how does it taste? The nose is oaky, with some elements familiar to fans of American whiskey: there's pronounced dark caramel (like the kind made from sweetened condensed milk), vanilla, creme brulee, and toasted coconut flakes. Drinkers of Canadian whiskey might recognize a thread of almond extract here as well. Dried pineapple rings and papaya chunks lend some tropical fruit, but the 'funkier' aromas are certainly restrained here compared to many pot-distilled rums and rum blends. A light smokiness builds over time, but it's more wet campfire ember than peat. That's another potential pro—and a great bridge—for veteran bourbon drinkers who keep toward that traditional profile) The first sip is cool, sweet, and inviting, heavy on vanilla bean and caramel-dipped apple slices. Fruit builds and diversifies with more tastes, branching into a citrus medley of blood orange, pomelo, and grapefruit candy. As with the nose, the flavors here lean sweet and zesty. To fans of funky, enigmatic rum profiles, the sip might come across as fairly straightforward (if still tasty). For those looking for a more accessible pour, Cruzan's latest limited time offering (LTO) fits right in with the company's self-proclaimed goal: distilled rums 'smooth on the palate,' but with enough character to remember. That all leads into a coconut and oak-forward finish, with a pop of effervescent mint at the very end. Cruzan Island Reserve 13 Year is bottled at 40% ABV. The total blend is composed of around 800 barrels.
