Fallon Distillery Releases Rare 123.4-Proof Whiskey From Its Own Grain

A family-owned distillery in Fallon, Nevada, has released a new whiskey bottled at 123.4 proof, among the stronger spirits on the market, though the people behind it say the number on the label isn’t the point.

The whiskey, called Third Harvest, comes from Frey Ranch Farmers & Distillers and is 61.7% alcohol by volume. It was aged in oak barrels for five to eight years and is made from a blend of corn, rye, malted barley, wheat and triticale, a wheat-rye hybrid grain. Only about 700 bottles from this batch will be made, priced at $299 each.

What sets Frey Ranch apart, according to co-founders Colby and Ashley Frey, is that the distillery grows all of its own grain on-site, exclusively for making whiskey. Colby Frey’s family has farmed in northern Nevada since 1854, and he has continued that tradition at the ranch in Churchill County.

“We’ve been continually farming in Nevada ever since,” Colby Frey told Fox News Digital. “It’s really rare in the whiskey world to do that,” he said of growing all the grain used in the whiskey.

Does higher proof mean better whiskey?

Despite the bottle’s strength, Derek Brown of the Washington, D.C.-based hospitality consulting firm Drink Company said 123.4 proof isn’t unheard of in the whiskey world.

“There are many whiskies that are barrel strength, although this one is certainly toward the upper limit,” Brown said.

Brown said a well-made high-proof whiskey should carry complex flavor from barrel aging rather than simply taste like alcohol. “It can definitely produce a burning sensation and be too much if the other flavors, especially those from wood maturation, are not also present,” he said.

Ashley Frey said the distillery doesn’t choose a proof for its own sake. “We like to pick our whiskey and proof our whiskey based on flavor profiles, not on proof,” she said. “So, we’ll always taste it at various proofs, and, for us, we want to be able to say we’re tasting the best expression of our grain as a whiskey.”

She described this particular batch as suited to an experienced drinker: “It’s going to be for somebody who’s really searching and has a refined palate that’s able to pull out all these flavor profiles.”

Brown agreed the whiskey is “definitely for the initiated,” but noted newcomers aren’t necessarily shut out. “If you’re willing to take a chance, it’s entirely reasonable to add water or an ice cube to whiskey if it’s too strong for you,” he said. People who are sensitive to bold, bitter flavors, he added, might be better off with something else entirely. He also recommended drinking high-proof spirits mindfully, ideally alongside food.

For the Freys, the bottle represents more than a number on a label. “It’s really a piece of me and Colby’s hard work and heritage and love for the land and agriculture that’s expressed through a bottle of whiskey,” Ashley Frey said.