Making Room by Gather
Hospitality. What do you think of when you hear that word?
For some it's old school 'stuffy' entertaining for others it's something to do with the hotel industry. One thing is for sure, as a culture we're not talking about it much.
Food * Design * Relationships have seemed to have taken a back seat to what our culture focuses on and values yet...we find ourselves in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Something has to change, it's time to get back to our tables, and we're making room for it!
Making Room by Gather invites you into a new conversation on everyday hospitality. One that rewrites the way we approach opening your doors and filling your tables. Shifting the narrative from 'how does this make me look' to 'how does this make you feel' these buildable conversations aspire to inspire connection through everyday gathering.
Kayty's chic and a little quirky interview style will make you feel like you're sitting with a friend talking about how to grow in confidence as an everyday host. You can expect conversations from navigating challenging relationship dynamics to foundational cooking techniques and everything in between.
Whether you are a seasoned host or looking to develop new friendships and grow in your skills for the first time, there is a seat at the table. Join us weekly for new conversations with expert guests and with Kayty in her beloved Date with Kayt episodes. Continue the conversation @gatheritentionalliving
Making Room by Gather
Modern Whiskey and Family Tradition: The Frey Ranch Distillery Story w/ Ashley Frey
Do you know anything about Whiskey? No? Good, me neither! Talk to me about red wine, I got you! Whiskey- I have a lot to learn!
Ashley Frey brings her fascinating journey to our latest episode, sharing how she swapped casino marketing and legal services for the unique world of whiskey making at Frey Ranch Distillery. Together with her husband Colby, they've cultivated one of America's few true estate distilleries right in Fallon, Nevada. We explore how Ashley's role in branding and operations has been pivotal in transforming their family farm into a leading American whiskey producer, and how she juggles these responsibilities with life on the ranch.
Join us as we uncover the vibrant and ever-evolving landscape of craft distilleries across the United States. Discover the dynamic world of Frey Ranch, where creativity flows as freely as the whiskey. We look at how they blend barrels for Whole Foods and unravel the intricacies of U.S. liquor laws, illuminating the roles and passions that drive their distillery team.
Whether you're new to whiskey or a seasoned connoisseur, Ashley offers insights into the basics of bourbon and the art of whiskey branding. Hear about the thoughtful packaging choices that echo a rich 170-year farming legacy, as well as the strategic branding moves that set them apart. From the design of their distinctive whiskey bottle to their commitment to sustainability, every detail is a nod to tradition meeting modernity. We even suggest a travel itinerary that pairs a visit to Frey Ranch with the stunning vistas of Lake Tahoe, inviting you to experience the heritage and innovation of Frey Ranch firsthand.
Get a bottle for yourself through their website and use code Makingroomfreeship for free shipping off your first order *limited to one purchase per email address*
This Episode is Sponsored By:
Feast & Fettle get $25 off your first week of hand crafted, flavor packed meals delivered straight to your door so you can soak up the season with code GATHER25 at checkout
Watch our Youtube episodes here!
Hey guys, welcome back to Making Room. So excited to be here with you. This episode is a little different than others that we've had on the show. I think you guys are going to be really excited to hear about it. Learn more about it along with me, because I have a lot to learn in this conversation. But actually, you know, ashley, I'm going to start over, starting over right now. Hey guys, welcome back to Making Room, so glad that you are here.
Speaker 1:This season on the show is already so rich and so full of so many incredible, diverse conversations, and this adds to it. It's going to be a really fun one that I know a lot of us are going to learn a lot from and potentially add a new something new to our list of travels for the year ahead. It's definitely going on me and Colby's Well. Today we're going to be talking to Ashley from Frey Ranch, and if you have not heard of Frey before, here is a little bit more about her and the ranch and a little glimpse of what we're diving into in this conversation today. While Ashley Frey may not have grown up on a farm, today it's where she feels the most at home as the co-founder of Frey Ranch Distillery in Fallon, nevada. Ashley has played an integral part in growing the family business, one of the only few true estate distilleries in the US. The phrase single-handedly put Nevada on the map as a serious producer of American whiskey, with their unique farm-to-glass operation. After spending several years working in casino marketing and legal services, that is so interesting Ashley took a leap of faith when she and Colby founded Fray Ranch Distillery on his family's 2,000-acre farm.
Speaker 1:You guys have a challenge ahead of you, because my husband's name is Colby, so you're going to have to be super honed in to know which Colby we're talking about, with Ashley stepping in to help wherever needed, including the bottling line. She takes pride in the hard work that made Frey Ranch Distillery what it is today. She has leveraged her PR and marketing background to help grow the company over the years. I am so interested in everything PR and marketing. In her role as the co-founder, ashley, along with Colby, are seasoned company spokespeople. In addition to having a hand in day-to-day operations, ashley is closely involved in the branding process and oversaw the redesign of their stunning bottle with a distinct metal topper and custom label color. In addition to getaways in the nearby Lake Tahoe, which I have yet to go to. Ashley is just as content spending time on their farm with Colby, their two children, alice and Charlie, and their team of employees that they consider a second family. There is so much more that we are going to be diving into today. She has such an interesting background. This business is so different than other ones that we've had on the show before, so we have a lot to chat through.
Speaker 1:But first I need to tell you guys about my dinner tonight, because it was horrible and I can't stop thinking about it. I was so busy. It's a very full week. I was telling my Colby that this is the busiest month we've had in business in probably two years, which is an incredible thing. I've prayed for it, waited for it. It's here.
Speaker 1:But you guys know with that, when you guys know with busy seasons, there's always something that falls through the cracks. And tonight it was dinner and I had ground turkey in the fridge and I was like, oh, let's just like make a yummy meatloaf and mashed potatoes. And I went to open the seasoning cabinet and I was out of salts and I was like, oh, let's just go with it. Horrible idea. It was disgusting. And we ate it because we needed something to eat. Um, but I'm regretting it on the other side, and if I only thought ahead and ordered Feast and Fettle, anticipating my busy week, I wouldn't have had to have the salt-free ugh, gross meatloaf and mashed potatoes. So if you have a busy season ahead of you and you need help with your meals, if you don't want to sacrifice flavor, if you want convenience no opening packages, no weird meat textures it is like a personal chef is cooking for your family, gets delivered straight to your doors and you can embrace your work, everything that your kids are doing, whatever your busy season looks like, and eat well. Let them just cook for you guys. Learn from my mistakes. Use code gather25, g-a-t-h-e-r and the number is 25, for 25% off your first week and, if you're like me, add salt to your grocery list as well.
Speaker 1:Well, hi, I'm Katie, a hospitality educator and the host of Making Room by Gather podcast. I am set to see our communities get back to the table through hospitality, but it wasn't always this way. My husband and I moved to Thailand and through it I experienced some loneliness, and with it I was given a choice to sit back and accept it or to do something about it, and for me, that meant two things that I needed the healing to learn how to accept an invitation and the confidence to know how to extend one. Through this process, I developed some of the richest and deepest relationships of my life. Through Making Room by Gather, you will hear conversations from myself and experts in the areas of food, design and relationships.
Speaker 1:You see there are countless things trying to keep us from the table, but can I tell you something? Take a seat, because you are ready, you are capable, you are a good host. You are a good host. Okay, I never record interviews at night and I'm sipping on water. I'm like I should have wine or something I should have, or whiskey. Right, we're talking about today Something more exciting, but welcome, ashley, so excited to have you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, and, um, it's not quite night here. I'm on the West coast, but it is almost to that happy hour and I too should be sipping on some whiskey as well.
Speaker 1:We should have arranged that. Oh well, after a celebratory. Um, okay, well, let's talk about my little like mispronunciation. Okay, well, let's talk about my little mispronunciation. This is so funny. So, growing up, I spent more time when I traveled outside of the US than in it, and my husband and I went to Arizona, which was like five years ago, which was the furthest West I'd ever been, and I was telling someone I was writing that we were going there and I spelt it Arizona. I a like Arizona and my husband was like oh no, we have a problem. So it's Nevada, nevada, is it really Nevada? Yes, yes, okay, so it that must be like an East coast pronounce like pronunciation and it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 2:I I think Nevada sounds very pretty, I think it sounds um elegant Nevada, but you know, nevada is a rugged state, so um Nevada means snow cap mountains, which we have here, and um yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, I've kind of made a joke over the years that typos are like part of the brand now, cause I'm just like the queen of them, and mispronunciations are as well. So, nevada, nevada, I'm going to say it wrong. I'm going to say it a different way every time, and then one of the times, I'll get it right. Well, that is where you currently are and you consider your favorite place to be, but you didn't always live on a farm, which is very interesting to me. So talk to me about, I guess, your childhood and the road to Fray Ranch. What do you want people to know about it?
Speaker 2:So I grew up in Northern Nevada, about an hour and a half from where Colby grew up. My husband, colby and he grew up here on the Fray Ranch, and I also grew up in a, in a pretty small town, which I loved. I love small town, rural Nevada. Um, we both went to the university of Nevada in Reno. I'm actually um a year older than him in school, so about 14 months, which is like an ongoing joke. But a mutual friend introduced us and, um, we have been dating. We started dating almost 20 years ago. We were talking about this actually this morning cause it'll it'll be our 15 year wedding anniversary this August. So, um, we met in college.
Speaker 2:We were young and, uh, from the minute that I met Colby, I knew you could just see his passion. He wanted to take over his family farm and it was truly in his blood. People say you know that something runs through their veins and it's it's their passion. But with Colby, if you meet him, it truly is. There's, there's no denying it. And I knew, oh my gosh, I'm going to end up in another real Nevada town, but on a farm this time, which was not really my dream. I love big cities and I worked in, like you mentioned, casino marketing and I even worked for a law firm at one time, and I love to travel. I did a lot of study abroad and studied abroad in Spain, and then I did another study abroad session in London, and so moving to a small town wasn't really my first choice, especially a farm. I knew nothing about agriculture but I loved Colby and I just I loved his passion for all things farming and agriculture. So I ended up moving out to the family farm in 2010.
Speaker 2:And after we got married, he took over the farm from his parents who worked the ground and built, you know, their agricultural business and their heritage for about 30 years here and they moved on and let me and Colby take the reins and we really wanted to be able to take the crops that we were growing on his farm, which were, at the time, a lot of corn, wheat, barley and rye, and do something with those crops.
Speaker 2:You know, as a farmer, when you tend to your soil and you tend to your crop and you really care about the quality of the grain, you think when you send it off to the commodity market or it goes somewhere and mixed in with other grains in a big silo. It's very unfulfilling. You want to know where does it go, where does it end up, what is it used for? So we decided we're going to keep all of our grains here in-house and produce something that we love, which was American whiskey. We've always followed that category and with bourbons and American whiskey we loved where it was going and we put our heads together and we thought, thought. What better way for us to showcase these grains than to produce this like world-class whiskey, a hundred percent from ground to glass, right on our farm. So that's ended up where, where I am now, and it's been such a joy to build this brand together with him.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, it's so interesting. So my Colby and I started our marriage working together as well, and currently in this season he works another job outside of the house. But we always say we're the healthiest and the best when we're working like hand in hand. But that's not everybody, and so I love hearing that about you guys too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he definitely handles more of like the finance and the production and the farming side and I handle more of the marketing, the PR, the communication, the more emotional side, which is, you know, we kind of that happened very naturally for us to like kind of stay in our own lane I guess, if you will. But yeah, we, we really do enjoy working together, living together and building the brand together.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love hearing those stories. I'm curious where I'm hearing toys tumbling in the background. Everyone okay. Where in Spain were you with your study abroad?
Speaker 2:I did study abroad in San Sebastian, which is a little town that I think is fairly close to the French border, if my memory serves me right, but it was a beautiful beach town and I was able to spend the summer there and travel to Madrid and gosh, we did running of the bulls and we would do Paris for a weekend and just a ton of fun stuff and the culture and everything was amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was in Barcelona for a while and I love.
Speaker 1:Barcelona, um, dying to go back. It actually that when I was going on that trip, um, I went because there was an emphasis on France and there was a terror attack at the time. It was a small one, and so we got rerouted and I was like so disappointed at first, but I don't think I would have like willingly gone, and so I'm glad I was kind of forced to go, because I love it. I'd go back a hundred times. It was so nice. So one of my favorite parts about learning about you and the way that you've been described to me is that you are a chief storyteller, and I'm super passionate about telling people's stories, obviously. So I'm curious though what is that? What does that look like to you? And I guess as a part of your career?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah.
Speaker 2:So me and Colby, when we set out to build the Frey Ranch distillery and launch our bourbon, what was really important to us and what really was our driving force was to authentically tell our story, and we wanted it to be our real life.
Speaker 2:A lot of times you can, you know, create a product, but then you have a marketing company telling your story how they want to, and maybe they gravitate towards one little piece of your story and they just blow it up. But for us, I I was really me and Colby were both really passionate about being authentic and making sure that this was, you know, our real life story and what we do on a day-to-day basis. That is something that I don't want anybody else to tell our story. So, from the social media to all of our email posts, to everything, it's in my voice and it's our story and it's me really sharing what we do on the farm, how we do it, why we do it, when we do it, and getting just little pieces and glimpse of daily farm life for us stories matter so much and I think that, like modern day, marketing and PR is finally catching on.
Speaker 1:Like the perfect polished, it doesn't sell as much as a raw story. People don't connect to it as much as a raw story.
Speaker 2:So I love that part of your heart and what you do.
Speaker 1:Um well, um, okay. So I have never personally been to a distillery or a ranch. Honestly, I mean, we don't, really I don't. I mean, would we have a distillery here on the East coast? Do you know of any? Oh my gosh, yeah, there's tons of distilleries all over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as American whiskey has grown, I think there's craft distilleries that have popped up in all 50 States. You know you have your legacy whiskey producers that are going to be in Kentucky and Tennessee, but as really the American palette has grown and has strived to innovate and want to try new things, craft distilleries have popped up all over, which is truly amazing and we love to see producers really, you know, shining and showing what they um, what they're producing. So, yeah, definitely, if you, if you search, you'll find one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if anyone's listening to this, feel free to laugh at me. I like I, I know nothing. Like you, talk to me about red wine. I'll talk to you all day, but when it comes to like anything else, I just haven't branched out much. And Colby and I, my, my Colby and I were talking. Our families are kind of like wine and beer families and we've never just like been around it. I don't know, I haven't explored it and I'm I'm such a foodie, I love hospitality and so I'm glad we're talking about it because I want to branch out more. But my East Coast listeners are probably like what are you talking about? There's distilleries everywhere, but I've just never been. But give us a picture of what a day on like Frey Ranch distillery looks like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great question and, to be honest, no, two days are really the same. So, like today, for example, I had the buyer from whole foods come. They came to the ranch and we did a seven barrel blend. So we pulled out 16 different barrels that are in our single barrel program and we blended them together and we landed on a seven barrel blend that's going to be going to 12 different States in their whole food spirit program and that was a lot of fun to be able to taste through. And he had this like and this is really cool Cause he's like I really want it to have this crisp apple like green apple tart taste and then kind of fade into this really nice, rich, rich, viscous, like you know, front of the palette and then baking spices on the finish and I'm like, okay, we're going to get there and and we blended together and we had a lot of fun. And of course you don't always get like what your brain is like wanting, you know, but we we did find some of those crisp green apple barrels and some really nice, rich, like caramel that we blended together. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:So that was today, um, but typically I'm I'm in the office five days a week and then our tasting room is open on Saturdays, which I love to be able to visit with our customers and you know experience how they're experiencing Frey Ranch Colby is. Typically he loves to be out on a tractor, so that's kind of where he does all of his thinking. He doesn't get to spend a lot of time out on tractors anymore and he's forced to be in the office, like doing you know the finances and running different financial models. But that's what he really enjoys is anytime that you're planting or harvesting or doing some ground prep, he'll be out there and he'll be gone for 12 hours, you know, out on his tractor, bouncing around.
Speaker 2:But but for me, for me, I'm primarily in the office and working on our social media or our e-commerce campaigns that we do, where we can ship different products to people and just having fun. Tomorrow I'm going to Colorado for our Colorado launch, which I travel a lot. So that's what I really love about my job is no, two days are the same. Like every day. I'm doing different things and I'm getting my hands into a lot of different stuff, which is only capable because I have an amazing team that helps me, you know, pick up the pieces and put things together.
Speaker 1:That is so fun. I feel like that's a dream. That's everyone's dream right. When people say they don't want to work a nine to five, it's not most people, it's not that they don't want to work, it's just they want. They want to be interested in what they're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, challenge, and I'm always doing my best when I'm ideating and you know, sitting down with different members of the team and saying, hey, what about this? Or how have you thought of this?
Speaker 1:Or you know, um, that looks beautiful, let's expand on that, or that's a great idea that's those are my favorite days is when we have these breakthrough moments where we create something really cool and fun. That's so fun. A few guests ago his brand was discovered through Whole Foods and I've learned Whole Foods is really like an incubator for business and I don't know if you know this, but in the state of Connecticut they can't have I don't know if it's all liquor but like sold at grocery stores, so our whole foods don't have alcohol and so that's. That was interesting to hear. But that side of the industry is so interesting to me and I always say like in another life I'd love to be a buyer for someone I love sourcing.
Speaker 2:Right. So after this is just a fun fact. But a lot of people don't realize that after prohibition the federal government left the liquor laws up to each individual state. So every state in the United States has a different set of liquor laws. So for us, as we're distributing to multiple states, there's a lot of compliance and there's a lot of understanding of like. Can that you know? Can we go into Whole Foods in a lot of understanding of like? Can you know, can we go into Whole Foods in Connecticut and it's like no cause they don't. You know, their grocery stores don't sell liquor. You know, in Texas, for example, all the bars and restaurants don't buy directly from the distributor. They have to buy from a retail store, which is like totally against the law in Nevada. So it's interesting how every state is completely different.
Speaker 1:So we lived in Thailand for a while my listeners know that and they had a liquor law in the country that they can't sell any kind of alcohol during school hours, or no, no, no, it's when you're driving the kids to school and when you're picking them up. Isn't that interesting? That's interesting, yeah. So it's like eight to 10 in the morning and then like four to six, like when the kids are getting dropped off and picked up. It's like, oh, what is that going to?
Speaker 2:do. And then we're in Nevada and I always tell people Nevada is a 24 hour state, Like we don't have last call. We sell liquor everywhere and anywhere and we've got slot machines in our grocery store.
Speaker 1:So you know that's wild. How far are you guys from Vegas?
Speaker 2:I know nothing about the layout, so just to kind of give you a picture and the listeners where we are. We are just East of the Sierra Nevada mountains. So if you think where Lake Tahoe is or where the bend is in Nevada, we're just East of that and actually all of our water comes from both sides of Lake Tahoe. We call it the Sierra snow melt that melts down through a series of rivers and streams and flows down to our Valley and to fray ranch. But, um, just as like a metric, we're actually a hundred miles closer to San Francisco than we are to Las Vegas. So Las Vegas is way South and then San Francisco would just be West to us.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, so we're, we're pretty far from Las Vegas and really we're nothing like Las Vegas. We're not glitz and glam or not like city lights, we're very rural. But that's what makes Nevada really wonderful is we've got that diversity and we've got so much you know different um. Wonderful is we've got that diversity and we've got so much you know different, um different lives that you know you can live here in Nevada between the rules and the big city, I'm sure that's helpful for you with your background.
Speaker 1:I know that's what, like my Colby and I would need. We would need access to both. Right, yeah, that's a good balance, it is so. I admitted I'm new to whiskey.
Speaker 1:I'm new to all of it, so feel free to correct my like the way I'm talking about anything, but I want to dive into it a little bit more Because, like, for example, I know how much like a typical wine pour is, I know how to buy wine, I know what to serve it with, like all of that. When it comes to whiskey, no clue. So I don't know that there's many like me, but for those listening that are, um, what do like maybe new people that are new to whiskey need to know Like, what would you say, are the? Yeah?
Speaker 2:So, um, I would start, like for a brand new whiskey drinker, I would start with a bourbon. Um, bourbon is going to be a little bit sweeter than like maybe your rye whiskey, for example. Rye whiskey is a little bit spicier, but bourbon has the corn in it. Our bourbon is a four grain, so we have corn, wheat, barley and rye, and the corn and the wheat really give give us some wonderful sweet flavor profiles. Think like creme brulee, caramel, maple syrup, and you don't have to drink it straight.
Speaker 2:I always tell people start it in a cocktail. We've got some great cocktails on our website, but one of my favorite is our take on the classic cocktail gold rush. We call it the farmer's lemonade because it calls for honey syrup. So just that really nice honey. You put some warm water in it and create a syrup and then lemon juice balances out two ounces of bourbon and it's so approachable. I've got all my friends hooked on it, who are typically wine drinkers and they would never touch whiskey. But because whiskey and bourbon holds up so well in a cocktail it I can't even drink a vodka cocktail anymore because there's just not, there's nothing there. So for me, I love to drink the farmer's lemonade. Like we, like we all. So, yeah, you'll have to try it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds great. I'm like a big lemon. Anything with lemon lime, like citrus.
Speaker 2:I love balance. You've got like the sweetness and the acid and it's balances out Perfect.
Speaker 1:This is actually funny. It's like a fun fact about me. My favorite like drinking glass of choice is a wine tumbler. This is just water, but I'm I use a wine tumbler all the time because they're pretty, they make me happy. Um, but I know like whiskey and bourbon are served in different types of glasses, and so what's the glassware?
Speaker 2:Sure, um. So if you are, you know, drinking it straight, we like what we call a Glen Karen. Um, this is what we do all of our tasting in. They kind of go, um, like a tulip at the top, and that way you can really stick your nose in it. You can get some great, you know, flavors coming out of it. But you can also use a rock glass, um, which is just, you know, your, your standard, kind of like what you've got there, but just a nice little rock glass that you can put an ice cube in if you want, or you can just drink Okay.
Speaker 1:I don't even have any, yeah.
Speaker 2:Out of your, out of your wine glass.
Speaker 1:I used to sell these on our website. They're kind of like diamond. I don't know if you could see it. They make me so happy, they're so pretty. But no, we. So we lived abroad for a while, kind of like, sold almost everything before we moved back and I'm like slowly recovering everything we need for hospitality. So I need to get some. Um, where, where do you guys get them? Do you do like a crate and barrel or do you?
Speaker 2:So we order our Glencairns directly from the company Glencairn and they're out of the UK. We order them by the palette and they're branded and they're, they're so great. We use them in our tasting room because you, you know, when you're tasting things, I I don't like to taste out of plastic, I want to taste out of glass. I really want to get the flavors and, you know, enjoy it. So that's, we order them straight from Glencairn. That's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very fun. You said England, they're in.
Speaker 2:England. They're out of the UK. We order them, like I said, by the palette. There's like 3000 glasses on there, but they're one of our top sellers in the tasting room. People love them.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's like top of my travel list. Yeah, is the UK? I haven't been yet. I've been to a lot of other places in Europe, but maybe I'll go get them for you next time you need to order, I'll just personally go for you, okay.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I remember when I first went to your website. So for my listeners, usually what happens is when guests are new to me, a PR company will send me like hey, this guest is really interesting, they'd be great for your show. Why don't you check them out? So I vet everyone just really quickly, just to make sure that they align with what you guys want to hear as listeners and that are interesting to me.
Speaker 1:But the first thing that I noticed when I went to your website was that your brand was incredible. I've spent the last's not just like it's not a snap, it's a lot of decisions, hours of strategy, trial and error, and so I for sure like to celebrate it when companies do branding well. I heard a quote once that good branding is good business, and I think good branding is like behind. Good branding are like serious business owners that's maybe a better way of saying it. You're committed. It almost. Good branding almost brings an idea to life, like in a, in a new way. So I then learned that you utilize your PR and business background so, like you personally led the charge on these changes. So I guess, with all of this considered, why is it so important to you? I guess let me backtrack. I think what this showed me was that you're wanting to bring a fresh spin on whiskey right Like you're trying to give whiskey a new face, a new name and culture right now. So why is that important to?
Speaker 2:you, yeah, no, it's such a great question. So when we started the brand, we could have really focused on Colby's family legacy, or we could focus on, you know, our malting or sustainability, or you know, there's so many different things that we could focus on. And we really thought, you know, it's really about this new generation that is, you know, raising this whiskey of the land, and we really wanted that story to shine with our packaging. So we didn't want to use sepia tones, we didn't want to use a stock bottle. We wanted, like, for people to be able to pick up our bottle and say, oh, like, without even reading anything, like this feels different and it looks different. And so our label is a, it's a bright yellow and it really pops on the shelf. And at the time we're like, yeah, nobody else is doing this like vibrant yellow and it's not like fluorescent yellow, it's the same color as the corn that grows right in our field.
Speaker 2:And all those little subtle touches were what was really important to me and I called it like our liquid story. So how do people hear about us and how do they, you know, get that feeling? And that's what's really neat about brand building is that you're evoking a feeling and I wanted people to be able to. You know, know that. You know we're in our. We were in our late thirties when we started the brand and we were just a new generation here on the farm that we're creating this really lifelong lasting product from the crops that we grow. So we've got some subtle nods to his family heritage. You know the shape of a label is a belt buckle and it wraps all the way around. I actually have a bottle here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, show me Wow.
Speaker 2:And that represents a belt and a belt buckle that was passed down from Colby's grandfather to his dad. Because we can't forget about the family history. I mean, that's why we're here, but we just wanted to have some subtle nods to, you know, his family's legacy and if you ever see my Colby, he's always got that belt and belt buckle on and it's a great reminder of his family and what they've done for us here on the farm. To you know, get it to where it was for us to take over.
Speaker 1:This is a good like reminder or like encouragement to listeners to you, like when you're experiencing a brand and you like love their visual presence, ask questions about it, cause usually those decisions are so purposeful. I'm so glad you shared that with me, cause I didn't know that that was the belts, but it's. I don't know it's it, it's meaningful, it makes it really come.
Speaker 2:It really does. And a lot of times you know there's reason behind things and so, like, why did you pick the color yellow? Well, it represents the corn that grows right in our field. And if you flip the bottle over and boss along the room of the glasses says be good to the land and the land will be good to you. And that was a design element that I worked with our glass producer down in Mexico City and actually went down there to the glass plant because they were really worried they weren't going to be able to get that design element and it was so important to me that I was like well, me and Colbert, we're going to come down, we're going to fly to Mexico City and we're going to be there with you guys. When you ran our glass for the very first time and it was that important to us and, you know, being able to make decisions while we were there to make sure it was perfect, wow.
Speaker 1:Wow. Well, I appreciate all of that and celebrate a job well done on the other side.
Speaker 2:I mean it from the time that we um and I'm not a creative, just to be really clear we use several creative agencies to help bring this to life. So wonderful agencies that you know worked with us for over a year from like the beginning to the very end, just making sure they captured all of our ideas and our thoughts and our beliefs ideas and our thoughts and our beliefs.
Speaker 1:It's so. I know what that experience is like when you find the right person and you're all work like the synergy is that the word? Like when you're all working together, it's the best feeling. It is yeah, you know when it's right, so that's fine.
Speaker 2:Say that one more time. You know when it's right. Yeah for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Well, we talked about a lot of different things. What maybe didn't we talk about that? You want people to know about the experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think when you pick up a bottle of free ranch, you're really experiencing, um, you know, 170 years of farming tradition, me and Colby, and it's our real life story. And I think that there's so many brands out there that, um, you know, they they fabricate stories or they gravitate towards one or two things, but we really want to share something that we cherish, which is, you know, growing our crops here on the farm and be able to share it with people.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. Well, I'm excited to plan a trip. I should know this how close are you to like Arizona? Are you close at all?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're not super close, but if you um, if you make a trip to San Francisco, it's not too far. Or Lake Tahoe, if you are into skiing or boating or even just going to the beach, we've got Lake Tahoe it's about an hour and a half from us, which is our favorite place to go and take the kids bike riding and hiking and um wonderful trip. I always tell people do a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe and come out to the ranch.
Speaker 1:That sounds great. Hey, you sold me. Well, you are offering a code to listeners. Yeah, want to get their hands on a bottle, and it is one word making room free, ship, and they can enter that right on your website, Correct?
Speaker 2:Yep. So if you go to shopfrayranchcom, we ship to over 30 States. Um, make sure you sign up for our email list. It's called the dirt Um, and you'll hear from me directly. Um, on all of our new releases, all of our whiskey drops, any promotions? Um, right now we've got, you know, colby's favorite trucker hat that we're selling online and our ground to glass bundle, the complete collection which is our bourbon, our rye and our farm strength whiskey, and then you get free shipping with the code.
Speaker 1:Wow, Love that. Always grateful for codes that we get to share with you guys and the companies that offer them. So we will include that in the show notes and wherever you are listening as well. But we end each of our conversations with the same three questions and I'd love your answers as well. The first is something you have eaten recently and loved. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Tough question. But we did a Rancho on the Road dinner at Giada in Las Vegas and she incorporated some of our grains. So she made corn polenta from some of the corn on the farm and it was amazing. So Giada's in Las Vegas was 10 out of 10.
Speaker 1:No way I love her so much. I don't personally know her. She's on my list of people. I want to get on the show. What an incredible collaboration, congratulations. Yeah, that's incredible. Okay, something you have found to be beautiful lately.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. So I'm getting ready to go home to my two beautiful children and just watching them grow up. My daughter is 11 and she's just. She's my mini me and I love watching her grow every day. And then my little boy is nine and he is a mini of coolie who loves everything farming and tractors. And my kids have just really embraced the family business. They don't fully understand alcohol or whiskey, but they know Frey Ranch and they know when we're in the grocery store they can spot it. So watching them grow up has been such a joy.
Speaker 1:What a cool legacy. My voice is like failing, but it's good timing. We're not allowed to question A gathering you attended that made you feel a strong sense of belonging and, if you could pinpoint it, what it was about it that made you feel that way a annual Christmas gathering with my friends from college.
Speaker 2:This will be, gosh, this year's 20 years since I graduated college and we've done a Christmas get together every year since, which is I can't believe it's been 20 years. And it really is amazing when you have such a core group of friends that you don't talk all year, but you get together and you, just, you know that these are your people, you know, and you pick up right where you, where you left off, and so you don't want to go home at the end of the night, but you know you have to and you won't see each other for a year.
Speaker 2:But, um, you, you know you belong, so I'm, I'm going to say my, my college friends, Wow, that's really sweet and very rare right that college friends stay in touch, that long and all of our husbands are friends now and, yeah, it is very rare, we have friends that fly in from Denver and California to come to our annual Christmas trip or Christmas party. So, wow, I love that you have that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good kick for Colby and I too. We had great friends in college. We just I don't know life's hard, People move away and yeah, and you have to be intentional about pursuing that and maintaining it, it's a priority, right? Yeah Well, where do you want to send people to follow along for more?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can follow us on social media. We're on Facebook and Instagram Frey Ranch Distillery, and you can also follow us and join our email list at freyranchcom.
Speaker 1:Oh, this was so fun. Thanks for sharing and educating this total newbie and hopefully, others listening. We're excited to share the brand with you and if you guys buy some and drink it, please tag both of us. We'd love to see it and we will see you next week. Cheers, cheers. I love that.