BLACKENED x Willett Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey was curated with an in-house marriage of Kentucky high rye and low rye recipes that were hand-selected by both Rob and Drew from Willett Distillery’s Family Estate Selection. The high rye whiskey offers spicier, more robust notes like fresh-cut hay and walnut, while the low rye features a slightly sweeter, earthier taste, such as cinnamon, mint and honey. Drew and Rob naturally gravitated towards these two recipes for a balanced flavor, smoothed out by the whiskey’s collective age statements and cask finishing. The oldest whiskey features an age statement of 8 years, while the average age of the bottling is 6 ½ years.

The whiskies are then married together and finished in Madeira Casks for up to 14 weeks, imparting subtle fruity notes, honey overtones and hints of raspberry. During that time, the whiskey undergoes the proprietary BLACK NOISE™ sonic enhancement process that uses the low hertz frequencies from Metallica’s music to vibrate the barrels, causing a greater interaction between the whiskey and the wood, forcing the liquid further into the barrel and extracting more flavor and color.

For the first release in the series, Rob Dietrich and Willett Distillery’s own Master Distiller, Drew Kulsveen, teamed up to create the BLACKENED X Willett Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in Madeira Casks.

TASTING NOTES

Sweet-simmered rhubarb and brown sugar butter, corn husk, vanilla bean, cigar box and ripe fig on the nose. A mouth-warming symmetry of buttery caramel & earthy mint on the palate, with a degree of raspberry sweetness from the Madeira cask-finish, balancing with the rustic notes of fresh cut hay from the high rye and rolling into a white pepper, cinnamon butter & walnut finish.

A Special release born by the joint venture of Metallica, and late Master Distiller Dave Pickerell dedicated for bourdon lovers

The super-premium whiskey collaboration from Master Distiller Dave Pickerell and Metallica. A blend of hand-selected, well-aged North American bourbon & rye whiskeys, uniquely finished in black brandy casks and the earth-shattering music of Metallica.

Using our proprietary BLACK NOISE™ finishing process, each batch of whiskey is blasted with its very own Metallica playlist, curated by the band themselves. The low-frequency sound waves force the whiskey to penetrate deeper into the barrel, extracting more caramel, honey and vanilla flavors from the wood. The result is a magnificently balanced whiskey, robust in flavor and ideal for sipping neat, on the rocks, or in a classic whiskey cocktail.

TASTING NOTES

Burnt caramel, oak & honey on the nose, with honey, cinnamon, allspice, dark fruit, clove and mint filling the palate. The finish is long and smooth, slightly creamy with hints of butterscotch taffy, maple and honey.

The super-premium whiskey collaboration from Master Distiller Dave Pickerell and Metallica. A blend of hand-selected, well-aged North American bourbon & rye whiskeys, uniquely finished in black brandy casks and the earth-shattering music of Metallica.

Using our proprietary BLACK NOISE™ finishing process, each batch of whiskey is blasted with its very own Metallica playlist, curated by the band themselves. The low-frequency sound waves force the whiskey to penetrate deeper into the barrel, extracting more caramel, honey and vanilla flavors from the wood. The result is a magnificently balanced whiskey, robust in flavor and ideal for sipping neat, on the rocks, or in a classic whiskey cocktail.

TASTING NOTES

Burnt caramel, oak & honey on the nose, with honey, cinnamon, allspice, dark fruit, clove and mint filling the palate. The finish is long and smooth, slightly creamy with hints of butterscotch taffy, maple and honey.

The BLACKENED American Whiskey velvet bag gift pack makes gift-giving easy! Complete with a 750ml of the award-winning, #1 Super-premium American Blend Whiskey, a collectible velvet drawstring bag, and a customizable hang tag gift card.

Master Distiller & Blender Rob Dietrich wanted to release a rye that demonstrates his evolution on his path as a whiskey maker. One that has depth, but still sessionable, approachable and most importantly, enjoyable to drink. Designed for rye whiskey enthusiasts while establishing this particular rye recipe to uniquely stand apart from the rye whiskey mainstream. The name for this release is aptly dubbed RYE THE LIGHTNING™ because the playlist used in the BLACK NOISE sonic-enhancement process is Ride the Lightning. But Rob Dietrich and Metallica didn’t want to just use the original version — they wanted to amp it up a notch. They chose a playlist consisting solely of the Ride The Lightning portion of Metallica’s June 2012 Orion Music + More festival setlist — the one and only time the band has ever played the album live in its entirety, albeit in reverse track order from the original album.

A Limited Edition Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, Double Cask Finished in Madeira and Rum Casks

Crafted from Kentucky straight rye whiskeys aged between 5-8 years and hand-selected by BLACKENED Master Distiller & Blender Rob Dietrich.

TASTING NOTES

The double cask finishing results in notes of dried fig, hay, pinewood, pear, and rum cake on the nose, and on the palate, clover honey, mint, corn husk, sugar cane, walnut, and cinnamon.

45% ABV | 90 PROOF