Blackened Whiskey

Batch 113. Turns out that little number matters, more on that later. Nose is caramel, oats, dust, honeysuckle. Lemon zest. Body is lemon, maple syrup. Honeydew melon. Brine. Tea leaves. Oat milk. Super creamy mouth feel. Finish is chocolate, milk. Very faint cherry. I like this a lot. In fact, a while back this bottle impressed me enough to launch a Blackened collecting spree, which I’m finally getting to drinking through now. In doing so, I wanted to be able to say that for Blackened, the batch number doesn’t matter. Bad news y’all: it really does, at least at this stage in their business model. I’m trying batch 113 back to back with batch 124, and there is a distinct difference. These two batches are as distinct as two different single barrel store picks. On the bright side, if you had a bad experience, there’s always a chance you could find a better batch later. On the flip: you could recommend this to a friend and have them scratching their head in disappointment. Batch 124 isn’t bad, but for me it’s a solid star lower. My approach to Blackened going forward: I will likely always have a bottle tucked away somewhere. It deserves that. I will not continue collecting them. Blackened doesn’t deserve that yet. And I’m not convinced they deserve to sell anything that costs more that $50, but I will wait to try the Blackened/Willett collab before I say that definitively.

I am no connoisseur of whiskey, but this could be the benchmark for American whiskey. I have been looking to parchase a whiskey of similar style for comparison, but to no avail. It is not Bourbon nor Rye in taste. It is unique , most likely from the brandy cask finish. The batch is 131. The nose is ethanol forward signaling young age whiskey and the brandy cask. Dragon’s fire. In the background there is blackberry pie, with bake spices. It is rye forward. The taste is true to the nose. Cinnamon , allspice and malt. Brandy is present in the taste. There is blackberry jam with rye bread. It is sweet, but dark fruit sweet. Sandman in a glass. The port wine , of course. The finish is medium sized. It leaves you a blackberry taste. Very cool that it is consistent all over. In conclusion, if you like port wine or dark brandy then this whiskey it is for you. The whiskey is very Christmas-y despite the theme of hard rock whiskey. Metallica did a good job in sourcing and blending to “remaster” the genre. Do yourself a favor and seek this whiskey out. You will end up destroying the bottle.

Batch 120: Nose is lemon zest. Potpourri. Melon. Very similar to prior batches, but muted. I knew what to look for coming in, but it’s faint. I’d throw in mint. Medicinal notes. Body is menthol, lemon, maple syrup. Finish is hot, which makes sense. Black pepper. Not much else. Vanilla perhaps? Comparing this to my last 2 batches: Batch 113 and Batch 124. Consumed neat, this is terrible. A genuinely mediocre strength whiskey. Some juices can do good things at cask strength. This ain’t one of them. On ice: Flavors open up nicely. Finish picks up whipping cream, chocolate, and cherries. Body brings in some orange. The mouth feel even thickens… which doesn’t make sense chemically. But it’s nice! I can’t say this enough: on ice is the way to consume this whiskey at barrel strength. Before I dropped in this ice flower, this was going to be a 2-star whiskey. I am floored by how much it improved! Thus, cross-batch consistent notes to date: Lemon zest, melon, brine, chocolate, cherry.

Tried this neat and let it rest before enjoying the pour. The predominant flavor coming through was the “alcohol” with a hint of caramel. You could tell this was young due to the burn coming in. It wasn’t really hot but the alcohol was there. The palate was “okay”. Started with the caramel, some spice and then a pop of pepper at the end. The heat continued from the nose which is where I again lost a lot of any enjoyment. The finish continued with the heat and rye spice but it was short. It didn’t last too long at all. Overall, a cool story on how they blast music into the barrels but that’s where it ends for me. I wouldn’t buy a bottle but for Metallica fans, I’d get them this as a gift for the cool story. Scale: 1.75

A complex, American Blended Whiskey crafted by Master Distiller Dave Pickerell in collaboration with Metallica with a blend of American Bourbon, Rye & Whiskey, finished with Hetfield's madness & matured in black Brandy casks, tucked away next to subwoofers that blast low-frequency sound waves to enhance the molecules. Every new batch of 5 thousand bottles comes with a different Metallica playlist. It has an aromatic birth with notes of grains, fruits, wood, herbs & spices; while a complex life adds notes of burnt caramel, charred oak, honey, cinnamon, anise, allspice, clove, mint, apple & apricot; that led to a candied death of medium length. December 2022

A lovely amber color but this one's a bit all over the place on the nose. Spicy(peppers) burnt vanilla and caramel lead the initial exposure. Notes of rye spice, oak, clove, & honey can also be found afterwards. A higher than standard 80 proof is noticeable but not offensive. Initial tastes are reminiscent of any bourbon with honey, vanilla, charred Oak, and a bit of bite. Pepper comes through mid-pallete but this one finishes fairly quick. Smooth but wish it would just pick a lane really. Each of the 3 spirits mixed to create this blend are present but not all are needed. Could be used as a mixer for anything that calls for whiskey.