Metallica’s name isn’t on Blackened’s bottle (although it’s named for one of their songs). Sweet Amber Distilling, a company billed as their collaboration, is helmed by CEO John Bilello, an industry veteran who spent 18 years with Seagram Company. “‘We want it to be a partnership deal, and we want it to be awesome. “They basically said, ‘We want to do a whiskey, but we don’t want it to be overly-branded ‘Metallica,’” Pickerell told Revolver magazine earlier this year. The band’s heavy drinking antics are well documented, but a thing of the past, according to interviews. Metallica - who are singer and guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo - approached Pickerell last year to commission their own whiskey.
Once nicknamed the Johnny Appleseed of American whiskey, the distiller spent 14 years growing the Maker’s Mark brand and shaping craft distilleries including Vermont’s groundbreaking Whistlepig. Pickerell, 62, was touring with Metallica before his death. They’ll call it the Dave Pickerell Distillery, a representative for the brand confirms. And despite Pickerell’s sudden passing from hypertensive heart failure, the company they created, Sweet Amber Distilling Co., will soldier on, opening a distillery in the Bay Area sometime next year. That blend of bourbons, ryes, and whiskeys - selected by Pickerell and blasted with Metallica’s music while it aged in barrels - is being released in Bay Area markets today. Easy to find on a crowded bar and easy to pour.Before he died last month while attending a whiskey festival in San Francisco, master distiller Dave Pickerell partnered with longtime SF-based rock band Metallica to create their own whiskey, called Blackened. Tall in stature, with a long neck and a distinctive, angular shoulder, our bespoke bottle was crafted with the barman in mind. Expect a long and smooth finish with slightly creamy hints of butterscotch taffy, maple and honey. The flavor builds with notes of honey, cinnamon, allspice, clove and mint, with unexpected apricot lingering underneath. Burnt caramel, oak and honey are present on the nose, with moderate hints of spice upon first taste. The spirit has a warm, honey-amber color. The process the whiskey undergoes is intense the flavor is anything but. Using our proprietary sonic-enhancement system BLACK NOISE™, the whiskey is pummeled by sound, causing it to seep deeper into the barrel, where it picks up additional wood flavor characteristics. The result is an added apricot note that plays perfectly alongside the honey and caramel tones of the pre-finished spirit.Īfter the whiskeys have been combined in the black brandy casks for finishing, they’re jolted back to life by the unmistakable, earth-shattering music of Metallica. For BLACKENED, Dave chose to finish the whiskey in black brandy casks. By resting the whiskey in the barrel of another spirit during the maturation phase, the whiskey picks up some of the unique, residual flavors left behind in the barrel. Predominately bourbon, the sweetness of BLACKENED combines flawlessly with the appetizing flavor offered by the high rye composition.ĭave is renown for his whiskey finishes-an aspect he calls “flavoring for adults”. Each of the whiskeys offer exceptional flavor that play a key role in the final spirit.
Created by the earth-shattering music of Metallica using their proprietary sonic-enhancement system BLACK NOISEĭarkened is a marriage of the best whiskeys, ryes and bourbons, hand chosen by Dave himself. A truly unconventional whiskey of uncompromising quality.
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