Metallica Announce Their ‘Blackened’ Signature Whiskey
Inspired by the opening track on Metallica’s 1988’s …And Justice for All, the whiskey is a collaboration with master distiller Dave Pickerell who “created the unique blend of bourbons, ryes and whiskeys from all across North America”.
Metallica have now joined the illustrious ranks of musicians (see: Bob Dylan, Marilyn Manson, Sammy Hagar and Billy Gibbons to name a few) who have launched their own line of liquor with the arrival of their new whiskey brand, Blackened American Whiskey.
Inspired by the opening track on 1988’s …And Justice for All, the whiskey is a collaboration with master distiller Dave Pickerell who “created the unique blend of bourbons, ryes and whiskeys from all across North America”.
Upon tasked with coming up with a whiskey that’s up to snuff, Pickerelli shared his thoughts on the creative process saying:
“We are obviously not just slapping a Metallica label on a pre-existing mediocre whiskey”, he said. “But have been working on this for the last several years and overseeing every detail from the first idea to your first taste with careful precision”.
As a former professor of chemistry at West Point, Dave Pickerell also experimented using sound to manipulate the whiskey at a chemical level.
Blackened Whiskey is “housed in black brandy barrels and inundated with low hertz sound waves so intense that it actually enhances the molecular interaction and ultimately the finish of the whiskey”, the band shared on their official site.
The band also collaborated with Berkeley-based audio company Meyer Sound, who created a subwoofer that amplifies the low-frequency sound waves of Metallica’s music to sonically enhance the whiskey in a proprietary process they’re calling “Black Noise”.
The bottle’s packaging also features a sound wave design that’s based on an actual digital sound wave from the song ‘Blackened’, while the debut batch is labelled 081 to mark the year 1981, when the band formed.
To complete the whiskey tasting experience, each batch of 5,000 bottles will be paired with a Spotify or Apple Music playlist of Metallica songs that were played to enhance the flavour of the whiskey.
Blackened Whiskey will be available select U.S. cities later this week and online at thinkliquor.com or spiritedgifts.com.
Explore our Metallica Artist Page.
UK English
