Blackened Whiskey (Batch 93)
Blackened Whiskey is a collaboration between Metallica and the late, great Dave Pickerell. Blackened Whiskey pairs bourbon and rye into marrying casks that previously held black brandy, adding tons of fruity notes (the website specifically cites apricot; I get cherry, so maybe let’s say stone fruits). Once combined for finishing, Blackened uses their BLACK NOISE™ system to blast the barrels with low-frequency sound waves - each batch of their whiskey is treated with a different Metallica playlist.
Dave was a long-time master distiller and consultant who left his mark on literally hundreds of whiskies around the world (he passed away in late 2018). For me, Pickerell’s most indelible legacy is his passion for the oak and the aging process. At Maker’s Mark, he pioneered the long-seasoning of oak staves to remove tannic compounds: this practice is now widely used, especially in America where the new oak contains more of those compounds than a used barrel would. Many (snobby?) whisky evaluators don’t like to use the word “smooth” when describing a pour, but I think it’s a genuinely appropriate sensory term that Dave himself would use, and one that I find right at home when describing Maker’s products and many others that he had a hand in - Blackened Whiskey included.
FYI: The batch tasted was batch 93.
Blackened Whiskey: Specs
Classification: American Whiskey
Origin: Unknown/Sourced
Mashbill: Unknown
Proof: 90 (45% ABV)
Age: Unknown, finished in Black Brandy Casks
Location: Unknown
Blackened Whiskey Price: $39.99 (MSRP)
Blackened Whiskey Bach 93 Review: Tasting Notes
Eye: Honeyed color.
Nose: Grape/cognac note up front is sweet and inviting - the black brandy clearly isn’t a background influence on this pour. Grain - not grainy - undertones.
Palate: No burn up front (smooth, anyone?), oak hits at the back palate. At first, the palate is fairly tight, but it opens up quickly into lightly smoked brandy and mixed grains. Sweet corn and the rye is more for body than for flavor.
Finish: Medium-length finish is drying with more oak tannins than I was expecting, leaving a lingering brandy note with no smoke.
Overall: This is an easy sipper for sure. It smells more complex than it tastes, but I’m not disappointed by the palate either. I would keep this as a sipping/neat whiskey, and certainly a great example of brandy finishing. I think it would get lost in a cocktail, especially if it were a sweet one.
Final Rating: 6.1
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close (Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel)
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary (GTS, Elijah Craig Barrel Proof B518 and B520)
8 | Excellent | Exceptional (12+YO MGP Bourbon, Highland Park Single Barrels)
7 | Great | Well above average (Blanton’s Original, Old Weller Antique, Booker’s)
6 | Very Good | Better than average (Four Roses Small Batch Select, Knob Creek 14+ YO Picks)
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary (Elijah Craig Small Batch, Buffalo Trace, Old Grand-Dad Bottled-in-Bond)
4 | Sub-par | Many things I’d rather have (A.D. Laws Four Grain, Compass Box “Oak Cross”)
3 | Bad | Flawed (Iron Smoke Bourbon, Balcones)
2 | Poor | Forced myself to drink it (Buckshee Bourbon and Rye)
1 | Disgusting | Drain pour (Virginia Distilling Co. Cider Cask)
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