‘Dedication to Innovation’: Metallica Taps Rabbit Hole Distillery for Latest BLACKENED Whiskey Expression
BLACKENED X Rabbit Hole is the third release in the BLACKENED Masters of Whiskey series. (Photo: BLACKENED/Rabbit Hole)
On Tuesday, BLACKENED Whiskey, the brand backed by iconic rock ‘n’ roll band Metallica, announced the latest release in its “Masters of Whiskey” series, a blended bourbon crafted alongside Rabbit Hole Distillery and its founder, Kaveh Zamanian.
BLACKENED x Rabbit Hole Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskey Distilled in Tennessee & Kentucky is finished in Calvados casks and bottled at a cask-strength proof of 106.59.
Calvados is a French apple brandy.
“The ‘Masters of Whiskey Series’ represents our dedication to innovation and speaks to our core principle of collaboration,” Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo said in a news release. “Just as Metallica always tries to blaze new trails with our music and artistic style, we love that we are able to do the same with our approach to crafting exceptional whiskey.”
For this release, Zamanian worked alongside BLACKENED Master Distiller and Blender Rob Dietrich. The resulting whiskey was blended from a base of 13-year-old straight Tennessee bourbon, distilled from a mashbill of 64% corn and 36% rye, and Rabit Hole Heigold High Rye Double Malt Kentucky straight bourbon, distilled from a mashbill of 70% corn, 25% malted rye and 5% malted barley.
“It was so exciting to be able to work with BLACKENED Whiskey and Rob Dietrich,” Zamanian said in the news release. “It seems like it was just an organic process, more art than science when we came together. It’s always great to be able to work with whiskey makers who are doing new things, such as BLACKENED, as it helps us learn more and improve our game. And ultimately the consumers benefit from it too, because you get new expressions – something that’s genuinely different and a blend of our different approaches and voices.”
During the finishing period, the whiskey is “sonically enhanced” with BLACKENED’s signature technique, which it claims extracts additional flavor from the casks. The patent-pending process was co-developed by the sound engineers at Meyer Sound.
The process produces low-hertz sound waves, which causes the whiskey to reverberate at a fast rate in its barrel. BLACKENED claims this causes the whiskey to interact with the oak staves of the finishing barrel.
“It was great working with Kaveh, as we came in with different backgrounds and similar mindsets, with a passion to create something unusual and unique to see where we could take it,” Dietrich said in the news release. “We were both interested in starting with the 13-year-old Tennessee bourbon whiskey, and then worked back to see what was going to pair well with that as far as mash bill and blending different whiskeys from their distillery. We were really looking for something that balanced and layered the flavor profiles together, then adding a dash of flavor through the Calvados cask finishing. I’m ecstatic at what we came up with!”
The release is available in retail locations and online in limited quantities at a suggested retail price of $149.
This is the third release in the BLACKENED Masters of Whiskey series, following collaborative releases alongside Willett and Angel’s Envy co-founder Wes Henderson.
BLACKENED x Rabbit Hole Blend of Straight Bourbon Whiskey Distilled in Tennessee & Kentucky Tasting Notes, Via Rabbit Hole
Nose: Apple butter, rhubarb, honey-suckle, graham cracker and macadamia nut
Taste: Ripe pear, cinnamon stick, smoky campfire, field clover, honey and black walnut
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