Photo: AFP
Metallica have unveiled the latest addition to their BLACKENED American Whiskey portfolio: Rye the Lightning. The straight Kentucky rye is a play on words, paying homage to the band's iconic sophomore album, 1984's Ride the Lightning.
The new expression is finished in Madeira and rum casks and endures the same "BlackNoise™ process," in which "each batch of whiskey is blasted with its very own Metallica playlist, selected and arranged by the band themselves. The low frequency sound waves force the whiskey to penetrate deeper into the barrel," thus more effectively pulling flavors and colors. "The double cask finishing results in notes of dried fig, hay, pinewood, pear, and rum cake on the nose,” along with “clover honey, mint, corn husk, sugar cane, walnut, and cinnamon” on the palate.
Unsurprisingly, the playlist that blasted Rye the Lightning was derived from Ride the Lightning. BLACKENED Master Distiller and Blender, Rob Dietrich, teamed up with Metallica's bassist Robert Trujillo to make the perfect selection of songs from the Ride the Lightning portion of Metallica’s June 2012 Orion Music + More festival setlist (the only time the band's played the album in full from front to back).
“The vibe from the crowd at the first Orion Music + More Festival was electrifying,” Trujillo told Rolling Stone, “and it’s really cool that we get to capture that energy in this release. We’ve used a few live songs in our playlists before, but never a full live playlist. So to be able to incorporate our fans in the BLACKENED journey and have them be a part of the whiskey-making process is really unique, and makes this a true collaboration.”
Rye The Lightning is available for pre-order here. Check out the bottle below.