Blackened Whiskey Partners With Metallica for Limited-Edition Blend

Today, the Metallica-owned, award-winning Blackened Whiskey brand is launching a limited-edition blend inspired by the band's sophomore album.

Blackened’s 2024 Rye the Lightning is inspired by Metallica’s six-time platinum Ride the Lightning. It's another entry in a long line of celebrity-backed spirits.

The release of Blackened’s 2024 expression comes after their highly decorated 2022 edition of Rye the Lightning. That expression took home the gold medal at the John Barleycorn Awards, in addition to being named that year’s Best Finished Whiskey by Breaking Bourbon and scoring a 93 rating from Whisky Advocate.

It's not the first time Blackened has partnered with Metallica to produce a blend. They previously collaborated on the Blackened x Willett Kentucky Straight Rye back in 2021.

Rob Dietrich, Blackened's co-owner and master distiller, is hoping to repeat the brand’s previous success. This 2024 blend is crafted from a blend of straight rye whiskeys which Dietrich hand-selected before they’re sonically enhanced with Blackened’s signature Black Noise process, which helps to extract richer flavors.

"When we launched the first edition of Rye the Lighting in 2022, I knew we had something special," Dietrich said in a press release. "I absolutely love the hay spice and dark earthy notes in American rye whiskey, so it was an adventure to play around with a creative flavor profile.

“I was thrilled that consumers loved this whiskey as much as we did,” Dietrich continued, “and with this limited release, I tried to capture some of the innovative magic of the first expression, but with a slightly new spin by upping the proof a couple of notches, while applying non-chill filtering and using a rye with a different mash bill with different types of Madeira and Rum finishes."

As for Metallica, the band is thrilled with the quality of the beverage they helped to inspire. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, in particular, thinks 2024’s blend will be even more successful than that of 2022.

“They say that lightning never strikes twice, but the second release of Rye the Lightning proves otherwise,” Hammett enthused. “Rob captured the spirit of our Ride the Lightning album with the award-winning first batch. And now with the 2024 edition, we are excited to take our fans on that Ride once again."

Rye the Lightning retails for $69.99 per bottle. You can head over to Blackened Whiskey’s website to find local retailers and learn more about the brand.