Blackened Whiskey has announced the release of the 2024 edition of Rye the Lightning, inspired by Metallica’s 6x platinum sophomore album, Ride the Lighting. Created by Master Distiller and Blender Rob Dietrich, this limited edition follows the 2022 edition of Rye the Lightning.

The 2024 edition of Rye The Lightning is crafted from a blend of straight rye whiskeys hand-selected by Dietrich. The whiskeys are vatted and transferred for finishing to Madeira wine and Caribbean rum casks for two to 14 weeks each. At that point, they undergo Blackened’s proprietary Black Noise sonic-enhancement process. The whiskey is non-chill filtered and bottled at 92 proof.

“When we launched the first edition of Rye The Lighting in 2022, I knew we had something special,” said Rob Dietrich 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 through cask finishing. I was thrilled that consumers loved this whiskey as much as we did, 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.”

The Black Noise process sonically enhances whiskeys to extract more flavor from the casks. It is a proprietary scientific process co-developed by the sound engineers at Meyer Sound. This enhancement process produces low hertz sound waves, causing the whiskey to reverberate at a fast rate. The whiskey interacts with the oak staves of the barrel, measurably releasing wood compounds and flavors.

“They say that lightning never strikes twice, but the second release of Rye The Lightning proves otherwise,” said Metallica’s lead guitarist, Kirk Hammett. “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.”

Recently, Blackened has expanded into the world of premium cigars. Dietrich and James Hetfield of Metallica have collaborated with Drew Estate’s Jonathan Drew for two cigars: Blackened M81 and Blackened Shade to Black S84.

Rye The Lightning is available now with an SRP of $69.99.

Photo Credit: Sweet Amber Distilling