Rob Dietrich has an incredible story to tell. He’s the Master Distiller of Blackened Whiskey, but that’s only a part of the story. His journey has been shaped by the ability to capitalize on the inertia of a great work ethic augmented by seizing opportunities on the winds of fate. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, with service from 1992 to 1995. With two tours that included destinations in Somalia and Haiti, it’s easy to understand why he is pragmatic and focused on executing at a high level. Following that, he spent nearly a decade in the music business behind the scenes as a stagehand, and then managing festivals and tours. This is another crucial element in his arc of progress.
He also has an impressive history in the world of whiskey. With 15 years of work behind him, he’s quick to credit Jess Graber as his mentor. However, his impressive body of work in the business stands on it’s own. It demonstrates that he has a keen understanding of both the art and science of whiskey. In late 2018, fellow distiller and whiskey icon Dave Pickerell passed away tragically and unexpectedly. The shock waves of this event reverberated throughout the industry, with one brand coming into focus: Blackened Whiskey. The recipe for the original expression of Metallica’s whiskey came about because of their collaboration with Mr. Pickerell. Fate, while cruel, often leads to new chapters.
Let’s not overlook the elephant in the room… Metallica. What more needs to be said? They are the biggest band in the world, and they do everything full speed ahead with laser-like precision. In 2023, it’s safe to say that they are not a band any more… they are an institution. The job of Master Distiller of Blackened Whiskey wasn’t just for anyone in the business. Working with this brand needed the right kind of magic. The wings of destiny led them to one person: Rob Dietrich.
Blackened Whiskey is an important reminder that whiskey and music are connected at a deeper level than most people can fathom. The recipes to make it, the proprietary methods used to enhance it, and Rob’s own brand of magic have come together to form a supernova in the whiskey universe. He recalls the moment he was invited to join Blackened Whiskey and it’s everything you’d think it would be. However, Rob is quick to point out that a part of his purpose is to be a spiritual amplifier to what Dave Pickerell started and there are days where Rob knows that Dave is with him. It cannot be overstated that his success is the culmination of everything that he’s experienced leading to this moment.
Whiskey Network is proud to present this interview with Mr. Dietrich.
Read on for all the details of our discussion.
What is your first memory of whiskey?
I grew up in rural Colorado and my best friend’s family had a big old ranch. His grandpa was the patriarch of the family, and he had all these bottles of booze stashed on the bottom of the pantry. My first memories are smelling whiskey on his breath. When you would give him a hug or were doing something close, you could smell it on him.
My buddy and I got into that stash and were trying different things out. There was brandy, many types of liqueurs, bourbon cream, and whiskey. That’s how I knew it was whiskey breath. We were way underage and that’s terrible, but I think everyone does it at some point.
At what point in your life did whiskey go from a hobby to something more serious?
I started drinking whiskey when I was in the military where someone turned me on to Jack and Coke. Then, I had a friend who I would go camping with in the Rockies and there was a time where he brought out a bottle of whiskey and gave me a pour. It was the first time anyone showed me how to taste whiskey. I realized that you didn’t need to bury it in a cola to cover the taste. It was then I also realized that every camping trip needs to have a bottle of whiskey to be enjoyed by the campfire.
That’s also when I began to have a real appreciation for the taste of it. It reminds me of the scene in the “Wizard of Oz” where they go from black and white to color.
First, thank you for your service. Next, do you recall what was that bottle that you sampled on the camping trip?
Thank you for recognizing that. I do recall the bottle: it was Maker’s Mark.
When whiskey catches your attention, what flavors do you like?
I think it’s a mood thing. If it’s blustery, cold, or snowing outside, that might be a single malt. I’ll want something to warm my bones, and I enjoy the flavor of peat. For the summertime, it’s bourbon or rye. Well… that may be good all year.
Another example of how whiskey can be situational is availability. For example, I spend a lot of time on the road, and I have this grading process for “airport whiskey.” I have my go-to, but I’m also curious to see what I can get outside of the usual suspects. There are little nuggets that you can find if you look hard enough. In each airport, I have my favorite whiskey bar, and I’ll cruise by before my flight and have a dram.
What are some of your favorite bottles that you’ve encountered?
There are some fun ones. I have a bottle of Ancient Age that was bottled about 4 years before the start of World War 2. We got to open that bottle at a whiskey event in Chicago and it had this great dusty flavor to it. With something like that you never know how the cork held up or if any oxygen got into the bottle. We did end up using a corkscrew to get it out, but it was delicious.
I cut my teeth in the craft distilling world and there are so many great craft whiskeys out there. There are still a few bottles out there from distilleries that don’t exist anymore. There are some bottles where they may be the only bottle that exists. It’s hard to pick a favorite.
Years ago, I did a collaboration with Colum Egan, the Master Distiller of Bushmills. We traveled a lot together and became quite good friends as a result. He has some amazing things in his collection, and he told me about this bottle they had gotten that was over 100 years old. They used a tiny syringe to get a bit of whiskey out of it and then reverse-engineered it.
There are just so many little things like these that are so old and rare you’ll never get your hands on. The bottom line for me is that I don’t collect whiskey for the provenance or what it stands for monetarily.
I collect whiskey to drink it. That’s the whole idea.
Bravo! Say it louder so everyone can hear it! Fantastic mindset and well said.
When I’m at a whiskey bottle signing, there are some people who say that they can’t open the bottle now that it’s signed. I get it, but I made this whiskey for people to drink. You should enjoy that whiskey and then put some tea in (the bottle) afterwards. (laughs)
This is a great segue into the next question. Given your life experiences, I’m sure that you have some amazing whiskey stories to tell. Can you share any with our readers?
There are a few that stand out, but one is interesting for this discussion. I was deployed in Somalia with the 10th Mountain Division on my 22nd birthday. We were not allowed to drink, but I had a bottle of Chivas Regal smuggled in. We were there with the United Nations troops and I discovered the group of people responsible for the black market for alcohol.
That night, I ended up on what was left of a World War 2 deuce-and-a-half that had been blown up. It was just wrecked junk behind the embassy. That night, I sat on the roof of that vehicle with night-vision goggles on and looked out over Mogadishu. I was a lightweight because I hadn’t had anything to drink for quite some time and ended up getting quite sick. The day after wasn’t great, but I will always remember watching the clouds come off the Indian Ocean and the city through those night-vision goggles.
What an incredible story. Thank you for sharing this! Another amazing story is how you became the Master Distiller at Blackened. Can you share the story?
I had been at Stranahan’s making whiskey with my mentor Jess Graber, the Founder of Stranahan’s, for 12 years. We made a lot of whiskey together and I also helped him work on Tin Cup. On my own, it was Snowflake, different cask finishes, and distillery-only exclusives that earned me some notoriety. We had a two-bottle limit and people would camp out for days on end in December just to buy two bottles. I’d order portable toilets and food trucks two days in advance and that was fine. It got to the point where some people got in line a week ahead of time. I can’t help you with that. People started getting crazy and wanting bottles one through 10 only.
As you know, Dave Pickerell was the original collaborator with Metallica. I had heard from a friend that James Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica, lived here in Colorado and was a fan of mine and Stranahan’s. James reached out and let me know that they were going to make a whiskey and that they were looking for a Master Distiller. I said that I’d love to do it, but he let me know that they were already working with Dave. However, he wanted me to tell them about Dave. I let him know that if they were working with Dave, they were already at the top of their game with a legendary whiskey maker.
A few months after Blackened was launched, Dave passed away suddenly at WhiskyFest San Francisco. It was a huge blow to our community. I’d seen the ambulance arrive at the hotel and then we found out it was one of our own. That night, we held a moment of silence for him and held a toast for him. We took a sip and poured the rest out on the floor in his honor. It was a somber moment.
About a month later, I was at WhiskyFest New York with Stranahan’s, and I went to the Blackened booth. I talked to the Director of Sales and said that Dave was a friend and passed along my condolences. They appreciated that sentiment. At that moment, he pulled me aside and asked if we could talk. They had been following my career and asked if I was interested in interviewing for the Master Distiller job at Blackened.
Of course, I was interested. For the first round of interviews, there was a field of 12 candidates. At the second interview, I was told that the field had been narrowed to 6 people. For the last interview, I was invited to a studio in Los Angeles to meet the band. They were down to three candidates and a final decision was being made. I wasn’t going to oversell anything and was just going to be myself. At the very least, I got to meet Metallica. At most, I was going to be making whiskey for them.
I sat with the band for about 40 minutes and got to know them. James (Hetfield) asked me about my military service, and I confirmed. He said that he had something for me, stood up, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a challenge coin. In the military, you receive a challenge coin through a handshake, and he knew how to give it. I looked down and it was a Metallica coin that said on one side that I am family and on the other side it said, “Forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters.” That was the exact moment I found out that I had the job.
He welcomed me to the family and gave me a big hug. I was totally blown away. To this day, that is one of my favorite challenge coins.
This is one of the single greatest stories I’ve ever heard about whiskey. This is incredible!
In my time in this job, I’ve become close with the band members, and James in particular. During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time up at his house smoking cigars. Incidentally, that’s how we came up with the idea to create a cigar together. So, I went to my friend Jonathan Drew, at Drew Estate, and started that project.
There is a strong connection between music and whiskey and Blackened is a leading example of this. What are your thoughts on this connection?
Without a doubt. They say that your olfactory sense has powerful ties to memories. I think of my gutter punk days in Denver when we would go on a road trip and the car would smell like a bunch of punks and cigarettes.
Much the same way, what you are drinking and listening to at the time is always compelling. For example, think of Jimmy Buffet (Rest in Peace) and margaritas. They just go together.
For me, my punk days were filled with peppermint schnapps.
Oh wow… I broke up with peppermint schnapps a long time ago.
There is a reason you don’t drink it anymore. It’s called wisdom. However, it does make for good stories later in life.
This is the truth. Let’s continue with music. With the new Metallica album “72 Seasons” they have made Blackened and you a part of the event. The band doesn’t do anything without going all out with quality and attention to detail. They have grown to be more of an institution than just a band. With your life experience, you fit. You are an amazing addition to the family.
You absolutely understand the approach: quality is a part of everything. They don’t just slap the Metallica name on something. They could have gone to a large whiskey company and slapped a logo on a bottle. That is not how they do things. It must be the best. They knew they needed to make a whiskey that could stand on its own, and that they could have sole ownership of it.
Since I’ve been on board, I’ve been enhancing the recipe and the sonic enhancement process. It’s always about fine-tuning because it’s never going to be the exact same thing. I want there to be room to maneuver, but for the quality to always emerge.
For the tour, we filmed a two-hour interview before the M72 North American tour. It was important to document their creative process and for me to ask some specific questions. What I discovered is that they each have their own language of creativity with music, both individually and as a group. They know how to layer those languages together. I explained to them that my approach to whiskey is similar; I layer flavors to create the profile that I’m looking for. The craft of making whiskey is an art form just like making music is. They really understood and gained a much better perspective on the similarities of our approach.
Speaking of whiskey that you’ve made: You recently announced that the next Blackened Masters of Whiskey Series is with Rabbit Hole. Can you share more about this?
It’s just delicious. I was with Kaveh Zamanian, (Rabbit Hole Founder and Hall of Fame whiskey maker), and we were tasting whiskey together. I was considering a Calvados finish on a project, and this felt like the right opportunity.
I know that you have a sample of it. Let’s share a dram of it right now.
When a Master Distiller offers to share a virtual dram of his creation with you, that is an instant yes.
Looking at the bottle, there is a brief description on the bottle about how it came together, and it has signatures from both Kaveh and me. This is 106.59 proof (cask strength), and non-chill filtered. It’s made with a 13-year-old Tennessee bourbon and then Heigold Bourbon from Rabbit Hole. That expression has malted rye in it, which I love. As we were making this, I brought up the Calvados finish to Kaveh, his face just lit up. We were immediately aligned on using it.
On the nose, there is a sweet note that is present. It’s apple rind, as the sweetness is tempered.
Yes, the apple comes through or possibly a ripe pear with the skin still on. The sweetness is likely also a product of the high corn content of the Rabbit Hole Bourbon. There is a bit of dustiness in there, as well. Like the dust of a desert.
With the first taste, there is an amazing mouthfeel to this. It’s not too heavy nor viscous. There is a nice kick, but the maturity of the whiskey makes it a pleasant heat.
Yes, I agree. There is also a concern that it can get over-oaked at that age, but this is not. There is depth to the wood flavor, but it is not overbearing. I really love this whiskey and I’m very pleased with how this turned out.
This would be fantastic with a spicy smoked BBQ chicken dish.
I could see that. Later, I’m having dinner with a friend, and I think I know what I’m having.
I keep coming back to that dusty desert flavor, but then it ends on a bright note. There is a nice note of malted rye that sits on the middle of the tongue. For me, there is also a sweet and buttery note that shines through on the finish. It reminds me of my mom; she used to make her own apple butter.
Wrapping things up, it is our tradition at the Whiskey Network to ask our guests the same final 5 questions, also known as the Mashbill: Whiskey Network Wants to Know Your Recipe
Question 1: What was the last whiskey, bourbon, or scotch in your glass?
I had my own personal single barrel of Stranahan’s when I was there, I would visit it. After tasting it for 5 years, it was time to bottle it. On the labels of Stranahan’s, we moved away from hand signed bottles and went to my printed signature. There was a little spot on the side where you could do what you wanted, for example the music you were listening to at the time. The long running joke from me was that I wrote “Doctor Dietrich’s Liver Invigorator” on the side of the bottle. That was my night cap yesterday.
Question 2: Do you prefer to drink your whiskey from a specific type of glass?
I do when it is technical and it’s always the glencairn. I like the ergonomics of the shape and it’s my go to. Probably normal for most whiskey makers and drinkers.
Question 3: Do you have a Unicorn bottle?
I move through the world with the notion that if something was meant to come to me, it will. I don’t pursue elusive bottles, because I don’t know how good it is until it’s in my hand. I think this is a part of the adventure of discovering whiskey.
Question 4: I’m looking for a gift for a friend. My budget is around $50 to $75. What would you recommend I buy?
You are going to get excellent value with the flagship Blackened. It’s my passion to keep the quality of that version consistent. Also, if it is available, you can’t go wrong with the Masters of Whiskey Series.
Question 5: What is your favorite toast?
Great question. I enjoy a straight up “Sláinte” for most occasions. What is important to me as a veteran is honoring the fallen when we toast. People may see this but not know what it means. You tap your glass with those at the table in honor of those with you. When you tap the counter, you are honoring those who couldn’t be there.
On behalf of Whiskey Network Magazine, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. We look forward to hearing more about your music and ongoing whiskey journey soon!
We are proud to welcome Rob Dietrich to the Whiskey Network Family. Not only is he a legendary whiskey maker, Rob is also one of the primary ambassadors between music and whiskey. His mastery of the art and science of whiskey is why he stands tall at the forefront of the whiskey made to represent the institution that is Metallica.
As more news and announcements are made available about Blackened Whiskey, we will keep our readers updated.
