Blackened x Willett (Master of Whiskey Series)

Good but not Willet good

Smells of Carmel roasted over a campfire, green wood, vanilla, sweet, and peppery. Tastes of vanilla, oak, spiciness.

Nose: Heavy citrus, maple syrup, dark fruits, piecrust, burnt sugar, and salted caramel. Taste: caramel, baking spices, maple syrup, black pepper, ending with nutmeg and heat. Experience: hanging behind a fall fairground's main stage at night. The air is cool and a bit damp with all the smells of caramel apple, baked goods, spiced nuts, alcohol, and machine oils mixed together. It's a lot all at once but somehow it all works well together, you breath it all in as muted base notes echo from the other side of the stage, it's a good night. This isn't your standard celebrity whiskey, effort and care was put into it first by the late Dave Pickerel and now by the fine folks at Willett. It's a bit steep at $150.00 (or more) but most whiskey is running higher than normal. I think it is unique and good enough that if you are a fan of Willett, Metallica, Madeira, or Dave, you won't be disappointed.

Sweet black tea and delicious.

Delicious, through and through. Heavy fruit notes on the nose & palette, cherry & a hint of apple, contrasting with softer rye spice which lingers in the finish. If you have the money to spend on it, it's worth spending the money on.

Sweet cherry pie Batman! Ah, then the rye rolls, fresh mint, caraway, rock candy, grape jam and oak. I hate that I caved and bought this. I hate that I’m a closer Willett fan-boy. The label is misleading as @TheWhiskeyJug points out on his (awesome) website. The concept of rock music making whiskey better likely all BS. The price, outrageous. The nose is clearly a Willett rye and wine cask lovechild. The longer it sits the more the cherries jubilee fades and the more the Willett rye backbone comes out. There is an over-oaked IW Harper 15 note that I don’t care for but isn’t bad. Oh. Oh dang. Dang, dang, [other actual expletives]. That is perhaps the best mouthfeel if any whiskey I’ve tried. It’s heavy. It’s thick. Clearly wine driven because Willett 4 and 7y rye don’t land like this. Palate follows the nose. Rich, cherry pie, thick Madagascar vanilla paste, cloves, allspice, anise… somewhere mid-palate a pleasant nuttiness and yeasty note from the casks shines through along with raspberry and maybe even a bit of strawberry… and then it finishes forever with salted caramel, cherry pie and a bouquet of spice and herbs. I still hate the price, and the label, and the pseudo fan-boy hype over Willett products (that rest on the laurels of what is likely old Heaven Hill before the stills fired back up). They are doing some things very right though. This is sweet, bright, lightly tannic and nutty, has a heavy body and finishes forever. I hate that I might buy another one…

The color is a deep, golden amber, leaving generous traces of oil on the glass with every movement as legs stream the sides. The nose is sweet with wine but balanced by the spiciness of the rye. Charred oak follows along with touches of vanilla, fresh flowers and a hint of bacon fat. The palate is luscious and full of Madeira sweetness wrapped in rye spice. Charred oak comes in on top of it all with subtle creaminess along with it. With each sip you want to swirl it around all corners of your mouth and chew on it, and the whiskey let’s you do that as even though it is cask strength, it is very gentle on you. You are left chewing even after you have swallowed your sip. If Madeira was a liquor, this is what it would taste like. The finish is long and chewy with a lasting intermingled taste of sweetness and spice with oakiness lingering in the background.