Metallica reportedly releasing their own brand of American whiskey

Metallica
Metallica (Image credit: Getty)

Metallica will release their own brand of American whiskey and are in discussions to open a distillery, according to reports.

Veteran distiller Dave Pickerell was speaking with Whiskycast’s Mark Gillespie when he announced the news – although there has been no official confirmation from Metallica at this stage.

Pickerell says: “I’ve just been permitted to announce that I’m working on a project with them. We’re going to make a killer whiskey product and probably build a little distillery someplace. We’re putting the logistics together on it now.”

When pressed if Metallica would be investing in a distillery, Pickerell replies: “Yes. That would be correct. We’re already deep into it. As you would expect from a band with the artisanal bent that Metallica does, that they would want this to be a true artisanal product. We’re having some fun.

“I can’t go into a lot more detail yet because there’s still a lot of stuff up in the air.”

Pickerel says they have three locations in mind for the distillery: San Francisco, Louisville or Nashville.

In 2015, Motorhead teamed up with Swedish distillery Mackmyra to release their own brand of whisky.

Last week, Metallica announced a further run of North American tour dates which will get under way from September. Find a full list of their live shows below.

Metallica 2018⁄2019 WorldWired tour dates

Sep 02: Madison Kohl Center, WI
Sep 04: Minneapolis Target Center, MN
Sep 06: Lincoln Pinnacle Bank Arena, NE
Sep 08: Grand Forks Alerus Center, ND
Sep 11: Sioux Falls Denny Sanford Premier Center, SD
Sep 13: Winnipeg Bell MTS Place, MB
Sep 15: Saskatoon Sasktel Centre, SK
Oct 16: Milwaukee Wisconsin Entertainment And Sports Centre, WI
Oct 18: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Oct 20: State College Bryce Jordan Center, PA
Oct 22: Charlotte Spectrum Center, NC
Oct 27: Buffalo Keybank Center, NY
Oct 29: Albany Times Union Center, NY
Nov 26: Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, NV
Nov 28: boise Taco Bell Arena, ID
Nov 30: Salt Lake City Vivint Smart Home Arena, UT
Dec 12: Spokane Arena, WA
Dec 05: Portland Moda Center, OR
Dec 07: Sacramento Golden 1 Center, CA
Dec 09: Fresno Save Mart Center, CA
Jan 20: Little Rock Verizon Arena, AR
Jan 22: Birmingham Legacy Arena At The BJCC, AL
Jan 24: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Jan 28: Raleigh PNC Arena, NC
Jan 30: Cincinnati US Bank Arena, OH
Feb 01: Cleveland Quicken Loans Arena, OH
Feb 28: El Paso Don Haskins Center, TX
Mar 02: Lubbock United Supermarkets Arena, TX
Mar 04: Wichita Intrust Bank Arena, KS
Mar 06: Kansas City Sprint Center, MO
Mar 09: Louisville KFC Yum Center, KY
Mar 11: Indianapolis Bankers Life Fieldshouse, IN
Mar 13: Grand rapids Van Andel Arena, MI

Metallica 2018 European WorldWired tour dates

Mar 27: Herning Jyske Bank Boxen, Denmark
Mar 29: Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germamny
Mar 31: Vienna Wiener Stadthalle, Austria
Apr 02: Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic
Apr 05: Budapest Sports Arena, Hungary
Arp 07: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
Arp 09: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany
Apr 11: Geneva Palexpo, Switzerland
Apr 26: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany
Apr 28: Krakow Tauron Arena, Poland
Apr 30: Leipzig Arena, Germany
May 02: Oslo Telenor Arena, Norway
May 05: Stockholm Ericsson Globe, Sweden
May 07: Stockholm Ericsson Globe, Sweden
May 09: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland
May 11: Helsinki Hartwall Arena, Finland

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Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.