It started as a warehouse joke. “Everyone does a cigar batch or a cigar blend,” says Macaulay Minton, president and chief alchemist at Dark Arts Whiskey House in Lexington, Kentucky. “I’m a cannabis consumer, so I said, ‘Let’s make a blunt blend.’” Minton’s crew chuckled, then got serious, yanking some barrels for a blend of straight rye whiskeys that would be ideal to pair with marijuana.
Dark Arts Blunt Blend is the first time anyone’s created a whiskey made to pair with marijuana. “There’s a lot of beer-centric cannabis accompaniments or cigar and whiskey pairings, but no whiskey made with cannabis in mind,” says Minton. (To be clear: there’s no marijuana in this whiskey.)
“I wanted this to be perfect whiskey to complement weed smoking,” says Minton, “We tried some blends, but we were most drawn to the rye because of the herbaceousness and spice quality,” he says. “Rye gives a nice punch. And it has a nice fruit aroma that reminds me of weed; a resin, grass note that shows up mid-palate.”
How is Blunt Blend Whiskey Made?
Minton founded Dark Arts, a blending, rebarreling, and finishing facility, in 2023 after a years-long stint at Wilderness Trail, where he started and ran the single barrel program. Dark Arts works on a variety of projects, including private barrel blends with retailers. For this expression, Minton plucked two barrels of 7 year old MGP-sourced 95/5 rye whiskey (95% rye and 5% malted barley) that had been resting in armagnac casks, and two more in madeira casks (also 7 year olds 95/5) and started blending.
Minton knew he had a hit when his former boss from a fermentation lab stopped by, sampled it, and loved it. So Minton went back, yanked four more casks, blended a larger batch, and bottled it, at 112.8 proof.
“The feds are not the biggest fans of cannabis, so I hesitated before calling it Blunt Blend,” Minton says. “Then I saw Cheech and Chong’s Judge’s Water vodka—the bottle turns into a bong when empty—and thought we should be fine.”
Where Can You Get Blunt Blend?
With less than 2,000 bottles of Blunt Blend available in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, you’ll have to hunt. And you’re up against other hunters: the response and demand have been “insane,” per Minton. “We had to allocate it. We can’t keep up with distributor and store requests. We’re planning a much larger batch for next year, double or triple the amount.”
As for which kinds of cannabis Minton recommends pairing with Blunt Blend, “That’s up to the individual; I like indica [strains]. You want something with nice fruit notes, maybe [cannabis] flower with a diesel or gas note.”
“Whatever weed you pick,” Minton quips, “Blunt Blend is 100% guaranteed to eliminate cotton mouth.”
Dark Arts Whiskey House Blunt Blend, At a Glance:
Distillery Name: MGP
Age: 7 year old
ABV: 56.4%
SRP: $100
Cask: A mixture of armagnac and madeira cask finish
Quick Tasting Notes: Honeysuckle, orange citrus, pine resin, earthiness, a hint of Dutch Master innards.
Overall Impressions: A delicious sipper that indeed reminds you of cannabis; wonderful neat though it also shines in a Paper Plane or Manhattan cocktail.
How We Tasted This
There is a method to tasting whiskey, and this is our tried-and-true formula. We always use Glencairn glasses for our tastings. With our Blunt Blend at room temperature, we initially nosed and tasted the whiskey neat, with no dilution. After that first round, we added a few drops of water to open up the whiskey and coax out any hidden flavors.
What’s Dark Arts Blunt Blend Smell Like?
Blunt Blend kicks off with a sweet floral note, like honeysuckle, likely owed to the madeira cask. It moves into honey, then orange zest pops, and then into earthy and herbal notes, like pine resin and evergreen. At the end of the nose, there are hits of pepper and the armagnac oak. It doesn’t smell like marijuana, but it does have an element of peppery mustiness that gives a nod in marijuana’s direction.
What Does Dark Arts Blunt Blend Taste Like?
Its mouthfeel is silky and smooth. Though it’s not super thick, it has a decent viscosity that coats perfectly. On the palate, there’s orange and vanilla sweetness up front, a touch of honey, then it transitions into some mustiness and older armagnac cask oak flavors. Then the rye spice shows up at the end, bringing pepper and dried tobacco to the party.
For the finish, pepper, pine, and herbal terpenes linger. Rye spice starts subtle and then blows up, filling your mouth. That crescendo is long, and the finish takes eons, fading into a touch of sweet vanilla just as it disappears. It’s drying, perhaps like one’s mouth after smoking a joint or blunt.
Final Thoughts on Dark Arts Blunt Blend
Whiskey pairing with weed seems to be a tricky concept that might veer into contrived flavor clichés. This one does not: Blunt Blend is a properly solid rye whiskey.
