“It’s the kind of camaraderie — we all connect.”

Rob Dietrich, master distiller for Metallica‘s Blackened American Whiskey, caught up with Chuck Armstrong on Loudwire Nights (Sept. 25) and opened up about his love for the band’s fanbase.

“We know the songs we’re singing, we’re headbanging together. If you’re in the mosh pit and somebody drops, there’s seven people there to lift that person up immediately. They’re making sure they’re okay and you keep going, right?”

As Dietrich shared about his experiences with the fans, he recalled one specific moment at an M72 show where he saw just how powerful the Metallica family truly is.

“I remember being in L.A. and I was in the Snake Pit,” he said, thinking back to Metallica’s stop at SoFi Stadium in August 2023.

“Here comes Jason Momoa just running in and like diving into the mosh pit and running around like a madman. We’re at that point, he’s just like anybody else. We’re all in that mosh pit to sweat it out, to work out the angst and to be part of something. And he wasn’t some big movie star or anything — he was just one of us at that moment. That’s what I love. It’s the great equalizer.”

What Blackened’s Latest Collaboration Means to Rob Dietrich

Over the last year, Dietrich and Blackened have released some new batches of whiskey, including the 72 Seasons blend celebrating Metallica’s most recent studio album and the second edition of their rye whiskey, Rye the Lightning. Those bottles followed the latest addition to Blackened’s Masters of Whiskey series, their collaboration with Rabbit Hole.

Dietrich said he’s really excited for the next partnership he’s been working on.

“I’m doing a collaboration here in Colorado with 10th Mountain Whiskey,” he said.

“I was at Stranahan’s when 10th Mountain started and when I was in the army, I was in the 10th Mountain Division, which was primarily ski and mountaineering troops — although all of my deployments were in the desert and nowhere near the snow and mountains.”

As Dietrich reflected on this, he said that 10th Mountain Whiskey reached out to him and said they’re celebrating their 10th anniversary in Vail and they asked him to come in and collaborate.

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“They’ve been following my career for years in the whiskey industry,” he noted, but he also said they were interested because he’s “a combat veteran of the 10th Mountain Division. They thought it would be symbiotic that we could work together. I was very pleased to be asked to do that.”

Dietrich took a moment to celebrate what this new collaboration really means to him.

“It was pretty extraordinary to be part of that project. Leaning into the community and doing something pretty extraordinary with those guys was a real treat.”

What Else Did Rob Dietrich Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What it was like serving with the 10th Mountain Division and how he attempted to make wine in Mogadishu: “It was absolutely horrific. It was terrible. I mean, I didn’t have very much to work with. I was using Kool-Aid packets.”
• How he ended up celebrating his 22nd birthday while serving with a bottle of black market Chivas Regal whiskey: “The Italians had set up their own cantina [on the embassy compound]. They had their own rules. We were not allowed to go to their cantina.”
• What his first Metallica show was and why it will forever be one of his most memorable: “It was ’96. They were headlining Lollapalooza and I was working as a rigor for Bill Graham Presents out in San Francisco. I was ecstatic, that was Metallica headlining, Soundgarden. Green Day was there. Devo was there, which was awesome.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Rob Dietrich joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday, Sept. 25; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.