Dark fruits | Cinnamon | Maple | Fig | Rye spice | Stewed apple

Plum | Apricot | Blackcurrant | Black raspberry

Oak tannins | Dry oak | Maple | Raspberry | Brown sugar | Lingering spice

True to principles of capitalism, if you see an opening in the market, you go for it. With the fast rise of cigar blend bourbons, no one was targeting the blunt smokers. Much like there is no legal definition of a cigar blend/batch, the blunt blend/batch category also remains undefined, though the differences in styles are largely interchangeable. For Dark Arts, their Blent Blends have been formed from a Ross & Squibb Distillery (MGP)-distilled rye whiskey base finished in a Madeira and Armagnac casks.

Fruit is once again the star with Dark Arts’ Blunt Blend Batch 3, which, of course, makes sense given who they’re targeting and how they’re made. Dark fruits layer every aspect of this whiskey, from brighter and sweeter fruits from the Madeira finishing barrels, to the more grounded and robust dark fruits from the Armagnac barrels. Given that the base whiskey is a rye, spice does pop here and there, though it’s largely kept in check.

The proof isn't as high as some cigar blends that we see, but given how potent tobacco flavors can be, that is often a necessity. Also, because blunts replace tobacco for cannabis, going high in proof isn’t needed as much - though I’m sure some will disagree.

The finish is where the whiskey stumbles the most. The finishing barrels combined with the higher age of this release compared to previous releases, have created more oak tannins and dry oak aftertaste than before. The finishing barrels also leave a little of that over-finished aftertaste that isn’t off-putting but is also not beneficial either. In the end, though, the wealth of red fruits and other stone fruits make up for a lot of its shortcomings. It’s a unique tasting finished rye that runs with its concept well.

The rye in review is bottle number 3,285 from batch #3.