Month: August 2020

Every few years, we’re told about some new “greatest whiskey in the world.” This was the case back in 2015, when a lesser-known Taiwanese whisky, Kavalan Vinho Barrique, was named the best single malt on earth — beating out all of the well-known Scottish and Japanese brands at the World Whiskies Awards. That same year, a bargain $30 bottle of Crown Royal North Harvest Rye was named the best whisky in the world, too, after earning 97.5 out of 100 in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.

Flash forward to last year, when Henry McKenna 10-year-old Bottled-in-Bond, another $30 bottle, won the award for best bourbon at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Or just a few weeks ago, when Stagg Jr. scored a 98 at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge. Another day, another competition, another “best bottle” — this is part of the hype machine that powers the whiskey world.

Today brings us newly minted “king of all whiskeys”: Colonel E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond (Straight Kentucky Bourbon). This bottle has been winning awards and finding itself in liquor cabinets all over the country for years. It’s maintained a strong following and is part of a much-lauded line of whiskeys. It’s also (theoretically) affordable — retailing for around $70. But good luck finding it for anywhere even close to that price now that it’s been award a 99 out of 100 by the judges at the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC).

Like the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, the IWSC uses a double-blind method, ensuring that judges never see a bottle. However, the IWSC relies more on synchronized tastings and discussion amongst panelists — many of whom are distillers themselves. In short, these are trusted voices in the industry. But we figured the E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bottled-In-Bond needed one more cosign… ours.

Check our tasting notes on this expression below.

Colonel E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond

ABV: 50%

Distillery Name: Buffalo Trace

Average Price: $129.99

The Story:

Like all the bottles in the E.H. Taylor, Jr. Collection, Single Barrel was named for Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. The descendant of not one but two different presidents (James Madison and Zachary Taylor). It seems like Taylor was destined for success by name alone, but he didn’t sit idly and just enjoy the fruits of his surname. He was one of the main voices in the passing of the Bottle-in-Bond Act of 1897, which declared that bottled-in-bond whiskey must be produced by one distillery in one season, age for eat least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and be bottled at 100 proof.

If not for that singular act of legislation alone, we wouldn’t be sitting here writing about Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. Single Barrel Bottled-in-Bond. It might not even exist.

The most exciting thing about this bourbon is the fact that many of the barrels used to make it were actually aged in Warehouse C at Buffalo Trace, a warehouse constructed by E.H. Taylor way back in 1881. On top of that, the barrels used to make this expression were hand-selected by master distiller Harlan Wheatley.

Tasting Notes (UPROXX):

A bourbon of this caliber shouldn’t be gulped down without giving it the respect it deserves. This isn’t Old Grand-Dad (although we sip that too). This deserves a long nosing to literally breathe in all the various complexities.

Right away, there’s an obvious charred oak aroma that comes with well-aged whiskeys. This is followed by creamy caramel and sweet vanilla bean. Once you’ve savored the scents and prepared yourself for the first sip, dive right in, you’ll be met with dried fruits, rich leather, toffee, subtle tobacco, and more rich vanilla. The finish is smooth, creamy, luxurious, and ends with a pleasing hint of pepper.

All in all, a whisky worthy of its praises and one that you’ll be really bummed to finish off. If you can ever get ahold of it in the first place.

Tasting Notes (IWSC):

“A broodingly dark, intense nose of bitter chocolate, subtle rye and balanced fresh fruit. Buttery smooth with elegant peach and touches of pepper, a nutty back palate and refined spicy oak. Classical scotch typicity with an engagingly fruity finish.”

The first playoff series we’ll get in the Bubble is the 3-6 tilt in the Western Conference between the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz. The two Northwest Division foes will tip things off at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN on Monday afternoon, with the series’ winner advancing to take on either the Los Angeles Clippers or the Dallas Mavericks in the conference semifinals.

Both teams are quite familiar with one another, having played three times this season with the team from the Mile High City taking all three. Having said that, the playoffs are a different animal, and each team will look for that one extra bit of something with the hopes of pushing them over the hump against a team with which they’re so familiar.

We know who the stars are in this series, as much attention will be paid to Nikola Jokic vs. Rudy Gobert and Jamal Murray vs. Donovan Mitchell. However, the playoffs are so often about who else steps forward for a team, and as such, we’ve decided to identify an X-factor for both teams in hte series. While these will not necessarily lead to one side getting the clear-cut advantage over the other, every little bit counts, and the following two things could end up tilting the series one way or another if all goes right.

Denver Nuggets: Michael Porter Jr.

Well, as it turns out, this guy is quite good at basketball. While talent has never been the question with Porter, his back issues were a legitimately gigantic concern coming out of the draft two years ago. He seems healthy now, and after going through some of the growing pains you’d expect out of a rookie, the Nuggets young star has exploded in the Bubble, earning a second-team selection when the league announced its seeding games teams.

That aforementioned talent, particularly when it comes to scoring the basketball, has come through in a big, big way. In seven games in the Bubble, Porter has averaged 22 points and 8.6 rebounds for the Nuggets, giving them a consistent perimeter scoring presence that they’ve lacked for much of the year outside of Jamal Murray. He’s also been lights out from deep, connecting on 42.2 percent of his triples in Orlando.

Porter’s size and offensive versatility make him a nightmare when he’s on his game, something that hasn’t always been the case during his this campaign but has come through in a big way over his last few games. When he his cooking, he’s capable of bullying smaller defenders, busting out his bag of tricks to flummox bigger ones, or pull up over just about anyone. He is a young player putting it all together, and now, he’ll get to show what he can do on this stage.

Denver’s a very good team with a very good player at the center of everything in Nikola Jokic and a fun young guard in Murray, but if they lack anything, it’s the kind of guy who can consistently get a bucket in 1-on-1 situations. Their wager was that Porter could be that guy. He has been in the Bubble, and if he can continue to do that against the Jazz, this series might be over pretty quickly.

Utah Jazz: Someone stepping up and playing point guard

I wrote a good 300-400 words in the early hours of Sunday morning about how Utah needed Mike Conley to look like the player that was so good for so long in Memphis, something that seemed to be the case during the Bubble’s seeding games. Then, news dropped that Conley left the Bubble to be with his family as his wife, Mary, gave birth to baby boy in Ohio.

Not having Conley presents quite the dilemma for the Jazz, although he does plan to return to the team at some point. Utah doesn’t really have a second point guard — Donovan Mitchell has the ball in his hands a ton, but playmaking for others isn’t his strong suit. Joe Ingles can initiate the offense, and he does have quite the feel for the game, but he’s best as a secondary playmaker and a lethal catch-and-shoot player. Jordan Clarkson, meanwhile, is a pure scorer.

Emmanuel Mudiay, who was inactive for two of the Jazz’s final three seeding games due to knee soreness, may need to step up in this capacity. Lineups with Mudiay and Mitchell in the backcourt have not been particularly kind to Utah, per Cleaning the Glass, which presents some conundrums for Quin Snyder to sort out. The good news, insofar as there is any when a starter is out, is that Utah played some of its best basketball earlier this year when Conley was out with a hamstring injury, winning 15 of the 19 games they played with him on the sideline, including 10 in a row. The bad news to that is that an integral part of that stretch, Bojan Bogdanovic, is out for the entirety of the Bubble due to wrist surgery.

Mitchell’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot, particularly in big moments, but it’ll be incumbent on the Jazz to figure out who is running the offense in those minutes when they just need a steady hand at the 1. If they can do that, there’s a path to them taking down the Nuggets.

Logic is retiring from the rap game, so that means he’s putting extra effort into promoting his final album, No Pressure, which released a few weeks ago. During his final press tour, he sparked a passive-aggressive beef with Joe Budden, revealed the reasons why he’s leaving the rap game behind, and detailed the next phase of his career. In a new interview with Hard Knock TV, he goes back to one of his earliest inspirations in the hopes of pushing fans to give his new album a chance.

In a surprise to anyone who’s heard his first album, Under Pressure, Logic reveals during the interview that he hated the album Under Pressure most closely resembles: Kendrick Lamar’s debut Good Kid, MAAD City. “”When I listen to an album, I listen to it for weeks,” he explained. “I have my initial feeling, but when MAAD city came out, I f*cking hated that album. 100 percent.”

His reasoning: He didn’t like the mixing by Ali, which found Kendrick’s voice being distorted and manipulated — whenever Kendrick himself wasn’t doing the same. “”I didn’t like it because I wasn’t into Kendrick Lamar doing all his weird voices,” Logic reasons. “I liked J. Cole… Straight up, that’s what I liked. I didn’t like all these skits. I didn’t like having to sit through nine minutes of a song.” However, he says, after he “sat with it,” he wound up loving it — which is likely apparent from the way he then duplicated the approach on Under Pressure.

He shares the story in the hope that even those who don’t like his new album, No Pressure, will give it a similar treatment. “Anybody who gives an opinion in two seconds, even if they praise it, it’s bullsh*t,” he says. “You have to sit and live with something and I hope people sit with [No Pressure] for the rest of my career.”

Watch Logic’s full interview with Hard Knock TV above.

Under Pressure is out now via Def Jam.

Keeping up with the best new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.

This week saw Drake announce a new album and Miley Cyrus also prepping a new era. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Drake — “Laugh Now Cry Later” Feat. Lil Durk

After months of teasing, Drake finally officially has a new album on the way (the title of which has caused him some trademark troubles). He made the announcement by sharing the project’s lead single, the Lil Durk-featuring “Laugh Now Cry Later,” the video for which includes appearances from Kevin Durant and Odell Beckham Jr.

Snoop Dogg — “Nipsey Blue”

This weekend would have been Nipsey Hussle’s 35th birthday had the rapper not tragically been killed last year. His impact is a lasting one, and Snoop Dogg decided to commemorate that with “Nipsey Blue,” on which he laments the rapper’s passing.

Chika — “My Power”

Last week was big for rising star Chika: She was named an XXL Freshman, and she made her film debut in Netflix’s Project Power. In addition to playing the main character’s best friend, she also provided the movie’s theme song, “My Power.”

Anderson .Paak — “Cut Em In” Feat. Rick Ross

.Paak’s latest, Ventura, dropped over a year ago, and he’s kept busy since then. He spent time in the studio with Dr. Dre and Kanye (but bolted early), found his way onto the Madden soundtrack, and now he remains confident (alongside Rick Ross) on a new song, “Cut Em In.”

Young Jesus — Welcome To Conceptual Beach

Uproxx’s Steven Hyden notes of the group’s new one, “Young Jesus strikes out with an uncommonly bold sound that aspires to the overpowering emotional directness of indie’s grandest classics from the ’90s and ’00s, while also exploring experimental, even esoteric instrumental textures deriving from jazz-inspired improvisations that often push their songs past the 10-minute mark.”

The Killers — “Dying Breed”

After some delays, The Killers’ new album is slated for the end of the month, and they teased it last week with “Dying Breed,” which kicks off with a minimal, krautrock-inspired beat before absolutely exploding into a huge, anthemic chorus, which the band has proven to be exceptionally adept at lately.

Miley Cyrus — “Midnight Sky”

Miley recently promised fans would get to “meet Miley Cyrus… again” in this new era on which she is embarking. She heralded the era with “Midnight Sky,” a triumphant track on which she rids herself of old restrictions that used to tie her down but do no longer.

Nas — “Ultra Black”

Nas got Hit-Boy to produce his latest, “Ultra Black,” but the real story here is the pot he’s stirring with the single. The track features some lyrics aimed at Doja Cat, but ultimately, it looks like she sort of just brushed the whole thing off.

Burna Boy — Twice As Tall

News of a new Burna Boy album dropping is welcomed, but Twice As Tall brought an unexpected shock on its release day. There was no indication this would be happening before it was released, but the album features a surprise Naughty By Nature reunion, on a track named after the group.

Dua Lipa — “Levitating (Remix)” Feat. Madonna and Missy Elliott

Future Nostalgia has been one of 2020’s biggest albums, and Dua Lipa isn’t done with it yet. She’s getting ready to release an entirely remixed version of the record, and she previewed it last week with a legend-packed remix of “Levitating,” which features Madonna and Missy Elliott.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For the most part, save for a few exceptions, the Billboard Hot 100 chart has had a new No. 1 song every week or two; Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” and DaBaby’s Ricch-featuring “Rockstar” are the only songs to spend more than two consecutive weeks on top of the chart this year. So, for much of 2020, what song would be on top from week to week as been a surprise. Well, that is not the case at all this week.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” has dominated the world since the second it came out, and as has been expected, “WAP” has officially debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart dated August 22. This is Cardi’s fourth No. 1 song and Megan’s second. “WAP” is also both artists’ first song to debut at No. 1, the seventh song to do so this year, and the 42nd to ever open on top.

It got to the top thanks to a record-breaking amount of streams: “WAP” was streamed 93 million times in the US, which is the all-time record for opening-week streams. That figure is the second most for a song by a woman overall, as Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” racked up 93.8 million streams in its fifth week on the chart following the debut of its video.

It’s a big day for Cardi B: On top of this chart news, her interview with Joe Biden was shared this morning.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last week, The Office star Leslie David Baker shared the racist messages that he’s received since announcing a Stanley-centric spin-off series. “For those of you who don’t believe racism is still alive in the world… here’s the proof,” he wrote. “Our goal has simply been to entertain and give the fans a quality series. These rants are evidence that there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done here in America regarding racism. Bigotry and hate will not be allowed to irradicate art or Black people.” In a follow-up interview with USA Today, the actor explained why he decided to speak out.

“We’re living in an age in time where there is this movement. We would have thought that these issues would have been rectified years, decades ago. They have not. As a matter of fact, they’ve gotten worse,” Baker said, adding that the image of the burning cross has been replaced with “new technology”:

“We think that the old photographs that we see of people being persecuted on the way to school in the South and trying to vote in the ’60s, we think that all of those people have died out. They haven’t died out. They got married. They had children. They had grandchildren, great grandchildren. But they took those beliefs with them, and in many cases, they have not altered those beliefs.”

Baker has mostly received support since going public with the attacks, including from The Office co-stars Rainn Wilson and Jenna Fischer, but some Instagram followers have accused him of giving racists a high-profile outlet to spread their hate. He disagrees with that assessment. That’s like blaming somebody who gets mugged for being mugged and daring to talk about it,” he said. “If you’re on the receiving end of a racist diatribe, and then you pretend that it doesn’t exist, that does not help people learn from it.”

For more on the Stanley spin-off, head here.

(Via USA Today)

2 Chainz is coming off the heels of an impressive showing in his Verzuz battle with Rick Ross, but his extravagant summer isn’t over just yet. The Atlanta trapper also announced that his next album, So Help Me God would be dropping before the leaves changed color for the autumn.

It’s been a little over a year since he released his last solo full-length project, the Lebron James-A&R-ed Rap Or Go To The League, which featured guest appearances from Ariana Grande, Chance the Rapper, E-40, Kendrick Lamar, Kodak Black, Lil Wayne, Marsha Ambrosius, Travis Scott, Ty Dolla Sign, and Young Thug. Led by the singles “Girl’s Best Friend” and “Rule The World,” Rap Or Go To The League debuted at No.4 on the US Billboard 200 chart. It went on to become one of 2 Chainz’s best-rated projects and one of Uproxx’s Best Albums Of 2019.

Chainz followed up that project earlier this year with the group-oriented project No Face No Case, introducing the up-and-coming members of his young label, The Real University (T.R.U.). Meanwhile, on the solo front, he released one single, the Future-featuring “Dead Man Walking,” and teased a follow-up to his and Lil Wayne’s collaborative ColleGrove mixtape with “Money Maker.”

So Help Me God is due 9/25 via Def Jam.

Kawhi Leonard is set to begin his quest for a second straight NBA title this week with as many teams when the Clippers take on the Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs in Orlando, beginning with Game 1 on Monday night.

A year after helping lead the Raptors to a stunning championship, Leonard is now back in the West with L.A. and has a team many consider to be co-favorites with the Lakers and Bucks. To celebrate the beginning of Leonard’s playoffs, New Balance announced Monday that his first signature sneaker with the brand, the KAWHI, would be making its first public release on Thursday, August 20 with a “Four Bounces” colorway, inspired by his iconic shot against the Sixers in Game 7 of last year’s conference semis.

The black, blue, and gold colorway features inspiration from Leonard’s life, from his hometown of Moreno Valley, CA (with the latitude and longitude coordinates on the heel) to his favorite car, where the quilted heel tab grabs inspiration from, and will retail for $160. The KAWHI features much of the same FuelCell cushioning tech as the OMN1S, but with the addition a full length nylon plate for stability and bounce and a Kinetic Stitch upper.

The sneaker features his new logo on the front and his signature on the back above the NB logo. Along with the KAWHI sneaker release, a full line of Kawhi branded apparel is also dropping on NewBalance.com as well as slide sandals and a special Four Bounces New Balance 850 in the same colorway.

The sneaker has a solid look in what should be, given the rave reviews of the OMN1S as a performance sneaker, a high quality hoops shoe and some of the apparel releases — all of which fit firmly in Leonard’s commitment to the Cozy Boys lifestyle — are very strong.

Over the past couple years, Cardi B has become a major political interviewer. She has spoken with Bernie Sanders in a lengthy conversation, and now, ahead of the 2020 election, she has sat down with Joe Biden for a new Elle interview.

The conversation started with Biden asking Cardi what she wants out of the upcoming election, and she said she wants Trump out of office and she wants straight answers about the coronavirus pandemic:

“I have a whole list of things that I want our next president to do for us. But first, I just want Trump out. His mouth gets us in trouble so much. I don’t want to be lied to — we’re dealing with a pandemic right now, and I just want answers. I want to know when this will be over. I want to go back to my job. But I don’t want someone to lie to me and tell me that it’s okay not to wear a mask, that everything is going to be okay. I want a president to tell me what the steps are for us to get better, to tell me, ‘This is why it is taking so long, this is why other countries are doing better than ours.’ Tell me the truth, the hard-core truth.”

Biden responded affirmatively, saying, “There’s no reason why we can’t have all of that. Presidents have to take responsibility. I understand one of your favorite presidents is Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt said the American people can take anything if you tell them the truth. Sometimes the truth is hard. But right now, we’re in a position where we have an opportunity to make so much progress. The American public has had the blinders taken off.”

Elsewhere during the chat, they discussed young people voting, healthcare, and more, so watch the full interview here.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Everyone knows that Adam Sandler likes to cast his friends in his Happy Madison films, although at last count, Rob Schneider and Nick Swardson were in the most Sandler films. Among the other Sandler best buds to appear frequently in his films, however, is David Spade, who was particularly fond of the two Grown Ups movies he appeared in.

The Grown Ups films are like doing “the Golden State Warriors,” David Spade told Rob Lowe on his Literally! podcast. “Get guys who are in their own movies, and we’ll all be in one when there’s a lot of competition. It was a good trick. And when he shot it, he spread out the jokes, so we all got to score.”

“We all write jokes for him,” Spade continued, saying that they could spread them around to the different actors, depending on who the joke fit the best. “That movie was like a good, family not-dirty, funny movie. And the second one, too.” Spade said. In fact, that he would be up for another Grown Ups movie, or one like it, he said, because Sander is good at making those kinds of films.

Sandler’s wardrobe on that movie, however, is hilarious, because the movies takes place in one day — or at least, the sequel did — so they all had to wear the same outfit for the entire shoot. For Sandler, that meant wearing the same outfit he always wears. “The funny thing is, Sandler is wearing a striped T-shirt. He has a striped T-shirt on the bed for his wardrobe for the day, and then there is a rack of T-shirts and big shorts.”

On the day that Sandler chose his wardrobe for Grown Ups 2, in fact, Sandler went in to set wearing a striped T-shirt and a coffee, “and the wardrobe person had all his stuff laid out,” and Sandler just looks at it all and was like, “Uh, yeah. I’ll just wear this,” signaling to the clothes he already had on. That’s what he ended up wearing for the entire shoot.

As for how many Sandler movies that Spade has been in? “Oh, I’ve probably been in about 40,” Spade joked. “I mean, I sort of come in the fine print, you know?” Asked if he might be Sandler’s good-luck charm, however, Spade demurs. “Well, I was also in Jack & Jill,” Spade jokes. Meanwhile, when asked if Sandler chooses movies based on how nice the hotels are, Spade disappointingly admitted, “I didn’t get the Hawaii ones.”

You know who did? Nick Swardson. I guess we know who Sandler’s best friend is now, don’t we? Meanwhile, since Sandler didn’t get an Oscar nom for Uncut Gems, we can expect that his next movie will be really bad, as he threatened. Maybe it is time for Grown Ups 3. There is, after all, already a perfect script.

Source: Literally!