Month: March 2021

Bushmills is Ireland’s oldest whiskey. The area of County Antrim (in Northern Ireland) has a distilling history that goes back to the 1200s. Bushmills pins its foundation to a royal license for distilling, issued in the year 1608. And the current distilling concern dates back to 1784. Regardless of what you consider the distillery’s official start date, it’s clear they’ve been making whiskey for eons.

That history is why we decided to rank their core U.S. line. Well, that and it’s St. Patrick’s Day.

Expression-wise, Bushmills is an interesting brand. They have some very entry-level bottles — classic triple-distilled Irish blends — but they also feature single malts, with three age-statement bottles. While there is a throughline that feels like “Bushmills,” there’s also a marked difference between the blended stuff and the single malts. By trying them all you have the chance to expand your palate and better understand the potential for nuance in Irish whiskeys (even those found within a single brand).

The six bottles below are ranked solely on taste. While the 16 and 21-year-old single malts are very pricy, but that price tag didn’t come into play below. Sláinte!

Related: Ranking The Core Bottles Of Awards Circuit Darling Woodinville Whiskey

6. Bushmills Red Bush

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $26

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is primarily made for the U.S. market. The juice is a classic triple-distilled malt and grain whiskey blend that’s aged in first-fill bourbon casks (that means this whiskey was the first thing to go in the barrel after bourbon).

Tasting Notes:

That bourbon vanilla really shines through on the nose with a touch of wood and a slight nuttiness. The taste holds onto the vanilla as it gets slightly creamy, with thin hints of honey, caramel, and a touch of dark spice mingling with warm malts. The end is short and sweet and leaves you with a twinge of malty alcohol burn.

Bottom Line:

Well… something has to be last. This really feels like a cocktail mixer more than anything else. It’s fine on the rocks but we’d prefer it mixed into an old fashioned.

5. Bushmills The Original

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $26

The Whiskey:

This is Bushmill’s classic and original recipe (so to speak). The grain and malt juices are rested in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before they’re married, proofed, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a balance of honey and nuts on the nose with a hint of dark berries. The palate delivers on that — in true Irish whiskey fashion — and adds in a slight caramel and vanilla vibe in the background. The malts and grains carry the taste to a short end, with a slight oatiness next to the honey, fruit, and nuts.

Bottom Line:

This narrowly beats our Red Bush simply by feeling more like good old Irish whiskey and not Irish whiskey trying to draw in bourbon drinkers. That aside, this is a workhorse pour. Shoot it, mix it, pour it on the rocks — dealer’s choice.

3 (tie). Bushmills Single Malt Aged 10 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $49

The Whiskey:

The first expression in Bushmill’s single malt range is a winner. The juice is made from Irish barley and matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The best barrels are married, proofed with that soft Northern Irish spring water, and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of apples, vanilla, and chocolate malts on the nose. The palate really delivers on those flavors with spicy stewed apple pie with a buttery crust, plenty of fresh honey, and an underbelly of those almost creamy choco-malts. The finish is medium length, full of apple, and very malty.

Bottom Line:

This is a great dram if you’re looking for a killer on the rocks sipper or cocktail base. A nice gateway to the wider world of Irish single malts.

3 (tie). Bushmills Black Bush

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $33

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is a more refined version of the white label. The juice is a blend of grain and malt whiskeys aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The final blend, however, leans more into the single malt juice with a balance set towards the sherry profile rather than the bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

That sherry jamminess and plumminess come through with a hint of vanilla, apricot, and nuts. The palate carries on along that path and adds in a serious Christmas spice matrix with amped-up nuttiness and a touch more vanilla. The end is fairly quick, sherry-fueled with spice and sweetness, and slightly malty.

Bottom Line:

This is a great workhorse whiskey to have on your shelf. It’s an all-around winner for an Irish blend that works really well in a simple whiskey cocktail, a highball, or on the rocks.

2. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 21 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $240

The Whiskey:

This is a special bottle of whiskey. The juice is made with Irish malts and then aged for 19 years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Those barrels are batched and that whiskey then spends an additional two years maturing in a Portuguese Madeira cask.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a deep, dark chocolate malt vibe on the nose with flourishes of marzipan and prunes. The taste kicks in with a rich and buttery dark toffee covered in roasted almonds, with a hint of dried fruit and equally dried choco-malts. The end is fairly long and holds onto those dried fruits and bitter chocolate malts while leaving you with flavors of sweet and silky toffee.

Bottom Line:

Yes, this is good. Spendy for sure, but this is a celebration bottle you break out when your sibling graduates from college or you land that dream job. It’s not an every-day sipper and feels like something very special.

Over a single rock, this pick really shines. New depths open up and you start to get this dark and spicy brandy-soaked holiday cake vibe. It’s delicious.

1. Bushmills Single Malt Aged 16 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $126

The Whiskey:

This whiskey starts off as the other two single malts on this list, by aging for 15 years in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The batched juice is then transferred to port pipes for a final nine-month rest.

Tasting Notes:

This starts out with plenty of spicy red berry jam next to a whiff of marzipan and bourbon vanilla. That almond creates a smooth foundation with more of that spicy red jam coming through alongside a honeyed sweetness and velvet mouthfeel. The end of this one is long-ish as the spice, jammy fruit, and almond paste slowly fade out, leaving you warmed.

Bottom Line:

Price aside, this does feel like an everyday sipper. The taste hits on the best marks from the full Bushmills line: Touch of bourbon vanilla, plenty of jammy and spicy notes, and a real sense of sweet almonds.

Try this one neat, then add a rock and explore the depths of the malts — as a bitter espresso and creamy chocolate malt edge arrives, alongside juicier red fruits. This one also makes one hell of a Manhattan.

In 2017, we learned that Fox had “preliminary conversations” with King of the Hill co-creators Mike Judge and Greg Daniels about bringing back the Texas-set animated series. But that was the last anyone heard of a revival until this week when writer Brent Forrester was asked in a Reddit AMA for an update. “I am sure Greg Daniels and Mike Judge will murder me for sharing this but… HELL YES,” he wrote. “They are in hot negotiations to bring back King of the Hill. The Trump administration made it suddenly very relevant again. The characters have all aged 15 years. The project is sooooo good. Okay I’ve said too much,” adding a smiley-face emoji for good measure.

King of the Hill ran for 13 seasons and 259 episodes, picking up two Emmys along the way, but there was no steep drop-off in quality. The later seasons gave us Tom Petty as Luanne’s husband Lucky, and for that, we should be forever thankful. We should also be thankful that unlike another long-running animated series on Fox, Texas senator Ted Cruz has never done a Hank Hill impression. At least not on video. I’m sure he does one around his children all the time (when he’s not throwing them under the bus, that is).

Hank and Peggy are both in their early-to-mid 40s and Bobby is 13 on King of the Hill — if the show does come back with the characters all having “aged 15 years,” as Forrester claims, that would be an interesting development. Will Hank have grown more understanding of Bobby in his 60s? Did Hank vote for Trump? What line of work did Bobby end up in? Will he still be voiced by Pamela Adlon? (There’s a plot on her great FX series Better Things where she’s replaced as the voice of the Bobby-like character in the show’s in-universe King of the Hill substitute, Ching of the Mill.)

The only thing I know for sure is: Dale has definitely joined QAnon.

(Via Slashfilm)

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are the big speculative asset of the moment, so anybody who has any sort of digital object that may be of value is trying to cash in. The latest to do so is Nathan Apodaca, aka Dogface, as he is selling his viral Fleetwood Mac TikTok video as an NFT.

TMZ reports that on Friday, the video will go up for auction on NFT marketplace Rarible.com with a starting bid of $500,000. Apodaca apparently plans to use the proceeds to get his parents a house and open an event center in his hometown of Idaho Falls. There’s a catch with this NFT, though: The audio of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” won’t be included in the video and the Ocean Spray logo on the bottle of cranberry juice he drinks will be blurred, since Apodaca doesn’t have the rights to sell either of those things.

For those who aren’t quite sure what an NFT is, it essentially acts as a unique certificate representing ownership of a digital asset. Wikipedia describes them with more detail, writing, “A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unit of data on a digital ledger (a blockchain) where each unit can represent a unique digital item, and thus the units are not interchangeable. NFTs can represent digital files such as digital art, audio, video, and other forms of digital creative work. While the creative works themselves are infinitely copyable, the NFTs representing them are tracked on the blockchain and provide proof of ownership of the NFTs to the buyers.”

Priyanka Chopra is, without hyperbole, one of the most famous actresses in the world. She’s starred in numerous mega-hits in India (the third biggest market by box office revenue, as of 2019) and made a successful transition to Hollywood, including an upcoming role in The Matrix 4. So, when an Australian journalist questioned why she was chosen to announce the Oscar nominations, Chopra quickly corrected him.

“No disrespect to these two but I’m not sure their contribution to the movies qualifies them to be announcing Oscar nominees,” reporter Peter Ford, who refers to himself as “the best & most widely heard entertainment reporter” in Australia and New Zealand, wrote about Chopra and her husband, musician-actor Nick Jonas, being asked to reveal this year’s Oscar nominees on Monday. For one thing, the couple is based in London, so they didn’t have to wake up at 3 a.m. to get ready, like someone in Los Angeles would. It makes sense. Also, one of Chopra’s movies was literally nominated for an Oscar (The White Tiger was is up for Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Ramin Bahrani).

In response to Ford’s misguided tweet, Chopra wrote, “Would love your thoughts on what qualifies someone. Here are my 60+ film credentials for your adept consideration.”

Ford has since made his account private:

Earlier this year, Priyanka shared how she deals with the online vitriol. “I am just like everyone else,” she said. “In the morning when I’m driving to work or I’m having my coffee, I’m flipping through Twitter, Instagram, the news, and when my name pops up, I’m like, ‘Alright, what are people saying? How are we feeling?’ I just don’t react to it or let it affect my mental well-being.”

As for her role in Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix 4, Chopra can’t say much, other than her character is “something you don’t expect. [But] what I can say is I finished filming and it was the first movie I did after lockdown and I’ve never felt safer on a set.”

The Matrix 4 comes out on December 22.

(Via E! Online)

Jimmy Kimmel spent Tuesday night tearing into Donald Trump Jr.’s latest Fox News appearances, in which the “Fraudigal Son” dabbled in peddling QAnon conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden. As the late night host notes, Don Jr.’s main source of contention is that Biden hasn’t addressed the growing scandal involving New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, which Kimmel joked is making Don Jr. angry because Cuomo is “getting close to breaking presidaddy’s all-time sexual misconduct record by an American politician.”

However, things took a conspiratorial turn when Don Jr. said to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that maybe Biden shouldn’t weigh in on the Cuomo issue because he’s “probably not the best person to talk about these things given his history of sniffing children.” That quip is a reference to attacks during the presidential election about Biden being an overly affectionate grandfather type. More importantly, it peddles in dangerous (and false) QAnon theories that Biden, along with Democratic leaders like Hillary Clinton, are part of a secret cabal of pedophiles. Kimmel wasn’t having it.

Via The Daily Beast:

“We want to know what you are sniffing, that’s what we’d like to know,” Kimmel shot back. “If I was you Donny, I’d stuff the word ‘sniffing’ back into the family thesaurus.”

The “sniffing” reference from Kimmel must be a reference to people always noting Don Jr.’s amped-up state and wondering if he needs an intervention. Kimmel also challenged Don Jr.’s accusation that Biden has “the most disastrous first 60 days” of any American president. “Name 10 presidents. Go ahead, we’ll wait,” Kimmel quipped. “I’m working on a new game show for Donald Trump Jr. It’s called ‘Name 10 Presidents and Pee in this Cup.’”

(Via Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Daily Beast)

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s CBS Evening News interview with Oprah was bound to bring fallout, although the resulting tantrums have been… something. Piers Morgan refused to back down from his anti-Meghan stance, stormed off the Good Morning Britain set before quitting the show, and thanked his haters. Then Sharon Osbourne defended Piers and went off the rails on-air while arguing with Sheryl Underwood about why she (Sharon) should have her tears acknowledged after being called out for defending Piers after he was called out for racist remarks. That led to a hiatus (which has now been extended) for The Talk, and yeah, everyone has a take.

Ex-President Trump wants people to know that he’s not a fan of Meghan, and Don Jr.’s climbing aboard the ruckus, too. Mainly, he is very upset (while tagging Piers) about The Talk, which is mildly surprising because it’s not a Fox News program (I kid). “This is getting insane!” Don Jr. tweeted. “Now other shows are being pulled off the air because someone who actually knows someone else doesn’t believe they’re racist simply because someone else accused them of it with no basis simply because he didn’t believe someone else. Got it?!? @piersmorgan”

This was a response to Piers not understanding (and he’s joined by Don Jr. in that lack of understanding) why Sharon’s remarks are being investigated. Sharon addressed the matter with her apology, and it appears that the biggest issue is Sharon’s combative response to Sheryl’s calm expression of her concerns. At the time, Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (the Good Morning Britain regular who called out Piers in the first place) accused Sharon of “weaponizing her whiteness & White woman’s tears” during her on-air confrontation with Sheryl.

More allegations (regarding Sharon’s alleged statements about co-host Julie Chen) have since surfaced against Osbourne, and it remains to be seen when The Talk will return to broadcast. Regardless of what anyone else says, though, Piers Morgan believes that “The REAL scandal is me being branded a racist for refusing to believe a liar.”

He continued to tweet, including this entry: “Memo to all high-profile, insufferably woke, unctuously virtue-signalling, shamefully race-baiting hypocrites: I’m watching, and I will retaliate.”

And Piers also called out Don Lemon (in the below clip) for criticizing his former CNN colleague’s remarks about Piers refusing to believe Meghan Markle’s claims of racist remarks (about her son’s skin color) by an unidentified Royal. Not only that, but Meghan admitted that she felt suicidal during her time with the British Royal Family, which Piers also didn’t believe.

On Tuesday, there was a string of shootings at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area. Eight people died and it is being reported that six of those victims were Asian women, which is causing speculation that the shootings were racially motivated. This news comes in the midst of reports of anti-Asian violence during the coronavirus pandemic.

This is all upsetting news, and now Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner, who was born in South Korea and identifies as Korean, has offered a reaction. Taking to Twitter, she wrote, “We are white adjacent until we are not. Til someone calls us a chink, or mocks an accent, claims we started this virus from eating dogs and bats, attacks our elders, targets and kills us. Dunno wtf it does to say stop AAPI [Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders] hate but it is important to acknowledge this is very real.”

She also re-shared a small collection of insensitive jokes people on Twitter made about the shootings and added, “Like literally f*ck this f*ck you if you have ever made this joke.”

This comes just days after Zauner had one of the biggest experiences of her professional career: Japanese Breakfast made their debut appearance on The Tonight Show on Monday, during which they performed “Be Sweet” and “Jimmy Fallon Big!.”

Donald Trump had one of the least emphatic responses to Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. “She’s no good… I said it and now everybody is seeing it,” ex-advisor Jason Miller claims the former-president told him about the Duchess of Sussex. “You realize if you say anything negative about Meghan Markle you get canceled, look at Piers.” Trump also said that he’s on “team Piers” because he’s “the greatest, and they went and tried to cancel him simply because he criticized Meghan Markle.”

On Tuesday night, Trump was interviewed by Fox News Primetime host Maria Bartiromo, who brought up the rumors of Markle running for president in 2024. “What was your take on Meghan Markle now saying — meeting with Democratic operatives, she may want to run for president?” she asked. Trump replied, “I hope that happens. If that happened, I think I’d have an even stronger feeling toward running.” He added that “I think that what she talks about the royal family and the queen — I happen to think, I know the queen, as you know. I’ve met with the queen and I think the queen is a tremendous person.” Then, once more for emphasis: “And I’m not a fan of Meghan.”

An off-the-record “close friend” of Markle’s told Vanity Fair that “one of the reasons she was so keen not to give up her American citizenship was so she had the option to go into politics. I think if Meghan and Harry ever gave up their titles she would seriously consider running for president.” But Markle faces actor-turned-politician competition from Will Smith and The Rock. The future of the democratic party looks like Peacock’s archive.

(Via the Hill)

Based on the animus that Liam and Noel Gallagher have shown toward each other for years and continue to exhibit, it doesn’t feel like the brothers are gearing up to reunite Oasis any time soon. It does appear the pair is working on something new together, though, and it may even be related to Oasis.

The Sun reports that the brothers have established a company called Kosmic Kyte, which is officially described as being for “motion picture production activities.” Both Gallaghers are listed as being involved with the venture, along with Alec McKinlay, who runs Ignition, the firm that manages them. Given the success of recent biopics about Queen and Elton John, perhaps it’s possible that the duo is eying a movie about Oasis.

There was a hint recently that Liam and Noel might be up to something together, as in December, Liam tweeted at his brother and declared that “2021 is our year.”

In 2017, Liam gave his picks for who would play his brother and himself in a biopic, disparagingly choosing Rowan Atkinson for Noel: “Mr. Bean for Noel, because he’s annoying, isn’t he? You just want to punch his f*cking head in and be like, ‘Stop f*cking about, mate.’” As for himself, his pick is friend, actor, and former Super Furry Animals member Rhys Ifans, saying, “I don’t wanna go down the sexy hunky route, so none of that Tom Hardy nonsense for me. Rhys Ifans would be good for me. He’s a bit out there. Rhys and Mr. Bean. There you go.”

With 5:56 left in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night’s game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the New Orleans Pelicans, Eric Bledsoe hit a shot that put the Pels up, 117-100. It seemed like they were right on track to waltz to a win over a playoff foe in the Western Conference, and then, Damian Lillard happened.

A torrid 25-7 run to end the game, spurred on by Lillard scoring or assisting on 18 of those points, led the Blazers to a 125-124 win. The 50 points Lillard scored were a season-high, and it came on 13-for-20 shooting and an insane 18-for-18 clip from the free throw line. For good measure, Lillard pitched in team-best marks in assists (10) and rebounds (six).

There was very much a meltdown by New Orleans. With 7.2 seconds left and the team up by three, Brandon Ingram got sent to the charity strip for a pair of shots but ended up missing them both. After fouling Lillard on the ensuing possession, the Pelicans got the ball and immediately gave it back on a Nickeil Alexander-Walker turnover.

And then, a ridiculous end of game sequence occurred. Lillard drew a foul while shooting a jumper and, as previously noted, he hit them both. New Orleans was out of timeouts, but ran as reliable of a play as they could: Have Lonzo Ball throw a wild pass to Zion Williamson, who tries to muscle his way through someone and score. It almost worked thanks to Ball dropping a dime, but Robert Covington provided enough resistance to keep the shot from going in.

NBA players were enamored with how things played out, unsurprisingly.

In a pair of fun extra notes, Lillard moved into a tie with LeBron James for the seventh-most career 50-point games, while the Blazers joined elite company for their consistency at the free throw line.

The two teams will play one another on Wednesday in the second night of a back-to-back.