Fans of the cult classic film Scott Pilgrim Vs The World were in for some good news earlier this month when director Edgar Wright revealed the impending release of an all-new expanded soundtrack. The new soundtrack includes Brie Larson‘s cover of Metric’s “Black Sheep,” and fans are loving it so much that the song landed on Billboard charts this week.
Per a report from Billboard, Larson’s “Black Sheep” cover, which she performed as her sultry character Envy Adams, is charting over a decade after its initial release. In the week ending June 10, “Black Sheep” debuted at No. 7 on both the Rock Digital Song Sales and Alternative Digital Song Sales charts with 2,000 downloads sold. It also entered Billboard‘s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart at No. 34, thanks to achieving over one million streams.
This marks the second time Larson has had a song on the Billboard charts. In 2005, she made her singing debut with the album Finally Out of P.E., which featured the song “She Said.” Larson was only 15 at the time, and “She Said” reached No. 31 on the Hot Singles Sales chart that year.
The expanded soundtrack’s release is meant to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the film. Wright initially celebrated the occasion by releasing a never-before-seen version of the film to theaters back in April. “I suspect that if you’re a fan of the movie, you’re going to get such a kick out of seeing it like this,” he said at the time.
Ahead of the soundtrack’s announcement, Larson revealed that her Scott Pilgrim character’s voice was actually inspired by the Adult Video Awards:
“The only thing that was there was a description that said, a husky non-Ramona voice. I didn’t even know who Ramona was. This is the truth and it’s really crazy. So I was staying up way too late flipping through the channels, and I stumbled on the Adult Video Awards and I was watching the red carpet and I was watching these women with this like confidence… and I was like, that’s it. That’s what I’m gonna do.”
Listen to Larson perform Metric’s “Black Sheep” above.
A day after featuring on XXL‘s 2021 Freshman list, DDG releases the latest single from his Die 4 Respect mixtape with hitmaking producer OG Parker. “Hood Melody,” which features a rattling, melancholy beat and contemplative, observational lyrics from the Pontiac native, backgrounds a video that finds DDG obsessing over all of the violent ends he can meet.
Although the song features a guest verse from perpetually troubled Baton Rouge rapper Youngboy Never Broke Again, the man himself was not available for the video shoot as he’s currently in custody after being arrested for felony firearm possession in Los Angeles in March. Youngboy was denied bail after prosecutors successfully argued that he would be a danger to the community and a flight risk. He was previously arrested on similar charges in his native Louisiana and has been connected with a fatal shooting in Miami in 2019, as well as avoiding prison time for kidnapping and aggravated assault after being caught on camera attacking his then-girlfriend at a hotel in Georgia.
DDG, on the other hand, has a bright future ahead of him thanks to appearances with Dame D.O.L.L.A. on the NBA star’s “Stuntin On You‘ video and the extended rollout of the Die 4 Respect mixtape, which included the Coi Leray-featuring “Impatient” video.
Watch DDG’s “Hood Melody” video above.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Anthony Rizzo says it’s too early to look at the standings and zero in on any one team. The Chicago Cubs first baseman is right, and for baseball fans it’s a glorious sentiment. After a very weird, oftentimes troubling season of baseball amid unprecedented conditions, summer is finally here and ballparks are getting back to normal.
The Cubs star admitted that things just weren’t the same with baseball amid the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. And with cases down, many parks back at full capacity and crowd noise no longer manufactured by a computer, there’s plenty of reason to be excited about the summer ahead.
Rizzo spoke with Uproxx by phone on behalf of BODYARMOR and talked about his stint on the mound this season, staying hydrated and teaching lessons to young baseball fans with the help of ballpark nachos.
Last season was part of a pretty weird year for everybody, things are not totally back to normal but just having people in the ballpark again and feeling a bit more normal must be great. How has this season been so far?
Yeah, it’s amazing. It makes all the difference in the world to have fans in the stands and seeing them enjoy things. Going out to a sporting event and enjoying it, having fun. Getting back to normal definitely helps us with our daily grind.
I wanted to ask about the process of getting ready for the season. As guys are in the league longer, some of their routines change and they add things. Maybe there’s more prep or routines. Has that happened with you? Even with little things like stretching and maybe the mental preparation for the game?
Yeah you really have to rely on your routine. Routine is everything with what you do, fans, no fans. Whoever is pitching, it doesn’t matter. Your routine is the number one thing.
And then when you get out there the energy is just different, having fans back at the ballpark. So it’s been really nice.
You’ve had an interesting season already: you appeared for the Cubs as a pitcher and then got added to MLB The Show as a reliever. Have you had the chance to pitch as yourself in the game?
I have not played my self in the game. If I played The Show, I’d definitely be pitching as myself. That’s hilarious, it’s awesome.
Yeah, pitching was fun. Obviously when you’re getting blown out you can make the team smile a bit and try to wash the loss. It helps. But doing things you don’t normally do on the baseball field is fun and you just try to enjoy it, enjoy the moment.
The story of the year it seems has been pitching, and obviously hitting is down. There are a lot of reasons for that, but are things different as far as approaching pitchers when it seems everyone is throwing gas, everyone has movement. Has your approach as a batter changed this year?
Yeah, guys are definitely throwing harder and throwing sharper breaking balls and all of the above. Approach-wise, you try to take your shots early. And me, I don’t like striking out, so I choke up and try to put the ball in play and let things happen. Of course, across the league averages are down. But, it’s still early.
I know you’re working with BodyArmor and it seems as I get older I notice more how important hydration is for me and feeling right. What’s working with them done to your understanding of your body and what it needs?
One hundred percent. That is definitely as you get older a big part of the routine. Making sure you’re hydrated properly, and not with just anything. With BodyArmor it is amazing with the natural ingredients in there, the coconut water, the antioxidants. I know when I’m drinking that as part of my routine, I’m going to be hydrated. Mix that with water, it’s just the right combination. But it definitely helps me stay on the field and keep everything in line with the body. If you slip for a day or two, it catches up with you.
I had to laugh when I saw your dog doing some promotional work for you on Instagram. Was that photo shoot impromptu? That was some good branding right there.
[laughs] Oh yeah, that’s his favorite toy. We buy him all these toys from the store but the BodyArmor water bottles, that’s his go-to no matter what. Whenever I drink them he always gives me the side-eye because he wants to play with it. He knows to wait until we’re finished because then we’ll throw it to him and he just loves bringing it back and playing fetch with it.
I wanted to ask about your nachos encounter earlier in the year with a fan. I know you couldn’t eat the nachos because of the rules at the time but I wanted to get your take on what you called a “teaching lesson” when reporters asked you about it.
Yeah, the kid had a sign and said if I signed a ball for him he’d give me nachos. So I signed the ball and he came down and just expected me to give him the ball and no nachos. So I had to teach him this isn’t how it works, if I do something for you, you need to have him ready for me. But I ended up giving him the ball and got some nachos a couple innings later.
That’s always a nice interaction, right? Just the randomness that’s in baseball. Something that was maybe missing last year, but when things like that happen it’s got to make you feel a little more normal, right?
Yeah, everything seems to be going really back to normal. Having the interactions back with fans, it goes a long way. It definitely helps us get back to the daily routine, the grind. Being without this a time, and having those interactions back and staying loose and having fun is always helpful in the long run.
I wanted to ask about settling into a pennant race. It’s been a while since there’s been a long season to settle into playing divisional teams a bunch. Are you starting to learn things about teams like the Cardinals or Brewers or is it still too early to really focus on teams ahead of you or behind you in the race?
Not really. I think the focus is on the Chicago Cubs and what’s going on here. The other teams are really good. The Cardinals, the Pirates who we are playing, they put the ball in play. You don’t really focus on one team, even if they’re ahead of you and you need to catch them. It’s way too early to be locking in on that just yet.
After one month of play, three teams have emerged as frontrunners for the 2021 WNBA championship, but it’s been a competitive-as-hell start to the year for the whole league. Less than two games separate fourth place from 11th, as the playoff race figures to be wild as the season wears on.
There’s a lot of basketball left to play, too, even though we’re one-third of the way through the season. Things could change a lot as injuries have dictated the standings to this point. Elena Delle Donne, Diana Taurasi, Bria Hartley, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Howard, Nneka Ogwumike, Aerial Powers, and more are sidelined for extended time. Any of their returns could shake the league’s hierarchy.
For now though, let’s rank all 12 teams while factoring in who they’ve been missing and who they’ve played against.
1. Seattle Storm (11-2)
The Storm are rolling. Despite losing Alysha Clark and Howard in the offseason, the Big Three of Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird are having no issue tearing apart the league all over again. Their only two losses have come to the Wings at the buzzer and to the Aces. After splitting two games against Vegas, Seattle will have a chance to solidify their top spot in the rankings with a third game on June 27.
2. Las Vegas Aces (9-3)
It took a minute, but the Aces are starting to look exactly like the team we were all afraid of before the start of the season — even without All-Star Angel McCoughtry. A’ja Wilson has improved since her 2020 MVP campaign, Liz Cambage is asserting herself in the post, Chelsea Gray is handling point, Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum are boosting the bench, and even 2019 No. 1 pick Jackie Young is starring in her role. Vegas is tough, and the team’s only three losses are to the Storm and Sun (twice).
3. Connecticut Sun (8-3)
The Sun lost their top spot in the power rankings to no fault of their own. MVP frontrunner Jonquel Jones is competing for Bosnia and Herzegovina at EuroBasket and will miss 4-6 games. In their first try without her, the Storm blew the Sun out by 23 points in Connecticut. The schedule won’t get any easier either for them against the surging Chicago Sky in three of their next four games. If the Sun skid, don’t expect them to stay down. JJ will be back.
4. Chicago Sky (5-7)
The Sky are a powerhouse in disguise as a sub-.500 group. The key stat here being the team’s record with Candace Parker (4-0) vs. without her (1-7). It turns out having one of the game’s best talents is really important! Since her ankle sprain, Parker’s had one shaky game and then two dominant ones, including a comfortable win over the Lynx. In her last two showings, she’s scored 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting with 21 rebounds, 11 assists and nine turnovers. She’s on the rise, and should only get more comfortable with her new teammates over time.
5. Dallas Wings (5-6)
A relatively narrow seven-point defeat to the Aces on the road spoiled a three-game winning streak that included a pair of wins over the Mercury and a major upset over the Storm. But the Wings still deserve top-5 recognition if you include their body of work. Allisha Gray has only played in six games, and Satou Sabally has only appeared in five. Dallas might not have hit its peak yet.
6. Minnesota Lynx (4-6)
The Lynx failed their big test against the Sky, losing by 16 points on Tuesday, but are much improved since the return of Napheesa Collier. Injuries to Aerial Powers and Natalie Achonwa, who are both out indefinitely, won’t help Minnesota climb out of the hole the team’s in, but the Lynx now have the star-power to push back to the top of the standings. They play Dallas twice and Atlanta once in their next three games.
7. New York Liberty (6-5)
The Liberty have lost four of their last five, but missing both Ionescu an Howard is an easy enough explanation for why. Three of those four games were also against the Aces and Sun (with Jones). New York’s schedule doesn’t get any easier as the team plays the Aces again and then the Sky twice in their next four games. If Ionescu can’t return by then, they could slide further.
8. Atlanta Dream (5-6)
The Dream are a tough team to figure out for as long as Chennedy Carter’s sidelined, but losing the last four-of-five makes it tough to put them much higher than eighth. A 23-point blowout win against the Mystics might’ve brought out a few believers, but they’ll need to play more consistently. At this rate, Atlanta is likely going to battle for one of the last playoff seeds.
9. Phoenix Mercury (5-7)
The Mercury are missing both Hartley and Taurasi, but they’ve dropped four straight games including one to the Liberty, who were without Ionescu, and one to the Sparks, who were without both Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike. It’s time to at least be a little worried about Phoenix, which hasn’t solved the depth problems that limited them last season or the one before.
10.Washington Mystics (4-6)
News that Elena Delle Donne could sit until August is super discouraging, but Tina Charles is having a season to remember, and deserves a ton of praise for keeping D.C. afloat. Being the only team to lose to the Fever, and then getting blown out by 23 points to the Dream is tough, though. Don’t write them off yet. If Delle Donne returns and if Natasha Cloud and Sydney Wiese can get back to full health, the Mystics could still be a threat.
11. Los Angeles Sparks (5-5)
The Sparks are 3-2 over their last five games, which is as good as they could’ve hoped for without either Ogwumike sister. Two of those wins came against the Parker-less Sky and the slumping Fever, though the win over Phoenix on Wednesday was impressive. Hopefully, Nneka and Chiney will return soon enough for L.A. to stay in competition for a playoff spot.
12. Indiana Fever (1-12)
Yeah. Few games have even been close. It might be time for young players to get more opportunities so the franchise can assess what the future could look like for a team that’s missed the playoffs ever year since 2017.
Anyone with eyes on the musical landscape in 2021 may have noticed a familiar sound beginning to re-emerge from the nostalgic era of the 2000s: Pop-punk is officially back. As artists like MGK, Olivia Rodrigo, and Willow Smith embrace the once-dormant genre, its face is also starting to change thanks to newcomers such as KennyHoopla, who stopped by Uproxx Studios to perform his 2020 Travis Barker-produced standout “Estella” for this week’s episode of UPROXX Sessions.
Kenny Hoopla, who hails from Cleveland, OH, was part of the 2016 wave of breakout artists who built massive followings on SoundCloud. He released his major-label debut EP How Will I Rest In Peace If I’m Buried By A Highway? in 2020, following up with Survivors Guilt: The Mixtape in collaboration with Barker earlier this month, led by the single “Hollywood Sucks.” Later this year, he’s billed to tour both the US and the UK with MGK and Yungblud, respectively.
Watch KennyHoopla’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “Estella” above.
UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross,UPROXX Sessionsis a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
Just days before their big E3 press conference, Microsoft seemed to be removing themselves from the “console wars” by announcing they were moving beyond consoles while focusing on cloud gaming. It’s a move from Microsoft that may have seemed shortsighted to outsiders. But the truth is the company has been going down this road for a while, and E3 served as the nail in the coffin for the idea of what Xbox used to be while ushering in a brighter future.
The PS5 is the better-selling system, building on the exclusive-fueled successes of the past generation. In response, Xbox opted to purchase developers big and small in order to form the next generation of Xbox exclusives. This decision is finally bearing fruit, making this E3 a potential turning point for them. Microsoft clearly realized they were fighting the wrong battle, and so they took a big swing marrying these software gains with what might be their most powerful tool: Xbox Game Pass.
A subscription service often likened to the “Netflix for games,” Game Pass been the ace-in-the-hole Xbox needed while it struggled through the last generation. An extremely affordable subscription service (coming in between $10-$15 a month), it gives members every Xbox exclusive title and a rotating selection of third-party games ranging from the tiniest indie to GTA V. And it was the healthy beating heart of a 2021 E3 showcase that blew the virtual doors off, generating the buzz Microsoft has been building to for some years now.
Kicked off by the reveal of Bethesda’s long-in-development Starfield, the conference (which I’m just dubbing the “Xbox Game Pass Showcase”) offered looks at about 30 games all coming to Xbox and PC right at launch. Fans got a little bit of everything, from platformers like Psychonauts 2, coming this August, to hardcore survival games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chernobyl, which is apparently coming next year in April. And these are just some of the exclusives from which they offered previews. The diverse lineup of heavy-hitters coming through the end of this year alone includes Microsoft Flight Simulator coming to console, Forza Horizon 5, and of course, Halo Infinite.
This is all before touching on third-party and indie titles that are going to be dropping left and right on Game Pass over the next few months. Back 4 Blood, a highly anticipated successor to Left 4 Dead, is coming to Game Pass at launch in October. Next summer, Game Pass is set to receive Redfall, the exciting co-op game from Arkane Austin. Starting this summer and stretching into the fall (and likely beyond even this), Game Pass has gone ahead and secured indie darlings Twelve Minutes, Sable, and last year’s award-winning Hades, which is finally coming to both Xbox and PlayStation.
While PlayStation may have the leg up in player base, anyone with Game Pass can get access to that and virtually everything else that appeared at the show. That’s a hell of a deal and focusing on that is a sound strategy that made for a show less and less about trying to sell any one game (such as Halo Infinite, which was there, but not the headline). Maybe Microsoft realizes it doesn’t need to follow the old blueprint or be coy anymore. It doesn’t have a console generation to lose anymore, it’s blazing its own path. It can afford to be brazen and take shots at PlayStation’s approach to PC games while making it look absolutely effortless to do the same.
Game Pass has existed for years and been a relative success, but this cavalcade of imminent launches looks to be kicking off a reinvention around the long-teased evolution of how we should be playing games with a focus on instant or near-instant availability and most everything you could possibly want at your fingertips.
To be sure, this also opens up questions about whether the curatorial effort that’s made Game Pass so attractive will give way to a kind of bloat or algorithmic curation that can make this kind of thing feel less special and make it less likely for players to explore the more interesting choices that get lost in the shuffle. Right now, though, we’re in that exciting early phase, like Netflix a few years ago when they were giving us all the content. Xbox finally has the games to prove it has a greater range than Halo and Gears of War, which became their very stale bread and butter over the last two decades.
Alongside that, Xbox now has the platform and reach to get their games to tons of people and they’re actively building the tech to increase that even further. After 20 years, the brand is finally getting diverse and smart, and I think it’s not only exactly what they needed, but clearly what’s really working for them.
Game Pass may have been a gambit, but it’s now one that’s powering the future of Xbox. Here’s hoping it can cash the big checks it is writing.
Who “won” E3? Well, if the numbers have anything to say about it, Nintendo did — and by a lot. According to data collection group Stream Hatchet, Nintendo’s E3 Direct was the most watched showcase of the entire four-day event, reaching a staggering 3.1 million peak viewers. The next closest, the Xbox and Bethesda showcase, sits at 2.3 million peak viewers, 800,000 less than the Mario-makers themselves. Xbox is then followed by Ubisoft, with 1.4 million, Square Enix with 1.3 million, and Devolver Digital, with 1.1 million.
The top developer conferences of #E32021 by peak viewers:
While all these numbers might just seem like, well… numbers, they actually give us a lot more information apart from who is E3 2021’s big “winner.” Following E3’s numerous blunders in recent years, the conference’s cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, and the emergence of Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest, many folks were wondering what E3 2021 might look like and, more importantly, if it would still command the same respect and viewership it did in the past. Turns out, it absolutely does.
According to statistics provided by Twinfinite, E3 2021 reached over double the viewers that E3 2019 did, with 2019’s most-viewed conference, the Xbox Showcase, capping off at 1.5 million viewers. Furthermore, back in 2019 Nintendo only reached 728,000 viewers, which seems wild considering their powerhouse status in gaming. This just goes to show how much hype for a new Legend of Zelda title, paired with the surge of Nintendo popularity following Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s release, has elevated the developer in recent years. It’s also worth noting that the strange n’ scrappy Devolver has now surpassed the PC Gaming Show to be in the top five most-watched E3 conferences, and is only slightly behind the folks at Ubisoft and Square Enix. So, while E3 might not look the same, it now feels safe to say the conference isn’t going away anytime in the near future.
One of bourbon’s most elusive styles is the unique “four-grain” expression. Standard bourbon tends to be a mix of majority corn, with rye and malted barley cast as supporting characters in the mash bill (recipe). Then there’s wheated bourbon which jettisons the rye and replaces it with, you guessed it, wheat.
Four-grain bourbons bridge those two worlds by keeping both the rye and wheat, along with the malted barley, to support the majority-corn mash bill. (Sometimes other grains are used instead of rye or wheat; we’ll get to that.) Typically, four-grain bourbon is made by having all four grains in the mash; other times, it’s achieved by blending rye bourbons with wheated ones. The result is a complex spirit that deserves to be savored.
To give these expressions some love, we dug deep into our tasting books to pull out ten four-grain bourbons that have grabbed our attention. Most of these bourbons are going to be a little harder to find but the prices aren’t too dire (thankfully the bourbon hype machine hasn’t latched onto the style… yet). We’re basically looking at a $40 to $80 range, depending on where you’re living. If you’re lucky, you might be able to snag one of these bottles in your area by clicking on the prices below.
New York’s Tuthilltown Spirits and Hudson Whiskey has become a bit of a classic in the craft distilling world. This expression is made with the standard corn, wheat, rye, and barley in the mash. The hot juice is then aged in small-format three-gallon barrels. For context, the average American whiskey barrel is 53 gallons. This concentrated interaction between the whiskey and the wood speeds up the maturation process and, naturally, intensifies it.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this bounces between orange zest, eggnog, and cream soda with a hint of dried wood chips that are weirdly stale. That orange lingers on the tongue as a cinnamon toast vibe arrives next to a minty tobacco that leads towards a final dark chocolate feel at the back of the throat. The end takes its time and circles back to that slice of cinnamon toast but it’s the mint tobacco that sticks with you the longest.
Bottom Line:
This isn’t really going to be for everyone and that’s kind of the point. There’s a lot to take in but it all makes sense. Though, we’d definitely recommend pouring this over a rock first to calm it down a little.
Black Button Four Grain Small-Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Staying in New York for a moment, Rochester’s Black Button is putting out one of the more interesting four-grains at the moment. The mash is only 60 percent corn that’s supported by 20 percent wheat, eleven percent barley, and nine percent rye. The bottle doesn’t carry an age statement but it is “small-batch.”
Tasting Notes:
You’re drawn into this one with a rich and buttery toffee next to soft and sweet peach with a light touch of old leather and pine. The palate holds onto the sweetness while adding in a layer of vanilla ice cream cut with salted caramel stripes as a line of walnut oat cookies dries out the otherwise light sip. The fade is longish and brings about a mild rye peppery spice that lingers and overwhelms that sweetness finally.
Bottom Line:
This feels like it was built to remind you that while it’s still bourbon, there’s complexity in this juice. It’s not so much that the build of this blend is obvious or trying to fit too much in, it’s more that you’re very aware that four distinct grains are in play.
A.D. Laws out in Colorado could have filled this list. The distillery is renowned for its award-winning four-grain bourbons. This, to us, is the most accessible of the bunch. The juice is made from 60 percent corn, 20 percent heirloom wheat, ten percent heirloom rye, and ten percent heirloom malted barley. That hot juice is then aged for over six years before it’s batched and cut down to 100 proof per bonded whiskey laws.
Tasting Notes:
This feels more crafty on the nose with a balance between bitter black tea that’s been cut with a summer-y and floral honey as touches of cinnamon and orange pop in the background. The orange and spice thickens and leans into an orange pound cake with a buttery and spicy streusel crumble as that black tea bitterness circles back to cut through all that butter, spice, and orange. The end leans into the spice with more of a cinnamon candy vibe that leads towards a final dusting of dark cocoa.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid bottled-in-bond that also happens to be a great example of four-grain bourbon. It’s a pretty easy sipper overall but really shines as a cocktail base thanks to the slightly higher ABVs.
Buffalo Trace’s E.H. Taylor line rarely disappoints. This expression has the usual corn, wheat, rye, and barley base but Buffalo Trace doesn’t release the exact mash bill. What we do know is that this one is aged for over 12 years before it’s batched, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
That salted caramel and vanilla ice cream is front and center on the nose with a light hint of kettle corn and maybe a whisper of pipe tobacco smoke. The taste really leans into the vanilla and caramel as a fruity base arrives with a mix of red berries and pear swimming in vanilla cream next to an old cedar tobacco box. The end has this whisper of peppery spice that’s way more powdery white pepper than freshly cracked black pepper.
Bottom Line:
This is really complex yet very subtle. There are no rough edges and the dram doesn’t need any water to cool the warmer end down. It’s just … interesting. Intriguing. Tough to pin down. All in ways that will have you going back for more.
Penelope Bourbon is a blending house that pulls in barrels from MGP Indiana to create their line of whiskeys. This entry-point expression from the brand is a blend of three bourbons that equates to a mash bill of 75 percent corn, 15 percent wheat, seven percent rye, and only three percent barley. The bourbons are aged two to three years before Penelope starts tinkering with the final blend.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet corn is still very present on the nose with hints of pancake syrup and vanilla pancakes with a touch of salt. A bright and sweet red cherry drives the palate as notes of wet cedar, soft leather, and vanilla tobacco lingers in the background. The corn makes a comeback late with a grainy sweetness as the tobacco warms up but doesn’t necessarily get spicy on the fairly quick fade.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid example of MGP’s bourbons that feels like it was built specifically to be a mixing bourbon.
Davidson Reserve Four Grain Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Davidson Reserve took a different route on their four-grain bourbon. The lion’s share of this batch is their wheated bourbon which is 60 percent Tennessee corn, 22 percent Tennessee red winter wheat, and 18 percent malted barley. That’s cut with their 100 percent rye whiskey and their signature Tennessee Whiskey (which is made with 70 percent Tennessee white corn, 25 percent Tennessee white cereal rye, and five percent barley).
The result is a four-grain bourbon that’s all about the craft.
Tasting Notes:
This is a rich scoop of real vanilla ice cream that’s drizzled with a buttery salted caramel that drips all over your hand as you hold the waffle cone. The taste holds onto the sweetness with a date-rich sticky toffee pudding with plenty of allspice and Earl Grey tea next to ripe plums and a dry dark chocolate button at the end. The finish dries out those Earl Grey tea leaves and the sip gets fatty, kind of like an apple bacon schmalz spread on a piece of dark rye.
Bottom Line:
This is just a fascinating sip. It’s not really like anything I’ve had before, while still reminding me of something comforting. That’s an interesting magic trick to pull off in a glass of bourbon.
Woodford Reserve is in the interesting position of already bottling a bourbon whiskey, wheat whiskey, malted barley whiskey, and rye whiskey. So as an experiment, they created their four-grain whiskey by combining barrels from each of those expressions. Technically, that makes this a blended American whiskey. But this was Woodford’s official release for last year’s Bourbon Heritage Month, so it gets a pass from us.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of Graham Crackers on the nose with a touch of dry cedar and a little drop of creamy eggnog. The palate picks up on those spices and leans into clove as drops of dried and candied fruits and citrus mingle with a savory fruit note and a touch of caramel chews. The finish is medium-length and hints at a dry cedar box that’s filled with apple tobacco leaves and a little hint of vanilla blossom.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the easiest drinking whiskey on the list. Each flavor is concise and pulls your attention for just long enough to enjoy until the next note comes along.
New Southern Revival Bourbon Whiskey Made with Four Grains
This South Carolina craft distiller does four-grain its own way and keeps the grain-to-glass experience very local. The juice is rendered from heirloom white corn, red winter wheat, malted barley, and Carolina Gold rice bran. That last ingredient makes this an outlier from all the rye on this list.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a cherry spiked vanilla ice cream on the nose that leads towards a sort of honey-roasted almond and a very distant billow of hickory smoke. The palate really amps up the creaminess of the vanilla while the nuttiness goes full pecan pie with plenty of buttery crust and Caro corn syrup, helping this feel very “southern.” The end is silky soft with hints of the nuts, creamy vanilla, and delicate cherry all making an appearance on the slow fade.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those drams that can catch you off guard. It’s very mellow while also packing in fairly bold flavor notes. Still, there’s nothing rough or hot on this sip, making it very agreeable.
We’re back in Colorado and we’re still eschewing rye in the mash bill with this whiskey. The juice is made from a mix of 65 percent Colorado corn, 20 percent San Luis red spring wheat, ten percent cold-smoked oats, and five percent roasted barley that’s boiled in a mash over a fire-heated pot still.
The juice then goes into lightly charred oak for a two-year rest in a rickhouse sitting about 8,000 feet above sea level in the Rockies.
Tasting Notes:
Those oats come through on the nose with a dry edge but it’s the nuttiness that really draws you in with an Almond Roca vibe. The palate has a slight cinnamon cake feel next to more nuttiness, a hint of wet oak, marshmallow char, and powdered hot chocolate. The finish is young and short and really leans into the cocoa powder and nuts with a dollop of spicy warmth.
Bottom Line:
Deerhammer is well-known for its single malts. This foray into four-grain bourbon is an interesting entry that’s sure to get more and more dialed in as years go by. Still, it’s a fascinating dram to try now to see where it all starts.
Smooth Ambler Contradiction is a blend of two whiskeys that make it a four-grain bourbon. The first bourbon is a sourced whiskey with a corn, rye, and barley base. The second bourbon is Smooth Ambler’s own wheated bourbon, made on their West Virginia stills. The average age of the whiskeys in the blend is nine years old and only 50,000 bottles are produced each year.
Tasting Notes:
Apples stewed in holiday spices, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla counterpoint a cherry cream on the nose. The taste has a thin line of cedar next to a rye bread crust and old leather tobacco pouches with a touch of cherry soda. The peppery spice kicks in late as the whole sip thickens and warms towards a tobacco buzz end.
Bottom Line:
This is an interesting expression that feels like a wheated bourbon and high-rye bourbon are fighting it out in the glass. It’s a slugfest and you kind of want both of them to win.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
Four-time Grammy Award-winning singer HER is just days away from the release of her highly anticipated album Back Of My Mind. The 21-track effort features collaborations with the likes of Ty Dolla Sign, Lil Baby, and DJ Khaled, but with her new single “My Own,” HER exemplifies her powerful solo songwriting.
The subdued beat on “My Own” gives HER the chance to showcase her emotive vocals. A reverberating bass underscores her sultry delivery as HER sings of the difficulty of getting over an ex while also recognizing the self growth that inevitably comes with it.
“I didn’t wanna pull out all my tricks at once. My first few [releases] were just a small piece of who I am musically, and it was a matter of time before I could reveal others. I’ve always been a huge fan of Coldplay and Led Zeppelin and Radiohead and alternative and rock and blues, but it wasn’t until this album that I started digging into those other elements and bringing them to R&B.”
Listen to “My Own” above and check out HER’s full conversation with Varietyhere.
Back Of My Mind is out 6/18 via MBK Entertainment/RCA Records. Pre-order it here.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Noted critic of Scientology Leah Remini, who broke away from the organization (many call it a “cult”) in 2013 after being raised as a second-generation member, previously published a bestselling memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. She also hosted three seasons of the Emmy-award winning docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, for A&E. Leah has also celebrated the demise of Scientology-related coverups with the filing of rape charges against Danny Masterson (after years of the cases being allegedly buried) while declaring, “This is just the beginning. Scientology, your days of getting away with it is coming to an end!”
Well, the L. Ron Hubbard-founded organization, which has been the subject of many allegations of human rights violations, hasn’t stood quietly for the criticism, which won’t surprise anyone who’s familiar with the organization’s “Fair Game” doctrine, by which the org retaliates against its critics (who they call “suppressive persons”) without mercy. The Daily Beast has published a not-surprising-but-still-disturbing new report that details (through text messages revealed in a lawsuit) how Scientology goons followed Remini and her good friend, Jennifer Lopez, around while the pair was in New York City and shooting a movie.
The Beast (in a piece by heavyweight Scientology critic Tony Ortega) details how two ex-cops, Yanti “Mike” Greene (formerly of the NYPD) and Saul Roth (formerly a Nassau County cop) did the organization’s bidding. The information unraveled via texts (which are now in the court record of a related lawsuit) from Greene to associated private investigators. The suit in question was filed by David M. Smith, who alleges that Greene raped his wife in May 2018. All of this sounds like an atrocious mess, but here are some of the alleged texts as revealed in the lawsuit:
“I’ve been on it for 4 days now. We got her last night but then lost her,” Greene texted.
“Why are we following her?” Roth asked.
Greene was initially circumspect: “Basically the client just wants to know her movements and locations. I don’t have any more details as to why and who.”
“Could be matrimonial,” he added, throwing Roth off the scent.
But then Roth indicated that he’d Googled Remini, and Greene knew what he’d find.
“Or Scientologists,” Greene added.
“She quit,” Roth texted.
Ortega also writes more about how Greene played dumb, and Remini was aware:
Remini was well aware that she was being followed by private investigators in unmarked cars around New York that December.
She told me as much at the time, and by March 2018 the two of us had figured out that Greene was the one following her in a silver van with Texas plates, and according to Remini had nearly caused Remini’s driver to have a collision.
When I got him on the phone, Greene claimed he didn’t know who Leah Remini was.
You can read the full piece at The Daily Beast. Meanwhile, Remini is not fearful of speaking out. She previously revealed how Scientology officials pushed back when she inquired why Cruise was their “poster child” when he was bouncing on Oprah’s couch and torching psychiatry. Remini said that she was then penalized “because Tom Cruise is considered a messiah in Scientology,” and she counters that Tom’s not “this super-nice guy” like people believe, a sentiment that she echoed while accusing Tom of a publicity stunt after his COVID-protocol tirade on the Mission: Impossible 7 set.
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