Stay with us here. As the Republican primary for an Ohio senate seat heats up, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance has been targeted by campaign ads questioning his loyalty to Donald Trump. You’d just assume that Trump’s ego would appreciate the fact that showing sufficient fealty to him has become a litmus test for Republican candidates. Loyalty to Trump is now a prerequisite for the GOP, and that’s normally the sort of thing the former president would eat up. Not this time.
The ads from the Club for Growth conservative group attack Vance for being a “Never Trumper” back in 2016, but by doing so, they also dredge up some of the insults he hurled at Trump, who demanded that the ads be taken down. Via Politico:
The commercials attacked Vance by using footage of him from 2016, when he described himself as a “Never Trump guy” and called Trump an “idiot,” “noxious” and “offensive.” The message was designed to hurt Vance in a Republican primary centered on fealty toward the former president. Vance, like others in the race, has cast himself as a staunch Trump ally.
But according to three people briefed on the call, Trump told McIntosh the commercials could have the effect of driving down his popularity in Ohio, which he won by 8 percentage points in the 2020 election.
To be clear, Trump’s concern was not about the effect that the ads would have on Vance, who has gone overboard showing the required deference to the former president. No, Trump’s concern is that the ads might make him look bad and hurt his reelection chances in 2024. That’s what loyalty to Trump gets you.
When winter winds leave you chilled to the bone, you’re going to need something to help warm you up. Sexy sauna trip, anyone? Of course, when hopping in a sauna isn’t viable you might want to reach for something a little more accessible. In which case… may we interest you in some high-ABV, warming, spiced barleywine?
For the newbies, barleywines aren’t wines at all. They’re strong ales (with wine-like ABVs) that are known for their malty, warming, fruity, caramel, toffee, and Christmas spice flavors. They’re often enjoyed slowly in a snifter while letting the warmth of your hand slightly heat the beer while opening up the various levels of flavor. They’re perfectly complemented by a warm, fleece blanket, and a roaring fireplace.
Unlike lagers and IPAs, you actually might have to search to find a great barleywine. Lucky for you, we asked a handful of brewers, beer professionals, and craft beer experts to shout out their favorite barleywines to drink this winter. Keep scrolling to see all of their picks.
I would drink Dogfish Head’s Olde School every evening if I could. Weighing in at 15 percent ABV and fermented with dates and figs, this barleywine is one of the first beers I remember obsessing over. It has a complex fruity aroma, warms you as you drink it, and only gets better as it ages.
Revolution Straight Jacket
Revolution
Dave Colt, co-founder and head brewer at Sun King Brewery in Indianapolis
My pick is Revolution Brewing’s Straight Jacket. It’s a bourbon barrel-aged barleywine that features American and Belgian malts that lend a hand to the molasses, vanilla, and toasted coconut aromas.
Perennial Vermilion
Perennial Ales
Stephen Hale, founding brewer at Schlafly Beer in St. Louis
Perennial Artisan Ales Vermilion Barleywine is the one I’d go with. It lives up to its name. It’s rich, lustrous, and just what one needs during barleywine season. If you can find it, definitely grab a bottle or two and stock up for the winter months.
I love Royal Oil from Bull & Bush. It’s one of the best and easily available examples of barleywine in Colorado. With notes of raisins, toffee, caramelized figs with a slight hint of sherry, it’s a quintessential barrel-aged barleywine that doesn’t overpower the barrel.
This is one of Colorado’s best-kept secrets.
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Sierra Nevada
Brad Bergman, director of brewing at Sycamore Brewing in Charlotte, North Carolina
I gravitate toward drier barleywines that are more hop-forward but still have that malt complexity that’s a barleywine’s signature. Bigfoot Barleywine by Sierra Nevada hits those notes for me. I’ve had a few verticals of it and it ages well. Though when fresh, it borders on being a malty DIPA. The sweet malt notes are present but subdued versus many others out there, and the big punchy hop flavors bring everything together for me.
Firestone Walker Helldorado is a barrel-aged barleywine with the gravitas that few breweries bring to making beer. It’s more English than American in style. It’s darker in color, rich with toffee, caramel, oak, and vanilla. It’s warming without the alcohol burn.
Firestone Walker has always been an inspiration to us in showing just how good straightforward beers can be without any novelty or fluff to them.
Anchor Old Foghorn is a favorite and one of the first barleywines that I enjoyed back in the 1990s at Father’s Office in Santa Monica, California where they would often have all of Anchor’s beers on tap — a rare sight back in the day. The English-style barleywine with its deep malt, toffee, and raisin character is best served a touch warm and in a snifter glass allowing it to open up showcasing its complexity.
J.W. Lee’s Harvest Ale would be my pick. No one does barleywine better, and none ever will. In my opinion, it’s the absolute pinnacle of English barleywine. It’s made only once a year and always unique. It’s full of dark fruit (plum, raisins, figs), melted caramel, and toffee. The complexity only integrates and improves after aging for a while, but don’t let that dissuade you from popping open a fresh one.
If anyone has a bottle of the inaugural vintage from my birth year of 1986, let me know.
Hog Heaven from Avery Brewing has always stood out from the pack for me. Being an American barleywine, the hops are the main feature here, but the deep, decadent malt structure is expertly executed.
Thomas Hardy’s Ale by Thomas Hardy is the beer that introduced me to barleywine. It’s a beer that flew in the face of everything I thought I knew about brewing at the time and a beer that melted my face the first time I had it. At first taste, it’s just sweet, but like with a good whiskey, the complexities begin to blossom and shine as the tasting goes on. Notes of prune and rose, vanilla and pomegranate, figs and dates, and coffee shine.
Thomas Hardy is released as vintage, and I’ve never tasted the same beer twice, but each time was delicious.
Pools of Reflection from Private Press is full of maple, bourbon, and oak that all play so well together. The blend here is well-executed, allowing sticky caramel/toffee textures to balance with spicy vanillin wood complexity. I probably couldn’t drink this forever due to the ABV, but a small pour with a decadent dessert would be ideal on any occasion.
This has truly been the year of Olivia Rodrigo. For starters, no album was streamed more worldwide in 2021 than Sour and no songs were streamed more in America this year than “Good 4 U” and “Driver’s License” (on Spotify, at least). She also received seven 2022 Grammy Award nominations, including Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist. The most impressive thing about these accolades is that she’s done it all without touring. That’s right, Rodrigo has yet to announce a tour in support of Sour, and while she’s played at awards shows, it’s safe to call her recent Austin City Limits performance her first full concert.
Her dazzling performance of “Traitor,” shows the undeniable talent that has shot her to the top of the pop world. Rodrigo starts behind a piano, singing the lovelorn ballad. As the song’s energy begins to rise, she threatens to get up, but maintains her post. Then just as the song builds into its climax, she can’t control the emotions of the song and rises up to face the crowd and belt the incredible chorus as the song peaks and closes. She looked possessed up there, almost like an artist who’s been pining to play a full show for her fans (wink, wink.)
Rodrigo’s set, which opens with “Brutal” and was part of a double bill with Phoebe Bridgers, will air in full on the December 4th episode of Austin City Limits PBS and it will be streaming on December 5th.
Watch the video of “Traitor” above and learn more about the episode here.
Every year, BBC Radio 1 picks a crop of “Teen Heroes,” which they describe as “young people who make the world a better place.” All this week, they’ve been revealing 2021’s picks, and on Greg James’ Radio 1 Breakfast show this morning, they surprised an honoree named Madison with a message from her favorite musician: Halsey.
Halsey recorded an audio message for Madison, in which the singer says, “Hey Madison, it’s Halsey. I heard about your ‘positivity packages’ and the massive amount of good that you’re bringing to members of your community. Struggling with your mental health can be a lonely battle, but I’m so proud of you for using your compassion and your experience to help others. You’re making a really big difference in a lot of lives. Just remember to always take time to direct those words and actions towards yourself as well. I’m with you, I’m in awe of you, and congratulations for being a very much deserved Radio 1 Teen Hero.
After suffering with her own mental health, she devised a scheme called ‘Positivity Packages’, supporting others in her area with mental health problems. What an inspiration pic.twitter.com/ElrkCIZH6E
Earlier in the broadcast, James explained Madison’s story, saying that she started experiencing severe anxiety three years ago. While she had been on an upswing, the pandemic lockdowns were a real setback for her. Despite her own struggles, though, Madison came up with “positivity packages,” boxes containing things like candy, fidget toys, notes of encouragement, and more, which she would mail to people having mental health difficulties. To date, she has mailed over 300 of these packages.
Check out Halsey’s message above and listen to more from the broadcast below.
Tierra Whack has had an interesting career trajectory so far. After beginning her career as a battle rapper named Dizzle Dizz, she reverted to her real name in 2017 and dropped her high-concept debut album, Whack World, in 2018. Despite a 15-minute runtime consisting of 15 one-minute songs, Whack World became a critical and commercial hit, earning Whack a placement on the 2019 XXL Freshman Class alongside soon-to-be massive stars like Cordae, DaBaby, Gunna, Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty, and Roddy Ricch.
However, since then, her output has been somewhat… let’s just say “sporadic.” After releasing a string of intriguingsingles in 2019, she’s restricted new releases mainly to feature verses on other artists’ songs (Willow and Janelle Monae‘s) and singles released as part of brand partnerships like “76” with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers (her hometown team), “8” from the Madden NFL 22 soundtrack, and “Link” as part of Lego’s Rebuild The World Campaign, as well as a handful of impressive freestyles over past hits like Ludacris’ “Stand Up,” Onyx’s “Last Dayz,” and CJ’s “Whoopty.”
Earlier this week, however, she teased a new EP titled Rap? alluding to the eclectic mashup of styles she’s used on previous releases. The EP, which is apparently meant to commemorate the release of her new Vans collection, dropped today as promised, featuring three tracks: “Meagan Good,” “Millions,” and “Stand Up.” And yes, all three tracks are most certainly fantastic examples of the genre, giving Whack plenty of opportunities to showcase her rap talent.
Watch the video for “Stand Up” above, and check out the other two songs below.
A recent high school basketball game in Iowa ended with one player getting hit with a felony for attacking someone on the other team in the handshake line. Following Tuesday night’s game between Carlisle and Nevada, one Carlisle player, Carter Prenosil, hopped into the handshake line and threw several surprise punches once he met the first player on the opposing team.
Prenosil, who is 17, was arrested on Wednesday and faces a felony count of willful injury, and if convicted faces up to 10 years in prison. According to TMZ, the incident led to the opposing player getting diagnosed with a concussion and receiving four stitches due to a cut on his mouth.
“He said something during the game that Carter didn’t like so at the end, Carter went up and finished it,” one Carlisle student, JayJay Noring, told KCCI. “Which was a little way too beyond if you ask me. He didn’t have to go that far.”
In a statement, Dr. Steve Gray, the superintendent of Nevada Community School District, said that “it sounds like our student-athlete is going to be alright” and that “I’m very appreciative of the response of our coaches and players, as well as the Carlisle administration, for quickly de-escalating the situation.”
The 50-minute Astroworld: Concert From Hell program recapped the events that went down at the Houston festival. The description of the documentary special says it gives a “minute-by-minute look at what happened” that night: “Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival was supposed to be the concert of a lifetime. But it turned into a tragic nightmare. A minute-by-minute look at what happened in the crowd, the young victims who were killed, and what happens next.”
People on social media caught eventually caught wind of the documentary special and condemned Hulu, with one user saying it was in “poor taste.” Eventually, Hulu opted to remove it from their website completely. A spokesperson for Hulu told Variety: “This was an investigative local news special from ABC13/KTRK-TV in Houston that originally aired on November 20th. This was not a Hulu documentary and has since been removed to avoid confusion.”
Read Variety‘s full report of the TV special here.
Manson was credited as a writer on Ye’s Best Rap Song nomination for “Jail.” The New York Times notes, though, that when it comes to “Jail,” Manson “is not listed among the writers on the most current version of the album.” Indeed, on Spotify right now, Manson is credited (under his real name, Brian Warner) on “Jail Pt. 2” but not on “Jail.”
That said, since Manson is still part of Donda‘s Album Of The Year nomination since he is credited on the album.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. was recently asked about Manson’s nominations and he explained, “We won’t restrict the people who can submit their material for consideration. We won’t look back at people’s history, we won’t look at their criminal record, we won’t look at anything other than the legality within our rules of, is this recording for this work eligible based on date and other criteria. If it is, they can submit for consideration. What we will control is our stages, our shows, our events, our red carpets. We’ll take a look at anyone who is asking to be a part of that, asking to be in attendance, and we’ll make our decisions at that point. But we’re not going to be in the business of restricting people from submitting their work for our voters to decide on.”
After highlighting Houston rappers like Erica Banks and KenTheMan, UPROXX Sessions once again plays host to a Space City spitter in RayFace, who stops through for a boastful performance of his 2020 single, “No Middle Man.”
An adherent of Houston’s long-held tradition of independently released music, RayFace founded his own record label, Self Made Music, while also running other businesses on the side. His self-released mixtapes include Underrated and Trapademic, from which he’s released a slew of self-funded music videos, including “Out The Trap” “Got To Have It” and “Tell Me Why,” the latter containing a feature from fellow self-made Houstonite Slim Thug.
Although he’s still a relative newcomer without the resources of a major-label artist, two of the videos he’s released this year have garnered over a million views on YouTube and his polished presentation suggests that he’s got all the tools he needs to build an even bigger buzz in the future.
Watch RayFace’s UPROXX Sessions performance of ‘No Middle Man’ 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 Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
Coming into its fifth anniversary, Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival is already one of the biggest music festivals in Europe, bringing nearly 200,000 revelers to the sprawling Valdebebas urban open space venue. The initial 2022 lineup was announced in June and was heavy on the rock and roll acts with Metallica, Muse, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Pixies, Faith No More, Twenty One Pilots, and Placebo leading the way.
They took it a step further in October adding a fifth day to the summer fest and artists like Haim, Florence + The Machine, and Nathy Peluso. Now they’ve beefed the lineup up one final time adding Jack White as the fifth day headliner and infusing the lineup with more big name acts like Stormzy, London Grammar, Modest Mouse, Two Door Cinema Club, Local Natives, and Mura Masa.
It brings the grand total to 144 artists playing across the festival’s five nights. Other artists playing on this comprehensive bill include St. Vincent, The War On Drugs, Beabadoobee, Arlo Parks, Phoebe Bridgers, Leon Bridges, Animal Collective, Tinashe, Glass Animals, Carly Rae Jepsen, Chvrches, Wolf Alice, and loads more.
Mad Cool Festival festival goes down from July 6 to 10, 2022. Tickets are on-sale here.
Mad Cool
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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