Kim Kardashian is the guest on the latest episode of the Honestly With Bari Weiss podcast (as Billboard points out), and towards the end of the conversation, she spoke about two of the most prominent folks with whom she’s been associated in one way or another: Ye (aka Kanye West) and Taylor Swift.
In a series of rapid-fire questions to close out the interview, Kardashian was asked what her favorite Ye album is. She responded, “Ooh… I really like Yeezus just because it’s like… you know, when you’re there and you’re in it and you’re… you know what I mean? You see it from start to finish. I really love My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy also.”
Weiss’ next question was asking what Kardashian’s favorite Taylor Swift album is and Kardashian responded, “I mean, I really like a lot of her songs. They’re all super cute and catchy. I’d have to look in my phone to get a name.”
Elsewhere in that lightning round, she was asked who her favorite Saturday Night Live cast member is, a question that Weiss presumably included to hint at Kardashian’s reported relationship with Pete Davidson. She answered, “What a setup! What a setup, Bari. You know who it is.”
Beyond that, she was quick to reveal who her favorite celebrity is, saying, “Oh my god, Sara Jessica Parker is the nicest celebrity on the planet.” She also noted of whether she aspires to be a politician, “As of right now, no. It’s nothing that I would think of or want to get into. I understand the responsibility and it’s an extremely hard job, and I don’t know if I’d ever want that.”
Listen to the episode above, with the aforementioned questions starting at about 50:40 into the podcast.
Donald Trump has been out of the White House for long enough that it’s easy to forget just how Grampa Simpson-like his ramblings can be. Except instead of telling a story about how nickels used to have pictures of bumblebees on them, he’s talking to Mike Huckabee about how he popularized people saying “merry Christmas” to each other.
“America had gone through a long period where people quit saying ‘merry Christmas.’ It was all ‘happy holidays.’ You deliberately changed that,” Huckabee said during his interview with the former-president on Newsmax. “It was part of my campaign,” Trump responded to the sausage comedian. “The country had started with this woke, I guess, a little bit before that, and it was embarrassing for stores to say ‘merry Christmas.’ You’d see these big chains, they want your money, but they don’t want you to say ‘merry Christmas.’ And they’d use reds and whites and snow, but they wouldn’t say Christmas.”
But now the chains (the real victims) are saying it again, and it’s all thanks to Trump.
“And now people are saying it — of course, they’re not saying a lot of other things, like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, you know those names are being obliterated because of craziness. But they are saying ‘merry Christmas’ again. We got that. That was a big part of what I was doing. I would say it all the time during that period that we want them to say ‘merry Christmas.’ Don’t stop at stores that don’t say ‘merry Christmas.’ And I’ll tell you, we brought it back very quickly.”
The rest of the interview was equally full of half-truths and straight-up lies.
“Mr. President, I want to say, because of you, a lot of Americans have had some great Christmases.” — Mike Huckabee to Trump #NotACultpic.twitter.com/NQvshit7cF
I watch stuff like this and I seriously wonder how anyone in our media or public life can take the modern GOP or conservative ‘media’ seriously. It’s totally divorced from reality, facts, honesty, sanity.
That Huckabee/Trump ‘interview’ should be put in a time capsule, really.
Surely, we’ve all gone down the NPR Tiny Desk Concert rabbit hole. There’s something about seeing favorite artists (and new discoveries) in a highly intimate setting that feels special, even if we’re not there and just watching from our screens at home. The series has become a ubiquitous part of pop culture and lately, NPR has been asking celebrities to list out their favorite performances. Today, Insecure star, writer, and creator Issa Rae checked in to share her picks.
She led off her list with Raphael Saadiq, who is not only the composer for the musical score of Insecure, he’s also certifiably one of the best live acts in hip-hop and R&B. “When he linked up with Lucky Daye for “You Should Be Here” was just phenomenal,” Rae said as one of her highlight moments of the performance. She also counts Thundercat as one of her favorite Tiny Desks and in goofy Issa Dee fashion (her character in Insecure) she explains that “The lyrics [to his song FriendZone’] are lowkey kind of dumb. But to hear it sound so melodic was just like a treat for me.”
She goes on to talk about Sampha and how his music was featured in Insecure season 2, and that she “was introduced to Sampha by Solange when she was doing the music for season one, so he has a special place in my heart.” She tips the cap to SiR (“because, you know, Inglewood”), and rounds out her six with Baby Rose and Nick Hakim, who’ve both had songs featured on Insecure.
Read Issa Rae’s full comments on her favorite Tiny Desk Concerts here.
Zion Williamson‘s 2021-22 season debut is going to have to wait a little bit longer.
According to the New Orleans Pelicans, Williamson received a biologic injection to “stimulate bone healing in his right foot.” Per the team, he will be limited to “low impact, partial weight-bearing activities for an extended period.” Due to the injection, Williamson’s status won’t be updated for another 4-6 weeks, at which point he will undergo another round of imaging. The news comes on the heels of the team stating that it would shut Williamson down for a period of time due to lingering soreness in his foot.
Zion Williamson Medical Update:
Following a consultation and further evaluation with Dr. Richard Ferkel of the Southern California Orthopedic Institute yesterday, Zion Williamson received a biologic injection into the fracture site to stimulate bone healing in his right foot. pic.twitter.com/sSD0rBq5yK
Notably, Williamson’s doctor — Dr. Richard Ferkel of the Southern California Orthopedic Institute — is the same doctor who operated on Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid when Embiid suffered a stress fracture in his foot leading up to the 2014 NBA Draft. Embiid has had injury issues during his career, but that foot injury has not been a major, recurring problem in that time.
If Williamson does return sometime after that 4-6 week period, it would mean he’s missed more than half the season. For example: If he returns in six weeks, that means he’d return at the end of January, just before the All-Star break. If he only able to ramp up at the six week mark and then return a few weeks later, perhaps we would not be able to see him until after the All-Star break.
Currently, the Pelicans are 14th in the Western Conference with a 9-21 record. If the team continues on that trajectory, the question must be asked: Would it be worth it to bring back Williamson and risk further injury this season, or would it be wise to take a more long-term approach and get his foot 100 percent health before the 2022-23 season begins?
The holiday season is full of busy and stressful days, but we have one thing to look forward to as we approach the end of the month. No, we’re not talking about the holidays themselves (what are you insane?) we’re talking about all those sweet mid-to-late December holiday parties. Those weekend nights when you get to trade gifts, swap stories and laugh your stresses away with your closest friends.
And what better way to roll up to the party than with some good booze in hand? Nothing uplifts a party like a good bottle of something special that you can pass around with friends and slow sip near the fire while you talk about the season finale of Succession and how annoying your extended family is. Bottles that you’ll be proud to toast to a new year with.
To help make you the star of this year’s holiday season, our drinks writers collected the bottles of whiskey, gin, tequila, and other spirits that they love to arrive at a party with. These bottles don’t just make for great party favors, they’re great conversation starters too and they all deliver big on flavor. Let’s drink!
Cristalino is a fairly new style in the world of tequila (it’s not even technically considered an official style, but let’s not get into it) and a lot of people haven’t tried it yet, despite its massive popularity in Mexico City party scenes. So bring a bottle to your holiday party and introduce this super-smooth and fairly new type of tequila to your friends.
Cristalino is generally pretty pricey, but Dahlia makes a bottle that uses American oak barrel-aged reposado tequila that’s then charcoal filtered — providing a smooth and supple mouthfeel at an affordable price that won’t make you feel like you’re dropping too much money down for a party.
Tasting Notes:
Warm and inviting vanilla eases you into the earthy flavors of toasted agave and caramel. Notes of oak linger on the palate while orange citrus dances around your taste buds. The mouthfeel on this is silky and a pleasure to sip and savor.
Bottom Line:
A great reposado-based cristalino tequila that goes down super smooth and tastes way more expensive than it actually is. It’ll serve as a great introduction to cristalino for the rest of the party.
If you’re looking to roll up to the party with the best-value (and maybe flat out best) bottle of tequila that every person attending will ever drink, you can’t go wrong with Fortaleza. Seriously, this is some of the finest tequila you’ll ever have the pleasure drinking, and it won’t even cost you a small fortune. You can slow sip it, you can shoot it, but where it really shines is in a mixed drink where it infuses complex flavors that wash over your palate in waves. Every sip of Fortaleza is an experience.
This tequila hails from Nom 1493 Tequila Los Abuelos, located in the Jalisco region, and is made using hand-harvested agave that is slow-roasted and tahona crushed. The reposado is aged in American Oak ex whiskey barrels and served in a beautiful hand-blown glass bottle.
Tasting Notes:
There is something undeniably fresh about the way Fortaleza tastes, you get a sense of the craft and care that goes into producing each bottle. It’s hard to articulate, but incredibly perceptible, you’ll know instantly this is different than any tequila you’ve had.
The flavors are a journey that start with fruit-focused notes like sweet baked apple and citrus zest and settle into a cinnamon and vanilla swirl ending with a delicate floral lift.
Bottom Line:
Well crafted with an unforgettable flavor. Take it to the party, and then gift the host a bottle and you’ll instantly be the star of the show.
Agua Mágica is new on the Mezcal scene but it’s already earning recognition and accolades — pulling a win at the 2021 San Francisco Worlds Spirit Competition. This mezcal is crafted from Espadín and Tobalá agave from San Juan del Rio and made in partnership with Maestro Mescalero Rogelio Juan Hernadez of Oaxaca that is recommended served neat (though I love it in a cocktail). There is something about the tropical fruity flavors that just tastes slightly magical.
The bottle is currently available in a limited edition box set designed by Latin American artist Miguel Cardenas.
Tasting Notes:
Agua Mágica is wonderfully layered, beginning with the fruity notes of fried banana, juicy ripe mango and melon, and a smokey and spicy finish that plays with the flavors of caramel and toasted almond. Combine lime juice, pineapple, and mint with Agua Mágica and you’re instantly transported to a beachside paradise where you can relax under swaying palm trees and forget all about the holiday season.
Or, sip it neat for a fresh and smokey bite.
Bottom Line:
Agua Mágica provides a journey of flavors that will transport you to a tropical paradise in the middle of winter. It’s fruity, sweet, and delicately layered, while still providing that distinct smokey finish you’ve come to expect from mezcal.
Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Reposado — Zach Johnston
This brand-new release from Jose Cuervo comes from their Master Distiller, Alex Coronado. Coronado makes this tequila in more traditional methods than the autoclaves and automated operations for the brand’s entry-point expressions. This tequila starts off with single-estate Blue Agave that’s hand-harvested. Those agave pinas are then roasted in old-school ovens (and diffusers for sugar extraction). They also use old-school fermenters and copper pot stills before the juice goes into French oak and ex-bourbon barrels for maturation with a toasted American oak barrel in the mix too.
Tasting Notes:
Hints of black pepper draw you in with a faint essence of cottage cheese that’s cut with fresh pineapple, bay leaf, and brittle toffee. The palate leans into roasted agave by amping up that black pepper vibe while soft vanilla extract mingles with clove, anise, and allspice. A subtle cinnamon stick takes over on the mid-palate, along with slightly sweet almond. The finish doesn’t last too long but carries that spice towards a cedar box full of spicy vanilla tobacco with a final crank off the black pepper mill.
Bottom Line:
This well-crafted tequila from Cuervo feels like the antithesis of everything the brand has become known for. This is about refinement and slow-sipping. The presentation of the bottle and packaging also help it stand out from the crowd and make it a great gift bottle.
The GlenDronach Parliament Aged 21 Years — Zach Johnston
Don’t let the name fool you. The “parliament” in this case is the collective noun for rooks — a type of European crow that nests above the distillery. That dark essence is rendered in the whisky through 21 long years of maturation in Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks exclusively.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lot going on with this nose, starting with blackberry brambles hanging heavy with ripe fruit leading towards a well-spiced oatmeal cookie vibe and cut with hints of orange zest and vanilla. A sticky toffee pudding sweetness arrives (heavy on the dates) with flourishes of bitter dark chocolate notes and a sharp holiday spice matrix. The end is very long but very velvety with hints of dark fruits and spices warming your body as it fades away.
Bottom Line:
I’m mildly obsessed with this single malt right now. It’s such a lush and holiday-focused drinking experience that I’d certainly love to receive as a gift.
This might be one of the most beloved (and still accessible) bottles from Buffalo Trace. This juice is made from their very low rye mash bill. The whiskey is then matured for at least ten years in various parts of the warehouse. The final mix comes down to barrels that hit just the right notes to make them “Eagle Rare.” Finally, this one is proofed down to a fairly low 90 proof.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lot happening on the nose here, with worn leather mingling with dried orange, fresh sage, butter toffee, and cellared oak. The taste turns towards marzipan covered in dark chocolate with a touch of honey, cherry, and a sprinkling of dark spices with a clear orange basket holiday vibe. The mid-palate leans into candied nuts and cherries towards a finish that touches on that marzipan, toffee, and the cedar-y oak while ending short and cherry-sweet.
Bottom Line:
This bottle has serious name recognition. So even if your giftee isn’t super familiar with bourbon, they’ve likely heard of this monster bottle of whiskey. That hype aside, the juice in the bottle is stellar for the price.
Created to pay homage to the Gray Whale’s migratory journey along the west coast, this gin features botanicals, herbs, and ingredients that can be found at various points dotting the California coast. The main ingredient (like with all gins) is juniper, but it’s paired with almonds, fir tree, kombu, limes, sea kelp, and mint.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a symphony of citrus zest, herbal mint, and a seemingly endless field of pine trees. The palate has the juniper backing gin drinkers expect, but it’s also paired with more pine needles, slight mint, a corn sweetness, and lime peels. The finish is warming, herbal, and surprisingly sweet for a gin.
Bottom Line:
This is a complex gin that would make a great base for a seasonal gin-centric cocktail or on the rocks. The best part? A percentage of the brand’s overall profits go to help ocean conservation and doing good is always a hit at parties.
This award-winning single malt Scotch whisky proves that you don’t need an age statement to show the quality of a spirit. While Aberlour doesn’t divulge how old this whisky is, we do know it was aged completely in oloroso sherry casks and was bottled at a potent cask strength that’s guaranteed to warm you up this winter.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of candied orange peels, sweet sherry, dried cherries, and a gentle, nutty sweetness are prevalent on the nose. The sip reveals dried orange slices, ginger candy, dried cherries, woody oak, and almond cookies. It all ends in a crescendo of wood, sherry, and slight, wintry spices.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to winter whisky, cask strength is the name of the game. It’s high proof with a sweet, sherry backbone, making it a great base for a cocktail or a slow sipper.
While Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon gets most of the press, its rye version is not to be missed. This award-winning whiskey was aged for a minimum of four years before being bottled at a potent, highly mixable 101 proof. It’s well-known for its balance of sweetness and spice and pretty much begs to be used as a base for your favorite whisky-based cocktails.
Tasting Notes:
One whiff of this whiskey and you know what you’re in for. Its highlighted by scents of clover honey, toasted vanilla beans, butterscotch, and just a hint of peppery rye. The palate is centered around cracked black pepper, buttery caramel, candied pecans, vanilla cream, and a note of smoke to round everything out nicely.
Bottom Line:
You can spend a lot of money for a well-made rye whiskey or you can grab a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 Rye and save money while not losing any quality. It’s bold, brash, spicy, and belongs on a table (waiting to be mixed with) at a holiday party.
This “Hard Espresso” — made with grain spirits, espresso, vanilla, and sugar — charmed me into grabbing it off the shelf, thanks to a connection to Italian heritage that was similar to my own. The expression is a literal distillation of a son’s love for his immigrant dad and recreates a simple, craft-driven homemade spirit that the original Mario used to serve around the holidays.
The bottle even shows the original Mario in all his buff glory and taken all together (there’s a veritable novelization of Mario’s life on the back of the bottle that reads like a viral obituary) you get a portrait of a Most Interesting Man In The World nominee. But as with all spirits, the proof is in the taste. All the cool backstory means nothing if the flavors don’t deliver.
So….
Tasting Notes:
I hoped this would be solid. It was about 10x better than I ever expected. I’ve already ordered three bottles to my mom’s place for Christmas.
Mario’s Hard Espresso’s flavors are clarified in a way that far exceeds other entries in the genre — Kahlua and Bailey’s are sort of similar but… not really. There’s not the palate muddling heavy cream note here, but you still get a sense of creaminess, which is a masterstroke.
What this really tastes like is a spiked affogato. You get tons of coffee on the nose and palate, along with a touch of alcohol warmth, before a really creamy-vanilla-sugar note comes in and scares the heat away. The finish is long and luxurious with no burn.
Bottom Line:
I’ve had two glasses over ice. I made a milkshake with this and coffee ice cream. I invited friends over for spiked affogato (that’s espresso over ice cream) and I tried to mix an espresso martini (I liked it, but didn’t want to burn through this as a mixer).
My bottle was gone in a week — I can’t remember the last time that happened.
The holiday season is full of busy and stressful days, but we have one thing to look forward to as we approach the end of the month. No, we’re not talking about the holidays themselves (what are you insane?) we’re talking about all those sweet mid-to-late December holiday parties. Those weekend nights when you get to trade gifts, swap stories and laugh your stresses away with your closest friends.
And what better way to roll up to the party than with some good booze in hand? Nothing uplifts a party like a good bottle of something special that you can pass around with friends and slow sip near the fire while you talk about the season finale of Succession and how annoying your extended family is. Bottles that you’ll be proud to toast to a new year with.
To help make you the star of this year’s holiday season, our drinks writers collected the bottles of whiskey, gin, tequila, and other spirits that they love to arrive at a party with. These bottles don’t just make for great party favors, they’re great conversation starters too and they all deliver big on flavor. Let’s drink!
Cristalino is a fairly new style in the world of tequila (it’s not even technically considered an official style, but let’s not get into it) and a lot of people haven’t tried it yet, despite its massive popularity in Mexico City party scenes. So bring a bottle to your holiday party and introduce this super-smooth and fairly new type of tequila to your friends.
Cristalino is generally pretty pricey, but Dahlia makes a bottle that uses American oak barrel-aged reposado tequila that’s then charcoal filtered — providing a smooth and supple mouthfeel at an affordable price that won’t make you feel like you’re dropping too much money down for a party.
Tasting Notes:
Warm and inviting vanilla eases you into the earthy flavors of toasted agave and caramel. Notes of oak linger on the palate while orange citrus dances around your taste buds. The mouthfeel on this is silky and a pleasure to sip and savor.
Bottom Line:
A great reposado-based cristalino tequila that goes down super smooth and tastes way more expensive than it actually is. It’ll serve as a great introduction to cristalino for the rest of the party.
If you’re looking to roll up to the party with the best-value (and maybe flat out best) bottle of tequila that every person attending will ever drink, you can’t go wrong with Fortaleza. Seriously, this is some of the finest tequila you’ll ever have the pleasure drinking, and it won’t even cost you a small fortune. You can slow sip it, you can shoot it, but where it really shines is in a mixed drink where it infuses complex flavors that wash over your palate in waves. Every sip of Fortaleza is an experience.
This tequila hails from Nom 1493 Tequila Los Abuelos, located in the Jalisco region, and is made using hand-harvested agave that is slow-roasted and tahona crushed. The reposado is aged in American Oak ex whiskey barrels and served in a beautiful hand-blown glass bottle.
Tasting Notes:
There is something undeniably fresh about the way Fortaleza tastes, you get a sense of the craft and care that goes into producing each bottle. It’s hard to articulate, but incredibly perceptible, you’ll know instantly this is different than any tequila you’ve had.
The flavors are a journey that start with fruit-focused notes like sweet baked apple and citrus zest and settle into a cinnamon and vanilla swirl ending with a delicate floral lift.
Bottom Line:
Well crafted with an unforgettable flavor. Take it to the party, and then gift the host a bottle and you’ll instantly be the star of the show.
Agua Mágica is new on the Mezcal scene but it’s already earning recognition and accolades — pulling a win at the 2021 San Francisco Worlds Spirit Competition. This mezcal is crafted from Espadín and Tobalá agave from San Juan del Rio and made in partnership with Maestro Mescalero Rogelio Juan Hernadez of Oaxaca that is recommended served neat (though I love it in a cocktail). There is something about the tropical fruity flavors that just tastes slightly magical.
The bottle is currently available in a limited edition box set designed by Latin American artist Miguel Cardenas.
Tasting Notes:
Agua Mágica is wonderfully layered, beginning with the fruity notes of fried banana, juicy ripe mango and melon, and a smokey and spicy finish that plays with the flavors of caramel and toasted almond. Combine lime juice, pineapple, and mint with Agua Mágica and you’re instantly transported to a beachside paradise where you can relax under swaying palm trees and forget all about the holiday season.
Or, sip it neat for a fresh and smokey bite.
Bottom Line:
Agua Mágica provides a journey of flavors that will transport you to a tropical paradise in the middle of winter. It’s fruity, sweet, and delicately layered, while still providing that distinct smokey finish you’ve come to expect from mezcal.
Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Reposado — Zach Johnston
This brand-new release from Jose Cuervo comes from their Master Distiller, Alex Coronado. Coronado makes this tequila in more traditional methods than the autoclaves and automated operations for the brand’s entry-point expressions. This tequila starts off with single-estate Blue Agave that’s hand-harvested. Those agave pinas are then roasted in old-school ovens (and diffusers for sugar extraction). They also use old-school fermenters and copper pot stills before the juice goes into French oak and ex-bourbon barrels for maturation with a toasted American oak barrel in the mix too.
Tasting Notes:
Hints of black pepper draw you in with a faint essence of cottage cheese that’s cut with fresh pineapple, bay leaf, and brittle toffee. The palate leans into roasted agave by amping up that black pepper vibe while soft vanilla extract mingles with clove, anise, and allspice. A subtle cinnamon stick takes over on the mid-palate, along with slightly sweet almond. The finish doesn’t last too long but carries that spice towards a cedar box full of spicy vanilla tobacco with a final crank off the black pepper mill.
Bottom Line:
This well-crafted tequila from Cuervo feels like the antithesis of everything the brand has become known for. This is about refinement and slow-sipping. The presentation of the bottle and packaging also help it stand out from the crowd and make it a great gift bottle.
The GlenDronach Parliament Aged 21 Years — Zach Johnston
Don’t let the name fool you. The “parliament” in this case is the collective noun for rooks — a type of European crow that nests above the distillery. That dark essence is rendered in the whisky through 21 long years of maturation in Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks exclusively.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lot going on with this nose, starting with blackberry brambles hanging heavy with ripe fruit leading towards a well-spiced oatmeal cookie vibe and cut with hints of orange zest and vanilla. A sticky toffee pudding sweetness arrives (heavy on the dates) with flourishes of bitter dark chocolate notes and a sharp holiday spice matrix. The end is very long but very velvety with hints of dark fruits and spices warming your body as it fades away.
Bottom Line:
I’m mildly obsessed with this single malt right now. It’s such a lush and holiday-focused drinking experience that I’d certainly love to receive as a gift.
This might be one of the most beloved (and still accessible) bottles from Buffalo Trace. This juice is made from their very low rye mash bill. The whiskey is then matured for at least ten years in various parts of the warehouse. The final mix comes down to barrels that hit just the right notes to make them “Eagle Rare.” Finally, this one is proofed down to a fairly low 90 proof.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lot happening on the nose here, with worn leather mingling with dried orange, fresh sage, butter toffee, and cellared oak. The taste turns towards marzipan covered in dark chocolate with a touch of honey, cherry, and a sprinkling of dark spices with a clear orange basket holiday vibe. The mid-palate leans into candied nuts and cherries towards a finish that touches on that marzipan, toffee, and the cedar-y oak while ending short and cherry-sweet.
Bottom Line:
This bottle has serious name recognition. So even if your giftee isn’t super familiar with bourbon, they’ve likely heard of this monster bottle of whiskey. That hype aside, the juice in the bottle is stellar for the price.
Created to pay homage to the Gray Whale’s migratory journey along the west coast, this gin features botanicals, herbs, and ingredients that can be found at various points dotting the California coast. The main ingredient (like with all gins) is juniper, but it’s paired with almonds, fir tree, kombu, limes, sea kelp, and mint.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a symphony of citrus zest, herbal mint, and a seemingly endless field of pine trees. The palate has the juniper backing gin drinkers expect, but it’s also paired with more pine needles, slight mint, a corn sweetness, and lime peels. The finish is warming, herbal, and surprisingly sweet for a gin.
Bottom Line:
This is a complex gin that would make a great base for a seasonal gin-centric cocktail or on the rocks. The best part? A percentage of the brand’s overall profits go to help ocean conservation and doing good is always a hit at parties.
This award-winning single malt Scotch whisky proves that you don’t need an age statement to show the quality of a spirit. While Aberlour doesn’t divulge how old this whisky is, we do know it was aged completely in oloroso sherry casks and was bottled at a potent cask strength that’s guaranteed to warm you up this winter.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of candied orange peels, sweet sherry, dried cherries, and a gentle, nutty sweetness are prevalent on the nose. The sip reveals dried orange slices, ginger candy, dried cherries, woody oak, and almond cookies. It all ends in a crescendo of wood, sherry, and slight, wintry spices.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to winter whisky, cask strength is the name of the game. It’s high proof with a sweet, sherry backbone, making it a great base for a cocktail or a slow sipper.
While Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon gets most of the press, its rye version is not to be missed. This award-winning whiskey was aged for a minimum of four years before being bottled at a potent, highly mixable 101 proof. It’s well-known for its balance of sweetness and spice and pretty much begs to be used as a base for your favorite whisky-based cocktails.
Tasting Notes:
One whiff of this whiskey and you know what you’re in for. Its highlighted by scents of clover honey, toasted vanilla beans, butterscotch, and just a hint of peppery rye. The palate is centered around cracked black pepper, buttery caramel, candied pecans, vanilla cream, and a note of smoke to round everything out nicely.
Bottom Line:
You can spend a lot of money for a well-made rye whiskey or you can grab a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 Rye and save money while not losing any quality. It’s bold, brash, spicy, and belongs on a table (waiting to be mixed with) at a holiday party.
This “Hard Espresso” — made with grain spirits, espresso, vanilla, and sugar — charmed me into grabbing it off the shelf, thanks to a connection to Italian heritage that was similar to my own. The expression is a literal distillation of a son’s love for his immigrant dad and recreates a simple, craft-driven homemade spirit that the original Mario used to serve around the holidays.
The bottle even shows the original Mario in all his buff glory and taken all together (there’s a veritable novelization of Mario’s life on the back of the bottle that reads like a viral obituary) you get a portrait of a Most Interesting Man In The World nominee. But as with all spirits, the proof is in the taste. All the cool backstory means nothing if the flavors don’t deliver.
So….
Tasting Notes:
I hoped this would be solid. It was about 10x better than I ever expected. I’ve already ordered three bottles to my mom’s place for Christmas.
Mario’s Hard Espresso’s flavors are clarified in a way that far exceeds other entries in the genre — Kahlua and Bailey’s are sort of similar but… not really. There’s not the palate muddling heavy cream note here, but you still get a sense of creaminess, which is a masterstroke.
What this really tastes like is a spiked affogato. You get tons of coffee on the nose and palate, along with a touch of alcohol warmth, before a really creamy-vanilla-sugar note comes in and scares the heat away. The finish is long and luxurious with no burn.
Bottom Line:
I’ve had two glasses over ice. I made a milkshake with this and coffee ice cream. I invited friends over for spiked affogato (that’s espresso over ice cream) and I tried to mix an espresso martini (I liked it, but didn’t want to burn through this as a mixer).
My bottle was gone in a week — I can’t remember the last time that happened.
Orlando rapper LPB Poody might be at the start of his career, but his performance and energy are already off-the-charts, as demonstrated by his propulsive performance of his newly released single “I’m The One” for UPROXX Sessions. Packed to bursting with boastful gun talk and hot-blooded, me-against-the-world truculence, the thumping track lets Poody fully engage and bring his hardened outlook to vivid life as he holds eye contact with the camera.
Fully committing to music in 2016, Poody’s perseverance marks a 180-degree course change from his early life, when he was in and out of juvenile detention. Although he’s still facing a probation violation charge from earlier this year, Poody’s music illustrates exactly why he felt he needed to turn his life around — and the passion with which he raps highlights how wise a decision it was. Like many artists of his generation, he can credit his career taking off this year to TikTok, where his 2019 single “Address It” has become a favorite on the app, driving streams elsewhere and propelling him to a new starting point, where he has the chance to leave the violent past behind and embrace a much brighter future.
Watch LPB Poody’s UPROXX Sessions performance of “I’m The One” 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.
Sex And The City star Chris Noth recently reprised his Mr. Big character in HBO Max’s And Just Like That…. He later starred in an exercise-bike commercial to address some season premiere story-controversy. Months ago, the impending return of Noth to the small screens prompted two women to come forward with accusations of sexual assault (which they claim happened in 2004 and 2015, when they were both 25 years old) against the actor.
The two women (known as “Lily” and “Zoe” to protect their privacy against “fear[s] of repercussions”) detailed their allegations in August and October during interviews with The Hollywood Reporter, which reviewed text conversations and verified details as possible. That includes speaking to an official at the UCLA Rape Crisis Center and interviewing friends of the accusers, who corroborated details and even mentioned additional phone conversations that the accusers say they don’t recall, given that they happened in times of distress and may have been “buried.” That’s a word that both women use to discuss how they coped with their trauma.
THR also contacted Noth for comment on the allegations. In a statement, he insisted that the these “encounters were consensual”:
“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”
Both women’s accounts allege that they visited Noth’s apartment after he showed interest in learning more about them. In Zoe’s case, he lent her a book and asked if she’d bring it to the apartment. From Zoe’s account, that’s when the alleged sexual assault happened:
When she went to his apartment to return the book, Zoe says, he kissed her as she stepped through the door. She tentatively kissed back but then said, “Thank you, I’m going back to my friend.” The kiss itself didn’t alarm her; she thought a kiss from Mr. Big would be a fun story to tell her friends. But she says he then pulled her toward him, moved her toward the bed, pulled off her shorts and bikini bottom, and began to rape her from behind. She was facing a mirror. “It was very painful and I yelled out, ‘Stop!’” she says. “And he didn’t. I said, ‘Can you at least get a condom?’ and he laughed at me.”
“He said marriage is a sham. Monogamy is not real.” The next thing she knew, “He was having sex with me from the back in a chair. We were in front of a mirror. I was kind of crying as it happened.” When it was over, she says, “I went to the bathroom and put on my skirt. I was feeling awful. Totally violated. All of my dreams with this star I loved for years were gone.” She called an Uber. Revisiting this brings her to tears, yet she says she finds it freeing to tell the story.
Lily’s friend Alex says she called her from the car. “She was pretty hysterical,” she says. Lily told her that he had “pretty forcibly” had sex with her, and Alex said they should call the police. But Lily wouldn’t hear of it. Lily says she doesn’t remember making the call.
More details on the accusations against Noth can be read in the full piece at THR. The piece also includes information about the crisis counseling that both women sought after the alleged incidents, along with the aforementioned corroborations from friends.
When we talk about biggest Grammy Awards travesties, we often forget to mention how M83’s impeccable Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming lost the 2013 Best Alternative Music Album award to Gotye’s Making Mirrors. Oy. A sprawling epic double album lost to a release propped up by a one-hit wonder single. What were they thinking? Luckily, we can still press play on M83’s masterpiece and take our minds on an inviting adventure. Or if you really want an all-encompassing experience, the trilogy of videos from the album for “Midnight City,” “Reunion,” and “Wait” takes us on an incredible story arc. One with supernatural children, born as true forces of natures in the shape of young mutant superheroes a la the X-Men.
As the 10th anniversary of Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming approaches next year, M83 released a prequel video to that original trilogy today of the track “My Tears Are Becoming The Sea.” The clip, directed by Sacha Barbin and Ryan Doubiago, tells an origins story of one of these superhero kids. As their parents are on the way to the hospital to give birth, an accident happens, but the child saves their lives from inside the womb. The directors explained the concept in a statement:
“This story takes place 10 years earlier in order to highlight the first moment one of these children uses their supernatural gifts. On the way to the hospital and moments before his birth, the child’s parents are victims of a horrible car accident. The unborn child is forced to use his powers to save them from within the womb. The idea was to show the literal birth of a superhero. We wanted to place this story in a realistic and universal setting. We think that the panic created by this magnificent moment speaks to everyone. We also wanted to pay homage to the mothers who are too often absent from the mythology of superheroes. And finally, to go beyond the codes of the genre to carry a symbolic message of hope where future generations would come to save us from a dark fate.”
It’s a heady visual that ties together the theme of the trilogy, albeit ten years later. Speaking of which, M83 will be reissuing Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming as a 10th anniversary transparent orange vinyl edition, available in April. There’s a new cover image that shows the kids from the iconic original cover ten years later. Finally, a parting statement from the band and leader Anthony Gonzalezs read simply: “Gonzalez is hard at work in the studio and looks forward to seeing his fans very soon…”
Check out the cover art and original video for “Midnight City” below.
M83
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming 10th anniversary orange vinyl edition is out on 4/15/2022. Pre-order it here
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