It’s only fitting that the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks will need seven games to decide their epic second round series. Milwaukee entered Friday night’s tilt at Fiserv Forum looking to punch its ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals, but despite Giannis Antetokounmpo putting up a postseason stat line we have not seen since Shaquille O’Neal in the 2001 NBA playoffs, Boston was able to pick up a 108-95 win thanks to perhaps the greatest performance of Jayson Tatum’s career.
Antetokounmpo came out swinging. With the Bucks one win away from making the conference finals, Antetokounmpo scored 17 first quarter points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 shooting from the free throw line. This included 10 of the first 14 points that Milwaukee scored on the evening.
It was not enough early on, though, as Marcus Smart and Tatum combined to score 23 points and the Celtics drilled eight of their 15 attempts from three to find themselves up after on, 28-26.
While that hot shooting from deep by the Celtics cooled off a bit in the second, Milwaukee’s offense really struggled to close out the first half. Antetokounmpo had 21 and eight boards at the break and Jrue Holiday had 12, but the remaining players who took the floor for the Bucks combined to score 10 points. Six of those were scored by Bobby Portis, and the collection of players other than those three combined to shoot 2-for-14.
The greatness of Antetokounmpo and Holiday providing some much-needed scoring certainly helped, but it was nowhere near enough. Boston took a 53-43 lead into the locker room, powered by 18 points from Tatum and 16 from Smart, while Derrick White gave the team a huge lift with nine points off the bench.
Boston came out of the locker room firing to start the third quarter to extend its lead to as many as 17 points. For a team that blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter last game, the Celtics managed to show their resolve this time around when the Bucks went on a 12-2 run to cut the lead down to eight.
Thanks in large part to Tatum, who scored eight of his 13 points in the final 2:19 of the frame, Boston was able to settle things down, even as Antetokounmpo continued to attack their defense with aplomb. As a result, the Celtics found themselves up 83-70 at the conclusion of the third.
It seemed like Antetokounmpo was cooking up a potentially special fourth quarter to get the Bucks over the line, as he started things out with one of the most emphatic dunks of the postseason.
And then, it looked like disaster was going to strike for the home team. With Milwaukee trailing by 11 and more than 10 minutes remaining, Antetokounmpo tried to attack Grant Williams but got called for a charge, his fifth foul of the game. Mike Budenholzer opted to challenge, though, and the call was overturned, preventing Antetokounmpo from heading to the bench at the worst possible moment.
In the immediate aftermath, the Bucks ripped off a 7-1 run to get the lead down to four, capped off by a three by Antetokounmpo from way downtown.
As things were looking tense for the Celtics, Tatum decided to another level, ripping off 11 points in a row, including a pair of threes that did not even think to touch the rim.
That stretch gave Boston the exact lift it needed to compose itself. The team stretched its lead to as many as 14 points — thanks in large part to Tatum’s stellar game — before the two sides opted to put in the backups for the game’s final 90 or so seconds.
Tatum led all scorers with 46 points on 17-for-32 shooting from the field and 7-for-15 shooting from three, with nine rebounds and four assists for good measure. Brown scored 22, while Smart had 21 with seven assists and five rebounds. Antetokounmpo became the first player since O’Neal in 2001 with a 40/20 game in the playoffs, going for 44 points, 20 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal. But outside of Holiday’s 17 and Pat Connaughton’s 14, seemingly everyone else on the Bucks struggled.
Game 7 between the Celtics and the Bucks will take place in Boston on Sunday afternoon. It is scheduled to tip off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Vanity Fair loves to stir up drama in their interviews by asking celebrities to take lie detector tests (which have been proven to be not accurate, right?) and then they get squirmy when asked about their fellow Hollywood peers. Elizbeth Olsen is the latest star to be put in the hot seat and things got weird!
The Multiverse Of Madness star was asked a series of questions about her career and life, including her friendship with Chris Evans (she awkwardly insisted they “don’t, like, hang out” anymore), and then was asked about Licorice Pizza after showing a photo of Danielle Haim, who had a small role in the film.
When asked, “Do you think you’re a better actor than her?” Olsen chuckled TOO hard, before saying, “Yeah. Sorry, Danielle. I hope she’d agree.” Olsen went on to say she “loved the film” and thought Haim was “great” in it, though she “didn’t have to do much.” The lie detector then found that she was lying.
“F*ck, man. Sorry, Danielle. You did great. I don’t know what’s happening. It’s so uncomfortable right now.” Olsen added before the interviewer moved on. Obviously, the internet took this and ran with it.
To be fair, Danielle was only in it for a brief cameo, while Alana Haim was the main star. Was Olsen confusing the two? Or did she not even see the movie? Olsen is used to being compared to her famous sisters, so perhaps she could relate? The whole thing is a hilarious mess. Check out the full clip above.
While kicking off his comedy tour in London, Chris Rock decided to touch upon the worst things that a comedian should touch upon right now: cancel culture, The Slap, and the current defamation trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp. That’s just what we all needed.
According to LADBible, while joking about “cancel culture,” Rock managed to bring in the topic of inappropriate sexual encounters, which led to the joke: “Believe all women, believe all women… except Amber Heard… What the f*ck is she on? She sh*t in his bed! She’s fine but she’s not sh*tting fine.” Sure? He added, “She s**t in his bed. What the f*ck is going on there? Wow. And they had a relationship after that. It must be amazing p*ssy… I’ve been with some crazy b*tches, but goddammit.”
Rock, of course, was referencing one of the weirder moments in the Depp/Heard trial where Heard allegedly left feces in the bed they shared together. There were photos too, unfortunately. The legal battle has been nothing but messy on both sides.
To finish off the segment, Rock then discussed the idea of being a victim in Hollywood. “Everyone’s a victim these days,” Rock added. “There are real victims in the world, they deserve to be heard, they deserve our love and compassion. But if everybody claims to be a victim, then no one hears the real victims.” He’s right about that, but maybe making “believe all women” jokes isn’t helping those potential victims seek the help they need. Just a thought!
Also, of course, Rock mentioned “The Slap,” though only briefly. The comedian joked: “I’m okay in case anyone was wondering. I got most of my hearing back and I’m trying to make a decent show.”
Wheated bourbon whiskey is the most popular bourbon whiskey. The biggest and most sought-after bourbons are wheaties — Pappy, Weller, Old Fitzgerald, Maker’s, Rabbit Hole, and Larceny to name a few. The latter is why we’re here today. I just received the new Larceny Barrel Proof B522 and it’s pretty damn good. But, how does it stand up to other “good” wheated bourbons? I knew a blind taste test was in order.
Generally speaking, wheated bourbons are just bourbons — few people outside the industry chase down a bottle of Pappy or Weller because they’re a “wheated” bourbon. Still, there are plenty of nuances to be found. The difference is that wheated bourbons generally don’t have rye grains in their mash bills. This creates a subtly different flavor profile as wheat leans more toward soft cereals, fruit esters, and more winter spice than rye’s often dark pepperiness, grassiness, and herbal vibes. Of course, I’m making very broad statements with that, but it’s a place to start.
For this blind taste test, I’ve pulled six wheated bourbons and two “four-grain” bourbons that have both wheat and rye in the mix. Wheat is the through-line from top to bottom, and I want to know how the latest Larceny release stands up to them.
Our lineup today is:
Larceny Barrel Proof B522
Redemption Wheated Bourbon
New Riff Red Turkey Wheated Bourbon
Garrison Brothers Small Batch
Old Elk Four Grain Bourbon
Weller Special Reserve
Frey Ranch Small Batch Four Grain Bourbon
Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 17-Year Spring 2022 Limited Edition
Let’s see how Larceny holds up.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This release from Redemption is their take on MGP’s 45 percent winter wheat bourbon. Redemption’s team brings four-year-old barrels in-house and then masterfully blends them in small batches until they get just the right notes.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
The nose is kind of thin. It takes a while to find the fresh grass, nougat, cedar, and vanilla but it is there. The palate is slightly peppery with a lime leaf vibe next to drip coffee and brisket fat with a little more of that pepper. There’s a southern biscuit with butter and Nutella that leads to a finish full of creamy vanilla and woody spice.
Bottom Line:
Overall, this ends way stronger than it opens. It’s a fine sip, especially if you’re smoking a big piece of meat in the backyard. Still, it’d probably be mixing this into highballs while I’m tending to the firebox.
This whiskey from out in Colorado combines two whiskeys from Indiana (MGP) with Colorado’s Rocky Mountain vibe. The whiskeys are a corn/rye/barley mash bill combined with a corn/wheat/barley mash to create a four-grain experience from blending instead of scratch. That whiskey then spends six to seven years aging in the Rocky Mountain state before it’s bottled as-is.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
Dark fruit and almonds play with sweet apple wedges and vanilla sheet cake on the nose with a hint of leather, oats, and toffee lurking underneath it all. The taste is all about the creamy and nutmeg-heavy eggnog with a nice counterpoint of sweetgrass and vanilla pipe tobacco. The mid-palate has a sweet winter spice vibe that leads to a raw and sweet carrot and apple cores next to a hint of new wicker.
Bottom Line:
This was another one where I thought, “well, that’s nice,” and that was about it. Nothing pulled me back. Nothing pushed me away. It was just fine.
6. Garrison Brothers Small Batch Bourbon — Taste 4
Garrison Brothers is a true grain-to-glass experience from Hye, Texas. The juice is a wheated bourbon made with local Texas grains. That spirit is then aged under the beating heat of a hot Texas sun before the barrels are small-batched (with only 55 barrels per batch), proofed with local water, and bottled.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
Sweet grains. Sweet cereals. Sweet masa! The nose and palate are all about those grains and cereals with a welcoming sweet edge. The nose is more than just that though, there are notes of fairground candy apples, dry straw, old leather belts, and a hint of milk-soaked Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The palate is part vanilla shortbread and part angel food cake with lemon frosting, which all leans into those sweet grains. The mid-point coalesces into an oatmeal raisin cookie with plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon next to a bit of applewood smoke.
Bottom Line:
I never know where to put this. The sweet and raw grains are a lot but then it becomes really endearing by the end of the sip. Still, this feels pretty “crafty” and green because of that factor too.
Buffalo Trace doesn’t publish any of their mash bills. Educated guesses put the wheat percentage of these mash bills at around 16 to 18 percent, which is average. The age of the barrels on this blend is also unknown. We do know that they cut down those ABVs with that soft Kentucky limestone water.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This felt the most “classic” on the nose with hints of vanilla cream, cherrywood, new leather, and apple blossoms leading the way. The palate had a thin cream soda feel to it with both cherry and apple pie filling, a buttery pie crust, and a vanilla/cherry pipe tobacco chewiness. The mid-palate was full of dark cherry syrup that lead to more of that tobacco with a slight dry reed vibe on the end.
Bottom Line:
Well, look at that. Weller hitting the middle of the road… This was nowhere near as bold or refined as some of the other drams on this list. It was fine and classic but that was about it compared to what’s coming next.
4. New Riff Red Turkey Wheated Bourbon — Taste 3
New Riff
ABV: 50%
Average Price: Limited Availability ($50 MSRP)
The Whiskey:
This release from craft whiskey darling, New Riff, is all about the heritage grains. The whiskey uses a 19th-century grain, Red Turkey Wheat, to create a unique whiskey. The juice is aged for five years at New Riff’s warehouse before it’s vatted, proofed ever so slightly, and bottled as-is.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
Sourdough crusts and cherry pies lead the way on the nose with support from raw leather, orange and grapefruit rinds, and a hint of cedar plank. The taste cinnamon forward with stewed cherries, more leather, and sweet grass. The mid-palate leans into the dark cherry with mulled wine sweetness and spiciness that leads to old grape skins and a little wet granite after the rain.
Bottom Line:
This is a nice mid-point for this list. This is a pretty tasty whiskey but was missing that “wow” factor. I’d sip it neat all day, mind you. But, I’d probably get a little bored after a while.
Frey Ranch is all about the farm behind the whiskey. In this case, that’s a 165+-year-old farm in the Sierra Nevada basin near Lake Tahoe. The grains (corn, wheat, rye, and barley), fermentation, distilling, aging, and bottling all happen on-site at Frey Ranch.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
Raw sourdough, cherry gummies, and vanilla mingle with freshly chopped firewood, burnt sugars, and a whisper of something that feels like my grandparent’s back porch on a hot summer’s day. Cinnamon-laden oatmeal raisin cookies and tart cranberries lead the way on the palate with red fruit leather and a hint of mocha latte. The red fruit drives the mid-palate toward a finish with plenty of raw oats and dark berry tobacco with a final note of that oatmeal cookie.
Bottom Line:
This was a damn nice pour today. It didn’t nearly reach the heights of the next two entries, but it easily beat the six pours below it.
The second batch of Larceny Barrel Proof of 2022 is batched from barrels of Heaven Hill’s iconic wheated bourbon (68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley). Those barrels are chosen for their specific flavor profile and blended as-is and bottled at barrel proof.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
A hint of red berries hits your nose first and then the nose goes full “classic” with notes of rich caramel, fresh leather, vanilla beans, raw pancake batter, and a soft note of kindling. The palate feels high-proof but not “hot” — that means it coats your mouth with a buzzing sensation but there’s no burn — as grassy mid-palate leads to subtle Christmas cake spice, salted caramel sauce, and a layer of cherry compote between two sheets of vanilla cake. The end is silky and lush with that cherry and vanilla fading toward damp and supple wicker that ultimately leaves you with a velvet mouthfeel and warm Kentucky hug.
Bottom Line:
This was really nice. I had no idea it’d be the first sip but it was a hell of a place to start. I kind of assumed this was the Old Fitz since it’s so dynamic but was corrected of that assumption once I actually got to the end of this tasting.
Still, this is pretty damn good and incredibly nuanced for a 120+ proof whiskey, wheated or not.
1. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 17-Year Spring 2022 Edition — Taste 8
This wheated bourbon whiskey — 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley — was distilled and laid down in barrels back in 2004. The barrels were vatted after 17 years and proofed down to the bottled-in-bond standard of 100 proof and then bottled in the iconic Old Fitz decanter for a Spring 2022 release.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This opens with a hint of fried dough with blackberry jam next to old vanilla pods, dried roses in an old leatherbound book, burnt orange peels, a hint of green cedar bark, and a stick of rock candy. The palate is a nuanced dance between creamy vanilla, lush pipe tobacco, winter spices, and soft cherrywood that’s just starting to light on fire with a twinge of char forming. Brandy-soaked cherries covered in creamy milk chocolate lead to sticky toffee pudding with plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon and the lush, velvety, decadent note of cherry tobacco by way of soft, almost airy vanilla cream inside of an old cedar box that held leather for an eon.
Bottom Line:
This was miles ahead of every other sip. It was evident from the first nose. If Larceny is second (and great), this is first and transcendent. It’s just so much more refined while having more going on that speaks to the cockles of your soul. It’s also the pour I immediately wanted to go back to.
Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
It’s kind of ironic that the two whiskeys from the same distillery, mash bill, and warehouses topped this list. I had no idea Larceny was the first pour but it was immediately evident it was a heightened bourbon experience. Then that Old Fitz was just on another plane of existence.
Then like a lot of these tastings, the rest was perfectly fine. There were no bombs or stinkers. Everything was drinkable, mixable, or very sippable. But that Old Fitz made me forget about pretty much everything else once it hit my nose and lips, including the Larceny, which is wild because that is a pretty damn good whiskey.
“It’s super boring,” Vivian Tu, the social media maven behind TikTok’s uber-popular @YourRichBFF admits when we talk about the traditional structure of financial advising. “Historically, financial services and financial education has been so male, so pale, and honestly, very stale. And these aren’t lessons that we’re taught in the classroom. This is information that rich dads pass on to their rich sons.”
Tu is intimately familiar with the gatekeeping that goes on in the world of finance. She migrated from Wall Street to the tech sector before starting to dispense advice on TikTok at the constant insistence of friends and coworkers who clearly saw the value of her specific brand of financial guidance — tips that were easy to understand, accessible to marginalized communities, and rooted in the simple yet powerful idea that knowledge is the best form of currency when it comes to closing the wealth gap.
Her social media how-tos worked. Fast. She went from 100,000 subscribers in her first week to 1 million followers this year. Her page has over 10 million likes and each of her videos consistently nabs hundreds of thousands of views. So why is Tu’s brand of financial literacy so popular? She’s not offering some kind of magic trick. Part of the charm is that, amongst all the noise, hype, and get-rich schemes, Tu offers practical and implementable advice that feels revolutionary. Advice she was willing to share with us for this quick primer.
Tu says that when most people come to her hoping for financial advice their first question is, “Where do I start?” So much goes into boosting our bank accounts that it can be daunting for young people (or those like me who can’t do basic math) to get going. To help, Tu came up with a clever acronym to empower finance newbies.
“When people ask, ‘What can I do to make my finances better?’ I’m like, ‘You should STRIP.’”
Let’s break it down. “S” stands for savings, “T” is for total debt, “R” is for retirement, “I” for investing, and “P” represents planning. When it comes to savings, Tu recommends having a three-six month emergency fund at the ready should the worst happen.
Once you’ve secured a little nest egg, it’s time to tackle your debt — that’s everything from credit card bills to student loan repayments. Tu has a trick for managing your debt plan. She calls it the “avalanche method” and it involves ranking your individual debts on a scale. The higher the interest rate, the more you need to prioritize them. “You want to pay off any debt with an interest rate of 7% or higher,” Tu recommends. “And then you can start paying down your lower interest rate debt a little bit more slowly while moving on to the rest of STRIP.”
Up next is “R” for “retirement.” The sooner you start paying into some kind of retirement fund — such as an IRA, Roth IRA, or a 401k – the better. That’s money that can’t be taxed, accrues value, and will be there when you need it down the road. Retirement is a form of investing and once you’ve set up that account, Tu says it’s time to diversify your portfolio. We’ll get into the “how” in a bit but the why is pretty straightforward: investing is a way of letting your money work for you.
The final step of planning is also a simple one. “You are saving, budgeting, investing this money for what?” Tu asks when describing why having a plan for your future bank account is so important. “Everybody’s goals are different, and depending on your goals, you will want to build your financial foundation a certain way. So it’s important to plan. And I find that if you put pen to paper, you’re more likely to actually stick to those goals.”
So now that we’ve got a method, let’s dig into some of the pillars of building wealth.
Aren’t you exhausted by the narrative that we need to devalue our own wants in order to save, pinning the blame for our generational financial insecurity (and angst) on avocado toast and daily lattes? Tu is too.
“You cannot save more money than what you take home,” she says. “Yes, you’re going to be able to find extra money by cutting back on these discretionary costs, and these little luxuries in your life, but you’re also going to be miserable. I think it’s more important to be advocating for people to go and ask for raises at the end of the year.” Why? Because it’s easier to save money from a bigger paycheck than it is to squeeze a few thousand dollars a year from your Starbucks trips. Tu has shared advice through her TikTok account on how to negotiate a pay raise and advocate for a higher starting salary when applying for a job but, if that seems totally unrealistic in your current situation, picking up a side hustle might be the answer.
Another great way to add some additional dollars to your savings account is by budgeting, but toss any ideas of sticking to strict spreadsheets in the trash. Tu says a monthly budget doesn’t have to be “painful” to actually work. Instead, try the 50/30/20 method, another easy-to-remember model that keeps your spending in line without forcing you to count pennies. Take 50% of your monthly paycheck and put it towards necessities – think rent, utilities, groceries, and gas money. The 30% goes to your wants. That might be getting drinks with friends, shopping trips, or a date to the movies. The final 20% goes to investing, which covers everything from paying off debt to putting money into accounts where the interest will eventually help you earn more.
Tu says the biggest secret that the rich are in on that the rest of us should know is this: if you’re only saving your wealth, you’ll never build it. That’s where investing comes in. She suggests going with a Robo-Advisor — a program that does the hard work for you — or doing research on index funds and target-date retirement funds. They’re easy to understand and offer the most bang for your buck.
Tu knows that investing can feel a bit like the Wild West. Despite her years on Wall Street she still had to overcome some of her attitudes towards money that were instilled in her since childhood. “I come from a Chinese immigrant home,” she explains. “So saving has been woven into my DNA. Frugality is something that I have known forever. I mean, we were washing Ziploc bags.”
But, being around a bunch of Wall Street execs who were constantly divvying up their money across multiple investments taught her that being frugal probably wasn’t going to help her bank account in the long run.
“Nobody else was focused on washing their Ziploc bags,” Tu remembers. “Everybody was focused on the next investment that they could deploy capital into. ‘How I can grow my money, let my money work for me so I can retire earlier so I don’t have to work as hard?’ It was eye-opening.”
The final topic Tu gets quizzed on often through her social media platforms is something we’re all wrestling with, debt. That can mean credit card debt, student loan payments, medical bills, and other forms of money owed to a company or institution. If it’s any kind of educational debt, Tu suggests looking into post-graduate scholarships – they exist – and checking with your state to see if there are forgiveness plans in place for people working in healthcare, local government, or the education sector. If none of these apply, prioritize private student loans first. These are ones with higher interest rates and the government can’t stall payment plans on them.
And, while there’s still a moratorium on federal student loans (with the hope being that perhaps a portion of them might be forgiven one day) Tu says if you’ve got the money it’s a good idea to keep to your regular payment schedule regardless. “Right now you are not paying any interest, you are just paying principle,” Tu explains. “The lower you can get that principle, the better off you’ll be.”
When it comes to credit card debt, Tu suggests we start thinking about it the way wealthy people do.
“When poor people take on debt, we call it debt. But when rich people take on debt, they call it leverage,” Tu shares. “We villainize borrowing other people’s money, but rich people do it all the time.”
Tu explains that credit is just another tool to use to build your financial portfolio and while it, in itself is not a scam, the way credit scores are calculated is. To avoid getting the short end of the stick, it’s best to understand how financial institutions determine your credit score. The biggest factors are your payment history – are you paying enough on time every month? – and your credit utilization – how much of your credit line are you using monthly? A good rule of thumb is to use about 30% of whatever your limit is. Other factors like your credit history and your credit mix – how long and how many different types of debt you have – eventually come into play but if you can control the first two, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes to your overall score.
One mistake Tu admits to making when she was younger is something that’s been touted as a “good practice” for people with credit card debt. She closed out her beginner credit card and opened a new one. The problem? Closing out a credit line, especially if it’s one you’ve had for years as Tu did, can damage your credit score.
“When I clipped it my credit history shortened by four years and that was really bad,” she explains. Instead, Tu advises people to pick credit cards based on the things they value (besides money). “If you pay on time, if you spend responsibly, credit cards are a great way to get travel points, to get cashback, to get rewards for being a responsible user.”
Ultimately, the biggest goal Tu has with her massive TikTok following is just to make the topic of money less taboo, especially amongst women, minorities, and younger generations.
“We as a society just don’t feel comfortable talking about money,” she says. “But not having those conversations works to our detriment and to the benefit of corporations and large financial institutions. When we don’t talk and we don’t compare, we don’t know what other people are doing, and we don’t know what other people are getting.”
And keeping ourselves in the dark isn’t going to help us close the wealth gap.
Heaven Hill is one of the most iconic distilleries in America. Its Bardstown, Kentucky campus produces some true classics: Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, Old Fitzgerald, and Parker’s Heritage only scratch the surface. As with all major distilleries, though, not all of their whiskeys are of the same caliber and not all of them are going to be for everyone. Palates ebb and flow just like cultural tastes (and everyone has different standards — both financially and taste-wise.
To help sort through the brands and whiskeys from Heaven Hill, I’m pulling every single Heaven Hill bottle off my shelf and blindly tasting them. Then I’m going to rank them according to which ones I liked the most. I could ask the silly question, “Will the big names get overshadowed by the everyday pours?” But I mean… come on. Sure, anything can happen but the good stuff is the good stuff for a reason, folks.
Instead, I want to explore how similar it all really is and where the differences actually are between these bourbons, ryes, and wheat whiskeys.
This is Heaven Hill’s signature bourbon mash bill with a touch of rye: 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and ten percent rye. That mash is the same for their much-beloved Elijah Craig and Henry McKenna labels. This juice is aged for four years before it’s proofed all the way down to 40 proof with soft limestone water.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
“Ah, this is some cheap shit right here.”
The nose is barely present with a note of tap water leading to the idea of caramel, cherry, and “wood.” The palate certainly has those flavor notes and adds in more refined whispers of nutmeg, dry reeds, caramels, and cherry cough drops with a vanilla echo. Ultimately, this is washed out by the tap waterproofing on the end.
Bottom Line:
I guess I’d mix this with some Coke or ginger ale to get a buzz on but not much else. In reality, just skip this and buy Evan Black or White label instead, they’re vastly superior.
This new bourbon from Heaven Hill celebrates the five brothers who started the distillery back in 1935. The bottle was released to celebrate the new visitor’s center at Heaven Hill and is largely only available there. The juice in this bottle is a blend of five bourbons of varying ages between five and nine years old made with Heaven Hill’s bourbon mash bill of 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and ten percent rye.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
The nose on this one is sweet and thin, it takes a while to find hints of popcorn, maple, and vanilla. The palate has a pecan waffle vibe with plenty of syrup that leads to cherry candies and a thin layer of cinnamon spice and vanilla extract. There’s a dry reed feel on the end with more of that proofing water thinning things out on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This was fine. It feels like something I’d likely mix into a highball more than anything else. For the price, that makes it… sort of a catastrophe.
This rye is very much a bourbon drinker’s rye. The mash bill is only 51 percent rye with 37 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. The juice then matures under the federal regulations allowing it to be “bottled-in-bond” and is barely proofed down to 100 proof with that soft Kentucky limestone water before bottling.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
There’s a note of that fake raspberry flavoring a Slushie from 7-Eleven has on the nose next to a dried herbal vibe. The palate has a little bit of toffee and squash with a hint of cinnamon and dark chocolate. The finish has a bit of winter spice, vanilla extract, and light tobacco chew.
Bottom Line:
This was a bit of a shrug. It wasn’t as washed out as the two expressions above it in this ranking but nothing really to write home about.
This is Heaven Hill’s hand-selected single barrel Evan Williams expression. The juice is from a single barrel, labeled with its distillation year, proofed just above 43 proof, and bottled as is.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
Classic, classic, classic. The nose and palate both deliver on cherry, vanilla, oak, and caramel with a thinner base, but it’s not washed out. The palate does dial in those notes pretty well with nutmeg and cinnamon spice next to creamy vanilla, cherry candy, and a hint of cedar and tobacco on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This was very much, “Hey, that’s pretty good.” You could tell immediately that it was a cheaper whiskey but the flavor profile was very present and not washed out by proofing water. Overall, it felt like an easy sipper for when you really don’t want to think about what you’re drinking.
This was the last Elijah Craig Barrel Proof of 2021. The whiskey is built from Heaven Hill’s iconic 78 percent bourbon mash bill. The barrels spend up to 12 years resting before they’re picked and vatted for this release.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This is kind of … sour with an old and musty oak vibe next to a little nutmeg and allspice, some cherry tobacco, and some used vanilla pods. The palate has a butterscotch sweetness that leads to a high-proof buzz accompanied by old cedar, winter spice, a hint of pepper, and more vanilla. The end is part toffee and part of that funky wood from the nose with tobacco-stained cedar boxes, vanilla cream, and holiday spices rounding out the finish.
Bottom Line:
This was “fine.” It was a little funky for me … it just didn’t track on my palate. I need to spend a little more time with this and maybe I’ll find more to it. For now, it’s just fine but kind of un-memorable, which for the price is… not wonderful.
This is Evan William’s small-batch bourbon reissue. The expression is a marriage of 200 barrels of Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon (78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and ten percent rye). That juice is vatted, then proofed down to 90 proof (instead of the old 86 proof), and bottled as-is.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This is another classic with a caramel/vanilla/cherry/oak nose with a hint of leather lurking in the background. The palate has a little bit of cornbread with a melting butter vibe next to plenty of cherry and caramel candy, a touch of old leather, cedar box, and spicy tobacco. The end fades pretty quickly and is a little washed out by the proofing water but still delivers a bit of creamy honey, vanilla, nutmeg, and grilled pancake with a hint of tobacco.
Bottom Line:
It’s amazing how far some of these old favorites fall when tasted against some true bangers. That said, this was fine. I’d use it for a cocktail in a heartbeat.
This spring small batch of wheated bourbon is derived from barrels between six and eight years old. The juice then goes right into the bottle with no cutting or filtering, allowing the masterful craft to shine through in every sip.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
There’s a feeling of cinnamon sticks dipped into woody maple syrup with hints of dried florals, old apples, worn leathers, and maybe a little vanilla cupcake on the nose. The palate is all about the Christmas cake — nuts, candied and dried fruit, dark spices, brown sugar — that’s countered by brandy butter and walnut shells. The end has a touch of high-proof warmth next to vanilla tobacco and cedar.
Bottom Line:
This was about halfway through the tasting and I was stretching to find unique notes. This was bold and perfectly fine but not as exciting as it could be. It feels like a great cocktail whiskey though. (Only you know whether or not $128/ bottle is too much for cocktail whiskey.)
The wheated juice for this blend spends six to eight years maturing in Heaven Hill’s vast warehouses. It’s then small-batch blended and bottled with zero fussing at barrel proof three times a year with a little variation each time.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
There’s a soft caramel candy on the nose with a hint of pumpkin pie, holiday spices, and sweet vanilla cream. The palate is very classic with plenty of vanilla, woody spice, a little maple syrup, and a good rush of cherry candy near the end. The finish marries that cherry to a spicy Red Hot vibe and a bit of warm tobacco chewiness.
Bottom Line:
This was a good place to start. I really like this. The ABVs don’t overpower anything and it’s pleasant. Still, it’s just sort of classic bourbon and not much else. And two bills is pretty pricey for “classic bourbon.”
The whiskey in this bottle is generally at least 12 years old and bottled with no cutting down to proof or filtration whatsoever. This expression is all about finding the best barrels in the Heaven Hill warehouses and letting that whiskey shine on its own.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This opens with a mix of dark berries — brambles, soil, and all — next to sticky toffee pudding spices and fruitiness with a hint of vanilla ice cream and old leathery tobacco pouches. The taste is very creamy with hints of sweet yet tart red berries next to a dusting of nutmeg and allspice leading to cherry tobacco on the mid-palate. The end leans into the high-proof, buzzing mouthfeel with sweet cherry/raspberry/blackberry and woody tobacco finish.
Bottom Line:
“Nice and soft” were my main notes on this one. This feels like a nice summer sipper thanks to the berry vibe. It’s also pretty middle of the road for this flight of whiskeys.
The second batch of Larceny Barrel Proof of 2022 is batched from barrels of Heaven Hill’s iconic wheated bourbon (68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley). Those barrels are chosen for their specific flavor profile and blended as-is and bottled at barrel proof.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
At first whiff, this was very “classic” and then these subtle hints of red berries, soft caramel candies, old yet soft leather, raw pancake batter, and cedar sneaked in. The palate immediately coats your mouth with a warm buzz that leads to sweetgrass, minced meat pies, salted caramel, and Black Forest Cake with more vanilla than chocolate. There’s a soft landing that’d full of cherry jam and vanilla pudding with a hint of spicy tobacco and old oak staves.
Bottom Line:
This tasting has really been a roller coaster. This was stuck between two glasses on either side of it that were drastically different. That likely helped it shine a bit brighter, but I’d argue this is a pretty solid dram and the start of where things get interesting on this list. A great value pick!
The juice in the barrel is made from Heaven Hill’s classic wheated mash bill. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of six to eight-year-old barrels that are vatted and bottled at cask strength as-is. It’s as easy as that, folks.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This is pretty interesting with a nose full of old cedar beams and river rock with a hint of salt, waffles smothered in brown butter and maple syrup, a little orange peel, and fresh cinnamon doughnuts. The palate delivers on those notes and adds in almonds and walnuts with dried fruits, winter spices, and savory figs. The mid-palate leans into the leathery dried dark fruits as dry sweetgrass and dark chocolate-covered hazelnuts mix with vanilla pipe tobacco and cedar planks. The finish has a light warmth that creates a mouth buzz with silky yet dry sweetgrass and nuttiness.
Bottom Line:
This is pretty damn good. The heat at the end washes it out a little but the flavor notes do hold on. In the end, I really want to make a Manhattan with this at Christmas.
This expression has been a touchstone bottled-in-bond since 1939 and remains a go-to for many bourbon lovers. The juice is the classic Heaven Hill bourbon mash bill that’s left to age for an extra three years compared to Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
The nose draws you in with this rich and creamy vanilla ice cream (you know the kind that’s likely labeled “Tahitian”) that’s drizzled with a buttery and salty caramel sauce next to soft leather and dried apple blossoms with a hint of old cedar bark braids. A floral honey vibe melds with Graham Crackers on the palate as creamy toffee covered in crushed almonds mingles with vanilla-laced pipe tobacco and old leather-bound books. There’s a bit of freshly ground nutmeg near the end that leads to a light cherry tobacco note with whispers of old cellar beams and winter spices on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This was really f*cking good. If I had been guessing these, I likely would have pegged this as an Old Fitz … and been amazed to find out that it wasn’t. This is just solid all around and something I really need more of in my life. A truly amazing value bottle of bourbon.
5. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 8-Year Spring 2021 — Taste 5
This year’s spring release is a marriage of eight-year-old whiskeys produced in the spring of 2013. That distilled juice rested in barrels spread throughout three warehouses on several different floors. In spring of this year, those barrels were vatted and whiskey was proofed down to 100 (per bottled-in-bond law). Then the whiskey was filled into Old Fitzgerald’s signature decanters and sent out into the world.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
Bottom Line:
This was one of my favorite pours of 2021 yet here it is at fifth! Palates evolve as more whiskey hit the ol’ tongue and new bottles are released that take you in new directions.
All of that said, this is pretty goddamn stellar. It’s pretty much a perfect sipping whiskey.
This year’s first drop is a 12-year-old whiskey made from Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash of 78 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and a mere ten percent rye. Those barrels are masterfully blended into this Barrel Proof expression with no cutting or fussing. This is as-is bourbon from the barrel.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This is a “classic” in the best possible way. The nose is this dailed in a mix of sourdough cinnamon rolls drizzled with vanilla sugar sauce and salty caramel next to floral honey, vanilla candle wax, and a hint of old aftershave straight off the drug store shelf. The taste has a sugar pie note with vanilla and cinnamon sauce over the top, hints of old leather, and a braid of dried sweetgrass coiled into an old cedar box. There’s creamy eggnog with plenty of nutmeg near the end as a hint of Hostess Apple Pie comes into play with that sweetgrass/cedar vibe on the very end.
Bottom Line:
More of this, please. This was a delight, and probably one of the best Elijah Craig Barrel Proofs to date.
3. Heaven Hill Heritage Collection 17-Year-Old Barrel Proof Bourbon, First Edition — Taste 4
The base of the spirit is Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon 78 percent corn mash bill. This particular whiskey is built from several barrels from four warehouse campuses in the Bardstown area. In this case, the whiskey is made from 28 percent 20-year-old barrels, 44 percent 19-year-old barrels, and 28 percent 17-year-old barrels. Once those barrels are vatted, the bourbon goes into the bottle as-is, without any cutting or fussing.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This opens with a matrix of maple syrup pecans touched with flakes of salt next to spicy cherry tobacco jammed into an old cedar box that’s got a little cobweb vibe next to soft nutmeg, dried roses pressed in an old bible, and a creamy but almost burnt buttery toffee. The palate has a high-proof mouthfeel with a buzzing layer coating your mouth but it’s not hot, it’s more Christmas cake-flavored chewing tobacco with notes of cherry cobbler dancing with creamy eggnog and velvety-soft suede that’s imbued with decades of coffee and cigars next to old humidors. The finish mingles cherry tobacco with sticky toffee pudding with pure silk.
Bottom Line:
This was only taste number four and I wanted to pack it in. This was in a different dimension than numbers 17 through four on this ranking. I didn’t think anything could beat this… Yet.
2. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 17-Year Spring 2022 — Taste 15
This wheated bourbon whiskey — 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley — was distilled and laid down in barrels back in 2004. The barrels were vatted after 17 years and proofed down to the bottled-in-bond standard of 100 proof and then bottled in the iconic Old Fitz decanter for a Spring 2022 release.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
You’re greeted with a fresh batch of yeasty doughnuts stuffed with a spicy blackberry filling next to these lovely layers of dried roses in old books, burnt orange oils, rich and oily vanilla pods, freshly chopped cedar kindling, and a stick of rock candy. The palate leans into charred cherrywood, lush vanilla creaminess, and a whole sticky toffee pudding with black-tea-soaked dates and heaping spoons of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. The mid-palate veers into cherry lozenges with a hint of cinnamon next to supple pipe tobacco, a hint of old boot leather, and a very old cedar cigar box.
Bottom Line:
I was still two tastes from the end but nearly walked away right here. This was such a high point that I wanted to end on it. This is a perfect bourbon but the next entry had a tiny bit more going on that grabbed my attention today.
This year’s release is a wheat whiskey that’s small-batched from 75 barrels with a heavy char. The juice in those barrels is a mash of 51 percent wheat, 37 percent corn, and 12 percent barley. The whiskey was matured on the sixth floor of Rickhouse Y for eleven long years before batching and bottling as is.
Zach Johnston
Blind Tasting Notes:
This has a note of butter crisped pancake edge to the nose that’s brilliant. That nose is supported by notes of fresh woodruff, fresh peanut brittle dusted with nutmeg and clove, creamed honey, powdered ginger, and vanilla-soaked charred oak staves. The palate picks up on a whisper of red saffron and pear that leads to rum-soaked cherries, dry tobacco leaves, old grilled cedar planks, and a drop of espresso oil with a dark chocolate underbelly. That dark chocolate vibes with the dry tobacco and dark and rummy cherries for a finish that luxuriates in a silken mouthfeel, an echo more of that fresh forest woodruff, and a soft Kentucky hug of warmth.
Bottom Line:
The top three were all very close but this was the clear winner — it wasn’t a three-way tie at all. I wasn’t 100 percent sold on this the first time I had it. This time around it was phenomenal. I wish I had more than a boot flask full as a tester.
Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
This broke my brain a little bit, especially at the end of a long week. There were just so many similar and straight-up identical flavor notes that it became a pain in the ass to find things that differentiated a lot of these.
Still, there’s only one trash bottle on this list and it was last by a country mile. 16 through nine were all perfectly fine. Eight, seven, and six were where things started to get interesting and fun. Then five through three really upped the ante. Then the second and first ranked whiskeys were just off the charts. The problem was that I didn’t get to drink them in that order. This blind test featured huge valleys right next to huge peaks and then back down again and then up and down and … you get it.
Honestly, I think I need a drink to get over this mind-bender. Thankfully, I now know which Heaven Hill bottle to reach for first.
Starting next week, a Los Angeles homeless shelter named after iconic Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek will open the doors to its 107-bed facility. The facility will also feature a library housing the late host‘s personal books and furniture, as well as providing services and outreach as part of a path to permanent housing. The Trebek Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, which was attended by Trebek’s wife.
“We all know that homelessness is complicated,” said Jean Trebek, widow of Alex Trebek, who died in 2020 from pancreatic cancer. “There is no single pathway to the streets,” she said. “There’s no single intervention that ends homelessness. But there is a single remedy and it’s called love. Supporting another is loving another and the transformational power of support will surely be known at this site.”
Also in attendance was Los Angeles City Councilmember John Lee, who thanked local residents for making the “difficult decision” to allow The Trebek Center to take over the site of a popular skating rink. Lee told the crowd that the shelter will take “the necessary footsteps to combat what is happening on our city streets.”
Donating his name and library to a homeless shelter is another reason why it’s been so tough for the show to replace him. The man left massive shoes to fill in a lot of ways, making it a monumental task to find someone who brings the same combination of warmth, charm, and gravitas to the Jeopardy! podium. (Outside of a tiny disaster, the show has relied on a series of rotating guest hosts while prominently leaning on Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik, both of whom remain top contenders to get the gig at some point.) A final decision still hasn’t been made because, again, Trebek was just that good. You really can’t rush into this one.
When you’re replacing one of the greats, you gotta take your time.
It’s not uncommon for presidents to churn through multiple press secretaries during their administration. Barack Obama had three between 2009 and 2017, for instance, while George W. Bush had five during his two terms. Donald Trump employed four different secretaries (Sean Spicer, Sarah Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, and Kayleigh McEnany, who never told a lie — which was, in fact, a lie) in his four years in the White House, but unlike his predecessors and his successor, they rarely did their job.
At one point, the Trump administration went an unprecedented 300-plus days without a formal briefing. To put that into perspective, Jen Psaki, who left her post as Joe Biden’s press secretary on Friday, “held more formal press briefings in the past 15 months than former President Trump’s press secretaries held in four years,” according to Insider:
Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, has kept meticulous records of the press briefings. Psaki has held 224 briefings as of Friday compared to the 205 formal briefings held by Trump’s press secretaries, according to Kumar’s tally.
“We were following an administration that did not do daily press briefings. It should be that this is a forum for people to ask difficult questions Monday through Friday,” Psaki said this week. (The current administration isn’t as forthcoming as it seems, though: Biden only gave 22 interviews during his first year in office, compared to 92 for Trump and 150 for Obama in their first 365 days.) Psaki, who will be replaced by Karine Jean-Pierre, took a job with MSNBC, where she’ll do the yelling instead of being yelled at.
Earlier this month, Beyoncé wished Lizzo a happy birthday with a baby photo that left Lizzo flabbergasted. “Beyoncé?! Where u get this pic?? I ain’t seen this since I was born,” the “Truth Hurts” singer said on Twitter. Well, it seems as though now, Lizzo is paying the deed forward with her birthday wish to Robert Pattinson.
Today is the 36th birthday of the star of The Batman and Lizzo dug up a photo of the pair that looks like a very young Lizzo walked up to a Twilight-era Pattinson at a bar and very kindly asked him if she could snap a pic with him. I mean, look at this shot:
Lizzo looks so comfortable in the moment, not starstruck by the Brit in the least bit. Pattinson meanwhile, looks like he showed up at the bar right after tailgating a Florida Georgia Line concert. Here’s hoping this trend of celebrity photo archivists continues, because this is a solid gold moment.
In the meantime, Lizzo has been polishing off a $55,000 dollar flute that she played at the Met Gala, and Pattinson has just signed on to play Batman again in the sequel to The Batman.
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
When is a t-shirt not just a t-shirt? Ask Dean Story, the Phoenix Suns’ Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, and he’ll tell you it’s when a shirt is in service to both the fans who decide to purchase it and the athletes out on the court.
Stoyer had a 17-year career with Nike and a stint with Under Armour before taking the job in Phoenix ahead of the 2019-20 season. He came on board shortly after general manager James Jones saw the interim tag removed from his title and head coach Monty Williams was hired, the trifecta representing something of a clean slate for a franchise that needed something new.
“The power of a t-shirt goes far beyond the team shop,” Stoyer says on a video call with Dime while the desert sun floods his office.
He remembers one of the last interviews he had with Jones before being brought on board, one in which he asked what it was he and Williams wanted from Stoyer and his team It came down to energy — to give players the support of the fanbase, and to make sure they felt an undercurrent of energy, respect, and love from the people cheering them on.
“They were developing the roster, and the team that is giving our fans the pride that they have today, and my job was to make sure they have many different ways to express that pride and carry that with them whether they’re from Phoenix or New York,” Stoyer says.
That integrated approach was also the tack Stoyer and his team, including Manager of Influencer Strategy and Merchandise Marketing Gerry Mildenberger, would take when developing some of the Suns’ biggest merchandise collaborations yet.
“Going back to very traditional merchandising models of having your good, better, best options, and how you segment those percentage wise, we started at…” Stoyer pauses and laughs. “We had a lot of ‘good,’ we didn’t have much better, we definitely didn’t have any best.”
“Authenticity is the name of the game,” Mildenberger stresses. “It’s not only for our fans, the players, but goes back to the culture. There’s a huge streetwear following here in Phoenix that’s slept on.”
The first partnership to develop found its roots on the streetwear side, and within somewhat serendipitous timing. Designer Warren Lotas has made inroads around the NBA with its teams and players. The Pistons, Bucks, and Jazz have partnered with the designer for custom team shirts, and players like Suns star Devin Booker have worn pieces in pre-game tunnels.
“We reached out to Warren and his team about the same time they were trying to reach us,” Stoyer recalls. “It was to reach a different audience but really to tap into a different energy.”
Lotas’s signature motif of skeletons and psychedelic colorways paired well with the Suns “Valley” launch that made its debut in the 2020-21 season with its gradient desert hues. The collection, called “Always Heat in The Valley,” has since sold out but launched on its heels another collaboration that put the aesthetic elements of the franchise front and center with hip-hop and lifestyle brand LRG.
“They saw what we were doing,” Stoyer says. “If we’re doing things right, that word of mouth and that credibility is very important. They were looking for a partner to help lift their brand back onto center stage.”
The LRG collection features tank tops, hoodies, and t-shirts that pay homage to the classic Suns design elements that proliferated in Chales Barkley’s era.
Stoyer notes that while Phoenix does have a budding culture with its growing transplant population relocating from larger American cities, the city doesn’t share some of the more storied roots that other markets boast, like Detroit or Atlanta with their history in music. “So, we’ve had to seek out the partnerships that either have connections to fandom, or to our team,” he says.
One of the behemoth brands synonymous with fandom in basketball is designer Jeff Hamilton’s signature varsity jackets. Going all the way back to custom jackets made for Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan, and more recently with Drake enlisting Hamilton’s help in creating his OVO line of Raptors jackets, it was a dream collaboration for Stoyer, Mildenberger, and the team.
Phoenix Suns
Like the other partnerships, working with Hamilton came about holistically. The designer had a previous relationship with Chris Paul and had been to a Suns playoff game last season, which sparked Hamilton’s interest in doing something with the team.
Stoyer recalls with a self-depreciating chuckle that he ran late to the first meeting he had with Hamilton, expecting the Zoom call to be with a group in the designer’s studio. Instead, there was one person waiting for him when he logged on five minutes later.
“It was shocking and delightful at the same time that we were able to have a direct conversation with Jeff, and those conversations have continued through the recent design work, and design work we’re looking at ahead of this season and into next year,” Stoyer smiles, “He’s very passionate about it and has been great to work with.”
For each partnership, the onus has been on breaking past the traditional jersey and warm-up shirt of a fan’s takeaway merch and figuring out what will make it into someone’s regular wardrobe rotation. The team looks for “energy moments” to time its drops. Some are obvious, like the postseason, and some cater to the rhythm of the team and the city. The end goal is tapping into a market of fans who see themselves in the broader lifestyle elements of basketball, rabid on gamedays but with a finger on the wider pulse of the league year-round. The tiered offerings Stoyer and his team have created allow access to that at all different price points.
“Basketball has its culture around it, it’s so important to be able to serve different demographics that come in but also realize there’s a niche audience that isn’t getting served — and that was people fully involved in the lifestyle,” Mildenberger says, adding with a grin, “I love it when you see a family walk in and they each walk out with someone unique to them.”
The biggest barometer Stoyer and Mildenberger have are also the most discerning: the players. Both joke that every collaboration has passed its own unique stress test with the team, but that the biggest signal of acceptance (and likely sigh of relief) comes when Suns players incorporate them into their pre-game tunnel fits.
“They’ve only got 82 walk-in fits, outside of playoffs, if we’re going to be one of them I’ll take it,” Mildenberger chuckles.
A pilot project called Valley Threads took that concept of collaboration with the team one step further. For its inaugural drop, Cam Payne sat with the design team to create a limited edition hoodie from start to finish with elements meant to tell his story. Mildenberger says that Payne “wears that thing all the time,” but that the biggest moment of impact was the day it was released. “We made sure to get one to all the players,” Mildenberger recalls. “They flew out on the next road trip and all of them came on the plane wearing the hoodie.”
The continuation of that pilot is something the team is working on with an eye to next season, as well as a throwback to Barkley’s iconic 1992-93 season, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next year.
“There’s nostalgia when you think of the players, but going back to the looks. We weren’t going to mess with that. We have some surprises coming,” Stoyer confirms.
“There’s so much creativity on our roster right now,” Mildenberger says, “We see that in their high opinions of what we bring into the store, in a good way. So it’s like how do we channel this creativity into another outlet that’s authentic for them, and really give our fans another avenue to really get a peak into our players’ lives.”
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