The Jan. 6 hearings were back on Tuesday, with a session devoted to further evidence that there was no proof for Trump’s voter fraud lies, as well as extensive looks at the direct connections between his administration and far right extremist groups. It was yet another colorful afternoon on Capitol Hill, complete with still more Rudy Giuliani nonsense. But perhaps the strangest moment came from someone else.
As per Curbed, one of the pre-taped testimonies presented during the hearing came from Kellye SoRelle, a general counsel to the militia group the Oath Keepers. A volunteer for Lawyers for Trump, she claimed that when it came to the Stop the Steal rallies that preceded the Capitol riot, the conspiracy theorists Ali Alexander and Alex Jones “became, like, the center point for everything.”
That’s all well and good and useful intel that should help bolster the House select committee’s case. However, it was easy to be at least mildly distracted by what was behind SoRelle on her Zoom screen: a lovely kitchen festooned with leather barstools, white marble counters, and an island. In fact, Crooked Media’s Erin Ryan thought it looked a mite familiar.
Oath Keepers attorney Kellye SoRelle green screened herself in front of the Queer Eye loft kitchen for her January 6th committee interview pic.twitter.com/YupPZKQUxm
As Ryan pointed out, it was indeed a green screen Zoom background, its image lifted from the third season of Queer Eye. It was the gang’s home base that season, and it was designed by Bobby Berk with goods from West Elm. The photograph comes courtesy of Landon Vonderschmidt.
The Trump gang is a weird one, and these hearings have been alternately (or even simultaneously) shocking and surreal. In a sense, seeing some Queer Eye pop up in hearings concerning people, many of whom are for the gutting of LGBTQIA+ rights, shouldn’t be that surprising. And they still (maybe) have Steve Bannon to deal with.
The biggest question in the immediate aftermath of the Utah Jazz’s decision to trade Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves was whether or not Donovan Mitchell would be out the door next. The rumblings for months made it sound like the Jazz wanted to build around Mitchell going forward, but on Tuesday evening, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that Utah will listen to teams that are interested in trying to figure something out.
According to Tony Jones of The Athletic, one team that has long been linked to Mitchell is expected to try and make something happen. Jones brings word that the expectation is the New York Knicks, the team Mitchell supported while he was growing up just north of the five boroughs, are prepared to put an offer together sooner rather than later.
Expect the New York Knicks to quickly try and put together a package for Donovan Mitchell, according to league sources. Utah’s bar for Trading Mitchell is sky high. But the Knicks are the team that has the assets to make this a conversation
Despite that, Jones made clear the Jazz will have an incredibly high bar teams need to clear if they are interested in acquiring Mitchell’s services.
Let’s be clear about this: the Jazz are currently not close to a Donovan Mitchell trade. And much like Gobert, they have no issues whatsoever in keeping him. Either a team is going to meet the bar to make this a convo, or he will be with the Jazz. They are not giving him away
The Knicks could, in theory, put together a package that includes four first-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft, along with a handful of young players like RJ Barrett. Beyond the fact it would serve as a homecoming for Mitchell, suiting up for New York would mean playing alongside high-profile free agent signing Jalen Brunson, against whom he battled in the first round of the 2022 playoffs.
The Utah Jazz made the biggest trade of the offseason thus far over the first weekend of July when they dealt Rudy Gobert to Minnesota for a package that was headlined by four first round picks (three unprotected) and a pick swap going back to Utah.
That deal seemed to signal that the Jazz might be ready to blow it up completely and begin angling for the future, but for the past two weeks, the reporting from around the league had presented it as a consensus that Utah wanted to build around Donovan Mitchell and that the Jazz weren’t interested in trading their All-Star guard. However, a the offseason has worn on and the Jazz have continued to look at their current situation and the future, they’ve softened their stance on Mitchell trades at least a little bit, and, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, are willing to at least listen to trade offers for the All-Star.
After previously shutting down inquiries on moving All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, rival teams say the Utah Jazz are showing a willingness to listen on possible trade scenarios, sources tell ESPN.
Jazz general manager Justin Zanik told reporters in a recent interview, “Change is inevitable in the NBA…Things evolve in the NBA, so I couldn’t sit here and say anybody is [untouchable]…There’s no intent there [to trade Mitchell] at all.”
One would think the Jazz would be asking for something fairly similar to the Gobert package in return for Mitchell, with a heavy emphasis on draft picks and young players. Whether there’s a team out there willing to meet that price will be something to watch for in the coming weeks and months, but it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Utah would take this approach. For Danny Ainge and the front office, it’d be rather absurd to refuse to at least engage in conversations after making such a future-facing move with the Gobert trade. Mitchell is under contract at least through 2025, with a player option for the 2025-26 season worth $37 million.
A young star locked in on a long-term deal doesn’t often come available and as such the price will be steep, but teams like Miami, who have long coveted a guard like Mitchell, will surely put what they can on the table and see if it’s enough to get Ainge and the Jazz to bite. What makes this more interesting is some of the teams with interest in Mitchell will surely overlap with those pursuing Kevin Durant (with Miami at the very top of that list) and as such it could push the Nets into re-engaging a bit more earnestly on KD trades after seemingly putting that on the backburner until closer to the season with offers not coming in they’d hoped for — or potentially leading to a three-team deal involving both Durant and Mitchell on the move.
In the immediate aftermath of Kevin Durant’s highly-publicized trade request, reporting indicated that they were two teams for whom he wanted to play. One, the Phoenix Suns, are in the tricky position of trying to figure out Deandre Ayton’s restricted free agency, while the Brooklyn Nets would reportedly want Devin Booker back in a deal that sent Durant to Phoenix.
The other was the Miami Heat, which were a tough sell because they just do not have much to trade — Bam Adebayo, the team’s best young player, cannot be moved to the Nets due to a provision in his contract that likewise exists in that of Ben Simmons. Despite that, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that no team is putting in more work to make something happen for Durant than Pat Riley and co.
– Heat are “most determined” to land Kevin Durant – Heat, Suns will “need some help” from other teams to help facilitate Durant deal – No progress with Raptors for Durant because Scottie Barnes is a “non-starter” in trade negotiations pic.twitter.com/OJ8LlDRNYx
“The Miami Heat certainly have been one of the most determined teams to try to acquire Kevin Durant since he asked for that trade,” Wojnarowski said. “They’ve talked to Brooklyn here in Las Vegas, and ultimately, for Miami and Brooklyn specifically to do a deal, they’re gonna need a third team, perhaps even a fourth team.”
The Heat are very, very good at finding a way to make something happen in an effort to bring a superstar to South Beach. Time will tell if they’ll be able to do that with Durant.
The 2022 Emmy nominations are in and some new blood has made the cut. Scratch that, a lot of new blood has made the cut.
Some 50 first-time nominees were recognized by voters this year for their outstanding contributions to TV and streaming and while we’re cheering them all on, a few performances from the past year stood out amongst the crowded lineup. All come courtesy of first-time nominees and all changed the TV landscape in 2022 for the better. Here’s a roundup of the newcomers you should keep your eye on, and where to watch them.
Netflix
Lee Jung-jae
Category: Best Actor In A Drama Series Where To Watch: Netflix’s Squid Game
When Netflix’s Korean survival drama broke the internet (and a bunch of streaming records) last year, Jung-jae’s character — a father struggling with a gambling problem — became the underdog audiences rooted for. Somehow he survived the sick, twisted gameplay that fueled the show’s first season, and now, he’s got an Emmy nom to show for it.
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Where To Watch: Netflix’s Squid Game
Another unfortunate participant in Netflix’s Squid Game, Ho-yeon’s capable and quiet North Korean defector was playing for a chance to rescue and reunite her family. She had a heartbreaking backstory and a complicated relationship with some of the other contestants which made her a stand-out in the show’s first season.
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Where To Watch: AMC’s Better Call Saul
We know, we know. Rhea Seehorn has been killing it on Better Call Saul for six seasons now but, weirdly enough, this is the first time her magnetic performance as Kim Wexler, a sharp and scheming lawyer who becomes Jimmy McGill’s partner in crime, has been recognized by Emmy voters.
Category: Best Actress in a Drama Series Where To Watch: Showtime’s Yellowjackets
Again, a damn travesty has been brought to light with this first-time nomination for the severely underrated character actress known as Melanie Lynskey. The best part of literally anything she’s in, here, Lynskey plays a suburban housewife just trying to keep pesky rabbits out of her garden and, you know, bury memories of when her high school girls soccer team was stranded in the wilderness and forced to resort to cannibalism to survive.
Category: Best Actor in a Drama Series Where To Watch: Apple TV+’s Severance
Oh, you thought celebrated comedic actor Adam Scott had nabbed an Emmy nom for his work in one of a dozen beloved TV sitcoms he’s starred in over the years? Well, you were wrong. Instead, Scott had to wait for this mind-bending workplace dramedy about a depressed widower trying his best to achieve that fabled work-life balance through morally questionable means to get some love from the Emmys.
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Where To Watch: HBO’s Succession
J. Smith-Cameron has been baby-sitting Waystar Royco’s nepo-babies for a few seasons now but her ascent to interim CEO during season three’s hostile takeover meant she had even more scenery to chew.
Categories: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series Where To Watch: HBO’s Euphoria, HBO’s The White Lotus
The only thing better than being a first-time Emmy nominee is being a first-time Emmy nominee with two nominations in two totally different categories, something only Sydney Sweeney can brag about this year. On Euphoria, she navigated Cassie’s episode-long meltdown with ease, playing a lovesick teenager willing to throw her life away for the absolute wrong guy. On The White Lotus, she played a judgemental and privileged white woman roping her less afluent friend into the worst vacation imaginable. Take your pick of which performance to watch first.
Category: Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Where To Watch: Netflix’s Squid Game
Hae-soo is another first-time nominee to come from the streamer’s surprise foreign-language hit. His character on the show started as a quiet, unassuming Icarus who flew too close to the sun with some bad investments but ended as a cutthroat competitor willing to literally cut throats to claim the cash prize.
Category: Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Where To Watch: Hulu’s The Great
An overgrown toddler outfitted as an 18th-century Russian tyrant, Nicholas Hoult has been having the time of his life playing Peter III on Hulu’s The Great. He’s tossed Pomeranians from balconies and survived attempted assasination plots but in the show’s latest season he had to perform his greatest feat yet — giving up his throne for the woman he thinks he might one day be able to kind of love.
Category: Best Actress in a Comedy Series Where To Watch: ABC’s Abbott Elementary
Not only did Quinta Brunson script one of the best new comedies to land on network TV in the last decade, she did it while also starring in the show as a well-intentioned young teacher hoping to make a difference despite low budgets and an incompetent principal.
Category: Best Actress in a Comedy Series Where To Watch: Hulu’s The Great
Elle Fanning had a pair of standout performances for Hulu this year but her turn as the ambitious and untested monarch in The Great proves she can do comedy as well anyone. After all, who else could make a murderous coup seem like a fun time?
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Where To Watch: ABC’s Abbott Elementary
Janelle James delivered the most memeable performance on TV week after week playing Ava Coleman, a social-media obsessed, totally underqualified school principal who somehow made her teaching staff’s jobs even harder — even when she wasn’t trying to.
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Where To Watch: Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso Ted Lasso’s second season flirted with a bit more pessimism than its first, forcing its normally sunny, optimistic characters to confront their true feelings for the first time. As Dr. Sharon, the team’s new psychologist, Sarah Niles gently pushed the show’s titular character to move past the kitschy motivational quotes and start fixing himself. We should all be thanking her.
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Where To Watch: ABC’s Abbott Elementary
You either wanted a teacher like Barbara Howard or want to be the kind of teacher Barbara Howard is. Either way, that’s thanks to Sheryl Lee Ralph’s commanding presence and riotous straight-to-camera stares on Abbot Elementary.
Category: Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Where To Watch: Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso
Richmond’s nicest player on the pitch got an unexpected romance, a surprisingly topical character arc, and an offer to join another team over the course of Ted Lasso’s second season and Toheeb Jimoh made the most of all that screentime, giving Sam new layers and audience more reason to root for him.
Category: Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Where To Watch: ABC’s Abbott Elementary
Is Tyler James William the new John Krasinski of network TV? It might be too soon to tell, but his will-they-won’t-they romance plot with Quinta Brunson’s character is a big part of what made the show’s first season so watchable. Add an Emmy nom to the mix and things are looking good for the new Jim and Pam.
Category: Best Actress in a Limited Series
Where To Watch: Hulu’s Pam & Tommy
It wasn’t just the makeup department that turned Lily James into the spitting image of Baywatch star and 90s icon Pamela Anderson, it was James’ own nuanced and thoughtful take on the celebrity scandal. She played Pam as we should have seen her then — a strong, opinionated woman with incredible talent and a shrewd understanding of how the media viewed her.
Category: Best Actress in a Limited Series
Where To Watch: Hulu’s The Dropout
Amanda Seyfried adopted a lower octave, commandeered a closet full of black turtlenecks, and transformed herself into the fascinating real-life figure whose Silicon Valley unicorn would eventually land her behind bars. The story of Elizabeth Holmes is juicy enough, but Seyfriend manages to add weight to it by playing the easily-villainized CEO as a flawed young woman trying to succeed in a man’s world.
Category: Best Actor in a Limited Series Where To Watch: FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven
Andrew Garfield’s first foray into TV is, predictably, awards-worthy. In this gritty true-crime drama he plays a Mormon detective tasked with investigating a heinous homicide that might have been committed by members of the church.
Category: Best Actor in a Limited Series
Where To Watch: HBO’s Scenes from a Marriage
Oscar Isaac continues his zadification in this drama about a marriage on the rocks, co-starring Jessica Chastain. If you thought the pairs’ chemistry on the red carpet was too hot to handle, gird your loins for when Isaac plays a scruffy college professor trying to save his relationship in this miniseries.
Category: Best Actor in a Limited Series Where To Watch: HBO’s Station Eleven
This surprisingly hopeful drama recounting the end of the world thanks to a deadly, fast-moving plague may have had an eerie sense of timing, but it also sports some terrific performances and Himesh Patel’s is chief among them. As Jeevan, a young man burdened with the responsibility of looking after his brother and a child he just met as the world goes to sh*t, Patel is both fierce and vulnerable in equal measure.
Category: Best Actor in a Limited Series
Where To Watch: Hulu’s Pam & Tommy
Covered in tattoos, painted with black eyeliner, and having full-blown conversations with his sentient penis — Pam & Tommy gives fans a Sebastian Stan they haven’t seen before. He’s oddly charming and sympathetic, even when his character struggles to be the kind of feminist ally his wife needs, and his manic energy takes up the whole screen.
Category: Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series Where To Watch: HBO’s The White Lotus
Jennifer Coolidge is an undeniable comedic talent but she manages to infuse her heartbreaking and frustrating turn as a woman reeling from the loss of her abusive mother and trying to make new connections in a tropical paradise with enough drama to keep things balance. The show wouldn’t be the same without her.
Category: Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series Where To Watch: HBO’s The White Lotus
Whether Murray Bartlett takes home a trophy come Emmys night or not doesn’t change this one, undeniable fact: he gave the wildest performance on television last year. We’re talking pill-popping, ass-eating, luggage-shitting wild. What’s a golden statue compared to that level of bragging rights?
There are still a handful of episodes in Better Call Saul, whose sixth season picks back up Tuesday night. But apparently it’s a doozy. Is someone going to bite it, with five whole episodes left? Will something worse than death happen? Is Kim Wexler, fellow lawyer and lady friend of Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, okay? As of this writing, only TV critics know for sure. But whatever it is, even the fiancé of the person who plays her doesn’t know.
Varietyrang up actress Rhea Seehorn during a trip to London to congratulate her on finally landing an Emmy nomination for the role she’s played since 2015. Seahorn kept things pretty close to the vest, barely teasing what — or what doesn’t — befall her character. Reporters aren’t the only ones she keeps in the dark.
“My fiancé knows nothing,” she says. “I don’t tell him anything. He’s sitting here in my hotel room, hoping I don’t spoil anything while I’m talking to you.”
Of course, maybe nothing happens to her. There’s every reason not to worry about her — unless we should. Seehorn herself recently teased that it’s not death people should be worrying about. “Death is not the only tragic end,” she cryptically put it last month. Or maybe, as Uproxx speculated recently, she winds up wed to McGill/Goodman and spends the run of Breaking Bad hiding. Or, you know, maybe she does die.
Jameson Irish Whiskey is one of the most popular whiskeys on the planet, not to mention a “gateway whiskey” for many whiskey lovers. It’s also one of the world’s fastest-growing whiskey brands — in that it produces multiple expressions under the Jameson banner. That’s simply to say, if you even dabble in drinking whiskey, you’ve likely come across Jameson at some point or another.
Today, I’m ranking all the current core expressions from Jameson. As with any whiskey brand, the core line is almost constantly in flux, with new expressions dropping throughout the year(s) to bolster the perennials. Jameson is always trying new things with its line and right now is a great time to dive in. Especially for fans of unique barreling programs.
For this ranking, I’m looking at the classics side-by-side with the newbies that have popped up this year and last to replace a few expressions that have been retired. It should be noted that I’m leaving off distillery-only releases and one-offs that aren’t in the core lineup. Overall, the actual ranking is simple. I’m going on taste alone to give you the best chance to find and drink the best whiskey from the beloved Irish shingle.
Let’s dive right in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Irish Whiskey Posts of the Last Six Months
This 2022 release from Jameson is built for old fashioned cocktail lovers. The Irish tipple in the bottle is cut down with natural orange flavors to mimic the orange in that cocktail. The juice is also cut down with plenty of water to bring it to a low proof of only 60.
Tasting Notes:
Big shocker here, orange comes through on the nose and on the palate. On the nose, the orange is more like a powdered orange drink with a hint of cinnamon candy thrown in. The palate is largely the same with that fake orange drink vibe carrying on with a touch of minerality that’s more vodka than whiskey. The finish is sweet and full of “orange” and “cinnamon” with a slight graininess and a touch of vanilla.
Bottom Line:
This is a hard pass from me neat. I tried it on the rocks and it was still a hard pass. I tried it in a highball with a lot of fizzy water and it was fine on a hot summer day. But I’m never reaching for this again.
Here, Jameson has combined their classic triple-distilled Irish whiskey with cold brew coffee. The idea behind the expression is to help enhance the Irish Coffee experience. In this case, it’s a bit reversed. Instead of getting a small dose of Irish whiskey in a creamy coffee, you get a small dose of bitter cold brew in your whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
You’re hit with that cold brew up top with a pleasant bitterness, creamy vanilla, and mild nuttiness. The coffee really dominates the palate as hints of malt, nuts, vanilla, and slight oak peek through. The end is short, sweet, bitter, and warming.
Bottom Line:
Okay, this is actually … good. I don’t even drink coffee and I liked this. It was very clearly a coffee-infused whiskey (not orange drank and vodka as the above expression). I poured this over a few rocks and it was a great and refreshing drink. That said, this felt like a novelty to me more than anything I’d sip on a regular basis.
The process behind the expression is well-used. Jameson sends out barrels to local craft brewers in the Cork area (around the Midleton Distillery, where Jameson is primarily made) for those brewers to age their IPAs. Once those beers are bottled, the barrels are sent back to Midleton and filled with Jameson Irish Whiskey. After a spell finishing in those beer-infused barrels, the whiskey is batched, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
That signature Jameson nuttiness is accentuated by floral and citrus notes that do remind you of hops on the nose. The citrus leans towards grapefruit with a rush of wildflowers next to light woodiness as the grain lingers in the background of the palate. Light fruit picks up at the end with a nice dose of spice and maltiness as it quickly fades out towards a watery finish.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the Jameson I reach for the least. It’s not that it’s bad or anything like, I just don’t dig the “IPA” floral/citrus hop vibe enough to really get into it. If that’s your jam, then go for it!
This whiskey takes the classic triple distilled Irish whiskey and triple casks it before bottling. In this case, the usual ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks are supported by Malaga casks (a Spanish fortified wine). Those barrels are vatted and proofed all the down to 80 before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Lemon trees and cinnamon sticks pull you in on the nose with a hint of grain and stewed plum. A note of clove opens the palate toward tart berries and dried dark stone fruits next to a hint of black pepper, black licorice, and black (charred) oak. The end amps up those woody tannins to a bitter note before the water washes out the end toward a plum and cinnamon finish.
Bottom Line:
This has a nice overall flavor profile that’s distinct. It’s a little washed out for my palate but has a deep enough profile to stand out in a cocktail.
The juice is a blend of single pot still (made from malted and unmalted barley) and grain whiskeys. Those whiskeys age in ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry casks until they hit that classic sweet spot that makes Jameson Jameson. Those barrels are then blended, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This does feel classic with notes of lemon citrus, soft malts, and mild spice on the nose with a faint touch of honey and almond. The sip leans into that spice with a soft powderiness while layers of lush vanilla, dry nuts, and a hint of woodiness drive the palate. The end is short and sweet with a minerality to it that’s more river rock than tap water.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best “on the rocks” pours at any dive bar. You know what you’re getting. It’s easy-going. And it tastes pretty damn good for entry-point whiskey. The only reason it’s this low on this list is that it’s also very basic. There’s a lot of room to grow from this foundational whiskey.
Aging stout in whiskey barrels has a long tradition in brewing. Plus, a pint of stout goes hand-in-hand with drams of Irish whiskey. So aging Jameson in whiskey barrels that held stout beer makes a lot of sense. In this case, the aged juice spends an extra six months in the stout barrels, giving the whiskey that little somethin’, before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Apple orchards and bails of hay mingle with almonds, spice, chocolate, and a hint of lemon oil on the nose. Dark chocolate and a note of woody spices mingle on the palate with creamed honey and a whisper of espresso cream. The end brings about a note of butterscotch next to a milkier chocolate smoothness that leads to a finish that’s part of spiced wood and part bitter espresso bean, creating a spiced-mocha-latte-spiked-with-whiskey vibe.
Bottom Line:
There’s just something about Jameson and coffee bitterness that works. While I’d order a classic Jameson at a dive bar, I’d actually buy this at the liquor store to have around the house. It’s easy drinking while also offering a little something more. It’s also nice on the rocks or in a highball.
This masterfully crafted whiskey leans more towards the single pot still whiskeys than grain whiskey. Those whiskeys are aged in a combination of ex-sherry and ex-bourbon for anywhere from eight to 16 years. Then, the juice is finished in an extra-charred ex-bourbon barrel, bringing about the “Black Barrel” moniker, before blending and proofing.
Tasting Notes:
Dark chocolate cut with creamy vanilla sits next to a rich and buttery toffee with a note of orange on the nose. The palate amps up that vanilla with a dusting of Christmas spices and fatty nuts that lead to a minced meat pie feel with a dark orange/chocolate underbelly. The end has a hint of tannic oak with a creamy vanilla lushness that’s spiked with dark wintry woody spices.
Bottom Line:
This is the ultimate cocktail whiskey from Jameson. The proof isn’t that high, but the flavor profile is distinct without getting washed out by the proofing water. This also works a nice on the rocks whiskey if you’re looking for a light summer sipper with some real depth.
This whiskey is a bit of a rebrand from Jameson 10, which became Crested 10, and is now just Jameson Crested. The juice in the bottle is a blend of triple-distilled, pot still whiskey (again, made from a blend of malted and unmalted barley). The blend leans into ex-sherry casks with ex-bourbon casks acting as a supporting act. Once blended, the whiskey is proofed all the way down to 80 proof for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sense of dry straw and warm spices on the nose with a hint of buttery toffee and a thin line of dark plums. The palate leans into the hot spice with a clear pepperiness and woody cinnamon vibe next to ginger snaps dipped in dark chocolate. The end is a bit like a spicy stewed plum pie with a hint of nutmeg and clove next to a sweet honeyed finish.
Bottom Line:
This is just nice. It’s very similar to the Black Barrel above but doesn’t quite hit the same “woodiness” level, which might be a plus or a minus for some. I like the softness of this one thanks to that soft honey finish. This also gets super creamy with a little water or ice, which is a nice touch.
This is more than just 18-year-old Jameson. It’s a masterful blend of hand-selected 18-year-old whiskeys aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks initially. That juice is then married and finished in first-fill bourbon casks until it’s just right. Once those barrels hit the right notes, they’re vatted, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with soft bourbon vanilla, dry cedar bark, orange oils, rich toffee, and subtle winter spices on the nose. The taste delivers on those promises and adds in worn boot leather, hazelnuts, and a dusting of dark chocolate that melds into the hazelnut to create a creamy Nutella when you add a drop of water. The end arrives with a rush of spiced plum jam with cloves, allspice, and a hint of licorice next to more of that dry cedar next to a nutty/chocolate-infused tobacco leaf with a slight chew to it.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the most complex and easiest drinking whiskey on the list. It’s damn good, even for the high price tag. The reason it’s not first is that it’s not quite as satisfying as the next entry.
This new take on the double-charred, barrel-aged whiskey above (Black Barrel) amps up the ABVs, allowing a lot more character to shine through in the actual bottle. The difference is that the barrels chosen for this expression were perfect at 100 proof instead of 80.
Tasting Notes:
That bitter char comes through on the nose with a subtle espresso bean oiliness next to almost burnt buttery toffee and a touch of walnut. The palate builds on that nuttiness to the point of a walnut cake full of Karo syrup, plenty of dark holiday spices, and a touch of vanilla pudding. The end really amps that vanilla up to the point that you’re almost chewing on vanilla tobacco while the wood comes in with a dry cigar box vibe next to ground winter spices, more nuttiness, and a hint of dry straw in an old fruit orchard.
Bottom Line:
This is the Jameson with the most character that also shines the brightest on its own, on the rocks, or in a cocktail. That flavor profile is distinct and accessible while also having real depth. The higher ABVs work wonders, with an extra kick that just works. Overall, this is a whiskey I actually keep in stock.
Josh Elkin loves eggs. It’s not his only passion — the self-taught chef and host of the Cooking Channel’s Sugar Showdown is no stranger to making all sorts of monstrous mouthwatering dishes (many of which don’t even include eggs) which he shares via Instagram and TikTok. But no single food seems to capture his imagination and inspire him quite like the humble egg. Across his social media channels and on his YouTube series, TheJoshElkin, the chef tackles various egg-based dishes with such passion that you can practically taste his creations through your phone.
This egg obsession (eggsession?) extends to Elkin’s Instagram avatar (a photo of his face covered in perfectly fried sunny-side-up eggs), his #neverskipeggday catchphrase, and being named the CCO of Incredible Egg (that’s Chief Cracking Officer). But beyond the hype, Elkin also knows eggs — probably better than any other self-made chef in the game — so who better to get our egg-cooking tips from than the Undisputed Breakfast Champ?
Whether you’re looking to build that epic egg sandwich, need a quick and easy egg snack recipe, or simply want to know how to perfectly fry your egg every single time, we asked Elkin to reveal all his secrets and give us a few recipes off the top of his head in the process. Check out the interview below and be sure to follow Josh Elkin for more cooking tips.
Photo Courtesy Of Josh Elkin
Walk us through how to make the perfect fried egg from technique to seasoning?
For me, a perfect fried egg is low temperature. You don’t want it to be too high because you don’t want to burn the egg, obviously. I like using salted butter as a lubricant on the frying pan. I also like using non-stick pans, although that is controversial with more traditional professional chefs.
I like using salted butter for two reasons. One, butter is always delicious, it adds another dynamic to a fried egg plus it helps fry it well. Furthermore, a lot of the time people have reservations about whether or not it’s too liquidy or whether or not it’s not liquidy enough. That’s a personal preference at that point. I like a little bit of egg yolk in my fried egg, so I go on the medium-hard side. And if you really want to cook the entire thing properly, add a little bit of water, cover it and the steam will help cook it all the way through.
I wanted to ask you about pan preference actually, because I noticed the nonstick pan in all of your videos. Why is that your preferred pan? Is it just the ease of use?
I do that because I cook so much and to fry an egg on, let’s say a cast iron pan… to make one fried egg? It’s just a lot of work for that. There’s an interesting contrast between who you ask and what kind of chef you’re asking when it comes to equipment. I don’t care. Honestly give me an aluminum sheet pan and an open flame and I’ll make whatever I need to make. I’m not specific about whether or not this is better than that.
I’m trying to move away from ‘better’ and ‘best’ and just go with personal preferences. Non-stick is just super easy. You can flip the egg. No problem. You don’t have to worry about breaking it. It’s not going to stick to the pan regardless of what you use in terms of lubricant.
What’s the secret to not overcooking your egg?
I think eggs or really anything you’re using like on the pan, I think, the biggest misconception is the heat levels. In my experience, lower heat, although it takes maybe a little bit longer, is a lot easier to control.
Off the top of your head, can you give us a great egg breakfast recipe, something that’s really going to blow our minds?
This is an easy one. The five-minute egg, which is a soft-boiled egg over toast. Straight up just regular toast is such an easy and satisfying breakfast idea. I don’t like singling eggs out just for breakfast. It’s such an important item in all food.
But the five-minute egg: you boil water, you drop an egg in for five minutes, exactly, maybe six minutes if you want the inside cooked a little bit longer. And what this does, it creates a soft-boiled egg. The difference between a soft-boiled egg and a poached egg is, that a poached egg you crack into hot water and it cooks like that. Whereas a soft-boiled egg, you’re cooking it inside the shell and it looks like a hard-boiled egg, although, the inside is not chalky, it’s very gooey.
Do that, crack it open, cut it in half, and put it over buttered toast. It’s so satisfying.
Can you run us through an omelet that’s going to rival our local greasy spoon?
Eggs are just one of those things that are revered amongst chefs everywhere. You cook an egg and you’re going to be judged on how you cook the egg, the consistency of the egg, what eggs you choose, the cooking apparatus, and the style of what it is. A diner, for example, doesn’t really care how they’re going to cook your egg. Like a lot of the time, the diner’s just making a mishmash and calling it an omelet, which I’m not mad at. I love that. But in terms of the revered french omelet style, where it’s like super, super delicate, almost creamy on the inside and slightly cooked on the outside, there’s room for both of those, you know what I mean?
I love myself a good, super soft, and yokey french omelet, but I also love myself a diner-style mishmash. And it depends, no joke, a lot of the time I split the difference between both of those, add a piece of Velveeta cheese on the inside, just to bring it down a little bit, dumb it up and add some finishing salt on top. It becomes this fancy-not fancy egg situation if that makes any sense.
I’m sorry. I don’t know if I went too off the handle there.
One part of what you do is this mouthwatering visual aspect to all the food. I think that’s really cool. I wanted to ask if you can build for us a sandwich that will blow people’s minds but still be easy to make using simple ingredients?
Yeah, totally. There are a couple that stand out right off the bat. There’s one that I call “The BEAT,” which is bacon, eggs, avocado, and tomato. Typically, I don’t like hot tomatoes, so if it’s a hot sandwich, like an egg sandwich, I don’t typically like a tomato on there, but for some reason, this BEAT sandwich works. Bacon in the oven, cheesy scrambled eggs on the inside, seasoned tomato, seasoned avocado. But what brings it all together is garlic mayonnaise. This is such a ridiculously delicious sandwich and so easy to do. There’s nothing more to it than just taking a clove of garlic and microplaning it into some mayonnaise. I know it sounds stupid, a lot of people have their things about mayonnaise, but this is amazing.
Josh Elkin
What quick and easy egg-based snack can you give us?
So there’s this Japanese frying pan that makes rolled omelets. A Makiyakinabe omelet pan. It’s a square pan. You make a specific style of egg dish in there where you lay a beaten egg and then you cook it, and then you roll it up, and then you add more egg and roll it up. And it ends up becoming this like multiply rolled egg omelet using this pan.
I saw that and I was like, “Okay, this is cool, a rolled omelet, what else can I turn into this?’ And I ended up sort of adding ingredients to the inside of this. So imagine an omelet, an egg, and then you roll it up and then another layer, and you add a layer of cheese, and then you roll it up and you add a layer of pepperoni, then you roll it up and you add a layer of sauce. And all of a sudden it becomes this Japanese pepperoni pizza omelet thing.
The other day someone captioned their Instagram post. He was making chicken and rice and his caption to the Instagram post was, “Not everything is pizza and donuts.” And my comment to that was, “Not everything is pizza and donuts, but it definitely can be pizza and donuts.”
Earlier we were talking about that kind of messy omelet style, but I wanted to ask for some simple techniques and tips to do that perfect french omelet fold.
The number one piece of advice is low heat. Like you think it’s low, go lower because the egg will kind of become this really silky consistency and hold itself together. The truth is it’s all about gravity. You might look at the Omu rice videos with that egg-shaped egg over the rice that gets cracked in half and then spills over the sides. Like it’s all about low heat, butter, or some sort of other lubricant. Really it’s all about that gravity flip, using the pan and kind of flinging it up in the air with a little bit of wrist action.
I’ve never been to culinary school. That’s part of my gimmick, but I know that in culinary school if you can’t do this, you’re not passing.
It’s a flick of the wrist, lubricant, and practice.
What’s your favorite egg cooking hack?
The spoon trick. You crack a hard-boiled or soft boiled egg, crack one end of the eggshell, fit a spoon between the shell and the egg, and just twist the shell and it pops the egg right up.
Do you have a perfect egg cracking technique?
The flat surface is always a good idea because, for some reason, I don’t know what it is, maybe the shape of the egg or whatever, but when you crack the egg on the flat surface, nine times out of ten, it’ll not only make it easier to get the egg out, but it won’t break the yolk, which is always the idea.
The number one reason why you would crack it outside the bowl is so that there are no shells that get on the inside. Have you ever had a hard time getting the shell out of a bowl of scrambled eggs? The displacement of the yolk or the egg white in your fingers, just like pushing it away every time you try and touch it.
If you use the shell, for some reason, it cuts right through the egg and it’ll pick up the shard with lots of ease.
To close out, let’s turn to fast food for a second. Who in the space is killing it right now? What do you keep returning to? I saw you recreate that Taco Bell Cheezit Tostada — amazing. What do you see out there that excites you?
I love fast food. It’s my favorite food. I don’t care what anyone says. It’s delicious every single time — consistency, can’t match it. But yeah, one of my new series is R & Delicious where basically I find obscure fast food items in a specific geographical location and then I try and recreate it here, because I don’t know if you know this, but American fast food is really, really done well, not in America.
Totally. You see McDonald’s menus from Japan and it’s like, “I want that.”
I always thought it was McDonald’s also. McDonald’s in Japan has a crazy thing or McDonald’s in Greece has a crazy thing. But after researching it and doing like a few dozen of these videos, every single country has every single style of fast food that’s different. Today I’m making Fizzy Pop Popeye’s chicken, which is basically exactly what you think it is, pop rocks on fried chicken. That’s available in Singapore, Popeye’s Singapore, not available here. In terms of who’s killing the fast food game on the state side, Taco Bell is the best at fast food innovation, it’s without a doubt. The naked chicken chalupa taco shell that they made a couple of years ago… the french fries that they have that are sometimes available are amazing.
They keep taking them off the menu! They are amazing though.
They are very good and… spoilers, Taco Bell french fries are KFC french fries with Taco Bell seasoning on it.
Is that true?
It’s a real thing. Well, it’s the same company, right? But I didn’t realize that until I went to KFC, I got the french fries. I was like, “These are strangely similar to Taco Bell.”
I think both are doing french fries great.
I agree. I mean, in terms of innovation, I think Taco Bell is the best, and is really good at that in terms of coming up with new products. But it really depends on what you consider fast food versus like fast-casual. The Five Guys and the Shake Shacks of the world versus like McDonald’s and Burger King.
Since 2015, Lil Wayne has been curating a homecoming festival of sorts with Lil WeezyAna in his homwetown of New Orleans. The last edition took place in 2019 and saw some of the 15,000 attendees getting a little too turnt up during Meek Mill’s performance at UNO Lakefront Arena. But now, Lil WeezyAna returns to the Champion’s Square venue with a stacked lineup for the one-day function on Saturday, August 27th.
Along with Lil Wayne, Lil WeezyAna will have performances from Moneybagg Yo, Coi Leray, Babyface Ray, and Rob 49. There have also been a set of “surprise guests” promised. A partnership with LiveNation Urban, the music festival also offers an opportunity for Weezy and attendees to give back to the community, with $0.50 of every ticket sold from the event being donated to support educational initiatives for young people in New Orleans.
“We’re glad to be back home! New Orleans birthed us and we can travel and hit the stage anywhere in the world, but there’s no place like home,” Young Money Records President Mack Maine said in a statement. “As always, we will be honoring the many lives lost in Hurricane Katrina as this year marks the 17-year anniversary. Wayne is excited to get back home as this one will be one you won’t want to miss!”
Tickets will be available everywhere beginning Friday, July 15th at 10 a.m. local time here. A slew of pre-sales are happening now and more details can be found at the same link.
Rudy Giuliani has once again found himself at the center of a televised January 6 hearing. This time around, the committee’s findings were focused on Donald Trump’s “elite strike force” of a legal team, which proved itself to be anything but. According to deposition testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson and others, in the lead up to the Janury 6 attack, Giuliani, Sydney Powell, Mike Flynn, and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne were engaged in a heated confrontation with Trump’s White House advisors who were strongly pushing back on the “stolen election” strategy that was growing “unhinged.”
As others testified, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone was “not happy” that Trump was being surrounded by conspiracy theorists that were not providing the former president with “good advice.” The situation reportedly reached a head when Cipollone asked Giuliani and the legal team to produce any sort of evidence. Via Mediaite:
“A general disregard for the importance of actually backing up what they are saying with facts,” as Cipollone described it. Herschmann added that the meeting devolved into “screaming” as he also challenged Powell.
Giuliani was also part of the Dec. 18 meeting, and in his deposition, he shared how he insulted Cipollone and Herschmann.
“I’m going to categorically describe it as ‘You guys are not tough enough.’ Or maybe I put it another way. ‘You are a bunch of pussies.’ Excuse the expression. I’m almost certain the word was used.”
The unhinged meeting wasn’t the first time that Giuliani has been accused of not having any evidence to back up his election fraud claims. During a previous January 6 committee hearing, Arizona election official Rusty Bowers testified that he met with Giuliani shortly after the 2020 presidential election. According to Bowers, he was open to letting Giuliani plead his case if he had evidence, which he claimed to have. However, when the two finally got in a room together, Giuliani and Jenna Ellis admitted that they didn’t have any proof.
“We’ve got lots of theories,” Giuliani said, which brought the meeting to an end. Bowers recalled that he and his group laughed about the whole thing because it was just that ridiculous.
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