Month: August 2022

As much of the music fan discourse on Twitter over the past week focused on royalty payments as a result of Kelis’ dispute with Beyonce over “Energy” — what they are, how they work, and who deserves them — it was probably only a matter of time until the discussion expanded to include other stars, as well.

As it turns out, Cardi B saw the searchlight swing in her direction thanks to a 2015 freestyle called “Cheap Ass Weave.” Cardi independently released a video for the song to YouTube long before she had blown up from her Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1 and 2 mixtapes, but the track still showcased her brash wit and unabashed charisma over a beat taken from British rapper Lady Leshurr’s single “Queen’s Speech 4,” released earlier that year.

Perhaps spurred by the ongoing debates about royalties, Leshurr tweeted about not being paid for Cardi’s use of the beat when popular Twitter fan account @girlsinrap recalled “Queen’s Speech 4” on the seven-year anniversary of its release. When a fan noticed it sounds just like “Cheap Ass Weave” (because, again, it’s a freestyle over the same beat), Leshurr replied, “You mind asking Cardi if she can break me off a likkle change she used my beat/idea before her big break and is now a millionaire and I got paid 0.”

Cardi, who apparently either follows Leshurr or was alerted by one of her fans, cheekily responded, “I made like 2 dollars of that song ….you want the other dollar ?”

Although it seems pretty clear that both were only partially serious (both their songs highlight their shared sarcastic senses of humor), Leshurr followed up, saying, “ould b nice but tbh I just wanted my credit & it’s mad I had to tweet banter 4 a response when I dm u years ago about it. I was cool wen I thought it was just YT cover but it’s on streaming sites as ‘cheap azz weave’ nw & urs comes up b4 mine so yes dollar & credit pls.”

Cardi, as always, was ready with a receipt, though, posting proof that Leshurr herself had already acknowledged that Cardi shouted her out in the song while also noting that any versions on DSPs were unauthorized and would be removed. “I don’t find the song on apple,” she wrote in a now-deleted response. “but it’s on any streaming service I will be makin sure it’s taking down including YouTube.” But because Cardi is Cardi, she couldn’t resist taking one last parting shot. “I will also make sure I send you your dollar.”

If only Cardi could handle her other copyright issues so easily. She’s has a week to look for a new lawyer after a lawsuit over her GBMV1 cover was postponed due to her original lawyer’s health issue. In that case, a California man whose tattoo was photoshopped onto a model on the cover is suing for $1 million for unauthorized use of his likeness.

On Wednesday, rumors swirled about the future of HBO Max. Warner Bros. merged with Discovery in April, and CEO David Zaslav is expected to lay out plans for how the two companies will function going forward. The word on the street, as per Deadline, isn’t good. First, there was the unprecedented news that they were shelving two films either already completed or nearing completion: Batgirl and Scoob!: Haunted Holiday. Now there’s talk of mass layoffs, especially with HBO Max’s original content. Nothing is official yet, but people are already worrying about the fate of their favorite shows.

Since its launch in the summer of 2020, HBO Max has distinguished itself as arguably the most diverse streamer. On top of HBO content, there’s plenty of movies, classic films, Looney Tunes, selections from the Criterion Collection, Studio Ghibli, etc., etc. And then there’s their original programming, independent of HBO, including such beloved shows as The Flight Attendant, Hacks, Minx, The Staircase, Station Eleven, and And Just Like That…

Perhaps all these shows will be fine. But people are still freaking out.

Some singled out This Flag Means Death.

And Peacemaker.

Though Peacemaker is allegedly safe, according to creator James Gunn.

Still, what about Hacks?

Or The Sex Lives of College Girls?

Or The Other Two?

People were worried about HBO Max — a very, very good streamer — in general.

Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly making public their Q2 earnings on Thursday. Word about where the newly merged company is headed may follow soon thereafter. In the meantime, say a little prayer for the streamer that has both the Gossip Girl reboot and the cinema of François Truffaut.

(Via Deadline)

As an elder millennial, I remember when the internet was completely uncharted territory. So many new things to discover and try out, with seemingly zero rules. The World Wide Web truly was the Wild Wild West, and we were its brave internet explorers.

With the ferocious speed at which information travels through social media today, we’ve become accustomed to internet trends simply coming and going. So much so that we’ve probably forgotten a few gems that were once considered the “it” thing.

Remember the unparalleled joys of making your Neopet happy? Or the instant self-esteem boost you’d get upon seeing that website hit counter go up on the bottom corner of your virtual masterpiece? (Remember, we didn’t have “likes” to lean on during this dark period.) These are just a few relics of a not-so-distant past—once cherished, but now buried in antiquity.

One Reddit user recently asked: “What’s something the internet was crazy about but is now forgotten?” and people’s answers were a wild nostalgia ride. Use this list for a stroll down memory lane, or to confound a Gen Z friend. Either way, it’s a bit of idle fun—something the internet will always be a good source for.

Without further ado, here are 9 of the weirdest internet trends no one remembers:

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1. Downloading custom cursor effects for your computer

via GIPHY

Ah yes, who wants to see a boring arrow move around their screen when they can pretend to wave fairy dust around? Or rainbows, or snowflakes, or bubbles, for that matter. There really was something magically cathartic about animated cursors. Sure they were riddled with bugs, but sometimes that’s the price you pay for a little whimsy, right?

“I gave my family computer so many viruses back in the ’00s trying to click things with a lightsaber.” –@TW1103

2. Pre-Google search engines

Wow, hard to imagine a time when googling wasn’t an actual word. Believe it or not, kids, it used to be anything goes when looking up obscure movie trivia or long lost recipes.

Each search engine site had its own personality—Alta Vista chose a no frills approach, Dogpile offered a (never funny) joke of the day, and Ask Jeeves featured a savvy valet based on a character in a novel series by P.G. Wodehouse, ready to quench all curiosities that came in the form of a question.

Many of these separate quirks were quite revolutionary and, though eventually swallowed up by Google’s widespread success, have clearly inspired much of its overall format. Sure, other search engines do still exist, but I think we can all agree that Google reigns supreme.

3. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)

via GIPHY

Hulu’s “PEN15,” which centers around two middle schoolers in the early 2000s, nailed everything about AOL chat rooms with accuracy—from the cringeworthy screen names, to the melodramatic away messages, to the obnoxious login sound that had a Pavlovian effect on teens, bringing their eyes involuntarily to the screen. It’s pure gold.

Of course, there are some aspects of AIM that might be best forgotten—primarily the dangerous way in which teenagers were easily exploited.

“I was 14 but playing a 17 year old because 17 was very “grown up” to me, but I didn’t feel it was enough of an age gap for the lie to be exposed.” –@KayleighJK

“I was 13 pretending I was 18 on AOL chat rooms. I was exposed to too much at a young age. Imagine if I said my actual age” –@Chickeneggsandlegs

4. Flash games

Flash games—often free, super easy to play, and normally only required Adobe Flash. According to Comic Book Resources (CBR), one flash game in particular called “Club Penguin” was so well loved that when it shut down in 2017, “thousands of players logged on for the game’s final moments, doing everything they could do in game before it was gone forever.”

5. Smart Guestbooks

Pretty straightforward, and a pretty sweet way to connect with people around the world. Visitors from all over could digitally “sign” and leave a personal message, usually things like “Hi I’m so-and-so and I really enjoyed your website, was a pleasure to browse.” See now nice that was? Not exactly like the aggressive Yelp reviews we’ve become accustomed to.

6. GeoCities

Into science fiction and fantasy? Head on over to “Area51.” More of a sports fan? Click on “Colosseum.” Geocities offered virtual neighborhoods based on specific interests, all on sites filled with flashy graphics and some hot new thing called GIFs. This was a time when enthusiasm for the internet as a community-building and self-expression space was at an all time high, even if looking back the execution was a tad rudimentary.

Though the days of Geocities are gone, some remnants of its glory remain, like this.

7. Webrings

As MIC contributor Brittany Vincent so astutely put it, “Webrings are a forgotten antiquity of the past, a solution created to resolve a problem that no longer exists.” Back when websites were both expensive and limited—not to mention search engines hadn’t hit their stride—having a little box on the bottom of a site you were already on, one that revealed even more magical places you could visit based on the site you were currently on…well, that was the ultimate luxury.

“Oh man, if you stumbled upon* a web ring that you were interested in it was like gold. Bookmark! Not to be confused with StumbleUpon, that was later and also magical.” –DanAykroydFanClub

Which brings us to…

8. StumbleUpon

Back in the day, the internet wasn’t such an all-knowing entity feeding off of algorithms. Endless exploring through obscurity was part of the fun. No better example of this exists than Stumble Upon, where visitors would click a button and land somewhere else at complete random. It was a game of internet roulette. And it was thrilling.

9. Poking on Facebook

Sometimes, internet imitates life. This was the case with Facebook’s “poke” feature, where users could click a button to remind another user of their existence. Was it rather pointless? Yes. Was it intrusive? Also yes. Regardless, it was all the rage.

Like many of Facebook’s features, “pokes” could disappear in the barrage of notifications, which could result in less than ideal realizations.

“I had a friend that poked me and I never noticed the notification. He died. I now have this unreturned poke as a reminder that I’ll never be able to poke them back.” –@Klaus0225

Sure, today’s technology is faster, more efficient and far reaching, but we’ll always have a spot in our hearts for the early internet’s wonky charm. Sort of like those old yearbook photos…

Here at Upworthy, we try to find stories that will warm your heart so when NPR shared about a lucky librarian, we had to share. Sometimes, looking through forgotten things can be fun, especially when they give you a glimpse into someone else’s life. Even the smallest things can feel like a treasure. In California, an Oakland Public Library librarian, Sharon McKellar, has been collecting things she has found left behind in books people return.

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Who would’ve thought that there could be so many things left behind inside a library book? Sure, you can imagine the obvious like a book mark or a post-it note holding the reader’s place, but this librarian has found some pretty cool things. Some things are unique, while others are things like tags or receipts—most likely things used to bookmark the page for later reading. But the collection is something that will give your heart a little smile and she has it all in one place for people to explore. Since McKellar’s collection started to grow, she started a page on the library website just to display her treasures so their owners could claim them should they want them back.

It’s hard to imagine that people would want most of the things in the collection. Not sure what someone would do with a good dental report from a few years ago or an old Southwest luggage tag. But among the finds there are a few items that people would find priceless, like old family photos and little love notes.

McKellar told NPR that she had been collecting things from library books for a while, but about 10 years ago she figured other people may also find the items interesting. That’s when she started adding images of the found items to the library’s website. Other Oakland librarians send things they’ve found in books to McKellar, who then scans them and uploads them to the website. When speaking to NPR, she said, “I had always collected little things I’d found in library books and I knew other people did that too,” McKellar said. “So that was how it started. It was pretty simple, I was inspired by a magazine called Found Magazine.“

Couple at Drakes Brewing Co

There are now more than 350 items in the archive, according to NPR, and most remain unclaimed. There’s no indication of what will become of the collection in the future, or if McKellar will continue to collect until she needs to take out a storage unit. Either way, these little finds are a fun and wholesome glimpse into the lives of strangers.

TikTok user Kylee Yoshikawa shared a cute video on August 2 of actor Jason Momoa pushing a bar cart and passing out bottled water on a Hawaiian Airlines flight. He even wore a flower over his left ear like a female Hawaiian airlines flight attendant.

Momoa, a native Hawaiian from Honolulu, is best known for playing Khal Drogo in the HBO hit “Game of Thrones” as well as Duncan Idaho in Dennis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake.

The video was given to Yoshikawa by her “aunty” and since she shared it on TikTok, it has been viewed nearly 5 million times.

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@livinglikekylee

My aunty sent me this vid, i just thought i’d share 😍✈️ #PostitAffirmations #hawaiitiktok #jasonmomoa #flightattendantlife

It must have been a huge shock for the passengers to see the massive Momoa, who is 6 foot, 4 inches, shuffling his way down the aisle, pushing a bar cart and passing out water to unsuspecting passengers. Airplane cabins weren’t built with hulks like Momoa in mind.

The video received a host of hilarious comments. The most popular poked fun at his iconic role of Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe. “Aguaman,” Liziabeth wrote blending the Spanish word for water with the name of his character.

Others commented on the pretty flower in his hair. “Flower on the left… he is spoken for ladies,” Crystal Brown wrote.

Another joked that his new job was a sign of the times. “Inflation got celebrities taking part-time jobs,” Aquarius said.

“Jason Mimosa,” sal_stiproject quipped.

Noellani pointed out that it wasn’t all for fun, Momoa’s sudden career change was a publicity stunt as well. “He’s handing out Mananalu water, founded by the Jason Mamoa himself,” she wrote.

Momoa is the founder of Mananalu, a bottled water brand that uses aluminum instead of plastic bottles. The brand chose aluminum because it can be recycled an infinite number of times and has the highest recycling rate of all beverage packaging options.

The company also removes one plastic bottle from the world’s oceans for each bottle of Mananalu purchased.

Others noted that Momoa seems to be doing fine after a road incident he had last month. TMZ reported that Momoa struck a motorcycle while rounding a curve in the hills near Calabasas, California. It’s believed that the motorcyclist drove into Momoa’s lane in the bend and hit the front end of his Oldsmobile muscle car.

The motorcyclist was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and Momoa left the accident unscathed. Or did he? “He hit his head in the bike accident, now he thinks he’s a flight attendant,” anonymous TikTok user joked in the video’s comments.

Whoever came up with the idea of having Momoa pass out his water on a Hawaiian Airlines flight within a flower behind his ear deserves a raise. They obviously knew that it would get posted to social media and immediately go viral. Heck, at Upworthy, we even realized it was a PR move but it was still such a fun moment that we figured it was worth sharing.

Mananalu water is available wherever fine bottled water is served.

This week on People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Kweli and Jasmin Leigh go deep with rapper/production icon Lord Finesse, whose work with the D.I.T.C. (Diggin’ in the Crates) crew gave birth to multiple hits and a production style that helped define the times. Beyond his unique production sound, Finesse has also always been known for his crisp lyricism — a fact that Kweli keyed in on.

“My style comes from my heroes,” Finesse notes. “Kane, Rakim, KRS ONE, [and] Kool G. Rap. During that time you only wished you could be as great as them or you would be noticed and your name would ring like their names would ring.”

Later, as the conversation moves into the art of battle rapping, Finesse notes, “Some of the best punchlines are when you don’t see them coming. If I can predict your punchline and see where it’s coming from… it ain’t that great.”

Since his 1990 debut album Funky Technician with DJ Mike Smooth and Return of the Funky Man in 1992, Finesse let the world know he meant serious lyrical business. Over the years, he’s worked with some of the best — from Big L to Brand Nubian to Vinnie Paz, among others. In 2020, he dropped “Actual Facts” featuring veteran spitters Sadat X, Lord Professor, and Grand Puba, making it clear that this stone-cold icon is still carrying the torch for real hip-hop!

Watch Lord Finesse talk about his epic journey as one of hip-hop’s most respected rappers and producers on People’s Party with Talib Kweli on YouTube or listen via Luminary.

Empress Of’s latest EP, Save Me, came out this past June and it’s another collection of sparkling indie pop songs from Lorely Rodriguez. Today, she shared the latest video from the project in the Jerome AB-directed clip for “Turn The Table,” a collaboration track with producer Jim-E Stack.

In the drone recorded clip, Rodriguez performs the song in a vacant building in idyllic Grand Cayman. There’s something about the way she dances with reckless abandon in the standstill of the building surrounded by natural beauty, that’s as hypnotizing as the banger of a tune.

Following this weekend’s performance at the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, Empress Of will be joining Carly Rae Jepsen on her 2022 North American tour dates. Check those out below.

Watch the video for “Turn The Table” above.

08/06 — San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands
09/24 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS #
09/26 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner #
09/28 — New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall #
09/29 — Washington DC @ The Anthem #
10/01 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia #
10/02 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa #
10/04 — Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theatre #
10/05 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern #
10/07 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
10/09 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall #
10/10 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom #
10/12 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom #
10/14 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union Event Center #
10/15 — Las Vegas, NV @ The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas #
10/17 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre #
10/18 — Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre #
10/20 — Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theatre #
10/21 — Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley #
10/23 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater #
10/26 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo #
10/29 — Vancouver, BC @ Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre #
11/02 — Madison, WI @ The Sylvee #
11/04 — Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater #
11/05 — Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom #

# with Carly Rae Jepsen

Finding the best brandy — Cognac, Armagnac, weinbrand, or otherwise — might feel a little daunting. There’s a ton of it on the shelf from all over Europe and the U.S. It’s a wide category with a lot of variation based on a wine distillate aged in oak. A great way to help you sort through it all is to provide some context and recommendations, and I’m doing just that today with a blind taste test of well-known American and French brandy brands.

Before we dive in, let’s talk a little about what brandy is. As mentioned above, we’re dealing with an oak-aged spirit that’s made from wine (a ton of grape varietals are in play here so I won’t list them all, otherwise we’ll be here all day). That aged distillate tends to hover around 80 proof, or 40 percent ABV. When it comes to regionality, think of wine regions. Most major world wine regions make brandy in one way or another — France, Spain, Germany, Chile, the U.S., etc. Then there are the regional designations. Cognacs and Armagnacs have to come from Cognac and Armagnac, in France. That means all Cognacs and Armagnacs are brandies but not all brandies are Cognacs or Armagnacs in the same way not all whiskeys are bourbons (but all bourbons are whiskeys).

And all of those intricacies come before we even get into Maisons, casks, and terroir. But we’ll save those lessons for another day.

For this tasting, I’m grabbing some great bottles off of my shelf and putting them up against each other in a blind taste test. While I tend to focus my work on whiskey, I’m also a spirits judge for international competitions where I judge everything from whiskey to vodka to rum to, yes, brandies. So for this blind tasting, I’m focusing on the flavor alone and ranking these bottles according to the most enticing taste. I chose bottles that hit the mid-range from around $30 to $60 per bottle with a cheap ringer thrown in to see how it lands — meaning you should be able to find these fairly easily.

Our lineup today is:

• Ciroc VS French Brandy
• Bisquit & Dubouche Cognac VSOP
• Remy Martin Cognac VSOP
• Omage XO American Hand-Crafted Brandy
• St-Remy Signature French Brandy
• Korbel Brandy
• Hennessy VS Cognac
• D’Usse Cognac VSOP

Let’s dive in!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked
• We Tasted Bourbon Whiskeys ‘Double-Blind’ And Tried To Guess Each Bottle
• All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a creamy sense of Nutella that leans a little nuttier than chocolatey with a hint of soft orchard wood, grape skins, and a whisper of vanilla husk. The palate is full of lush dark chocolate with a layer of dried red berries swimming in vanilla cream with a flake of salt and a hint of wet oak. The end leans into red fruit leather with a final dusting of dark chocolate just kissed with vanilla.

This is a pretty damn nice place to start. This felt classic while taking me somewhere.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

Hints of tannic oak mingle with vanilla candies and a dash of winter spice in a plum jam on the nose. A twinge of dried roses leads the palate as layers of orchard fruit skins mix with apricot jam, woody cinnamon sticks, and a hint of sour cherry. A minor note of salt arrives to counter that sour cherry late as gooseberries and warming spices round out the finish.

The end of this gets a little warm and pushes the fruitiness out a bit. Still, this was pretty easy drinking overall.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

The nose is balanced between soft florals and a rich nuttiness with echoes of old oak and mashed berries on a hot day. The palate feels classic with bright, sweet, and tart fruit mixing with dry woody spice, a touch of leather, and sweet vanilla. The end is short and sweet with a fruit/nut/vanilla vibe.

This was pretty nice. I can see it being beaten though.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a hint of floral honey next to apple and pear and maybe some vanilla sauce with a hint of poppy seed. The palate is lush and layers in woody spice with an even warmth next to soft red berries, a tad more pear flesh, and a little green tea. The end sweetens and fades out pretty quickly leaving you with a touch of oak and toffee.

This is pretty nice as well. It’s a little thin on the end but solid otherwise.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a hint of old wood that’s wet and somehow slightly grainy (there’s no grain in this, obviously) countered by a minor note of grape must and vanilla. That wet oak carries onto the palate and mixes with light winter spices, a hint of raisin, and green orchard leaves. The end is light and touches on a whisper of orange and lemon citrus oils.

From my notes: “This feels young and a little thin.”

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

This smells cheap with almost dirty grape must mingling with butterscotch and bitter fruit seeds. The taste is elevated far above the nose with a matrix of cinnamon and clove next to sweet cherries and orange zest. By the end, this feels like a proto old fashioned in the glass — which means this must be Korbel.

This tastes like it was made to be mixed. It’s not bad but it’s really not great neat.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

Rich chocolate and marzipan lead the way on the nose with a good line of ripe red fruits leaning toward black cherry and blackberry. The palate is lush but light with those bright fruits leading your senses toward a hint of cinnamon and clove wrapped in old leather with a twinge of oak in the background. The end brings back the choco-marzipan vibe with a whisper of red berries sourness.

This was pretty damn good.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

This starts off very similarly to the last pour with dark and rich chocolate and marzipan but carries on toward old soft leather and mild Christmas cake spices with a hint of vanilla and candied fruit. The taste mingles soft vanilla pods with buttery toffee and woody spices as the fruitiness shines a ray of sunshine through the whole sip. The end has a good sense of dark chocolate and almond with a hint of black tea bitterness rounding everything out.

This is a clear winner. This is just delicious, deep, and enticing.

Part 2: The Ranking

8. Korbel Brandy — Taste 6

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $11

The Brandy:

This California brandy is crafted as a mixer. The juice is Sonoma wine that’s distilled and then aged for two years in American oak. The barrels are then blended and proofed for maximum mixability.

Bottom Line:

Called that. This really does end up tasting like a base for an old fashioned, which is what the brand has leaned into over the decades. So … use it for that.

7. St-Remy Signature French Brandy — Taste 5

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $30

The Brandy:

St-Rémy is a classic French gateway brandy. Their newest expression aims to get new folks into brandy with an accessible entry-level expression. The juice in this case is aged in new oak casks for a short spell before going into used casks for a final, short maturation.

That brandy is then blended, proofed, and bottled for the “new” brandy consumer.

Bottom Line:

This was pretty thin. I can see it being a good cocktail base but that’s about it.

6. Bisquit & Dubouche Cognac VSOP — Taste 2

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $73

The Brandy:

This fairly new Cognac comes from the famed Maison Fondée Cognac, which has been producing great brandy for over 200 years. The juice in the bottle is made from grapes harvested in the Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Fin Bois, and Bons Bois regions of Cognac and built to suit a modern, American palate.

Bottom Line:

This bottle was very nice but a little tannic for my palate. It was soft and smooth otherwise and would have really shined with a single rock, which would have let some more flavors bloom in the glass.

5. Remy Martin Cognac VSOP — Taste 3

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $64

The Brandy:

This classic brandy is nearly 100 years old. The majority of the grapes come from the Grand Champagne region of Cognac with a vast majority of the grapes being Ugni Blanc. The spirit ages for four to 12 years before blending, proofing, and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This felt classic and a little basic. That’s not to say this wasn’t a tasty sip. It was. But I was left wanting to make a killer cocktail more than sip it neat.

4. Omage XO American Hand-Crafted Brandy — Taste 4

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $27

The Brandy:

Omage XO is as close as American brandy can get to being Cognac. The process is essentially the same but made from grapes grown in Central California that are fermented, distilled, and aged locally in that region to the same standards as brandy in Cognac.

Bottom Line:

This was the first pour I really wanted more of, even neat. It’s delicate and deep while still feeling very accessible as a sipper. That said, I really want to make a Sazerac with this.

3. Ciroc VS French Brandy — Taste 1

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $30

The Brandy:

Ciroc is a “French Brandy” being that it’s not made in Cognac. The distillate is made from French grapes and follows classic French brandy traditions otherwise from fermentation to distillation to aging.

Bottom Line:

Maybe it’s because this was the first taste, but this was pretty drinkable neat. It was straightforward and had a nice balance of flavors.

2. Hennessy VS Cognac — Taste 7

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $45

The Brandy:

Ol’ Henney Lo. This entry-point to the wide world of Hennessy is a blend of over 40 brandies (or eau-de-vie) that were aged a minimum of two years. The grapes are exclusively Ungi Blanc and grown in the core regions of Cognac.

Bottom Line:

This was a good brandy all around. It was easy and tasty. What more could you want? Okay, it lacked the depth of the next entry but not by much.

1. D’Usse Cognac VSOP — Taste 8

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $59

The Brandy:

This is Jay-Z’s signature brand. The juice in the bottle goes way back to Baron Otard from the famed Château de Cognac. The new line was re-crafted to suit American palates and includes a blend of Cognacs that are aged at the château for four to eight years before blending, proofing, and bottling.

Bottom Line:

This was the most nuanced and deeply hewn brandy on the panel — not by far, but enough. Overall, it was just delicious and great for the price. I can see sipping this neat after a meal or on the rock near a bbq in the backyard. This is the good stuff.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

These were some damn fine brandies. Each one had its own vibe and purpose — it was obvious that the Korbel was made for mixing and I’m not going to knock that clarity of purpose. In the end, the top two would be my picks for must-haves on your bar cart. I mean, you should have a bottle of Henny anyway. But that D’Usse VSOP is a damn fine addition, too.

Tom DeLonge left Blink-182 in 2015. But the rumor mill regarding the group’s longtime guitarist and singer returning to Blink-182 has been picking up steam. Current guitarist Matt Skiba (also of Alkaline Trio), Blink’s bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, and even DeLonge himself have either hinted or issued statements recently that have left fans wondering whether or not Tom DeLonge is rejoining Blink-182. So here’s what we know so far:

Is Tom DeLonge rejoining Blink-182?

Last November, Tom DeLonge told James Corden that, “I feel like I’m always talking about some kind of reunion. We always talk about playing together again and I think that that’s definitely something we’re all interested in.” This got people excited, but it wasn’t until Matt Skiba replied to a fan account on Instagram asking if he was still in the band that people started thinking that a DeLonge reunion might very well be in the works. “Your guess is as good as mine,” Skiba replied as to whether or not he is still in the band. “Regardless, I am very proud of and thankful for my time with Blink-182. We shall see…”

Then on August 1st, DeLonge himself seemed to drop a hint on his Instagram page that he might be rejoining Blink-182. Under his bio, he now lists both Blink-182 and Angels And Airwaves as his current projects. He then posted a photo with original bandmates Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker with the caption that read simply “Blink-182.”

Finally, on the 30th anniversary of Blink-182, Hoppus issued a statement on Discord seemingly addressing rumors about Delonge rejoining the band: “There is no news to share. There is no announcement,” he began. “Today is thirty years of blink-182! If and when blink has any announcement about anything, you will hear it from the official blink-182 outlets. Not teased on a radio station like ‘tune in for a major announcement…Tom tagged Mark in a photo from two decades ago.’”

It looks like Mark Hoppus is playing it cool, but the energy in the room, err… the internet, seems to be indicating that Tom DeLonge could be rejoining Blink-182.

Blink-182 is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Earlier this week, the long-expected news of a Deshaun Watson suspension became public. A jointly-appointed arbiter, former judge Sue Robinson, determined that Watson violated the league’s personal conduct policy amid numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and will be suspended for six games during the 2022 NFL season. The ruling does not include any sort of fine for the recently-acquired Cleveland Browns signal caller.

The suspension was far less than what the league reportedly wanted — the NFL apparently believed the allegations against Watson were worthy of him receiving an indefinite suspension that would at least span the entirety of the upcoming season. But in the aftermath of the ruling, it was reported that the NFL could try to appeal the decision, and on Wednesday afternoon, we learned that the league will indeed go down that path.

The league put out a statement explaining how they are able to do this, citing a provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that either side has to appeal so long as they file said appeal within three days of the ruling being handed down. Now, per the statement, the appeal will “be heard by the Commissioner or his designee,” and Roger Goodell will have to “determine who will hear the appeal.”

The evening before the decision was handed down, the NFLPA issued a statement saying “regardless of [Robinson’s] decision, Deshaun and the NFLPA will stand by her ruling and we call on the NFL to do the same.”