The UK’s Wireless Festival has announced its headliners for 2022, as well as a big change to the festival format. After being held at a single location since 2015, the festival has once again expanded to multiple venues this year, taking place at two of its old locations, Finsbury Park and Crystal Palace Park, as well as the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham.
Fittingly, the roster of headliners has also expanded to include an impressive collection of mostly US-based acts, which include ASAP Rocky, J. Cole, and Tyler The Creator at Crystal Palace Park on July 1-3, then Cardi B, SZA, and Nicki Minaj at Finsbury Park from July 8-10. On that same weekend, BRIT AWards winner Dave, Cardi B, and J. Cole will be the headliners at the NEC.
Local headliner Dave is coming off a strong 2021 that saw him release his sophomore album We’re All Alone In This Together. Dave was nominated for — and won — the Best Hip Hop/Rap/Grime Act award at this year’s BRITS, where he performed “In The Fire” from his new album complete with a flamethrowing guitar. His selection as a Wireless headliner signals his leap from emerging artist to bonafide superstar.
No other acts have been announced as yet, but you can find more information on the Wireless Festival website.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
As The Daily Beast reports, even many of those people who have perfected the art of smiling and nodding along when the former president says something outrageous are bothered that instead of condemning Putin’s actions and standing with the United States in its support of Ukraine, Trump is instead describing Putin as being both “smart” and “savvy” and in a way seems to be applauding Russia’s decision to launch an attack on Ukraine.
“I was stunned to hear that,” Dan Coats, who previously served as the director of national intelligence under Trump, told The Daily Beast. “I cannot think of any other U.S. president that would in a situation like this say what he said.”
It got to the point that by Thursday afternoon, several longtime associates who had spoken to Trump since Tuesday told him that he might want to avoid lavishing too much praise on Putin, and perhaps refrain from complimenting the Russian president’s intellect so much, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. At least one adviser recently mentioned to Trump that it would be more advantageous to simply stick to calling Biden feckless and bumbling. Neither of them had high hopes that the ex-president would take the advice.
Finding a great bottle of Scotch whisky can be a pretty daunting task. There’s so much of it out there, so many regions, and then very different styles (peated and unpeated) with very different flavor profiles. That’s why we try to break it down by price, region, and through the help of blind tastings. Today, I’m going even deeper and doing a double-blind tasting with eight random bottles from my shelves.
While blind tastings are crucial for judging whiskeys without explicitly seeing the brand, I always know the contestants going in. So as I place each whiskey, there’s still an aspect of “knowing” (or guessing) what’s what. Whether it’s guacamole or beer or bourbon, we’re the ones picking those entrants from the grocery store or liquor store. With a double-blind, I’m going in with no idea what’s in the glasses in front of me.
There was one rule for pulling these bottles (my wife was kind enough to help me): don’t take more than one bottle off a single shelf. That way I would get as varied as possible a selection of whiskies (since I often have five, six, or more expressions from a single distillery sitting on the shelf together). Beyond that, there are no rules besides me having no idea what I’m in for and trying to guess what each dram might be.
Let’s dive right in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
There’s a clear sense of shortbread cut with lemon and vanilla next to malty spice, buttery toffee, and a touch of soft oak on the nose. The palate leans into that buttery toffee with some winter spice leading to creamy vanilla pudding, fruity underbelly, more of those spicy malts, and a sharp cut of fresh ginger. The end brings back the shortbread with a real butteriness.
My Guess:
More buttery and citrus-heavy? I’d say this is something in the Glenmorangie range.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Prunes and dates lead to a smoked apricot vibe with hints of old leather, orange-infused marzipan, dried roses, and a honeyed sweetness on the nose. The palate is so soft and holds onto that orange/marzipan/rose vibe before turning towards a malty dark chocolate mid-palate with smoked almonds and plums lingering on the backend. The finish is full of spicy malts and smoked stone fruits with that dark chocolate adding a thin layer of bitterness.
My Guess:
Wow! I have no idea what this is but it’s f*cking delicious.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Soft leather leads to an apple orchard full of sweet, tart, and woody apples with apple blossoms supporting the nose’s depth while a fresh and buttery brioche mingles with sweet oak. The taste opens with vanilla cookies and pear candies with a dried flower note next to a rich and fresh honey. That honey drives the mid-palate towards apple and pear stems and cores with this apple/pear/honey/floral vibe attached to a subtle maltiness.
My Guess:
Apple, brioche, florals, and honey means Glenfiddich. It’s an older one with that apple core and stem vibe but not sure which one.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
The nose draws you in with smoked peaches next to a smoldering chunk of cherrywood with singed sage and rosemary leading towards an echo of smoked brisket fat covered in a lot of black pepper. There’s a burnt toffee sweetness that leads to eggnog spices, green herbs after a rainstorm, and sweet potting soil. Then an ashen vibe — kind of like a campfire the morning after — kicks in on the mid-palate and gives this away. That ash leads to walnut shells, old black tea bags, sweet black licorice whips, and a touch more of that smoky brisket fat.
My Guess:
Ardbeg. 100%. It’s either the An Oa or Uigeadail. That specific “ashen” note gives it away.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Old orchard wood, soft leather, dried orange peels, raspberry jam, and creamy dark chocolate gently mingle on the nose. That jam leans into a spiced cherry compote as stewed plums with plenty of allspice and clove lead to soft walnut cake with a malty backbone. The mid-palate takes that walnut and sweetness and moves the taste toward velvety malts and soft and sweet orchard wood, a dusting more of that dark chocolate, and dark berry silkiness.
My Guess:
This is stunning whisky. I just can’t place it.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Wildflowers and granola bars draw you in on the nose as a hint of brine and salted caramel linger on the back end with orange oils and softwood. That brine becomes a full rush of seaspray as tart apples lead towards a Caro syrup mid-palate sweetness. That sweetness fades into a spicy malt as sea salt and sweet oak dominated the finish.
My Guess:
I cannot place this. That seaspray feels like a Skye or Islay distillery but it’s not peated. Orkney maybe? Campbelltown? I have no idea.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with new leather, plum jam, dark chocolate nibs, and oak staves dipped in barrels of fresh honey. That dark chocolate vibe leads to layers of orange oils, soft vanilla cream, dark fruit leather, and candied pecans. The sweet and nutty mid-palate moves towards creamy and buttery dark chocolate sauce as stewed and spicy plums finish the sip with a warming, leather, and dark fruity end.
My Guess:
All that dark fruit, leather, nuttiness, and dark chocolate … This has to be an Aberlour. It’s so sherried. Maybe the 18-year?
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Smoked apricots lead to singed star anise and a honey-chocolate note on the nose that’s subtle and very enticing. Crispy salmon skins and anchovy oils counter a soft and distant beach campfire on a rainy day with smoked sea salts, buttery toffee, and smoked apricot. That apricot drives the mid-palate towards silky layers of orange oils, more of that fatty salmon skin, and a final wisp of that campfire smoke from way down the beach.
My Guess:
Caol Ila. Not sure which one, but am sure what it is thanks to that fish fat/distant smoke vibe.
Bruichladdich’s philosophy on whisky making is pretty unique. Each batch highlights local, unpeated Scottish barley that’s fermented and distilled. That juice then goes into some combination of ex-bourbon, ex-sherry, and ex-wine casks for a varied amount of time. That means each batch is unique. Bruichladdich then provides a code on their bottles so that you can go to their website and find out what makes the bottle in your hand special.
Bottom Line:
This was so good, interesting, and unique but here it is, last. Overall, this was the “smallest” whisky on the list. There was plenty there but it feels utterly unfair that it was tasted against some of the absolute marvels on this list.
This dram from Glenmorangie is a much-loved Highland malt. The juice is matured in ex-bourbon barrels for an undisclosed number of years. The whisky is then transferred to French Sauternes barrels which held sweet dessert wines where it spends two more years finishing.
Bottom Line:
Hey! I got this pretty close to right. Nice. It’s also wild that a whisky this delicious is nearly last. This list is nothing but bangers from top to bottom.
This is the mountaintop of Johnnie Walker’s whiskies. The blend is a marriage of ultra-rare stock from extinct Diageo distilleries around Scotland. That’s just … cool. This expression is all about barrel selection and the mastery of a great noser and blender working together to create something special.
Bottom Line:
I had no idea what this was. I do feel that had I known it was in the lineup, I’d had sussed it out and ranked it higher. So, this is a pretty good example of how double-blinds really push the envelope.
That all aside, again, this is a phenomenal whisky.
This is a quintessential Islay peaty whisky. The juice is aged in a combo of Pedro Ximénez, charred virgin oak, and ex-bourbon casks before being married and rested again in Ardbeg’s bespoke oak “Gathering Vat,” allowing the whiskies to really meld into a cohesive dram.
Bottom Line:
I knew what this was almost immediately. That said, it’s hard to place that “ashy” vibe in a lineup of whiskies that absolutely nail so many deep and beautiful flavor profiles.
It’s all in the name of this yearly special release from Glenfiddich. The whisky matures for over 23 years in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s vatted and then filled into French Cuvée casks that held Champagne. That whisky is then cut down to proof and bottled just in time for the holiday season.
Bottom Line:
Called it! I wish I had dialed in on the age statement but here we are. This whisky was a delight and I wish I had more of it — my wife picked some pricey, rare drams!
A’bunadh (ah-boon-arh) means “the original” in Gaelic and the juice in this Highland bottle represents that for Aberlour. The whisky is matured in old Olorosso sherry casks exclusively. The juice then goes into the bottle at cask strength, unfussed with.
Bottom Line:
Damn! I was so close with Aberlour 18. Still, this is a deep, dark, and delicious whisky (and clearly a great value pick). I wanted more immediately.
This yearly release from the tiny Islay distillery, Caol Ila, is all about the finish. The 12-year-old juice is finished in Moscatel sherry casks to give it a truly deep fruitiness next to that briny Islay peat.
Bottom Line:
I love this whisky. Had this been up against other peated whiskies only, it would have won hands down. I just couldn’t argue the brilliance of today’s number one though.
This Highland whisky is a local tradition of sorts, dating back to the brand’s origins in the 1820s. The whisky in the bottles is hewn from barrels of at least 18-year-old whiskies. The maturation is done exclusively in hand-picked Olorosso sherry casks from Spain.
Bottom Line:
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t place this. It was the winner by far. This whisky is stunning and truly delicious.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
Let’s see… I called five brands though never really nailed down the right expression. I still consider that a win. Though it’s pretty embarrassing I completely missed Johnnie Blue.
If I were to do this again, I don’t know what I’d change. This was so varied and had some seriously heavy-hitting masterpieces. I did learn that GlenDronach continues to wow with their range. Their 21-year is perfection in a glass if you’re looking for an unpeated pour.
In the end, I recommend all of these for different reasons. But if you want a truly transcendent experience, go for the GlenDronach for an unpeated pour or the Caol Ila for a peated pour. They’re both next-level whiskies that my particular palate adores.
New Disney and Pixar film Turning Red features a boy band named 4*Town, and famous musician, producer, and Eilish sibling Finneas is a part of it. Finneas is not only a member, but he also produced their new single “Nobody Like U,” and co-wrote it alongside Eilish.
The movie soundtrack is out on March 11, and includes more singles by the siblings, such as “1 True Love” and “U Know What’s Up.” The pair are well-versed in the act of collaborating with each other; together they wrote “Happier Than Ever,” one of the biggest songs of 2021, on what Finneas dubbed “the cheapest guitar ever made,” and they apparently are already working on Eilish’s next album, as Finneas hinted in a podcast in December.
From poignant pop hits to Disney fake boy band anthems, the Eilish siblings can work their magic on anything. It’s also not Eilish’s first time appealing to a younger audience, because she actually appeared on Sesame Streetand performed a duet with The Count for a beautiful variation of “Happier Than Ever,” whose more aggressive or provocative lines were replaced with wholesome sentiments: “When I’m counting with you, I’m happier than ever,” Eilish sang.
On Wednesday’s episode of the legendary game show, contestant Tenaya wanted to solve the puzzle that read, “_URASSIC PARK _O_IES.” Pretty obvious, right? “JURASSIC PARK MOVIES.” There’s three of them (six if you include the Jurassic World trilogy), they made a lot of money, won some Oscars, directed by this Steven Spielberg guy. Well, ah ah ah, because that is not what poor Tenaya guessed.
“I’ll try and solve,” she said with obvious hesitation. “Jurassic Park… Bodies?”
As noted by Decider, “To make matters even worse, she missed out on over $10,000 and a trip to the bonus round because of her huge mistake.” Oops. Tenaya’s incorrect answer went viral and even caught the attention of the Jurassic World Twitter account, which tweeted, “Ho__ on__ y_ur b___s.” (Hold on to your… beads?”)
Bruh I’m watching wheel of fortune and the girl said she wanted to solve the puzzle it was “Jurassic park movies” why she said Jurassic park bodies and lost lmao
To be fair, there are bodies in Jurassic Park. Both humans and dinosaurs. Maybe that’s what she meant (it’s not what she meant). Anyway, remember when that one contestant didn’t win a car because of an infuriating technicality, but then Audi gave her one anyway? Spielberg should do the same thing for Tenaya, except instead of a car, it’s a ticket to see Jurassic World Dominion. And heck, throw in a car, too.
She’s shifted gears a bit today, too, addressing a much more serious topic with her “Dying On The Inside” video. Theclip, which addresses Nessa’s own struggles with her eating disorder begins with this trigger warning and message of support: “If you’re experiencing symptoms of eating disorders or struggling with your body image, you’re not alone. Text HOME to 741741 for support.” Throughout the video, Nessa is mostly alone in the dark, running through the things friends and industry people have said to her about her appearance, obsessing over the numbers on the scale, and wondering how much longer she can keep this behavior up. Anyone who has been there will definitely relate to this brutally honest video, check it out up top, and please use the text resource if you’re struggling with an eating disorder and need support.
In a world where “the celebs are at it again,” the Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted some unsavory celebrity responses. That would include AnnaLynne McCord’s strange maternal-themed poetry aimed toward “Mister President Vladimir Putin.” In addition, John Cena decided to, uh, promote Peacemaker in an ill-received tweet. Well, the guy who portrayed Captain America isn’t taking a similar (self-promoting) approach.
Rather, Chris Evans is simply retweeting and asking people to look at a thread about what the Kremlin is capable of doing and is, in fact, willing to do to preserve its own interests. Evans pointed towards relevant information about Viktor Yushchenko, a former Ukrainian president who was horribly poisoned (and disfigured) while going up against the 2004 pro-Russian candidate (Viktor Yanukovich, then a prime minister).
Lots of Victors there, yes, but of course Russia flat-out denied having anything to with (as reported by Reuters) how Yushchenko (then an opposition candidate) went out for dinner (near Kiev) and somehow ended up with “1,000 times more dioxin than is normally present” in his body. He survived by the grace of doctors, who performed dozens of surgeries on him, and he did, in fact, win the presidency.
It’s an atrocity worth reflecting upon, given the damning coincidences of how Putin’s opponents mysteriously end up fatally poisoned (that link points toward the murder of Alexander Litvineko), and of course, then there are all of the journalists who are killed in Putin’s Russia as well. And languishing in jail right now would be Putin critic Alexei Nalvany, who’s facing a 15-year re-up to his prison sentence and is calling the Ukraine invasion a “distraction” from all of Putin’s problems.
Everyone is holding their breath watching the devastation happening in Ukraine right now. Everyone, that is, except for Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who had some choice words for President Vladimir Putin after he decided to invade a peaceful country and threaten the United States in the process.
Sasse guested on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Friday and didn’t waste any time telling host Joe Scarborough how he felt about Putin and the Russian oligarchs who continue to back him while living large in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere.
“Fundamentally we need to have targeted sanctions against the 16 oligarchs, the mobster cronies who enable Putin’s madness,” Sasse explained (via Raw Story). “These guys — we need a made-for-TV lifestyles of the rich and famous assh*les for the American people and people around the world to understand who these guys are.”
He went on to admit that voters in his state probably couldn’t “find Ukraine on the map” because they’re too busy trying to provide for their families and survive a pandemic, which is fine because Sasse views it as the United States’ government’s job to curb Putin’s tyrannical impulses. He called upon U.S. allies like the U.K. to get tough on the Russian billionaires currently enjoying the high life abroad while helping to fund Putin’s latest invasion attempt.
“We need the Brits, who have been great allies in general, to step up and acknowledge there’s a ton of Russian billionaire money bouncing all over London and we ought to perp walk them out of the country,” he said. “Their kids should be kicked out of the country and they should go back and live in Moscow’s hell holes with Putin because they are the ones enabling him. They don’t want to live with him but they love to make money off him. There need to be more consequences for them and we need to act faster.”
Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 is the most popular American whiskey on the planet. There’s nary a corner of the world you can venture without finding a bottle of Jack on the shelf. Then there’s Jim Beam, dubbed the world’s most popular “bourbon” (Tennessee whiskey is technically bourbon, too — so I suppose you could call it the best selling Kentucky bourbon if you wanted to be more precise). Beam is also available worldwide at a great price. And like Jack, people have long-term, even generational associations with the brand.
The duo’s dominance means that these two whiskeys get compared (and dissed) a lot. So I’m going to blind taste them and choose, once and for all, which one is better.
This might sound weird, but this was the hardest blind tasting I’ve ever done. For one, I wanted to take this very seriously and nose and taste these two entry-level expressions with the same zeal I use with the most ridiculously priced whiskeys on the market. Two, these two whiskeys are so close that picking one over the other was a trial. Since I knew pretty much instantly which was which, even blind, I went back and re-tasted them to try and find that chink in the armor or nuance that set one above the other. And … it just wasn’t there.
Next, I counted the nose and flavor notes to see if there was a numerical winner. They were tied there, too. To be clear, they were not the same on the nose, on the taste, or on the finish. But they each offered something that made them hard to rank above the other.
Finally, I threw out the tasting ritual and drank one of each. For clarification, when I taste whiskeys, I always spit. Tasting is putting whiskey on your tongue. Drinking is swallowing it. Since just tasting wasn’t enough, I drank one of each to find anything to set these apart.
Here’s what shook out in the end:
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
Immediately, you get a sourdough note that leads right into a vanilla extract that turns it into a sort of raw pancake batter. That morphs into a Cherry Coke on the nose with a soft oak that eventually fades into a light cedar note with an underlying mineral water vibe. Yes, that’s just the nose.
The palate is soft with a cherry wood vibe next to a hint of corn muffins (close to Jiffy) that turns into cherry cough syrup with a woody underbelly. Next, light caramel sweetness works the mid-palate towards a warm “spice” countered by dry, woody vanilla and a final hint of sourness tied to yeast that closes the circle, so to speak.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
There’s a medicinal cherry vibe on the nose that’s maybe a cherry root beer that leads towards a savory fruit that’s close to canned pumpkin puree. Wet pine kindling leads to a new leather note as vanilla wafers layered with milk chocolate round out the nose until this faint hint of fresh apple cider sneaks in late.
The palate starts off soft with a cherry bark that leads into homemade banana chips with a flake of salt and those vanilla wafers with milk chocolate from the nose. A dry firewood note arrives around the mid-palate as an almost sour vanilla cream softens things dramatically with a choco-spice counterpoint. The end warms with that spice as the fruit leans back towards the cherry root beer and apple cider. Again, closing that circle!
This bourbon has a low-rye mash bill of 75 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and 12 percent malted barley made with Beam’s own yeast strain and plenty of spring water from the ground below the distillery. That juice is aged for at least four years before the barrels are mingled and it’s cut down to 80 proof with more of that soft Kentucky limestone water.
Bottom Line:
This had a great cherry/vanilla vibe that felt like I made my own Cherry Vanilla Coke off one of those machines at the AMC — I could smell the popcorn popping in the background. That’s hardcore nostalgia from Beam right there.
Then there was that sour note. I think had it been a sour cherry instead of a raw batter or yeasty sour, it would have edged out Jack. That really was the only thing that drew this sip back. Well, maybe that and the mineral water note on the nose.
That being said, when I treated Jim Beam — regular f*cking Jim Beam — like a whiskey that costs ten times as much, it stood up. Maybe people slag this off because they’re drinking it too fast in shots or mixing it with sugary crap without taking the time to see what’s actually in there?
Nathan “Nearest” Green and Jack Daniel created this Tennessee whiskey right after the Civil War, thanks in part to Green utilizing the Lincoln County Process when making his whiskey. The super low-rye sour mash bill (80 percent corn, 12 percent malted barley, and eight percent rye) is made with iconic soft limestone water from a cave on the Jack property that goes miles deep into the earth. That whiskey is filtered, drop by drop, through ten feet of sugar maple charcoal before at least four years of maturation in new oak. The whiskey is then blended, proofed (with more of that cave water), and bottled.
Bottom Line:
This edges out Beam based on the fact that there was more of a build between the wood and multiple fruits, with that big cut with water to bring it down to 80 proof not feeling particularly noticeable.
Overall, this was very, very close in the flavor department when you look at what’s present on the nose and the taste. But, there was a little more refinement here and that can only be attributed to that slow-drip filtration through sugar maple charcoal. I feel like the fruit was more nuanced while the woodiness was a tad more succinct.
Lastly, the “sour mash” note that did come through, but it was attached to a vanilla cream mid-palate point that made a little more sense to the overall taste than a Beam’s sourdough pancake batter. But, I’ll admit… that’s just for me.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
I think you can see from the levels of the whiskey in those bottles what I reach for more often. That being said, I think I’ve been underestimating standard Jim Beam White Label. There’s a real nuance underneath that very macro bourbon.
In the end, I think you should find your own everyday, table whiskey. For me, that’s Jack Daniel’s. And, just maybe, you should give it a shot too. After all, it’s the world’s best-selling and most popular American whiskey for a reason. At the very least, it’s a good starting point for any whiskey journey.
It’s been a while, but LA rapper Devante Caldwell — aka Ralfy The Plug — has filed his expected lawsuit against Live Nation for the wrongful death of his brother Drakeo The Ruler, according to TMZ. This is a separate lawsuit from the one filed by the two rappers’ mother, Tianna Purtue, on behalf of Drakeo’s son, Caiden Caldwell. Ralfy’s suit — which also includes members of his and Drakeo’s Stinc Team crew — provides additional details about the attack at Once Upon A Time In LA that ended with Drakeo being fatally stabbed in the neck.
Describing the assault as a “violent mob attack” that lasted for as much as 15 minutes, the suit alleges that Drakeo was attacked within minutes of arriving, which they did through two separate checkpoints Caldwell’s legal team calls “lackadaisical.” Two staffers at the first waved in anyone with an all-access pass, while the second had only a metal detector and a small group of security guards who did not search all of the vehicles. The suit names Live Nation, Snoop Dogg’s LLC, C3 Presents, Bobby Dee Presents, and the Los Angeles Football Club, owners of the Banc Of California Stadium where the festival took place, as defendants. While no dollar amount has yet been reported, Purtue’s suit demands up to $60 million in damages.
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