Winter might have started less than a month ago, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t already tired of it. The cold, dark, days of winter are enough to make us cash in our vacation days in the first month of the year and book a flight to some warm, sunny, tropical getaway. Or you could go the much cheaper route and crack open a hazy IPA instead. These juicy, tropical fruit and citrus-filled IPAs are the perfect respites for the winter weather outside. One sip is like taking a little trip to an island paradise.
You don’t even need TSA pre-check.
To bring summer vibes back, we picked eight hazy, juicy, fruity IPAs and ranked them based on flavor and just how well they’ll transport your taste buds to somewhere with endless sunny skies and abundant palm trees. Keep scrolling to see how the likes of Stone, offshoot, and Captain Lawrence landed on our list.
This low-alcohol hazy IPA is brewed with a healthy dose of Citra and Mosaic hops. It’s known for its cloudy, juicy flavor with tropical fruits, citrus, oats, and just a hint of spice. All that and it’s a sessionable 4% ABV.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet oats, grapefruit, orange peels, and lightly floral piney hops are found on the nose. But they’re all rather muted. The same goes for the palate. While it’s easy to drink, the notes of orange peels, grapefruit, pineapple, and pine needles are fairly watery.
Bottom Line:
This is an easily crushable beer, but if you’re looking for something with more tastes, you might want to find something with a little more oomph in the ABV department.
New Belgium’s line of Voodoo Ranger beers is fairly popular in the IPA world. While you can’t go wrong with its classic Voodoo Ranger IPA, we think the best option out of the bunch is actually its Juicy Haze IPA. Brewed with American hefeweizen yeast as well as Pale and C-80 malts, wheat, and oats. It gets its hoppy flavor and aroma from Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe, and Nugget hops.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is all citrus peels, pineapple, peach, and lightly herbal, earthy hops. The palate is tangerine, ripe grapefruit, peach, pineapple, mango, wet grass, and slightly bitter, piney hops. It’s a juicy, fruity break from the winter, but a little too sweet for some drinkers.
Bottom Line:
While this hazy IPA has all the makings of a classic, fruity, juicy IPA, it’s tooth-achingly sweet. If that’s your thing, go ahead and grab some.
This 6.1% ABV New England-style IPA is known for its hazy, cloudy, juicy, tropical fruit-centric flavor profile due in large part to the addition of Mosaic and Simcoe hops. It’s so fruit-forward, the folks at Collective Arts refer to it as “paradise in a can”.
Tasting Notes:
Peach, mango, pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, and honeydew melons are big aromas on the nose. The palate is loaded with more ripe pineapple, grapefruit, melons, mango, toasted coconut, and lightly spicy hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a fruity, juicy, memorable IPA but it falls under the same category as Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze — a little over-the-top sweet for some palates (mine!).
This creamy, hazy, fruit-forward IPA is brewed with London III yeast, 2-row, and Carafoam malts as well as flaked oats. It gets its citrus and tropical fruit flavors from the addition of Amarillo, Citra, Simcoe, and Centennial hops.
Tasting Notes:
Right away, you’ll be struck by the sweet aromas of peach, mango, guava, pineapple, tangerine, and ripe grapefruit on this beer’s nose. The palate follows suit with notes of wet grass, bright pine needles, caramel malts, grapefruit, peach, mango, and lightly spicy, herbal hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a well-balanced hazy IPA with a nice mix of tropical sweetness, tart citrus, and spicy hops. The only downfall is that with all of those overlapping flavors, it’s not as fruity as some of its counterparts.
When a New England-style IPA has the words “juice” or “juicy” in its name, you have a pretty good idea of what you’re in for. Jekyll Southern Juice definitely doesn’t disappoint. This unfiltered, hazy IPA is brewed with wheat and oats as well as Simcoe and Citra hops.
Tasting Notes:
Bready malts, mango, guava, pineapple, orange peel, grapefruit, and herbal, piney hops make up this beer’s vibrant nose. There’s a ton of citrus on the palate with notes of candied orange peel, grapefruit, lemon, wet grass, passionfruit, and lightly bitter, resinous hops.
Bottom Line:
Jekyll Southern Juice is another well-balanced, hazy IPA that you’ll want to drink all winter long. This is one for the citrus fans.
This 6.5% ABV New England-style IPA starts with the brand’s proprietary yeast strain. It was crafted to make hazy, creamy memorable IPAs. Mosiac and Amarillo hops give this beer a nice juicy, tropical fruit-forward flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a symphony of peach, mango, guava, passionfruit, grapefruit, tangerine, and herbal, earthy hops. The palate continues this trend with more passionfruit, mango, grapefruit, peach, honeydew melon, wet grass, caramel malts, and just a hint of pleasing pine at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a highly flavorful beer. It’s loaded with tropical fruit and citrus flavors with a lightly bitter finish that leaves you craving more.
One of Mighty Squirrel’s most popular beers, this year-round 6.5% ABV New England-style IPA is double dry-hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Mosaic hops. It’s known for its well-balanced tropical fruit-forward flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
This popular IPA begins with aromas of ripe pineapple, bready malts, grapefruit, candied orange peel, and herbal, earthy pine. Drinking it is even better than sniffing it with flavors of tart grapefruit, tangerine, papaya, passionfruit, mango, peach, freshly baked bread, and herbal, dank pine at the finish.
Bottom Line:
Sipping this beer really is like taking a tropical vacation in a can. It’s sublimely well-balanced, fruity, and memorable.
This 8% ABV New England-style IPA might be one of the higher alcohol content beers on this list, but it’s equally (if not more) juicy, hazy, and fruity thanks to double dry-hopping with Galaxy hops.
Tasting Notes:
Tangerine, peach, mango, passionfruit, papaya, lemon, wet grass, and dank pine, this beer’s nose has it all. The palate is loaded with fruit esters, peach, guava, mango, bready malts, caramelized pineapple, candied orange peels, and herbal, earthy, bright pine. The finish is hoppy, but not overly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the most well-balanced, drinkable, fruity, hazy IPAs on the market. While some of the other beers are like a short weekend trip to a tropical paradise, this is like an extended vacation.
Yes, they love Sosa, but Chief Keef fans were starting to grow impatient with the rapper. After his long-awaited mixtape, Almighty So 2, was delayed back in December, the drill music pioneer shifted gears to not leave his fans empty-handed before ending the year. Teaming up with the streaming giant Spotify, Keef there a ten-year anniversary show for his debut album Once Upon A Time In 2012 featuring the hit song, “I Don’t Like” featuring Lil Reese.
Now, Sophie Kautz, head of A&R and marketing on Keef’s record label 43B, revealed that the completely self-produced mixtape would be released soon. Although Kautz did not say when the project would be dropping, and a formal statement hasn’t been released by the rapper, on Apple Music, the expected delivery date is listed as April 14.
Again according to Apple Music’s tracklist, the new project will feature previously released singles “Tony Montana Flow” and “Racks Stuffed Inna Couch,” as well as 15 other songs. But for now, the rapper is focusing his attention on his artist Gnar’s album 4uck3veryBody, posting the cover of the project on his Instagram profile.
Gnar quickly jumped into the comment section to ensure fans with a message: “AS2 next. Then 43B in 2023.”
The Walking Dead universe will soon be putting Fear The Walking Dead down for the count (the final season launches on May 14), but several zombie-hydra heads will spring up in its place. That Rick Grimes/Michonne spinoff, for example, is finally seeing some movement and will arrive in 2024. Before that happens, we’ll see the Daryl In Paris spinoff, but first, the Negan and Maggie spinoff will bring the unlikely traveling partners together for a New York City mission in The Walking Dead: Dead City, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan.
This spinoff’s location, of course, seems like a bad idea. From the very beginning of these series, common sense (and Rick Grimes’ poor horse) told the characters to stay away from heavily populated areas because, you know, more Walkers. Yet there’s a method to Negan and Maggies’ madness here. TV Guide has revealed that Maggie is searching for her son (and that of the late Glenn), Hershel Rhee, so named for her father. And apparently, the cities are an even worse place to visit than previously thought or seen in this universe.
Showrunner Eli Jorne spoke with Collider to discuss how NYC’s particular type of Walker is even grosser than viewers have seen already:
“It is one of the most awesome, disgusting, terrifying walkers that I’ve seen in the history of the show. There are a number of horrific walkers, but there is a mind-bendingly horrific walker coming up that I wasn’t on set for, and I’m glad I wasn’t. I got to experience the horrific magic at home, and it is magic. It quite possibly will make you throw up. I would just have something handy nearby, as you watch it.”
That’s a big promise, considering that The Walking Dead fans surely have been desensitized to the franchise’s endless bloody mayhem already, but hopefully, this isn’t an exaggeration. AMC has revealed new images to preview this series, too:
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The Walking Dead: Dead City should arrive in Spring 2023 and pave the way for Rick Grimes’ long-awaited return to the franchise.
Even though one Channing Tatum franchise is coming to its glistening and sweaty end, the actor already has his mind set on his next slightly-erotic project, not to be confused with Zoe Kravtiz’s Pussy Island.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the fantasy movie came up in conversation while discussing pottery. “Now I know why they put this in Ghost. This whole process is very, very sexual.” And that was enough to make him want to make the movie again, apparently! Because Tatum revealed that he is looking to remake the classic 1990 romantic drama Ghost, originally starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and an overworked slab of wet clay.
Tatum told the interviewer that his production company Free Association has been developing a remake of the fan-favorite film. “Yeah, we have the rights to Ghost,” he said,kind of incredibly, before adding that there would be some differences in the way the story is told, citing “problematic stereotypes” featured in the original flick, which, for the uninformed, tells the story of a man who gets murdered and sets out to protect his girlfriend from the men who were out to get him by using a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg. “We’re going to do something different. I think it needs to change a little bit.”
Tatum will allegedly lead the movie as Swayze’s character, and while no other roles have been cast, we do know that Goldberg is always down to revisit some of her past roles, so maybe she can be a medium again, for old-time’s sake!
Coming as a pretty big surprise, as Willow (Warwick Davis) and his crew are on a quest to rescue the captured Prince Airk, they find themselves captured and imprisoned in cages next to a guy who sounds an awful lot like Christian Slater. And, then when we see who this is, a warrior named Allagash, he is very much played by Christian Slater. It turns out Allagash once adventured with Val Kilmer’s Madmartigan and this whole idea was pitched to Slater as reprising a role from a Willow sequel from the early 90s that was never made. But it does feel like a movie Slater could have made around that time when he was starring in movies like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Young Guns II. (Both of these movies are mentioned ahead.)
Speaking of Slater’s past movies, then there’s 1985’s The Legend of Billie Jean about a young woman (Helen Slater, no relation) and her brother (Christian Slater) on the run after a sleazy man assaults Billie Jean and her brother accidentally shoots him – featuring a pretty kick-ass Pat Benatar song. (If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it.) Anyway, I kind of only brought this up in passing, but Slater obviously hasn’t talked about it in a while and reveals that, yes, at the time (he was probably 15 when filming the movie) he had a huge crush on his co-star and movie sister, Helen Slater. (If you watch the movie, yeah you’ll probably pick up on this fact.)
But, first, let’s celebrate the 34th anniversary of the release of Gleaming the Cube, which happened to be the day we spoke.
As I was waiting, I was scrolling through Twitter and this fact popped up. Congratulations, today is the 34th anniversary of Gleaming the Cube.
Is it? Holy moly! That’s crazy. That is nuts. It’s 34 years? What the heck?
Yeah, that can’t be right, but the math is correct.
Can’t be right. It just doesn’t make any sense. Doesn’t make any sense! Wow.
When I was watching Willow, I had no idea you were in it. When you show up, we hear your voice first and I was like, wow, someone is doing a killer Christian Slater impression right now.
Well, see, that’s fun, right? It’s nice that you were able to be surprised. It’s so hard in this business nowadays, with information just being so thrown out there, just showing your face, to still get to be surprised by something. It’s fun.
Allagash reminds me a little bit of Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh from Young Guns II.
Okay. Yeah… Well, look…
Am I off base?
No, no, no. Look, I mean, sure, there’s a sneakiness and there’s a slyness. Sure, without a doubt.
And he’s a fun-loving adventure guy.
There are elements of Will Scarlet in there. I think there are all aspects, or little nods and hints, to other characters that I’ve played. And this was an opportunity to build a character from the ground up. And I believe Jon [Kasdan] was interested in me contributing ideas and coming up with characteristics for this guy, that I was thrilled they were so open to. That made me really, really happy.
I was reading Jon pitched it to you as your character was in the movie that was never made, starring you and Val Kilmer, in 1992.
Right, right. Yeah, I like that scenario. I do kind of recall him mentioning that. And I think that was just a nice element, because Val and I have a history together. We’ve worked together several times. I’ve always had a great deal of respect for him, and admire him greatly as an actor and as a person. He’s quirky, he’s offbeat. He always brings something very unique to every character that he plays…
I mean, you have very similar attributes.
Yeah, there are aspects. We, hopefully, compliment each other. And I think Allagash is the type of guy that Madmartigan would have attracted into his universe. These two guys, you could see them hanging out together. Both a little offbeat, both a little quirky, both going on these adventures and hunting for the treasures. Both being a little out of their minds, to take crazy risks. And then you put somebody like Allagash in a crow’s cage for 10 years, he’s really going to be nuts. So I loved all of that, too. I loved those aspects of just the guy, getting to play a character that has been through so much, and made such a huge sacrifice to protect Madmartigan, really. I thought all those aspects woven in there were fantastic.
I think I was 13 when Willow came out. Obviously, this show features a lot of younger characters, but for people who were around for the original, you do provide a gravitas for people like me since Val isn’t in this. Does that make sense?
Totally. And look, even Warwick and I talked about it. Look, I was 16 when the movie came out. We’re lucky guys! We were born at a pretty good time. I was seven years old when Star Wars came out. So that just made such an indelible impression on me, and the whole of fantasy and science fiction and adventure and just swashbuckling. All of that stuff just embedded into my brain. So to get the opportunity to do something like this was great. And yeah, like I said, Warwick and I talked about it. Because he and I are of the same generation, and we were both around at that particular time, experiencing that spirit for the first time.
Warwick, someone who’s literally in Star Wars.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, we get to try – and because we know that energy and what that vibe was – to try and bring elements of that into this kind of story was very exciting, I think, for both of us. And we loved working together. I loved working with him so much. It was just the best.
Will we see Allagash again? Because I don’t feel it’s definitive.
Yeah, it wasn’t definitive. Look, Jon and I have certainly had discussions about this.
Allagash seems wily. He’ll figure a way out.
Look, I don’t think Allagash made this sacrifice for no reason. I feel like he’s the type of guy where there is always a little bit of an agenda. And we didn’t want to be … is it presumptuous? While we were filming, to do one of those things where you leave everybody kind of… I mean, we did kind of leave everybody hanging.
Yes.
But we didn’t reveal one way or the other what happens. So are there plans, and ideas, and concepts, and thoughts, about what could happen? Or could have happened? Of course.
My girlfriend’s parents live in Vermont. We were just there. And anytime I’m there I think of Binx from The Legend of Billie Jean because no one loves anything more than Binx loves Vermont.
Right! Right! Yes, with the snowmobile! Where we were at the end of the movie. Right?
Yeah, the red snowmobile. He’s looking for trouble again.
Looking for trouble! Yeah. [Laughs] I can’t believe we didn’t make a sequel. It’s amazing, right?
I love that movie, by the way. I know a lot of people who have seen that movie for the first time just in the last couple of years…
Oh, yeah? That’s great. I mean, Pat Benatar!
Oh yeah, “Invincible.”
Oh, my God. I know. I mean, it’s great stuff.
Peter Coyote is in that movie.
Peter Coyote! Peter Coyote. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Fantastic. Great, great performances. And Helen Slater…. [Sighs] I mean, that was… I thought she and I were meant to be together. I mean, I thought, “We wouldn’t have to change our last name. We’d just get married.” And she was Supergirl! I was very excited.
Did you actually have a crush on her? I’ve always wondered that.
Oh. Oh, God. Dude. Yeah.
Okay…
Yeah. I mean, from the first moment we had that scene where we are swimming in that swamp, right?
Hey, just a couple of siblings. Just brother and sister.
No, no, just brother and sister hanging out, playing and splashing, and having a great time. Yeah, it was unbelievable. Oh, my God. No, I had nothing but love for her. [Slater holds up his coffee cup as a toast.]
Well, I’m out of time. Congratulations again on the anniversary of Gleaming the Cube.
Traveling, whether you’re hitting up that domestic hot spot or that bucket list dream locale, is expensive. But it doesn’t have to be prohibitively costly. If your excuse for not getting out there is financial, you’ll be happy to know there are options and strategies widely available to all. Sure, if you’re hitting the road or taking off on a plane, you’re going to want to have some cash, but there are a lot of opportunities and ways to not only stretch your dollars but make some money along the way.
To get all the travel budgeting tips you’ll need to make 2023 a big year for adventure we hit up one of the best experts in the game — Gabby Beckford of Packs Light fame. Beckford is a true travel pro, she’s a multi-award-winning creator, author, and full-time travel influencer who has been profiled by everyone from Good Morning America to National Geographic and Forbes. 276 days ago (and counting), Beckford quit her job as a quality engineer in order to travel the world full time, providing travel tips, destination suggestions, and other resources to make your travels easier via her website Packs Light, where she has built a network of like-minded Gen-Z travelers interested in maximizing their travel budgets in an effort to see more of the world.
We linked up with Beckford after she returned from a recent trip to the British Virgin Islands to talk travel budgeting tips and the Packs Light ethos as we enter 2023.
“This year is really about connection,” Beckford tells me over Zoom, “the travel industry is still bouncing back from the pandemic. I think last year was about testing the waters and people seeing how comfortable they ought to travel, or maybe even saving up their money. This year is really about getting back in person and making meaningful connections.”
This year Beckford plans on going to Southern Idaho, Spain, Jordan, London, and wherever else the wind takes her as she continues her life on the road. Here is her best financial advice for travelers in 2023.
Gabby Beckford
For the beginner traveler or anyone who wants to travel more in 2023, what are good strategies for saving up for that first journey?
My advice is really to pay off your debt. Minimize your costs, and that’s how you’re going to end up saving money. So maybe you make a certain amount of money, but you don’t have that much at the end of the month to put away in that savings account. What you can do is pay off your high-interest debt first, making sure you’re not accruing more debt, and then try to lower your costs.
Whether that is on transportation, that might be like car sharing. That might be picking up a side hustle, as simple as walking the dog. That’s what I did in college to make money. Tons of side hustles. I did market research studies, I did dog walking, I did tons of tutoring, and tons of stuff to just save up a little bit of money every month. And that ends up adding up at the end of the year.
Do small things to save money, make a little bit of extra money, and put it away so you can’t see it. Not getting tempted to spend it is how you’re going to end up with that amount of money to set to travel with.
How much of a fine-tooth comb should people be running through their bank accounts to minimize their costs? What small purchases do you think people most overlook?
There are actually a few great apps. Apps that go through your expenses. Some apps will show you all your subscriptions. Maybe you have Spotify and Amazon Prime and Netflix and Hulu and Disney Plus, and you’re like, “Okay. I don’t use three of those.” You could cut those out and save instantly $100 a month. So that’s the first thing I recommend.
Other things that people might not notice that they’re spending a little bit too much on might be eating out and food. I always make sure I grocery shop for things that I can have on me. I’m a snack carrier through and through. So if you meet me, I will have a snack on me just to curb those cravings. Other things people spend on are entertainment or food or alcohol.
Honestly, this is the new year and I’m having a dry January and maybe that’s where you save your money because you go out and you end up eating and you end up snacking and buying more than one drink. That’s a quick way to save money.
How important is it to have a game plan on how to stay funded before you embark on a trip? What steps should you take, and what should you do if things don’t really work out the way that you plan?
I think it’s extremely important to have a game plan. Have a nest egg of money. I always say that I won’t travel without enough money to get me back home. That’s like the minimum amount of money that you need to have at all times or else you’re going to be stuck there. Or if something bad does happen, you won’t have the funds to make sure you can cover it.
That this is where the game plan comes in, having a plan B. Say for example, I plan a trip and I plan on staying in a one-bedroom in the private hostel room and I plan to fly and I plan to do these activities. If I end up with a little bit less money than I might think, the first thing I’m going to cut back on is the higher expenses, which might be the transportation and accommodation. So instead of that private room, I could downshift to staying in a multi-person room. Instead of that flight, maybe I can explore options like buses or trains, or public transportation to cut costs. So that’s where that research element comes in.
It’s really essential to know what your options are. If you’re on an island, you can’t take the bus to the next destination, so you wouldn’t be able to cut that cost and you would have to go more for accommodation.
If you can’t cut costs, I would say try to think of ways that you might be able to make a little bit of money abroad. It might depend on how long you’re traveling for. If you’re there for a week, there’s not much you can do. But if you have an extended road trip or international trip planned for maybe months on end, thinking of ways that you might be able to freelance and make some money, whether that’s editing documents online or freelance graphic design or freelance video editing, those are ways that you can do one-off projects just to get a couple $100 in your pocket to make it to that next destination.
I want to ask about freelance opportunities in a second, but you mentioned having that nest egg of enough funds to make sure that you’re able to return home if the worst comes to worst. And of course, this question is going to differ based on where you’re visiting, but if you could assign a number to it, how much should a person travel with minimum?
If I had to put a number on it, and I know this may not be feasible for every person and it depends on domestic versus international travel, it depends on where you’re going, etc. Honestly, if you can stay with family and friends worst case, that might save you a bunch of money. But I would say that for the average young person traveling, having at least maybe $800 extra. If you’re traveling long enough to need that emergency money to get back home, you should probably have at least $800 to cover a flight. And I mean hopefully, that person is also investing in travel insurance that would end up covering a bunch of that. That’s the biggest savings. If something bad happens unexpectedly, comes when you pay $40 a month for travel insurance. That $40 is going to stretch and save you hundreds of dollars if something bad happens.
What are some of the most impactful ways of making money abroad? What resources should people be using to find that side hustle freelance work?
So the first step is knowing your own skills. If I suggest 10 freelance jobs that I might have, that doesn’t mean that you have the same skills. So firstly, the person should assess their own skills and say, “yeah, I have a lot of marketing skills that are useful, or maybe I have a lot of technical skills or language skills” or things like that. The first place I would look would be freelancing websites like Upwork, Fiverr, and even maybe LinkedIn to find freelance job opportunities or contract job opportunities.
You can just research and see what people need most often out there. Some of the more basic freelance opportunities I listed were freelance writing, ghostwriting, editing, tutoring, online, video editing, and graphic design. Those are all things that I hire for. So I know that people can freelance for those things, but there are tons. I mean you could probably be a freelance personal trainer or a nutritional guidance coach. Tons of things outside in different niches that you could advise for. Anything that you can do between the span of a few days to a week or two, that’s a contract job that might just get quick money in your pocket.
So you should explore your own interests, your own skills and look for opportunities in those spaces?
Absolutely. I would say maybe look at your past job experience or your past volunteer experience and maybe re-look at your resume if you haven’t looked at it in a while, and say, “Okay, if I had to make a $100 in one week, what are some small things I could do with the skills that I have to do that?”
Do you have any strategies for finding cheap flights or flying on the cheap?
I like to use Google Flights and I know a lot of people use that service too, but I don’t think everyone knows about all the features that it offers. For example, they have notifications and cheap flight alerts that you can turn on. So if I know if I’m in, let’s say France and I want to go to Germany next, and I’m not so specific about the dates, I can set a few flights or a few time periods that I want to travel and it will notify me via email when the price drops on certain flights. So if I notice I want a $400 flight, I’m like, “That’s expensive. Maybe I’ll leave next week.” It’ll email me the next day and say, “Hey, this flight dropped to $200,” that’s when I’ll buy it. So I think the key to flying cheap is being flexible in your plans and not so strict on dates. I’m going to pay that amount no matter what. The flexibility is what saves you money.
What are some of your favorite travel apps? What do you find most useful for travel, whether explicity for travel or not? For example, I know you use TikTok a lot.
I definitely love social media. So TikTok and Instagram are great travel inspiration and even itinerary and tip resources for me. I definitely use Expedia. I’ll get on Expedia and just look at the activities that is in the destination I’m going to or look at the accommodations, like VRBO and be like, “Okay. Maybe I won’t stay there, but maybe I’ll do a little quick trip just to get a photo or explore that area because it looks nice.”
I definitely always have a money conversion app. I think the app I use is called Conversion, I’ve definitely accidentally spent too much money because I didn’t know the right conversion rate. I’m giving a $20 tip and I’m like, “Wait, was that $2?”
There are apps like Hotel Tonight that will give you discounted rates on hotels if you book within that 24-hour period. I love to use that. Let me open my phone actually and see. I always have TripAdvisor because I always look at reviews. I never do anything without reviews, especially as a solo traveler, it’s like a safety thing, but also a quality experience thing.
I have Mobile Passport, it’s an app that works like global entry but it’s free and that helps you when you fly back to the US to get through border patrol really fast. I feel like not enough people use it because every time I fly back to the US, I’m the only person in that line and during a three-hour line I’m whispering to people as I walk through the aisle, “Download the app, you can do it right now. Save yourself.” I always have that.
I want to talk a little bit briefly about strategies for creating content if someone wants to do what you do. How do you create content that grows readership and attracts clients, and what are useful tips for teaching yourself more about this if it’s something you’re interested in?
So I think the first step is figuring out your “why.” Again, that’s something that everyone says and you’re like, “I want to make money or I want to go viral.” maybe those are the why’s. But I think figuring out your why specifically for you will help you in your content creation. And also figure out who you’re trying to attract, because creating content just to reach everybody is not a good strategy and it just won’t work.
For me, I had to first start out by asking, “who do I want to talk to?” I knew I wanted to talk to people like me, young travelers who wanted to take their first trip but didn’t know how or couldn’t afford it or just were overwhelmed by the process. So once I figured that out, I could figure out the type of content that that person would like.
So to create content that attracts the people that you want to attract, I would say start out with a little bit of research, get on the platforms that you want to be known for, whether that’s Instagram and TikTok or whatever. Start looking at content that other people are creating but do that for a limited time and then stop doing it. Stop consuming content and just create. Content that you think is authentically funny, authentically helpful.
Think, “If I saw this, I would like this. This was a good video. I’m funny.” You have to actually feel like you, your own content. And that takes trial and error, having things that flop and do badly, and just keeping creating through that. That’s the best foundation that you could make.
Some basic content creation tips: make sure your video is clear, please wipe off your cameras. I can see the Cheeto dust, no one wants to see that. Make sure your audio is clear, that’s so important now on social media, especially with TikTok being so audio first, put your face up to your camera and really speak clearly into the microphone. If it’s windy, making sure that you can be heard. Make sure your fingers are off the lens and keep the camera steady. Those are the basics that make people not just get annoyed at watching a video. At least they’ll watch all the way through.
You mentioned being multifaceted, especially in terms of making money abroad. Obviously, you write, do photography, and do graphic design. I think your website mentions accounting and marketing. What are good ways to teach yourself these things for the beginner who has no knowledge? Is this something that you need higher education for, or is this something you can do on your own? Should it be something that you’re actively doing in your free time when you’re not traveling?
That’s a really good question, and I’ll say that number one, you don’t need a traditional education. You don’t need certificates or anything, especially in the freelance market. I think a lot of people get caught up in being an expert. They want to be a technically perfect person when in reality, especially because I hire a lot of freelancers, I’m looking for a person who responds on time and listens to directions and does what I need. So honestly, I would build those initial skills.
YouTube University is absolutely free. You can watch 20 YouTube videos and get the basics of graphic design pretty quickly. But then to really become a high-value freelancer, get those soft skills in place. If you see someone hiring for this position, reach out to them and say, “Hey, I’m a starter at this.” Just being transparent, having these communication skills being on time — those are the things that actually make me hire a person. Because honestly, usually you get trained on the job or just through trial and error, you build up your technical skills.
But yeah, those soft skills are really important. I feel like not enough freelancers, even the expert freelancers, don’t focus on that and that makes them unhireable.
What scholarships and grants should people be aware of that exist that would help fund travel opportunities? And where do you search those things out?
Oh my God, this is my favorite question. There are an infinite amount of paid travel opportunities for people of all ages, but especially for the person under 30, you don’t have to be a student. I’ll just talk about my experiences.
So when I was 24, I won a cultural exchange scholarship. It paid for my flights, accommodations, food experiences, and everything and I was in South Korea for one week. So I was working my full-time job, then I just took a week of PTO and went on that. Last year I went to Fiji. It was just a travel contest I found online. I literally Googled, I think “travel contest” and went to the 33rd page and it showed up and I was like, “This has to be a scam. This is so weird.” But I applied to it and it took five minutes and I won it.
Last year I was in Fiji for 10 days and I was in the mountains of Fiji, like an unexplored part, which is really beautiful. Those are just two examples, whether you’re a student or not, these things just exist. You just have to know about them and really look for them. Scholarships, cultural exchanges, grants, internships, even maybe a remote job or a contract job remote will get you abroad in a way that someone else pays for it.
So where to look for them? You don’t have to because I look for them all the time because I’m actually insane and I love them and I just put them on my website, packslight.com/pto. I aggregate all those different types of opportunities and you can filter them and sort them. And when people ask me like, “Okay. How do I do it for me though?” I have a course that walks through my process, but the real answer is that I’m mentally ill and I love it. So I look for them all the time.
Do you have any tips for solo travelers, also does solo travel have to be expensive?
Oh my gosh. Solo travel, maybe in contrast to group travel, can be a little bit more expensive just because you’re not splitting those costs with everybody. But I think if you know what to do and you do it intentionally, it does not have to be more expensive. And for me, I am able to travel more cheaply because again, you’re not splitting the cost with everybody, but you also don’t have to consider what everybody wants. So I can do whatever I want, stay where I want, change my plans at the last minute, and that saves me a lot of money in the long run because of that flexibility.
I would say for the beginner, maybe you do want to stick to the bigger cities or the war well-known destinations, just to get your feet wet and give yourself the grace and experience to try going on that subway for the first time by yourself, or making friends, approaching somebody and asking to get lunch tomorrow by yourself. Those are those beginner experiences that are really overwhelming. And then once you do them a few times, you’re totally unfazed going to that new metro in South Korea versus South Africa.
So start with those beginner experiences. I think what really helps people is making a community as they travel, making friends will give you that confidence and the resources to navigate when you’re abroad. I always start with Facebook groups. I have a Facebook group, the Young Travelers Network, especially for people our age, you want to make sure you meet people that you can relate to.
I’ll just post there and say, “Hey, I’m going to Vietnam. I have no idea what to do.” People will comment. People will say, “Hey, I live there. Do you want to meet up? My mom lives there.” I’ve stayed with people’s moms, whatever. Yeah. Just to have that one connection, that tie that makes you feel confident and you’re like, “Okay. If something did happen, if I broke my leg, I could call somebody who’s here to help me.” So I would say, yeah, find that one tie.
There are tons of resources on my website for safety tips, and you definitely want to make sure you’re vigilant and you stay safe. But overall, I would say that it may surprise you how helpful and kind and just normal people can be that you’ll meet when you’re traveling, and the world is not scary enough to get you at all times. Actually, I feel a lot safer abroad than I do at home. So if you just trust yourself and keep your wits about you and just don’t do anything really crazy, you’re probably going to be absolutely fine.
“When I think about it, I don’t even know how it got to be this way / How it got to be so good,” she sings over an electropop beat. The video also fits the entire creative and unique vibe of the song, as Yaeji stares at a tiny version of herself in a room. (She also wields a hammer, seemingly paying tribute to the record’s title.)
While the album doesn’t have an exact scheduled release date, it is intended to drop in April.
Listen to “For Granted” above. Below, find the With A Hammer tracklist, as well as Yaeji’s upcoming tour dates.
1. “Submerge FM”
2. “For Granted”
3. “Fever”
4. “Passed Me By”
5. “With A Hammer”
6. “I’ll Remember For You, I’ll Remember For Me”
7. “Done (Let’s Get It)”
8. “Ready Or Not” Feat. K Wata
9. “Michin” Feat. Enayet
10. “Away X5”
11. “Happy” Feat. Nourished By Time
12. “1 Thing To Smash” Feat. Loraine James
13. “Be Alone In This”
04/06 — Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
04/07 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
04/08 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/13 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
04/15 — Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
04/22 — Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
04/25 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
04/27 — Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
04/28 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
04/29 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
05/02 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
05/03 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
05/05 — Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
05/06 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
05/10 — Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
05/12 — Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
05/13 — Toronto, Ontario @ Danforth Music Hall
05/16 — Montreal, Quebec @ Corona Theatre
05/17 — Boston, MA @ Big Night Live
05/19 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
ASAP Rocky celebrated a huge milestone this past weekend. Last Saturday (January 15) marked the 10-year anniversary of his debut album, Long. Live. ASAP. Today, ASAP celebrated the anniversary of the album by sharing a reworked visual fan-favorite.
The song “Angels” was first-featured on the deluxe edition of Long. Live. ASAP, but had been acclaimed by fans since its release. On the heels of the album’s anniversary, Rocky has shared “Part II” of the song’s original video.
In the video, ASAP is seen out in Los Angeles with the ASAP Mob, including ASAP Ferg and the late ASAP Yams, who noticeably has a halo digitally imposed over his head throughout the clip. A lot has happened for ASAP over the past decade. He has released three studio albums, a furniture line called Hommemade, and has become the father to a son with Rihanna.
In a recent interview with Complex, ASAP shared that in this point of his career, he is prioritizing his artistry, first and foremost:
“I’m in a place where I want to give my all to all of this. All I have is my craft, my art, my family. That’s just my life. That’s what encompasses or completes my life at this moment. So I’m really compassionate about everything that I do. And I’ll reiterate I want to express myself musically in a way that I haven’t. And it’s such a really weird time for hip-hop. We’re losing so many legends. And the scope of the game, pop is fighting for the number one spot, as far the most predominant genre. It’s a really weird time right now. I don’t really care for the politics of it. I just want to give motherf*ckers some dope sh*t.”
Following the release of their special digital single “Reason” last Friday (January 13), and in celebration of their sixth anniversary, Dreamcatcher announced their upcoming US tour of the same name.
Officially titled Reason : Makes Dreamcatcher 2023, the Dreamcatcher Company girl group is expected to make nine stops in the US beginning next month. The seven-member ensemble — composed of JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon, Dami and Gahyeon — will kick off tour in Atlanta, Georgia’s brand new Coca-Cola Roxy concert venue on February 28, followed by stops in major US cities like Washington DC, New York, Reading, Chicago, Denver, Irving, and Oakland before concluding in Los Angeles, California on March 20.
Tickets for Dreamcatcher’s Reason : Makes Dreamcatcher 2023 tour will go on sale on Wednesday, January 19, 2023 at 9 a.m. PT (12 p.m. ET), according to concert tour organizer MyMusicTaste, and the group’s social post on Twitter.
Just last summer, the group concluded the US leg of their [Apocalypse : Follow us] 2022 Dreamcatcher World Tour that was soon followed by the European leg in the fall. The group also made their music festival debut as the first K-pop act as part of Primavera Sound in Madrid, Spain last June.
Some of the best bourbons on the shelf are found at this price point. There’s a balance, not only on the palate but in what you actually get in the grand scheme of things. Bourbons in the $30 to $40 range tend to be both accessible — you can generally find them — and they’re relativelycheap for a high-quality juice.
That’s a winning combo. Perhaps the best combo.
That said, when listing the 20 best bourbons you can buy in the $30 to $40, I did include a few gems that are a little harder to find. What fun would it be otherwise? Sometimes a little sleuthing adds extra joy to this whole bourbon thing.
As for the ranking, this is based on taste alone. But let’s be honest, some whiskeys are made for mixin’ and some for sippin’ — even at this price point. But having tasted well over 2,500 whiskeys in the last two years, judged spirits competitions, and consulted on tons of barrel picks, I feel sure I won’t lead you astray. Read my tasting notes, find something that jumps out to you, and give that a try.
Before we dive in, these prices are based on Total Wine’s inventory and prices in Louisville, Kentucky. Prices and availability will vary regionally.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This entry-point bottle to the beloved Remus Reserve yearly releases. The whiskey is MGP’s bourbon but they don’t let us know the mash bill or how long these barrels age before they go into the batch.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is full of berry brambles heavy with sweet, tart, and dark berries, thorny stems, green leaves, and even a little dark soil next to Cherry Coke with a hint of spicy and a touch of sweet oak.
Palate: The cherry morphs into a syrupy and spicy cherry pie with a lard crust next to hints of vanilla pudding, brittle toffee, and more of that soft and sweet oak.
Finish: The finish is short and sweet and really highlights that cherry while layering in new leather, more oak, and nice and lush vanilla cream.
Bottom Line:
This is a very nice, fruit-forward bourbon with deep sweetness, which makes it a nice cocktail bourbon if you’re making a smash or sour.
High West Bourbon is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after sourced whiskeys. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of two to 13-year-old barrels rendered from high-rye and low-rye mashes alongside undisclosed whiskeys, some of which are sourced from MGP.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a hint of funk on the nose that leads to raw leather, vanilla pudding, and buttered sweetcorn.
Palate: The taste is soft and velvety with a touch of nougat next to quickbread biscuits with plenty of butter and vanilla-laced honey.
Finish: The finish dries out toward vanilla pods and cedar bark with a hint of apple chips with a flake of Kosher salt.
Bottom Line:
This is just a solid bourbon. There’s a nice balance of creamy and classic bourbon notes that feel nostalgic to the senses. You can sip this over a glass full of ice, but it really shines in simple cocktails like an old fashioned.
Stephen Beam is working some serious magic from his tiny Limestone Branch Distillery. While we really love his limited-edition releases, Yellowstone Select is the entry point to the brand’s vibe. The whiskey is a blend of four to seven-ish-year-old barrels with a mash bill Beam keeps to himself. The whiskey is largely sourced and the barrels are stored at Luxco’s massive property down the road before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a classic on the nose as soft and sweet oak mingles with vanilla pods, caramel apples, a hint of singed marshmallows, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Palate: The palate lingers in a bowl of fresh peaches and rich cream infused with vanilla as almost sweet suede leads towards a tiny note of spicy streusel.
Finish: The finish is straightforward and dries out with a cedar box full of vanilla-laced tobacco leaves, a hint of Cherry Coke, and a dusting of fine white pepper.
Bottom Line:
This feels like an old-school bourbon from yesteryear. There’s a deep sense of stone fruit and vanilla that makes this feel like something you should be baking with. I mean that in the best way possible. Seriously, cut your next peach or apple pie with this. Then serve that pie with an old fashioned made with this on the side and you’ll be all set.
This whiskey from Luxco is a throwback brand that the company is pushing for a bit of a comeback. This expression is a high-rye whiskey they source from an undisclosed distillery in Kentucky. The whiskey is cut down to 100 proof and bottled in old-school bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens very nut-forward with a walnut bread vibe with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg (maybe a hint of clove) next to vanilla extract, a dose of buttery toffee, and a hint of Graham cracker.
Palate: The palate largely builds on those flavor notes while leaning into the nuttiness and creating a sort of walnut pie with plenty of vanilla-laced whipped cream drizzled with syrupy toffee and just touched with dry brown woody spice.
Finish: Those dry and woody spices drive the finish towards a soft and thin finish.
Bottom Line:
If you love that mid-century modern vibe, this is the bottle for you. It’s a throwback to the heady days of the 1950s and 1960s with a palate that screams to be mixed into Manhattans, Sazeracs, and whiskey sours.
Green River Distillery has been pumping out contract-distilled whiskey for a while. In the spring of 2022, they finally released their much anticipated Green River Bourbon to much hoopla. The bourbon is a blend of five years and older barrels of bourbon made from a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% winter rye, and 9% malted two-row and six-row barley. Those barrels and batched, proofed, and bottled as-is for this new whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a hint of dry cornmeal on the nose with clear and rich butterscotch (which feels a little young) alongside vanilla pudding cups, wet brown sugar, and a hint of an old leather jacket.
Palate: The taste holds onto that leather note as a foundation and builds layers of sticky toffee pudding with vanilla buttercream, a handful of roasted almonds, and a thick buttery toffee sauce tying it all together.
Finish: The finish is green with a big note of fresh mint that leads back to the leather with a whisper of dark fruit leather and Red Hots.
Bottom Line:
This is a promising whiskey. The composition is balanced but a little young. Still, this makes a killer cocktail and has tons of promise for 2023 releases and beyond.
Standard Penelope Bourbon is a great place to start with the brand’s ever-expanding line. This expression is an MGP four-grain bourbon that’s aged a minimum of two years before vatting, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This whiskey opens with a nose full of wet yellow masa next to a buttery Graham cracker crust holding a light vanilla pudding that’s countered by a note of red chili spice and a touch of cinnamon.
Palate: The taste is very soft and touches on stewed raisins, more of that vanilla, sweet oak, and some orange.
Finish: The softness leans back into that wet masa while the finish smooths out with vanilla before ending on that chili pepper spice.
Bottom Line:
This is just good. It’s more of a cocktail base than a sipper but no one is stopping you from pouring it over some rocks as an everyday table bourbon.
This is a celebrity-owned bourbon from UFC’s Bruce Buffer. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of four to six-year-old bourbons from Kentucky that are touched with a little proofing water after blending.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a slightly tannic nose (think old, red-wine-soaked oak) with woody vanilla, nutmeg, and a lush vibe.
Palate: The palate mixes up the sweet vanilla with sweet yet sharp spice, some dark chocolate, and a hint of orange zest.
Finish: The end combines everything into a lush finish that highlights old oak, soft nutmeg, and a soft orange-chocolate vibe with a hint of clove and anise.
Bottom Line:
We’re not even to the top 10 and things are already getting really good. This is an easy everyday sipper (over plenty of ice) that also works really well for any cocktail application.
Old Scout is MGP’s classic high rye bourbon — 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malt barley — that’s aged for five years. The whiskey is batched in small quantities and proofed down with West Virginia’s Appalachian water.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with a soft masa vibe with a mix of Tex-Mex spices (think chili powder and a hint of cumin and garlic powder) that’s countered by cedar park and chocolate-laced tobacco leaves (the nose takes me straight back to my favorite childhood Tex-Mex joint).
Palate: The taste veers more towards a classic bourbon with cherry tobacco and bales of damp straw next to a smooth vanilla foundation cinnamon-infused dark chocolate and a touch of dry oak.
Finish: The finish lingers for a bit as vanilla toffees, a smidge of marshmallow, and spicy cherry tobacco round everything out.
Bottom Line:
This is another winner that highlights the superb bourbon barrels coming out of Indiana’s MGP right now. It’s just good, folks. Drink however you like to drink your whiskey.
A few years back, Wild Turkey brought on Matthew McConaughey to be the brand’s Creative Director and create his own whiskey. The product of that partnership was launched in 2018. The whiskey is a wholly unique whiskey for Wild Turkey, thanks to the Texas Mesquite charcoal filtration the hot juice goes through. The whiskey then goes into oak for eight long years before it’s proofed and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Christmas spices meet oily vanilla, subtle caramel, and a whisper of singed cedar bark up top.
Palate: The palate adds orange oils and buttery toffee to the mix, as the edge of the spices upwards on the palate, next to a creamy vanilla pudding body.
Finish: That velvet texture builds throughout, with toasted oak and cedar notes as a hint of sweet firepit smoke arrive on the long and satisfying finish.
Bottom Line:
This is an easy-going whiskey that hits just right. It’s great in a cocktail but can easily be used as an everyday sipper over some rocks at this price point.
This bottle from Beam Suntory marries Kentucky bourbon, California wine, and Japanese whisky blending in one bottle. Legent is classic Kentucky bourbon made by bourbon legend Fred Noe at Beam that’s finished in both French oak that held red wine and Spanish sherry casks. The whiskey is then blended by whisky-blending legend Shinji Fukuyo at Suntory.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Plummy puddings with hints of nuts mingle with vinous berries, oaky spice, and a good dose of vanilla and toffee on the nose.
Palate: The palate expands on the spice with more barky cinnamon and dusting of nutmeg while the oak becomes sweeter and the fruit becomes dried and sweet.
Finish: The finish is jammy yet light with plenty of fruit, spice, and oak lingering on the senses.
Bottom Line:
This is a perfect Manhattan whiskey. It’s also pretty damn good in a glass with a little ice and a twist of orange.
Town Branch is Lexington’s destination distillery/brewery right in the city. Their flagship bourbon is a high-malt mash bill, adding more smooth sweetness to the mix. The whiskey ages for four to five years before it’s blended and proofed with water from the “town branch” of Elkhorn Creek, which runs through Lexington.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is as soft as it is classic on the nose with hints of rich caramel mingling with dark cherry, soft nutmeg, and a hint of leathery oak.
Palate: The palate follows that path while layering in a hint of orange blossom next to cherry leather with cinnamon and clove hints and a bit of pipe tobacco in a wooden box.
Finish: The finish is subtle and short and marries the cedar with the orange blossom with the cherry lingering the longest on the backend.
Bottom Line:
This is supple and inviting. It’s another one that’s simply a good whiskey, folks. Drink it however you like, you won’t be disappointed.
This four-year-old whiskey is rendered from a mash bill of 65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley. That whiskey is then blended under the bottled-in-bond laws and proofed down to 100 proof before bottling in New Riff’s dark bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a rush of cinnamon rolls with plenty of butter, brown sugar, spice, and an echo of sourdough next to oily vanilla, baked apple, and a hint of firewood on the nose.
Palate: The palate leans into baked apples with more wintry spices, dry vanilla pudding packets, deep caramel, a touch of sweet cedar, and apple-laced cotton candy.
Finish: The finish leans into the winter spices with sharp cinnamon next to lush vanilla, a hint more of that sweet cedar, and a note of spicy yet dry tobacco.
Bottom Line:
You cannot go wrong with a bottle of New Riff. The distillery never misses. This is their entry point to the brand and it’s f*cking delicious.
This whiskey is from Brown-Forman (which also makes Jack Daniels, Old Forester, King of Kentucky, and Woodford Reserve in the U.S.). The Kentucky-distilled juice is aged in special oak barrels that are chiseled before charring to create more surface space for carbon filtering and aging in the barrel. The best barrels and then batched, slightly proofed with that Kentucky limestone water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of old oak and almost smoldering cinnamon bark on the nose with a hint of apple/pear cider cut with orange oils and a whisper of vanilla-nougat wafers.
Palate: That apple/pear cider vibe dominated the start of the palate with a Martinelli’s cider sweetness next to clove buds and more cinnamon bark, a light sense of vanilla cake, and burnt orange.
Finish: The cinnamon really attaches to the apple/pear cider on the finish with a fleeting sense of sweet oak and old evergreen pitch and an echo of orange tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is interesting and deep. There’s a lot going on but it all makes sense on your palate. It’s a solid sipper all around but really makes an incredible Manhattan.
The whisky in the bottle is the same Dickel Tennessee whiskey but pulled from barrels that leaned more into classic bourbon flavor notes instead of Dickel’s iconic Tennessee whisky notes. The barrels are a minimum of eight years old before they’re vatted. The whiskey is then cut down to a manageable 90-proof and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This nose is classic, with rich vanilla next to dry spicy tobacco leaves next to apple hand pies with sugar icing made with plenty of dark spices and butter.
Palate: The palate has a bran vibe that hints at a white Necco Wafer with a ripe white peach fresh off the tree with a hint of ginger bite to it.
Finish: The end circles back around to a vanilla wafer with nutmeg, orange zest, and a twinge of dark chocolate sauce leading to a dry and slightly molded wicker chair sitting in the sun.
Bottom Line:
This is a really solid workhorse bourbon. It’s a great, easy backyard sipper, cocktail base, or on-the-rocks pour.
This whiskey is made from Jack’s classic mash of 80% corn, 12% barley, and 8% rye before it’s twice distilled and run through Jack’s long Lincoln County sugar maple charcoal filtration process. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with a little water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with Cherry Jolly Ranchers next to sweet cedar bark braided with old strands of leather and orange-laced tobacco leaves while a hint of vanilla wafer and general “health food store” vibes underneath it all.
Palate: The palate feels like warm apple pie on a sunny day with the best vanilla ice cream on top as layers of eggnog nutmeg and creaminess move toward a Cream of Wheat vibe.
Finish: Some apple wood chips for a smoker and a hint of almond shells pop on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This has no business tasting this good at this price point. The lesson here is that higher proof Jack is better Jack, especially if you’re looking for a killer cocktail base or easy sipper.
5. Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Signature Indiana Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This crafty Southern Indiana whiskey is made with a high-corn mash bill in a tiny farm distillery. The hot juice is aged on-site among the apple and peach orchards for at least four or five years before it’s batched, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a mild sense of sweet orchard fruits next to buttered cornbread with a hint of green chili pepper, touches of vanilla oils, and a hint of orange zest.
Palate: The palate has a sweet grits vibe with a buttery underpinning that leads to vanilla cake, caramel frosting, and a twinge of marshmallow sweetness countered by woody spice and orchard tree bark.
Finish: The woody spice leads to a finish full of eggnog creaminess and a hint of burnt orange by way of cinnamon sticks with a whisper of apple cider to them.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect place to start your Starlight journey. The bourbon is a classic with a hint of craft vibe to it thanks to those sweet and grainy corn vibes. Still, if you’re looking for something new, unique, and delicious, then this is the bottle to add to your bar cart.
This whiskey from Sazerac’s other Kentucky distillery of note (they own both Buffalo Trace and Barton’s 1792 distilleries) is a bit of a hidden gem. As with all Sazerac products, there’s a lot of secrecy around what the actual mash bill is, aging times, and so forth. It is likely a high-rye mash that’s aged over five years.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Salted caramel and apple pies lead the nose with a nice dose of nuttiness, winter spices, and eggnog creaminess with a butter vanilla underbelly.
Palate: Bruised peaches with clove and nutmeg drive the palate toward woody orchard barks, rich toffee, and a sense of vanilla cake with cardamom icing.
Finish: The end is softly full of woody cedar bark, cream soda, and apple-cinnamon tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is going to be hard to find and way more expensive if you don’t find it right when it drops. If you are lucky enough to walk into the liquor store on that fateful day and they haven’t marked up the price too egregiously, then buy two. It’s that good. But you don’t need to tell me in the comments how much more expensive this is wherever you live. I know.
We know that this is a “small batch” and from barrels that are a minimum of four years old (some say as old as ten). Since it’s a Willett product, we can also assume that this is good ol’ Heaven Hill whiskey. But that’s about it.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The whiskey opens with a note of wintry plum pudding next to an oatmeal cookie, a hint of worn leather, and dried mint leaves.
Palate: The palate luxuriates in vanilla-laced pancakes dripping with real maple syrup, a touch of orange zest, and a little more of that leather next to a mild spicy tobacco leaf.
Finish: That tobacco leaf attaches to a woodiness that’s almost wet like cordwood as the vanilla smoothes out the finish and leaves you with a smooth menthol tobacco vibe.
Bottom Line:
This is a great all-around whiskey. It’s well-balanced and deeply flavored, making it a solid choice for either everyday sipping or cocktail mixing.
This is Heaven Hill’s hand-selected single barrel Evan Williams expression. The whiskey is from a single barrel, labeled with its distillation year, proofed just above 86, and bottled as is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a really nice nose full of woody cherry, salted caramel with a tart apple edge, and a soft leatheriness.
Palate: The palate feels and tastes “classic” with notes of wintry spices (eggnog especially) with a lush creaminess supported by soft vanilla, a hint of orange zest, and plenty of spicy cherry tobacco.
Finish: The end is supple with a hint of tart apple tobacco with a light caramel candy finish.
Bottom Line:
There are still a few bottles of this out there. But since this became a Kentucky-only release in 2022, it’s going to get rarer and more expensive outside of the Bluegrass State. That said, if you’re in Kentucky or traveling there, buy a case of this. It’s still cheap, delicious, and the perfect everyday sipper with real depth.
This much-lauded bourbon is Woodinville’s touchstone expression. The whiskey is made with those same family farm grains. The hot juice spends years in the toasted and heavily charred barrels maturing until it’s just right (around five years in total). The results are batched and proofed down with local water to a very welcoming 90 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: You’re greeted with a thick vanilla pudding with caramel candy and a cedar box full of dark spices.
Palate: The caramel thickens to a buttery and rich toffee with notes of dark chocolate peeking in next to more of those woody spices and a vanilla oil velvetiness.
Finish: The end is long and really embraces the sweeter edges of the vanilla pudding while allowing the spice to warm the senses.
Bottom Line:
Woodinville is finally getting wider, nationwide releases and we’re all better for it. The whiskey from Washington is a true gem, even at this entry-point level. This makes a hell of a cocktail and is the quintessential backyard everyday sipper on some ice.
This is Maker’s Mark classic wheated bourbon that’s bottled at a higher proof to bring about a “richer flavor.” Well, that’s what the label says anyway. In short, this is classic Maker’s that’s treated with a little less of that limestone water to let the barrel techniques shine a bit more while still holding onto the Maker’s vibe.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a bowl of vanilla ice cream covered in stewed apples that have been drizzled with extra caramel.
Palate: The taste really focuses on that caramel with hints of oak next to roasted almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, dry wicker, and a drop of soft mineral water.
Finish: The end lingers while it fades through salted caramel apples towards a mellow floral spiciness with a dried reed finish and a touch of vanilla tobacco chew.
Bottom Line:
This is the year that Maker’s Mark makes a comeback (not that it ever went anywhere). It’s a stellar wheated bourbon that you can actually find and afford (compared to Weller and Pappy). While Maker’s Cask Strength is their high water mark, this higher-proof expression is still goddamn delicious and worth adding to your bar cart as a neat sipper or mixer (it makes a greatManhattan).
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