Month: February 2023

It’s not often that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson isn’t the most famous person in the room, but that was the case on Sunday during the 2023 Grammys. Attendees includes Beyoncé, Taylor Swift (who worked with the wrestler-turned-actor for her “The Man” music video), Bad Bunny, and Adele. “Someone that I’ve never met that I think I would actually cry is The Rock,” the “Easy on Me” singer once admitted. Her wish came true at the Grammys, providing one of the night’s more delightful moments.

Johnson told Variety how he pulled off the surprise.

“We wanted to do something special for Adele,” he said. “I know that she is a very big fan of mine and has made that clear publicly many times. But I’ve got to tell you, I am a huge fan of hers, as well — her music, her journey, her openness and directness in how she speaks. I’ve always admired that about her.” The Rock went to “great lengths to make sure that Adele was authentically surprised in the moment, and she was.” He also called Adele “a special iconic brilliant inspiring artist who has inspired a generation and who will continue to inspire generations to come. I love that woman.”

If she slips a bottle of Teremana into her next music video, he’ll love her even more.

(Via Variety)

According to the National Chicken Wing Council, Americans are projected to eat 1.45 billion chicken wings this Super Bowl weekend, spurred on by prices that are down 22% from last year. But hey, I’m not a wing economist. I’m not investing in chicken futures. I’m just a guy covered elbow-to-fingertips in buttery orange sauce.

Why so buttery? Well, seeing as how chicken wings are to Super Bowl weekend what turkey is to Thanksgiving, I thought this would be a great time to test out some of the internet’s most popular chicken wing recipes and… maybe see if we could improve on them.

When people think NFL and wings, they naturally think Buffalo Wings (maybe some day people will hear “Buffalo” and think “Super Bowl,” but alas…). Unlike a lot of our favorite foods (pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, apple pie) Buffalo Wings are a food with a lineage that can be traced back specifically to the USA. Teressa Bellissimo, a Sicilian-born bar owner in Buffalo (so the story goes), invented the Buffalo Wing at Anchor Bar back in 1964, when, rather than using them for stock or tossing them out as people often did with chicken wings back in those days, she deep fried some and served them up with a sauce made from cayenne pepper hot sauce and butter.

These days, you could make a case that Buffalo Wings are actually a more popular export than American football itself.

The “original” Buffalo Wing was deep fried and unbreaded, and the ratio of bone-to-meat does make the wing uniquely suited to being fried. Ever tried frying a turkey leg? Takes forever to get the inner meat cooked and by the time you do, the outside is burnt and drying out. Chicken wings are idiot-proof by comparison.

These days, a “Buffalo Wing” is just one variant of the overall wing phenomenon. Pok Pok in Portland, Oregon, got famous for their Vietnamese fish sauce wings. Hot Sauce and Panko, in San Francisco, is one of many wing joints specializing in Korean-style fried chicken (which some claim made its way to Asia by way of Black American soldiers). And of course, fried chicken joints like Popeye’s et al have been slinging wings for years.

The beauty of the wing is that you can cook it in all sorts of ways and it’s usually pretty good. Unbreaded is the “original” Buffalo style, but it’s hard to turn down a breaded wing. You can also bake them, baste them in a pan… hell, that’s why we’re here, right? It’s time to compare and contrast!

For this piece, I decided to find the most popular wing recipes from Google, YouTube, and TikTok to prepare them, rate them, and then maybe see if we could improve them. I was worried that I’d be splitting hairs, but it just so happened that each recipe had its own unique cooking style, allowing us a decent cross section of wing-cooking methods without going too crazy.

As with virtually all online recipes, you can read on to go on this beautiful journey of self-discovery with me, seeing how I arrived at each decision, or you can metaphorically spit in my face and just scroll all the way to the bottom for my hacked recipe(s). Whatever, man, it’s your life.

The TikTok Recipe – AKA, “Double Breaded, Double Fried”

As of this writing, The Golden Balance on TikTok here has about 294,000 views on this wing recipe. Putting aside the lack of specifics (no video descriptions here) and Gen Z house style (brashly obnoxious, with barely-justified act-outs, hair dangling foreword across the forehead), this is actually a pretty solid recipe.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Cliff’s Notes

-Marinated overnight in seasoned buttermilk
-Double breaded in seasoned breading — rice flour and potato starch
-Double fried: once at 315 for six minutes, then rested and refried for “just a couple more minutes” at 375.
-Sauced with a mix of Sriracha, honey, and Kewpie mayonnaise, and chives

Pros & Cons

PRO:

The overnight marinade (in a pretty traditional southern buttermilk brine) is a smart move. I’m of the belief that if you can season your meat overnight, you should pretty much always do it. He doesn’t specify spice blend, but I used a pre-made seasoning blend that had onion, garlic, pepper, and MSG.

PRO:

It’s hard to beat a breaded wing. And double-frying is a great way to ensure the wing is cooked well but also cooked evenly. It’s a beautiful marriage of crisp and moist. I’ll never forget the way Top Chef‘s Shota Nakajima explained his chicken karaage to me:

I would say double frying is the biggest thing. I think of it almost as a steamed dish(…). You want to make sure the batter is on the outside correctly(…). If it’s coated, that means there’s this whole layer of breading on the outside, and the ingredient itself isn’t touching any cooking heat. It’s steaming on the inside. So that’s how you keep it juicy. But once you cook and you let it rest, that’s when the moisture gets pulled out. So you want to let it rest and get that moisture to get pulled out more and then fry it so you can hold that crispy edge.

PRO:

The sauce is great, a nice mix of spicy, sweet, and creamy (without any butter) and, unlike Buffalo sauce, I had no trouble keeping it emulsified.

These wings are also HEAVILY breaded and extremely crispy, to the point that I thought they would destroy the roof of my mouth. Without the sauce, they definitely would. But this sauce softens the breading just enough so that it’s still crunchy but won’t draw blood.

CON:

Double breading is too much breading.

Clearly, I got a little messier than the TikTok guy.

That’s a lotta breading, yo.

That whole “wet dry, wet dry” thing he describes sounds a lot breezier than it actually is. When I did that, I ended up with like half an inch of breading on the chicken. And with a half rice flour batter, that seemed… daunting. I thought this was going to be like biting into a chicken who had covered his wings in glue and broken glass like some kind of chicken Bloodsport situaish.

That mayo-based sauce isn’t just a condiment here, it’s a safety precaution.

CONS:

Frying is still a pain in the ass. When you fry, you’re going to be dealing with a bunch of frying oil, a frying vessel, a draining setup… etc. I got rid of my deep fryer a few years back so I had to use a cast iron fry pan, but even with a home deep fryer, you’re only going to be able to get, what, six wings in there, max? Plus, with a fry pan there’s a lot of guesswork with the temp. I put them in at 340 or so and then the temp goes down before 300 so I’m cranking it back up… it’s a lot of fiddling.

Was it worth it? We’ll get to that in a sec.

The Google Recipe — AKA, Hammered & Buttered.

This recipe, from CafeDelites, was a top result and a top-rated recipe on Google.

The Cliff’s Notes:

-Lightly breaded in baking powder (aluminum-free), garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
-Option to season overnight
-Tossed in traditional Buffalo sauce (half cayenne pepper sauce, half butter)
-BAKED on a wire rack at 450F, for 30 minutes per side.

Pros & Cons

PRO:

Baking is probably the easiest, least equipment-intensive method of cooking wings. You can do a lot at one time and the cleanup is pretty easy.

PRO:

A light, baking powder-based breading left to dry overnight does an adequate job mimicking a fried, unbreaded wing. They came out with a really roasty, rendered chicken skin flavor. They taste golden brown.

PRO:

Traditional Buffalo sauce is indeed delicious. You can get fancier with sauces, but it’s hard not to love a butter-and-hot-sauced-drenched wing. You’re always going to eat more of them than you tell yourself.

CON:

I don’t know if the CafeDelites people had much bigger chicken wings than I did, but at 50 minutes (I actually pulled these earlier than the recipe suggested) these wings were absolutely hammered. They were nice and crispy but definitely sort of dry and stringy.

White meat needs to be lower, but for a darker meat like chicken wings, most barbecue guys will tell you that an internal temp of 185-190 is ideal for chicken wings. In this case the thermometer bore out what my eyes were already telling me: these were overdone.

CON:

I set my smoke alarm off a lot. My oven does have particularly paltry venting, but even so, the fat melted off the wing and hit the aluminum foil, and started to burn, smoking the hell out of my kitchen. I spent the whole time apologizing to my baby and dogs.

CON:

Sauce broke a lot. The only guidance the recipe offered on the sauce, which consists of Frank’s Red Hot, melted butter, and sugar, was “Whisk it all together until combined” and then pour over the baked wings. That’s not a lot of tips for an emulsion, and mine broke quite a bit when the hot wings hit them.

The YouTube Recipe — AKA: Gordon Ramsay’s Frenchified Bullshit

Gordon Ramsay’s “Hot Ones Inspired Wings” recipe has 5.6 million views and counting on YouTube. I was actually excited to try this one because it seemed like a unique (to me), potentially great and easy way to make wings.

The Cliff’s Notes:

-Seasoned liberally with garlic powder, smoked paprika, and salt
-Pan fried/butter basted in a pan and then finished in the oven
-Sauced with a mix of “pan sauce,” butter, and “your favorite hot sauce.”

As I said, I was excited to try this one. It’s quicker than the baked recipe and doesn’t require a sheet pan, and seemed to streamline the saucing process. I also finished reading Bill Buford’s latest book about moving to Lyon to learn how to cook French not too long ago, in which Buford basically identifies butter basting as France’s unique contribution to European cuisine (which was otherwise largely invented by the Italians during the Rennaissance). I’d never considered applying it to chicken wings. When I taught myself Peking Duck, it involved using boiling water to pre-render the fat and tighten the duck skin so that it would crisp when baking. This seemed like basically the streamlined, butter-based version of that.

PROS:

Basically, all the stuff mentioned above. A streamlined cooking process.

PRO:

Chef Ramsay measures his butter in “knobs,” which is also British slang for “penis.” I liked the idea of measuring out “four penises of butter.” It’s good to have fun when you cook.

PRO:

The meat came out very moist, much juicier than the baked wings, and almost as moist as the fried ones.

CON:

The smoked paprika-heavy seasoning didn’t really scream “American chicken wings” to me. It was still good, it just had a distinctly European flavor to it and I didn’t like it nearly as much as the other two.

CON:

I wanted this method to work so badly, I actually tried it twice. But it seemed no matter how hot I got my pan, the skin never got very crispy. Letting it soak in all those butter penises, both while basting and baking, and leaving the wings partially submerged while finishing in the oven, seemed to keep the skin on the wings from crisping fully.

Who Wing’d It Better?

I don’t think you’d throw any of these wing recipes out of bed, but there were pluses and minuses to all of them. The TikTok recipe was crunchy, nicely moist, and with a tasty sauce, but over breaded and impractical for a big group.

The YouTube recipe was also very moist and with a streamlined cooking process, but had flabby skin and the sauce lacked a little of that wingy yumminess (despite requiring the most butter penises).

The Google recipe had nicely rendered skin and roasty flavor and a tasty traditional Buffalo sauce (I tested these on my wife and 9-year-old stepson, and this was my stepson’s favorite), but the meat was dry and overcooked and set my smoke alarm off.

Wing Hack Part 1: Battered And Fried Wings

If you’re committed to doing fried wings (which for the most part, do reward you), this recipe was already pretty good, so it was an easy fix. How do we fix a double-breaded wing that’s too breaded? You guessed it, Einstein, don’t double-bread it.

I found that a single breading worked just fine.

The Soak

• Chicken Wings
• Enough Buttermilk To Cover – I used 2% milk-fat buttermilk.
• About a tablespoon* of your favorite seasoned salt — OR salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder.
• *Just taste your marinade before you pour it on the chicken. It should be pretty salty, but not inedibly so. Think pickle juice or seawater and then dial it back a couple notches.
• Leave it to soak overnight.

The Dredge

• About 1/4 cup potato starch
• About 1/4 cup rice flour (corn starch works too if you can’t find it)
• About a teaspoon same seasoning as above
• Whisk it together on a plate, or, if you want to keep it old school, in a paper bag.
• Take your chicken straight out of the marinade, let the excess liquid drain off, roll it around in the dredging mixture (Wet-Dry) — or shake it up in a bag — and set it on a wire rack while you bread the rest.

The Fry

• In a cast iron fry pan, heat peanut oil (what I used), shortening, lard, or whatever oil you’re using to 340 or so, or set your deep fryer t0 315.
• In my cast iron fry pan, I could do about 3-4 wings at a time without the temperature dropping too much (hopefully not below 300)
• Fry for six minutes until golden brown and remove.
• Let rest for 5-10 minutes while you make the sauce.

The Sauce

• 1/3 cup Sriracha
• 1/3 cup Kewpie mayo (or regular mayo with a pinch of MSG)
• Squirt of honey (call it a teaspoon)
• Whisk it together.

Fry Part 2

• Set your deep fryer to 375 or heat your pan oil to 380-390.
• Drop your rested wings in 3-4 at a time and fry for 1-2 minutes, removing before they get too much color.
• Rest the wings for another five minutes, then drop them in your sauce, mix, and serve!

I didn’t mess with this recipe too much because… it was already pretty good! This one definitely has a more Asian feel to it, with the potato starch and the Sriracha, but I think most people who enjoy fried chicken and/or Buffalo wings would love this one. I just dialed back the breading a little.

For me this was the ideal amount of breading. Still crunchy, but now I don’t feel like I’m going to die if I eat more than two. The wing did just what Chef Shota described — steamed inside a crispy shell. The chicken comes out super moist, and the batter is crackly-crunchy. In fact probably too crunchy, but with the sauce applied it’s just right.

Wing Hack Part 2: Baked Buffalo Wings

Of the two “baked” wing recipes tested, one came out too dry and the other the skin came out too flabby. I tried to combine the two to see if we could get the best of both worlds. Basically, to the Google recipe, I added a little more baking powder and some corn starch, then I incorporated the YouTube sear and went back to the Google bake for half the cook time.

The Wings

• 4 pounds chicken wings
• 1.5 tablespoons corn starch
• 1.5 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• Pinch black pepper (OR, just use your favorite seasoned salt blend)

Put your wings in a bowl. Mix your spices and corn starch/baking powder in a small bowl. Pour the dry mix over the chicken and massage it together. It should create a very light paste on the exterior of the chicken. Refrigerate uncovered overnight.

The Cook

• Arrange a sheet pan covered in aluminum foil and put your wire rack on top. Preheat the oven to 450F.
• Heat a thin layer of oil in a pan on the stove at about medium-high.
• Once the oil is almost to smoking, brown the wings in batches.
• A few at a time, put the wings into the hot pan with the oil and turn until well coated. You don’t have to get too much color on them, but you should see the skin visibly tighten — that’s what we’re looking for, a little pre-render.
• Remove them to the wire rack and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

(Yes, after a week of wing testing I was starting to run short on wings).

The Sauce

Traditional Buffalo sauce is delicious. My stepson loved it, even when I couldn’t keep my emulsion from breaking. I’ve read all sorts of tips online for how to keep your Buffalo sauce emulsion from breaking, from using an immersion blender to adding honey. A lot of them didn’t really work.

So I reached out to longtime friend of Uproxx, Michelle Doll, author of Essential Tools, Tips & Techniques for the Home Cook and one-time beater of Bobby Flay to see if she had any suggestions. Doll suggested heating the hot sauce, and then adding the solid butter to that, chunk by chunk, whisking the whole time. That worked great. Ergo…

• 1/2 cup Frank’s Red Hot
• 1/2 cup salted butter

Heat the hot sauce in a pot. Add the butter, a tablespoon or two at a time, to the heated sauce, whisking as you go.

The Finish

Dip your baked wings in the sauce, return to the wire rack, turn the oven down to 350F and bake for five more minutes.

This seemed to give the wings a nice balance of crunchy, roasty, rendered-fat flavor from the pan-prepping, but a much moister, juicier interior thanks to the reduced cooking time. Was it as good as the fried wings? Well, I don’t know if anything is better than a deep-fried wing, but these were easier, with less cleanup, and I could cook a lot more at a time.

I think the breaded, deep-fried wings were a shade better, but I would put these up against unbreaded fried wings any day!

Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can read more of his recipes here.

Pink and Kelly Clarkson are both known for having powerhouse voices that can belt at incredible ranges but also soften for a sweet ballad. Put the two of them together, and…well, dang.

On Feb 6, Clarkson featured Pink on her daytime talk show, in which she often sings with musical guests. The two superstars sang several acoustic duets with pitch-perfect harmonies, prompting fans of both artists to clamor for a collaborative album.

One song they sang together was Pink’s “What About Us?” Pink previously described the song to The Sun in 2017: “The world in general is a really scary place full of beautiful people. Humans are resilient and there’s a lot of wonderful—like I said in the song—’billions of beautiful hearts’ and there are bad eggs in every group. And they make it really hard for the rest of us.”

In the intro to their duet, Clarkson asked Pink about the impetus behind her writing the song.

“We’re not listening to each other right now. And it’s so loud, and so gross, and so angry and people are being forgotten,” Pink shared. “People are being counted out and their rights are being trampled on just because a group of people doesn’t believe in them.”

“Like, I don’t understand how so many people in this world are discounted because one group of people decided they don’t like that,” she continued. “And I won’t—I won’t have it. One of the most beautiful things that my dad taught me was that my voice matters and I can make a difference, and I will.”

The lyrics of the song seem to address the political leaders and decision-makers who hold people’s lives in their hands as they pull the levers of power. It’s a beautiful song with an important message wrapped up in gorgeous two-part harmony.

Enjoy:

With her enigmatic beauty, effortless tomboy style, and honey-like voice draped across hip-hop beats, Aaliyah captured the hearts of young Black girls in the ’90s and early ’00s. Her songs helped redefine genres like contemporary R&B, pop, and hip-hop, and she even earned herself the nickname “Princess of R&B.”

You can see her influence on other artists today, like Ciara, Normani, Kehlani, and more.

At ten years old, she first captured America’s hearts with her performance on Star Search. Her momentum only grew when she dropped her debut album a few years later, Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number. Her music offered a slinky, edgy alternative to the teen pop stars of her generation — your Britneys or Christinas — with less theatrical vocals than the balladeers of the time, like Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey.

It was sleek. It was sexy. It was cool. And so was she. Her baggy clothes and sunglasses created an air of mystery around her, especially with her now iconic hairstyle, where the singer covered her left eye, almost reminiscent of the late actress Veronica Lake.

Her fame continued to swell as she dropped more projects like her second album, One In A Million, in which she worked with the now famous (but not at the time) Virgian-bred producers Missy Elliot and Timberland. Songs like “If Your Girl Only Knew,” “Hot Like Fire,” or “4 Page Letter” showcased her angelic-like vocals, pairing well with the grittiness of hip-hop.

As her albums progressed, so did her sound. Her third and final album, Aaliyah, proved that the singer had evolved from the pop-influenced hip-hop and R&B melodies in her previous work to a more mature, introspective sound. Unfortunately, that would be her last project due to her untimely death in 2001, at 22, after suffering from significant injuries during a plane crash in the Bahamas.

Whether you were listening to her chart-topping hits or watching her on the big screen in films like Romeo Must Die, it’s evident the “More Than A Woman” singer had become an inescapable force in entertainment before her death. What’s also evident is that the very thing that made her special — her sleek, “mature” nature — is the same thing that put her in harm’s way. Since she debuted under R. Kelly, Aaliyah got introduced to the world as if she was a grown woman when she was not.

Her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, which Kelly primarily produced, featured a track on the project of the same name that centered on a young Aaliyah trying to serenade her older lover to “go all the way” with her. With the album’s release, rumors swirled that the pair were in a relationship. At the time, Kelly was in his late 20s, whereas she would’ve been in her early teens, but when asked about her age, she would often play coy.

The rumors were confirmed after a marriage certificate between the singers surfaced in the late 1990s. According to reports, Aaliyah, who was 15 then, was listed as 18 on the certificate, while R. Kelly was 27. Her parents annulled the marriage a short time later, and Aaliyah would eventually cut off all professional and personal ties with Kelly and cease contact with him.

Kelly, the self-proclaimed “Pied Piper of R&B,” would eventually face judgment for his crimes — first in 2008, although he was ultimately acquitted on a child pornography charge, and again in 2022, where he was convicted on three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. But, it still feels like Aaliyah never got the justice she deserved.

Throughout the Surviving R Kelly series, which first premiered in 2019, it became apparent how easily disposable Black girls, particularly Aaliyah, were to men like Kelly. The lack of intervention from the adults in her own family, including her uncle and manager Barry Hankerson, and the lack of societal outrage further compounded her situation.

But times have changed, at least for some. In the wake of #Metoo, many women, particularly white women, have been able to rewrite their stories and offer different retrospectives of their experiences. People have been reconsidering the treatment of stars like Britney Spears — and now even Jessica Simpson — who received apologies and reassessed their legacies in public.

However, Black women get continually left out of the conversation, according to the feminist author and writer Shanita Hubbard. Since the culture has had time to reflect, it’s time to address the flaws and problems within our community honestly, she says. While it’s crucial to center Aaliyah, Hubbard believes we can extrapolate this for other Black girls because, like the young singer, Black girls are often not protected.

“This isn’t even just our opinions. The data supports that even in our schools, Black girls are suspended at disproportionate rates,” she says. “We understand from a cultural perspective that it took understanding that this is really indicative of America itself.”

But in the broader context, particularly when it comes to hip hop, Hubbard noted that the industry Aaliyah failed in so many ways. She says that because Aaliyah was marketed as a fully adult woman, she became viewed as needing less protection.

“It starts with the adultification of Black girls in society,” Hubbard says. “In society, Black women are seen as so ‘strong.’ We are the mules of the world, right? So who shows up for those of us who are the strongest?”

Hubbard continues, “We looked at Aaliyah, and although she was a young girl at the time, people collectively still didn’t see her as a young girl. They saw her as a woman.”

For many folks, men like R. Kelly aren’t just entertainers. They represent a “rags to riches” story that people who grew up in impoverished, urban areas can identify with.

“For a lot of people, that’s worthy of protection,” Hubbard says. “That’s a reflection of what could happen, right? It’s a reflection of possibilities.”

Due to the history of Black men being falsely accused of rape, there is often an instinctual need to protect Black men even at the cost of the harm they’re possibly committing, which usually comes at the expense of the victims’ silence.

“If you grew up hearing that Black men are ‘endangered’ and worthy of protection, who do you think the community is going to show up to protect those who are already viewed and seen as strong or those in need of protection?” she says.

Hubbard believes that while the culture has started to shift somewhat, she said it would take more than a few documentaries and op-eds.

“It’s gonna take for us to keep having these difficult conversations,” she says.

Aaliyah’s story is one of many pitfalls, but in the end, the legacy she left behind will never be forgotten. In the last years of her life, the singer’s body of work was indicative of her growing up, finally earning the “mature” label imposed upon her as a child, and becoming confident not only as an artist but also in herself.

Unfortunately, due to her untimely death at 22, many “what ifs” will remain unanswered about where her career could have gone. But one thing remains clear, Aaliyah was indeed “One In A Milion,” and there will never be another like her.

There’s a definite uptick in Scotch whisky when you reach the $75-ish mark. We’re still pretty far away from things getting wildly good, but we are smack dab in the middle of things getting better, more refined, and worth sipping neat. This is all to the good because, folks, it’s time to list and rank some great Scotch whisky that cost just shy of $80.

The 10 whiskies listed below are a good mix of single malt and blended Scotch whiskies. Overall, I pulled in bottles that are, well, just really freaking tasty. I also pulled in a far-reaching range of unpeated, peated, and blended whiskies. That means that there is a little something for everyone. Read my tasting notes and find the bottle that speaks to you.

As for the pricing, this is based on delivery in Kentucky either by Total Wine, Reserve Bar, or Drizly. Prices and availability will vary (sometimes by a lot) depending on where you are. Let’s dive in!

• Johnnie Walker Vs. Chivas: Which Scotch Whisky Brand Will Win Our Blind Test?
• The 50 Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2022, Ranked
• The Best Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whiskies Under $100, Ranked
• World Class ‘Sipping’ Single Malt Whiskies Under $100, Ranked
• The Best Peated Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Blind Tasted And Ranked

10. Buchanan’s Special Reserve Blended Scotch Whisky Aged 18 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $74

The Whisky:

This Scotch blend is a mix of Diageo single malt and single grain whiskies that are all at least 18 years old. Those whiskies are aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before their married into this well-crafted expression.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a sense of malt next to hints of orange zest, honey, and bright cherry.

Palate: The palate really delivers on the cherry as the orange zest becomes candied and a nutty edge arrives, ushering in a subtle and almost sweet smoke.

Finish: The smoke dries a bit as a note of pine arrives late, supported by the orange, cherry, and honey with a touch of warm spice.

Bottom Line:

This is a classic. It works really well in a highball with a twist of orange. It also works perfectly well over a big ol’ glass full of ice. It’s easy, rewarding, and feels like a classic when you take a sip.

9. Talisker Storm Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 45.8%

Average Price: $72

The Whisky:

This no-age-statement whisky has an interesting aging process. The whisky is aged in a combination of used barrels and re-charred barrels. Basically, they take old barrels, strip the charring, rebuild those barrels, and then re-char them to Talisker’s standards. The process adds a new layer of depth by rejuvenating the staves. The whisky from those barrels is then blended into a darker, smokier, and deeper single malt.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This sip amps up the peat a tad while bringing in the brine next to a clear maltiness, honey pears, and a touch of charred wood.

Palate: The smoke at play here is more akin seaside campfire while the brininess is reminiscent of oyster liquor with a dry chili spice lurking in the background.

Finish: There’s a hint of the berry leftover from the Talisker 10, with a touch more peppery spice by the end.

Bottom Line:

I really like making whisky-forward cocktails with this. It makes a really nice smoky old fashioned thanks to the subtler smokiness and nice peppery spice.

8. Highland Park Valknut Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46.8%

Average Price: $79

The Whisky:

High up on the Orkney Islands, Highland Park is making whisky for modern-day Vikings. Valknut (a knot of three triangles honoring those who fell in battle) uses locally grown “Tartan barley” that’s malted with a bit of local peat. That whisky spends an undisclosed amount of time aging in American oak that held sherry. The whisky is vatted, proofed with Orkney’s soft water, and bottled in a bespoke Viking-inspired bottle.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Imagine vanilla pods warming up in a pan and just starting to release their oils and smoke next to a hint of black pepper and cedar.

Palate: The palate holds onto that vanilla while adding a touch of black licorice and clove next to more cedar and maybe some fennel-crusted rye bread.

Finish: The finish holds onto the spice with a chewy tobacco vibe next to an almost fatty smoke from a backyard salmon smoker and a touch of orange oils.

Bottom Line:

This is a big and bold whisky that really benefits from a little water or a big rock to open it up a bit, revealing more creamy spiced pudding notes. Overall, this is again a great candidate if you’re looking for a subtly smoky cocktail or an everyday pour over some ice.

7. Bunnahabhain Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Toiteach A Dhà

ABV: 46.3%

Average Price: $79

The Whisky:

This smoky Islay peated malt, called “Toiteach A Dhà,” means “smoky two.” The whisky is a peated malt that’s matured in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and then vatted with an eye cast towards the sea and all that sherry wood.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a clear sense of sweet and stewed plums with a focus on cinnamon sticks and an almost spicy smokiness.

Palate: The palate shifts towards a savory fruit (think pumpkin) with flourishes of dark chocolate next to meaty dates and lightly salted sardines.

Finish: The end leans back into the spicy and very briny smokiness as the malts ebb and flow between sweet and dry with a plummy texture.

Bottom Line:

This is just nice whisky. It’s softly sweet and faintly peated with a nice briny funk to it. It all comes together in the end, especially over a few pieces of ice. If you’re looking for something unique and sea-forward, then this is the whisky to grab.

6. Chivas Regal Blended Scotch Whisky Aged 18 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $79

The Whisky:

Chivas 18 is the brand’s signature higher-end blend. The juice is built around a specially made Strathisla 18 single malt. That whisky is supported by 20 other single malts from around Scotland with various casking processes.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: This smells like classic “Scotch” from the first sniff thanks to layers of creamy dark chocolate, dried tart berries, buttery toffee, and a sense of marzipan just kissed with rose water and orange oils.

Palate: The palate has a mild old leatheriness that leads to dried roses, salted dark chocolate bars, and smoked cranberry next to a whisper of raspberry vanilla cake.

Finish: The end has a hint of dry and almost woody florals and winter spices next to smoked berries and dry cedar bark.

Bottom Line:

This is the perfect on-the-rocks whisky. You know what to do!

5. Bowmore Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $73

The Whisky:

Bowmore is Islay’s subtlest peated whisky. The white-walled distillery is famed for barely kissing their barley with peat smoke, making their whiskies very beloved by those looking for a taste and not a face-melting of peaty smoke. This expression in particular is vatted from 12-year-old barrels (mostly ex-bourbon with a touch of ex-sherry) and proofed way down with Islay spring water.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a soft sense of chamomile tea cut with fresh honey and lemon oils next to a soft sense of earthy peat that’s more mossy/mushroomy than “smoky.”

Palate: The lemon oils merge with dark and creamy chocolate next to hints of nutmeg and clove over a light sense of singed orchard wood.

Finish: The smoldering orchard bark leans into fresh honeycombs, more chamomile flowers, and a light flourish of seawater on slate.

Bottom Line:

This is a very approachable peated whisky. It’s earthy but balanced very well by a bright honey sweetness and deep creamy chocolate vibe. It works well over some rocks but really shines as a simple whisky cocktail base.

4. Dalwhinnie Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 15 Years

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $73

The Whisky:

This entry-point bottle to the wider world of Dalwhinnie is a hell of an easy drinker. The whisky is aged in Scotland’s oldest distillery, making the maturation process a severe one. The juice spends 15 years hiding in those barrels as the temperatures dip well below freezing across all those winters, which stops the maturation process, well, cold.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Imagine a bowl of pear and apple peels sitting next to an open jar of floral summer honey on the nose.

Palate: Dots of citrus oils mingle with that honey as a smooth vanilla character arrives on the back of sweet brown bread bespeckled with smoked walnuts.

Finish: The nuts, sweet bread, and floral honey all converge on the finish as it slowly fades towards a final billow of sweet smoke at the back of your mouth.

Bottom Line:

This is another subtly peated whisky. The smoke (which is so faint) is presented via dark fruit and nuts. It’s kind of like standing next to an orchard campfire while eating chestnuts off and open fire and smoking some berries and apples right there. It’s one of the smoothest malt whisky experiences in the game.

3. Ardbeg An Oa Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky

ABV: 46.6%

Average Price: $70

The Whisky:

This is a quintessential Islay peaty whisky. The juice is aged in a combination 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 pour.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Slow-smoked peaches mingle with soft cherrywood and a bundle of smoky savory herbs — sage, rosemary, ramps — on the nose.

Palate: The palate is soft and buttery with a sweet burnt toffee vibe next to nutmeg, walnut, Earl Grey, and maybe a touch of woody maple syrup.

Finish: The end takes its time and meanders through salted black licorice, wild florals, more singed savory herbs, and a hint of black-pepper-covered brisket fat that’s been heavily smoked over sea-soaked driftwood.

Bottom Line:

If you buy one Ardbeg to try, let it be An Oa. This is just delicious, albeit boldly peated whisky. This is a whisky that deserves your time, so add a little water or a rock and let it breathe, open up, and show you its deeper nuances.

2. Lagavulin Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 8 Years

ABV: 48%

Average Price: $70

The Whisky:

This expression was originally released to celebrate the distillery’s 200th anniversary. The whisky was created to mimic the whisky that was being made back in the 1880s, during a high point in Lagavulin’s history. The whisky became a modern hit and is now part of their core line.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: The nose is full of honey-orange, dry and earthy malts, and a nod to chocolate-covered cherries with the slightest hint of fried cod wrapped in newspaper.

Palate: The taste brings a solid billow of campfire smoke with traces of dark chocolate, burning cinnamon sticks, dry mint, and burnt potato skins (yes, really).

Finish: The end is long-ish and marries the tastes together, leaving you with the memory of drinking a dark mint-chocolate spiked espresso next to a smoldering backyard fire on a cold autumn night, while somewhere in the distance, the sea laps at the shore. The very end has a whisper of new Band-Aids still in the box.

Bottom Line:

This whisky has really grown on me. While I don’t think it’s as amazing as the 16-year from Lagavulin, it’s still a winner. This whisky just works if you’re looking for a peaty pour on a rainy day, or to add a little whisper of smoke to a bright summer cocktail, or just as an easy sipper any ol’ day of the week. Don’t overthink this one, just enjoy it.

1. Oban West Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 14 Years

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $79

The Whisky:

This is a great gateway to both Oban and scotch, in general, to have on hand. The whisky is classically made and then matured in the Oban storehouses for 14 long years — all within a stone’s throw of the sea. The whisky barrels are then blended and proofed by Oban’s tiny distillery team (only seven people work there) before bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: Citrus, salt, and a whisper of briny peat smoke open this one up on the nose as this sense of dry orchard fruits at the end of fall mingle with soft honey drizzled over spiced malted crackers with a hint of smoked orange saltwater taffy lurking in the background.

Palate: That smoked citrus carries on as a foundation for mild winter spices as a note of honeycomb, hints of fresh pears, and plummy dried fruits with a fatty nuttiness mingle on the palate.

Finish: The oaky spice and extremely mild peat smoke meet at the end with a slight malty sweetness, old pear, and the faintest whisper of dried seaweed.

Bottom Line:

This is flawless whisky. It’s perfectly suited to neat or on the rocks sipping while also being a killer cocktail base. You cannot go wrong with this bottle.

On Monday, Chelsea Handler took her place behind The Daily Show desk as the latest guest host to occupy Trevor Noah’s recently vacated seat. Or, as she sees it: “This is where I get to spend a week talking sh*t about all the wack jobs and hot messes out there. But I do it sitting behind a desk, because I’m a professional!”

Among the first targets on Handler’s list was “Marjorie Taylor Greene, a.k.a. Capitol-Storming Barbie, who hates her job,” according to the host. “Which is so funny, because the rest of us also hate her having her job.”

Handler’s comments were in response to a video the conspiracy theory-loving congresswoman posted about just how hard it is to be an elected official. “Becoming a member of Congress has made my life miserable,” Greene said — to say nothing of how miserable she has made millions of Americans. Among Marge’s complaints? She spends way too much time in Washington, D.C. and doesn’t get to go home and just be a “regular” person. “Because this job is so demanding it’s turned into practically year-round,” Greene said.

A JOB? Being YEAR-ROUND? What kind of insanity is that?!? Handler had some thoughts:

First of all, you’re NOT a regular person, you moron. You’re a congressperson. Because you campaigned and somehow WON, which requires you to work. Year-round! I also don’t want to work year-round, and that’s why I don’t.

To quote Kim K. for a second: ‘Get your f***ing ass up and work!’

For Handler, the ultimate point was that “if you don’t like being in congress, then go work at Foot Locker, bitch.”

You can watch the full clip above, beginning around the 4:35 mark.

On her latest EP, Motive, which was released last October, singer Joyce Wrice delivers an emotional collection of tracks, set to groovy, dance-ready beats. Today (February 7), Wrice has shared the latest video from the EP for a song called “Bittersweet Goodbyes.”

On the track, Wrice seems to have let go of a relationship that was not good for her, however, the turbulent emotions continue to come back and forth in waves.

“Why you always inconsistent? / Look at me / Close the space, don’t give me distance / ‘Cause if you’re looking for the worse that’s what you’ll find / Bittersweeet goodbyes,” she sings over the intoxicating, pulsating beat.

In the song’s accompanying music video, Juliann McCandless and Ashley Bone, Wrice is seen dancing alone — never missing a beat. She is then joined by a group of equally talented dancers, who nail the choreography arranged by Brian Drake, and display impeccable chemistry on the dancefloor. Also in the video are Kiana Ledé, ESTA, and Mack Keane, the latter of which co-produced the song with Kaelin Ellis. Toward the end, as the rest of the dancers begin to walk off, Wrice maintains her momentum, as she dances the pain away.

Check out the video for “Bittersweet Goodbyes” above.

The Super Bowl is just days away, which means we’ll finally see Rihanna onstage for the first time since 2017 when she performs the Super Bowl Halftime Show. And while excitement for her performance is reaching peak levels, there’s even more buzz about what she has planned for after it — namely, whether she’ll be releasing a new album, her first since 2016’s Anti.

Ever since she was confirmed as the halftime show headliner, fans have been wondering whether she’ll release a follow-up to Anti, with rumors that she’ll also announce a stadium tour running rampant on Twitter. Even Rihanna’s musical contemporaries have thrown a few logs on the flame, speculating that she’s been rehearsing brand-new music in the studio.

The response is understandable; after all, Rihanna is one of the few marquee stars in the music world who could sell out a stadium tour anywhere in the world within minutes of tickets going on sale, and it has been six years since fans have had a chance to see her live. Unfortunately, Rih herself seemingly shot down hopes for a new album, telling the Associated Press, “Super Bowl is one thing, new music is another thing.”

That doesn’t mean that she isn’t working on something; she also acknowledged the increased anticipation that would result from her accepting the Super Bowl spot. “The second that I announced this, I said, ‘Oh, my God, they’re going to think my album is coming,” she recalled. “I need to get to work.”

However, even with our patience stretched to the breaking point, many fans have taken a philosophical outlook about the wait, echoing Jerrod Carmichael’s advice from the Golden Globes: “Rihanna, you take all the time you want on that album, girl. Don’t let these fools on the internet pressure you into nothing!” If it results in the best body of work possible, we’ll wait.

Sea.Hear.Now festival officially unveiled their 2023 lineup, ahead of the annual fall event, and it is stacked. Foo Fighters and The Killers are scheduled to headline the two-day fest on September 16 and 17.

Other acts taking the stage include Greta Van Fleet, Weezer, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, The Beach Boys, Sheryl Crow, Tegan And Sara, and many more.

As for the surf side of the festival, attendees can catch Cam Richards, Sam Hammer, Will Skudin, Rob Kelly, and other water shredders hit the waves of North Beach Asbury Park and Bradley Park in New Jersey.

“Surf returns with the North Beach Rumble surf contest, taking place between the Surf and Sand stages and will feature the best surfers from the East Coast competing in a team format,” a press release notes. “The teams, captained by professional surfers Cam Richards and Sam Hammer, will compete in multiple heats with the winning team awarded for the most wins based on overall style and creativity.”

Presale for the 2023 Sea.Hear.Now festival opens this Thursday, February 9, at 10 a.m. ET, with the options to purchase for 1-day or the full 2-day pass.

A public on-sale will take place after that if there are any remaining tickets. Those who want to attend can currently sign up to get an entry code via the fest’s website here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The first reactions to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are rolling in, and the critics definitely agree on one thing: Jonathan Major’s Kang the Conqueror is a show-stopping new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As for the rest of the film, well, the vibe is mostly positive. However, there does seem to be some hesitancy about how well this first entry in Marvel’s Phase 5 will play with general audiences.

While some critics are going so far to praise it at as director Peyton Reed’s Star Wars, others feel a little robbed that it’s not a proper trilogy ending for the beloved (and often lighter) Ant-Man films. That said, Majors’ character work could be enough to paper over those concerns.

“The more I think about Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the more I get excited to see it again,” Tessa Smith tweeted. “We all know Jonathan Majors can act, but DANG, he was BORN to play Kang! His conversations with EVERYONE else in this film are bone-chilling.”

“So #AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania goes hard in the paint as the big epic Sci Fi film,” Kristian Harloff wrote. “Blending Star Wars, Fifth Element, Dune + Strange World. I don’t think its going to work for everyone but I really dug this tone. Its a bit chaotic towards the end but wraps up nicely. Kang rules.”

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania … trying to imagine a Marvel novice, ‘one ticket please,’ then getting two hours of variant and multiverse talk. Jonathan Majors is great as Kang and for a good portion of the movie Michelle Pfeiffer is the main character, which is awesome,” Uproxx‘s Mike Ryan tweeted. “They found the perfect actor in Majors for Kang — and we are going to get A LOT of Kang coming up — but I’m not sure about the whole, “you think Thanos was bad? Meet Kang!,’ strategy. He’s fun here, but to be the big bad over multiple projects?”

You can see more reactions below:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opens in theaters on February 17.