What began as a spec script for The X-Files has morphed into a solid little franchise that has been entertaining horror fans for more than two decades — and its legacy is now reportedly set to continue. In 2000, what writer Jeffrey Reddick had originally envisioned as a mystery for Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to tackle was turned into Final Destination, a supernatural horror movie about a teenager (Devon Sawa) who manages to cheat death, until death comes looking to collect.
The film may hold an abysmal 35 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was championed by enough people who matter — including Roger Ebert, who gave it three stars and declared it “smarter and more original than most DTMs” (which is Ebertspeak for Dead Teenager Movies because, yes, there have been a lot of them).
Final Destination proved popular enough to spawn four sequels: Final Destination 2 (2003), Final Destination 3 (2006), the definitive-sounding The Final Destination (2009), and Final Destination 5 (2011).
‘FINAL DESTINATION 6’ is officially in the works at Warner Bros.
In 2011, franchise star Tony Todd shared that if the fifth movie was a success, producers were planning to film the sixth and seventh entries in the series right away and back-to-back. But that was a dozen years ago. Still, it turns out that there’s still some life to be squeezed out of death as far as Final Destination is concerned, as it was reportedly revealed at CinemaCon that Final Destination 6 is officially a go at Warner Bros. with Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein sharing directing duties with a story from Jon Watts, who has directed all of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies for the MCU.
The directing duo reportedly scored the gig by faking a decapitation in the midst of their Zoom pitch meeting — which is a great way to get hired to direct a horror movie, but probably not appropriate for every job interview.
Like death itself, more details are assuredly coming.
Taylor Swift isn’t slowing down with the surprises on her critically-acclaimed Eras tour. Last night (April 27), she called back one of her game-changing eras during a tour stop in Atlanta.
Swift’s ninth studio album, Evermore, was the second of two albums she released with less than 24 hours’ notice in 2020. On the album is a collaboration with The National called “Coney Island.” Until last night, Swift hadn’t yet performed the song live.
At each tour stop, Swift has played a “surprise song,” during which, she performs one of her songs on the designated tour stop that she won’t perform at any of the other stops.
Before the “surprise song” portion of her Atlanta set, Swift told the audience, “Any time I’m gonna talk about or even reference another artist, I feel inclined to tell you that if they’re not here, they’re not here. No one else is here. You are stuck with me. It’s only me.”
While The National wasn’t in the building to perform “Coney Island” with Swift, she still shouted them out ahead of the song’s live debut.
“I was lucky enough to be able to write a song with [The National] for their new album, which is called the First Two Pages Of Frankenstein,” said Swift. “Check it out, stream it, buy it on vinyl. I love them so much. They’ve been so kind to me,” Swift added. “So, I’m not gonna sing the song that we have on this new album — it’s called ‘The Alcott’ — check that out, though. But I am gonna sing ‘Coney Island.’”
The worst playoff series of Michael Porter Jr.’s career happened almost exactly two years ago. Facing the third-seeded Phoenix Suns in the 2021 Western Conference Semifinals, Porter was relentlessly targeted defensively and averaged 15.3 points on a paltry 51.4 percent true shooting as the Denver Nuggets got swept. The struggles were glaring and unnerving as the Nuggets watched a once-promising season abruptly end. It must be said that this was partly due to injuries, and Porter was among those impacted — he seemingly tweaked his back in Game 1, which hampered his mobility and exacerbated or ignited some of these foibles.
Regardless, as a healthy Porter and fully stocked Nuggets squad prepare for their encore Western Conference Semifinal date with the Suns, the 6’10 sniper is readying for a monumental role. He and Denver are seeking a second Western Conference Finals appearance in four seasons. Porter is a big reason they’re in this spot. He’s playing some of the best two-way basketball of his career to complement superstar center Nikola Jokic and has diversified his skill-set since the last time he met Phoenix in the playoffs.
Against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round, Porter averaged 16.4 points on 61.2 percent true shooting. Much of that production came how you’d expect, with Porter splashing home triples in a bevy of ways (42.4 percent beyond the arc) and darting to the rim for buckets when the defense’s focus wandered elsewhere.
Yet he also flashed some off-the-bounce verve that’s grown throughout the season and illuminates a few areas of development for him. Porter’s handle and flexibility have significantly improved. There’s more wiggle in his dribble to beat or avoid defenders and he’s better equipped to contort around help at the rim. In 2020-21, Porter’s last full season, he scored on 68.1 percent of his drives, per NBA.com. This year, that rate perked up to 78.2 percent.
The Suns’ defense looked rather tenuous against an injury depleted Los Angeles Clippers squad in round one, evidenced by their 116.3 defensive rating. I’m fascinated to see how they approach the defensive matchups for the conference semis. I presume Deandre Ayton will wrangle with Jokic, Chris Paul will tail Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Kevin Durant faces Aaron Gordon to potentially act as a roamer off the ball.
But the biggest question is how do they dole out the Porter and Jamal Murray assignments? Whomever starts between Torrey Craig and Josh Okogie likely takes Murray, although Booker’s play on that end of the floor might make him the preferred candidate. Plus, Craig or Okogie’s physicality could be appealing on Porter in an effort to negate his off-ball screen usage.
The good news for Denver, should it venture that direction, is the Suns collectively were flummoxed last series tracking Norman Powell around pindowns, which the Nuggets enjoys dialing up for Porter. Although he’s nowhere close to the explosive or punishing driver of Powell, navigating the concept itself presents challenges for Phoenix and is an action with which he’s adept. Porter can torch anyone unprepared to chase him around waves of off-ball screens and mirror his intrinsic motion, and the Nuggets are entirely willing to scale up his usage when those games arise.
His burgeoning versatility complicates the job for defenders, who generally consider running him off the line a suitable result. Nowadays, slowing him is more complex and the mismatches the Nuggets can or cannot scheme for him off the ball is an angle I’m monitoring. The Suns will likely aim to stash and hide Paul on Caldwell-Pope. Can Denver force him onto Porter and exploit that matchup in a reversal of the roles in 2021, when Paul hunted Porter? Denver is pretty creative with its off-ball X’s and O’s, so this reality is certainly plausible.
Phoenix will have enough problems addressing Jokic’s brilliance, Murray’s shot-making, and their splendid two-man game. If Porter is scoring the ball effectively in varying manners to either reorient defensive gameplans or at least embed another layer of worries, that’s a gigantic win for the Nuggets. If that happens or the Suns have to adjust their coverage on Porter, what are the ripple effects schematically and rotationally? Does a shift in matchups ease matters for Murray on the ball and in pick-and-rolls? Will the Suns elect for more size on Porter and sacrifice their already scarce spacing off the bench?
For all the strain the Nuggets’ offense will inflict upon the Suns, the inverse exists as well, as these are two of the most prolific offenses in basketball. Denver tends to play Jokic at the level in pick-and-rolls. I expect that to continue against Booker and Durant, with the goal to funnel touches to their shaky supporting cast. In these instances, Porter is usually the low man asked to rotate on the backside and tag rollers. The Nuggets’ backside execution when Jokic is at the level is paramount to their defensive performance — I don’t think there’s anything more paramount, in fact. When the defense has looked good this season, it’s directly tied to the backside rotations being crisp. As the low man, Porter kicks off those backside rotations.
When he first joined the starting unit in 2020-21 and assumed this responsibility, he had a habit of rotating far too early and simplifying reads for ball-handlers out of pick-and-rolls. It was as though he knew to tag and did so robotically without surveying how a play unfolded. Phoenix and Paul took advantage of this repeatedly the last time they saw him in the postseason.
That habit is much less prevalent today. He’s refined his timing and technique considerably. His 6’10 frame and 7-foot wingspan can be legit deterrents inside. He’s still nailing down some of his positioning and angles, but he’s gone from someone who merely knows to tag the roller to someone who knows how to impactfully tag the roller. That’s a vital distinction and the bedrock of his progression as an interior defender.
Porter was excellent fulfilling these duties against Minnesota. The job is much harder against Phoenix. If Booker or Durant is captaining a pick-and-roll, the Suns love slotting the other in the weakside corner because they often produce open threes. Can Porter frustrate Ayton, who’s prone to combusting against crowds and pressure on the roll? The goal should be to limit the volume of Ayton at the rim and those star-laden corner triples. Floaters and short jumpers are acceptable outcomes from Ayton, and confronting him early and properly on the roll is the path to achieving that; his short-roll reps against the Clippers were erratic. Porter’s efforts will be central to extending the trend.
The main talking points in most series are shaped by the stars. I frequently find myself drawn to the ancillary members first, and Porter fits that bill. He’s emerging into such a dynamic and striking third option offensively, while increasingly meeting the demands of his defensive tasks.
The Denver offense is going to score. While the Nuggets doesn’t have to be a defensive juggernaut in this series, they cannot no-show on that end of the floor, either. If they do enough to occasionally stymie the Suns and win the series, Porter will be a major component. If he is, a narrative of redemption following 2021 should surface for him, but the more fitting story is one of development and how he’s built himself into much, much more than an ethereal shooter.
The Guardians of the Galaxy wing of the MCU has always been its own weird thing. Not only do they spend most of their time tooling through space, but they also have their own eccentric filmmaker: James Gunn, who brings a Troma vibe to a mega-franchise where directors aren’t even allowed to do their own action scenes. But when his motley crew wound up in the Avengers films, they had other people making choices for them. And some of those choices Gunn wouldn’t have done.
The Hollywood Reporter has a new, sprawling profile of the Guardians gag. Buried within is Gunn — who has since moved on to the DCEU, which he is dramatically overhauling — offering a critique of what Anthony and Joe Russo did with his beloved characters in the game-changing diptych that is Infinity War and Endgame.
:”They did some things that I wouldn’t have wanted,” Gunn admitted. Are there specific things he didn’t like? Yes. He doesn’t think Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord would have punched Thanos, thus dooming half of Earth’s humans to temporary death.
It’s a controversial move, to be sure, with Star-Lord, furious and anguished upon learning Josh Brolin’s big baddie had killed Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora. (Luckily they found a way to bring her back.) Gunn does admit he approves of one decision: that Peter Quill would have killed Gamora had she asked him to.
Gunn can say these things in part because, again, he’s no longer at Marvel. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is his swan song not only to the characters he helped shape but also to the MCU. There, instead of playing around with a group of weirdos, he’s tackling no less than the goodly Man of Steel.
The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a 125-85 win over theMemphis Grizzlies on Friday night in Game 6 of their opening round series. As a result, the Lakers are moving on to the Western Conference Semifinals to play either the Golden State Warriors or the Sacramento Kings, while the Grizzlies will fly back to Memphis and begin what is sure to be a long offseason full of questions about how they can take the next step forward.
It’s a bitter end to what ended up being a long season for Ja Morant, one where he was among the best players in the league on the court but struggled with controversy off of it. He also famously declared that Memphis was “fine in the west,” which came back to haunt him after they were bounced in the first round.
After the game, Morant managed to have a little bit of fun with Lakers fans. As he made his way out of the arena, Morant got hit with some chants from the L.A. faithful, which included a bunch of people singing “na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye” to him. He responded by taking the whole thing in stride.
“Shut it down, Ja!”
Lakers fans were trolling Ja Morant and the Grizzlies after Game 6 last night
Even the security guard escorting Morant out seemed to think this was all pretty funny. It’s good to see Morant having some fun with all of this, as it’s not always easy to take this stuff in stride.
A few weeks back, America’s one-time president (and also guy who is running again though clearly not fit to) Donald J. Trump was indicted and charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. It should come as no surprise he pleaded not guilty to every single one. On a personal note, I found the timing of Trump’s indictment, arrest, and arraignment in New York City rather interesting since just days prior I’d received two bottles of wine from Trump Winery.
They sat on my counter as I watched the recent drama surrounding this very dramatic man-baby unfold — a bottle of sparkling wine and a red blend scripted with the Trump name just sitting in a box, waiting to be opened. I had so many questions about them. Why did I receive these wines? Who sent them? Sure, I receive a lot of wine for work but also… if feels like if you’re doing PR for Trump you might check in with folks to see if they want these Horcruxes in their homes, right?
And then — because I am a journalist by nature — my curiosity started eating at me. I started to wonder the same things every other millennial I know and have talked to about this matter has wondered: “Wait, Trump makes wine? Is it trash? I assume it’s trash? Must be trash, right?”
Before committing to further digging, I had to ask myself, “Am I really going to subject my tastebuds to something associated with a man who literally makes my skin crawl?” Because therein lies the question (which opens the door to so many others). Was I really going to taste these wines? Pitch a story on them? Get approved for writing that story? Write it? Send it to my editor for publication?
*Gulp* …Promote it?
I’m not the first to wrestle with these matters. I’m sure there were similar articles to this around the time of his presidency. A quick search shows me another writer wrestling this issue after a visit to Trump’s winery on this very site, back in 2016. So why do it again? Why put myself through that?
I guess, for me, because 2023 Trump seems so much more like an unintentional comedy figure than a political figure (though I suppose that’s what got America in trouble last time, too). And also my “why” is more straightforward than many journalists — I’m a wine enthusiast and writer, by trade. Actually tasting wine is central to my job reviewing, researching, and recommending bottles and reporting on the industry. Because of that, I like the idea of knowing if Trump wine sucks a lot more than assuming.
So… After what was obviously a lot of thought, I put my feelings towards Trump’s politics, persona, racism, sexism, horrible conduct, the MAGA cult, his role in the Jan 6 Insurrection, and all that other stuff aside (briefly!), pulled out a corkscrew and my favorite wine glass, and poured two glasses.
Janice Williams
As the wine breathed, I discovered that Trump purchased the Charlottesville, Virginia property, previously the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard, in 2012. The winery has since been registered under the name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, and Trump’s son Eric Trump is listed as the winery’s president. According to a legal disclaimer on the Trump Winery’s site, the property is “not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, or any of their affiliates.”
In a Trump Winery video, Eric Trump claims he’s involved in every aspect of the winery, from “the construction, the rebuilding of the whole property, to the winemaking, to the branding, the marketing, the distribution, and everything in between.” However, he is not the winemaker. That position is held by Jonathan Wheeler, who brings a wealth of experience to the brand. Wheeler worked with grapes from the estate long before the Trumps got involved. He has experience working in some of the world’s most celebrated wine regions, from Sonoma and Monterey in California to the New York Finger Lakes and even Marlborough, New Zealand.
I also learned — begrudgingly! — that the wines in the Trump portfolio are critically acclaimed, with many receiving top accolades at wine competitions across the country. It’s worth noting that the grapes used for the wines are 100% estate grown in Montecillo, meaning the vines are cultivated on Trump Winery property. With continued, enthusiastic disgust aimed toward the family that owns the property but slightly more hope for the product itself, I nosed my first glass…
Trump Winery Monticello Sparkling Blanc de Noir 2016
This wine is made with Pinot Noir grapes from the foothills of Carter’s Mountain in Monticello. It’s made in the Méthode Champenoise — otherwise known as the traditional method — which is basically the style winemakers in Champagne use to make sparkling wine. The winemaking style works to the winery’s benefit, resulting in a vibrant bubbly full of freshness and richness that has won the hearts of many. The bottle has won several awards, including the highest titles at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Virigina’s Governor’s Cup, and Critics Challenge Int’l Wine & Spirits Competition.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma: The aroma is big, big BIG! You can smell pear, ripe yellow and red delicious apples, freshly baked bread hot out of the oven, sliced and smeared with decadent salty butter, vanilla, and a faint hint of citrus.
Palate: This wine is bright and energetic on the palate. Vibrant, tiny little bubbles fizz in the mouth and evolve into an almost creamy texture. Overall, it’s fresh on the palate and has well-balanced acidity, but it also has a richness that’s detected at first sip.
Finish: The finish is long and strong, baby. I could still taste the flavors of the sparkling wine coating my tongue and cheeks at least 40 seconds after swallowing a sip.
Bottom line:
This is a quality sparkling wine. It has all the attributes bubbly lovers look for in a glass: persistent bubbles, punchy aromas, plenty of flavor, and a finish that goes on and on and on.
Yet another big-time competition winner, this Bordeaux-style ruby red wine is made with a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. It’s a big wine — the type of wine you want to drink at a chic, dimly lit restaurant while tearing your way through a ribeye or some extravagant cut of perfectly-cooked red meat.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma: The black fruit fragrances are singing in this wine. You can smell them oozing from the bottle as soon as the cork is out. Give it a swirl in the glass, and more aromas emerge, like black cherries, purple plum, vanilla, toasted oak, and even a bit of cassis.
Palate: This wine is full-bodied — there’s no doubt about that. But it feels incredibly silky and smooth in the mouth. The fruit nuances are decadent on the palate at first. It’s almost as if you can taste actual berries, even though it’s obvious that no berries are involved in making this wine. Then it rounds out thanks to a touch of oak and pillowy-soft tannins that adds complexity.
Finish: This wine has a long and robust finish layered with fruity nuances and a bit of acidity.
Bottom line:
It has body, structure, and complexity. Even still, the price is a little on the high end for what it is, considering that there are some truly outstanding wines from Bordeaux, France — the region this blend is modeled after — for around the same price. That said, the wine is still quite tasty and worth a sip. Except…
Final Thoughts:
Yes, it pains me to admit that the wines in the Trump lineup were pretty damn good. Both bottles exuded the type of quality that both aficionados and neophytes can recognize. I’d be lying if I said my palate didn’t enjoy performing this taste test. So… that’s that.
But also…
By the time I was done enjoying Trump’s wines (yes, the whole bottles, let’s not be wasteful here), I returned to my original questions armed with new information. Though our ignorant, careless, racist, misogynistic, insurrection-fomenting former president may not be explicitly calling the shots at Trump Winery, his son is. And if Succession teaches us anything it’s that apples don’t fall far from trees and family finances of the mega(MAGA)-rich are murky. This is all to say… the brand is too closely tied to a human I find repulsive to endorse, regardless of the fact that it’s pretty good.
There are too many outstanding bottles of American-made red and sparkling wine to give a cent of my hard-earned cash to a distillery even loosely connected to a man so hellbent on division when wine, at its core, is intended to bring people together.
There’s a lot of great Scotch whisky out there. So much, in fact, that I’ve spent the past four months calling out list after list of great scotch at every price point from $20 to well above $500. But there’s a big asterisk adorning much of the whisky on those lists — especially at the higher ends: availability. I featured some expressions where only 60 bottles even made it to the United States. Ever.
That’s rare enough that most of us will never see them. So let’s flip the script.
Below, I’m naming 12 affordable Scotch whiskies that you can actually get. For the most part, every bottle on this list will be widely available at any liquor store or online retailer. Moreover, these bottles are all under $50. That means that you can actually find these modestly priced whiskies. I’ve also ranked these bottles. While most of these whiskeys tend to lean toward mixing highballs or cocktails, there are some true gems that work wonderfully as slow sippers at the end of this list.
Sound good? Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
Buchanan’s is making a big comeback. Part of that is due to this expression snagging a Double Gold from San Francisco World Spirit Competiton in 2020; another part is the quality Diageo whiskies in the blend.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The whiskey opens with a real sense of dark chocolate married to bright orange zest.
Palate: The palate builds on that adding hints of vanilla pudding and dark spices next to a cedar woodiness and a little bit of spicy/ chewy tobacco.
Finish: A whisper of peat arrives late and far in the background as the chocolate orange throughline lasts the longest on the fade.
Bottom Line:
This whisky has a long history as a classic “on the rocks” whisky. I don’t think it quite hits that mark. It does, however, perfectly suit cocktail or highball mixing with good resonance.
The whisky in the bottle is a blend of sherry-cask-finished whiskies from The Macallan and Highland Park. The whisky is then cut down to a very accessible 80-proof and then bottled in a nicely understated bottle.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sweet malt buried under a buttery scone dripping with raspberry jam with a touch of light spice lurking in the background.
Palate: The sherry really kicks in on the palate with big notes of dates soaked in black tea next to creamy caramel, vanilla cake, and a touch of dry raisins.
Finish: The end doesn’t overstay its welcome and leaves you with a lovely note of chocolate-covered cherries with a sweet/dry vibe.
Bottom Line:
This is the closest you’re going to get to a sipper at this price point. You can pour this over a big glass of rocks and it’ll be pretty tasty (a truly solid “B” whisky). But you really want to mix this into whisky-forward cocktails or highballs more than anything else.
8. Johnnie Walker Double Black Blended Scotch Whisky
This is basically Johnnie Walker Black that’s been re-casked in deeply charred oak barrels for a final maturation, making this a classic double cask whisky. The idea is to maximize that peat and amp up the Islay and Island whiskies’ smokiness.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Clove-forward spice and billows of softwood smoke — think cherry and apple trees — greet you on the nose.
Palate: The palate has a vanilla creaminess that’s punctuated by bright apples, dried fruit, and more peat that leans more towards an old beach campfire than a chimney stack.
Finish: The spice kicks back in late, warming things up as the smoke carries through the end with a nice dose of oakiness, fruitiness, and sweet vanilla creaminess.
Bottom Line:
This is actually a pretty solid on-the-rocks pour. It’s not life-changing but it gets the job done. That said, this really shines best as a simple highball base with good fizzy water and a savory and funky herbal/botanical garnish (dried chamomile, dried wild sage, rosemary, juniper berries, etc.).
Chivas is renowned for its iconic blended whisky. This expression — originally created for the Japanese market and released in the U.S. in 2019 — adds a unique dimension to the classic blend. A portion of the whisky is finished in Japanese Mizunara casks, adding a layer of nuanced flavors to the standard Chivas.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Caramel and dark dried fruits mingle with tasty pears, soft orange zest, a touch of leather, fresh and floral honey, and maybe some old oak staves on the nose.
Palate: The palate has a dash or two of winter spice next to walnuts and honey-soaked raisins with a hint of sunburnt heather and wildflowers.
Finish: The finish lets the spiciness warm the palate as pear and leather fade through the end.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the best “on the rocks” whisky on the list.
6. Ardbeg Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Wee Beastie Aged 5 Years
This expression from Ardbeg was first released back in 2020 and instantly became a mainstay of the line (especially for bartenders). The hot juice is aged for only five years in both ex-bourbon and ex-oloroso sherry casks before marrying for the final product. The idea is to give a sense of the quality of the peaty whisky from Port Ellen’s malting house without too much wood influence.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a little abrasive on the nose with alcohol soaking through dried berries and raisins next to a hint of pear candy, woody vanilla, and dried dirt.
Palate: The palate has a hint of smoked plums that leads directly into pear candy with a touch of smoked pork belly buried in BBQ ash.
Finish: The finish is a mix of hot asphalt and soft pear tobacco with a thin layer of salt water calming everything down.
Bottom Line:
This is a great peated whisky to mix cocktails with. As a sipper, it’s a little rough around the edges.
This Speyside blend is crafted as a workhorse whisky. The juice is drawn from the William Grant & Sons stable of distilleries. The juice is then rested for up to six months after blending to let it mellow even more before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice welcoming note of creamy vanilla that almost becomes cream soda, next to hints of zesty orange marmalade, malts, and dark spices.
Palate: The taste delivers on those notes by amping the spices up to Christmas cake territory with a slight tart berry edge next to that cream soda sweetness.
Finish: The end is short and sweet with a nice lightness that really makes this very drinkable.
Bottom Line:
This is the best mixing whisky on the list. It’s built as a mixer, so use it that way.
4. Old Pulteney Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years
Old Pulteney is all about sea vibes. Their entry-point spirit is aged for 12 years in second-fill bourbon casks before it’s batched, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a clear sense of creamed honey with a touch of sea spray on the nose.
Palate: The taste really holds onto that creamy honey while notes of wildflowers and oaky spice mingle with malts.
Finish: The end is fairly short and leaves you with a sense of that creamed honey and a touch of spicy warmth.
Bottom Line:
This is a solid and unique single malt that blended sweet honey with seaside vibes, which feels very Scotland. It’s perfectly fine on the rocks but really shines in cocktails with a dark citrus twist.
This expression is a marrying of whiskies from all over Scotland. 65% of the blend comes from single malts from a “distillery near the town of Aberlour,” Laphroaig, and Clynelish. The rest is part Highland malt blend (from the Glen Moray, Tomatin, and Balmenach distilleries) and a grain whisky from Cameronbridge distillery. Those whiskies were barreled in sherry and bourbon casks with a French oak barrel thrown in too.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with this subtle peaty malt that feels more kissed by a hint of smoke than drowned in it in a malting room with a hint of stewed stone fruit.
Palate: The first sip is “malty scotch!” That then leads to dry straw, very mild plum, the memory of opening up a bag of charcoal, and almond shells.
Finish: You’re left with a slightly sweet straw and a buzzing maltiness that is more reminiscent of a cleaned-out fireplace than “smoke.”
Bottom Line:
This is just good. It works however you want to use it.
2. Highland Park Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years
This is a pretty unique whisky. The distillery is located in Scotland’s far north Orkney Islands. The whisky in the bottle is a classic peaty single malt that spends 12 years maturing in European and American oak, both of which were seasoned with sherry. The whiskies are then married and proofed down to a very accessible 40%.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a real sense of rich and almost rummy holiday cake full of dark spices, dried fruits, candied citrus, and nuts with a hint of smoke.
Palate: A touch of fragrant honey arrives to smooth out the texture while adding sweetness.
Finish: That smoke pops back in on the finish but it’s more like a chimney smoke from a house a few doors down on a snowy day than a funky peaty smoke from a bog.
Bottom Line:
This is a lovely blend of deeper fruit/citrus flavors with dark peatiness. There’s a sweetness that ties it all together and makes this a great whisky to have on hand for cocktails or sipping over some rocks thanks to some serious refinement.
1. Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey Aged 14 Years
Glenmorangie’s 14-Year expression spends 10 years resting in used American oak casks. Those barrels are vatted and the whisky is re-barreled into Quinta Ruban port wine casks from Portugal for another four years of mellowing before batching, proofing, and bottling as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with a sense of burnt orange layered into dark chocolate and then melted over a singed marshmallow with a hint of malted vanilla cookie tying it all together.
Palate: That dark chocolate drives the palate with a hint of waxiness and woody winter spice next to whole black peppercorns, fresh tangerine, and a whisper of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
Finish: The dark chocolate, woody spice, bright orange, and sharp spearmint all collide on the finish with a sense of soft malted sweetness and faint old oak staves.
Bottom Line:
Delicious. It’s perfect neat, on the rocks, or mixed into your favorite whisky cocktail. This is an exceptional whisky at this price point.
We are less than a week out from Ed Sheeran‘s fifth studio album, —. The album features production by Aaron Dessner of The National, who also produced a fair portion of Taylor Swift’s albums, Folklore and Evermore.
The upcoming album is said to be a departure from the pop sounds Sheeran had been dropping in recent years. In an interview with The Guardian, Dessner praised Sheeran’s craft as a songwriter and an artist, and doubled-down on his choice to work with him.
“[Ed Sheeran]’s made giant pop records that are easy to criticise, but on a human and artistic level, he’s so gifted and lovely,” he said. “It couldn’t have been more natural, fun and rewarding to feel him jumping off the cliff with me. Over time, I’ve tired of the ‘what’s cool?’ debate.”
For —, Sheeran and Dessner worked on 32 songs, though they settled on 14 for the final tracklist. “There were times when he tracked vocals that were almost unusable because he was so emotional,” said Dessner.
Since the sessions for — have ended, Sheeran and Dessner have worked on over 30 more songs, on which, Dessner says he can hear them improving.
— is out 5/5 via Atlantic. Find more information here.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It’s been a weird six months since Elon Musk took over Twitter. Among other headaches, there are no longer blue check marks verifying if a famous or notable account is legit, unless Musk foists it upon them. Even the business account verifications are a mess. Musk seems unhappy there, too. How does the service’s creator and ex-honcho feel about it? Not great!
As per Insider, Jack Dorsey was asked about Musk on Bluesky, his Twitter alternative, with someone wondering if he’d prove to be the “best possible” steward. His reply was blunt.
“No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad,” Dorsey wrote. “Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale. It all went south.”
Dorsey reflected on the drawn-out purchase of Twitter, which found Musk spending months trying to wriggle out of a potential deal, only to suddenly go all-in.
“If Elon or anyone wanted to buy the company, all they had to do was name a price that the board felt was better than what the company could do independently. This is true for every public company. Was I optimistic? Yes. Did I have final say? No. I think he should have walked away and paid the $1b.”
It’s a 180 from Dorsey’s position this time last year, around when Musk was first flirting with buying the company.
“In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company,” Dorsey wrote back then. “Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”
John Mulaney appears to be in a good place these days. He’s sober, he’s a father, he’s got a new, acclaimed stand-up special. But his life could have been even more different than it is now. During an appearance on Doug Herzog and Jen Chaney’s podcast Basic! (as caught by The Hollywood Reporter), Mulaney revealed that back in the mid-teens he was asked to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. But the timing was way off.
“It was shortly after the SNL 40th anniversary,” Mulaney said. “I had a sitcom on Fox. They’d aired all 13 [episodes], but it was canceled. It didn’t do good numbers, but at least critics reviled it. So, it was a fun time.”
So when then-Comedy Central president Kent Alterman came to him with one of the biggest gigs in the comedy world, he wasn’t ready to commit.
“I was extremely flattered that y’all were asking me about it,” Mulaney remembered. “I sensed they would be big shoes to fill. I think I also was gun-shy from putting myself out there at that moment after the Fox run. And I sensed all eyes would be on whoever came after Mr. Stewart.”
He went on:
“It wasn’t the right thing at that moment, but I remember saying to Kent, ‘I wish it was five years from now.’ And he went, ‘Yeah, but it’s not.’ I mean, I just remember Kent had a great tone of, ‘I hear you. I’m here to hear out anything you have to say, but it’s now, and we’re asking you about it, and we can’t talk hypothetically for that long at this dinner, John.’”
Instead, of course, the job went to Trevor Noah, who lasted a good seven years and left his own stamp on the place. The job is vacant once more, with guest hosts filling in.
Hosting The Daily Show isn’t the only gig Mulaney turned down. He also recently revealed he did the same thing at his old job at SNL, who wanted him to host Weekend Update.
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| Taylor performed Coney Island so beautifully 
