Although the Golden State Warriors’ depth was not as impactful last season as during their 2021-22 title run, certain players still emerged and helped them to the second round of the playoffs. Among those players was 6’4 wing Donte DiVincenzo, who played 72 regular season games, started 36 of them and shot 39.7 percent beyond the arc. He also appeared in all 13 of Golden State’s playoff games.
DiVincenzo will seek to parlay his fine season into a payday. According to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, he will decline his $4.7 million player option and enter free agency.
“This wasn’t a big surprise for the Warriors and other front-office executives around the league,” Andrews wrote. “There was a sentiment that DiVincenzo had outplayed his contract in Golden State after arriving in San Francisco last summer.”
Because DiVincenzo accrued non-bird rights, the most Golden St. offer in a new contract is $5.4M.
Golden St. enters free agency $14.7M over the luxury tax.
Roster resources:
– Draymond Green – Vet minimum exception – 2nd rd exception (T. Jackson-Davis) https://t.co/PNXo2OQPWa
DiVincenzo bounced back from a slow 2021-22 this past year. He provided the Warriors with physical point-of-attack defense, slippery screen navigation on and off the ball, connective passing and valuable floor-spacing. Despite some clear limitations, notably as a finisher and driver, he’s quite the useful role player and should help whichever team signs him later this summer. Golden State was 1.4 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor, according to Cleaning The Glass. He averaged 9.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game in 2022-23.
The Bond team may still be unsure who will replace Daniel Craig, who wrapped his last day in the role nearly four years ago. But for years and years, a large number of people know who they want: They want Idris Elba. Alas, Elba has long said he doesn’t want the gig, though he’s never really given an answer explaining why. Now he’s finally supplied one reason, and it’s a good one.
As per Variety, Elba recently appeared on the podcast SmartLess, where he started by saying he was at least initially into being 007.
“The truth is, I was super complimented for a long time about this,” Elba admitted. “I was like, ‘This is crazy!’ James Bond…We’re all actors and we understand that role. It’s one of those coveted [roles]. Being asked to be James Bond was like, ‘Ok, you’ve sort of reached the pinnacle’. That’s one of those things the whole world has a vote in.”
Sadly, not everyone was into it, and by “not everyone” we mean the usual suspects. “Essentially, it was a huge compliment that every corner of the world except from some corners, which we will not talk about, were really happy about the idea that I could be considered,” Elba explained. “Those that weren’t happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting, because it became about race. It became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it.”
It’s not uncommon for non-white performers to be trashed by bigots when they land key roles in big IP. Just ask John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Moses Ingram, all of whom were plagued with abuse when they joined the Star Wars-verse.
Elba has spoken in the past about not wanting to be thought of as a “Black actor.” He told Esquire U.K. in February that as humans, we are obsessed with race and that obsession can really hinder people’s aspirations, hinder people’s growth. Racism should be a topic for discussion, sure. Racism is very real. But from my perspective, it’s only as powerful as you allow it to be.”
As such, he “stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realized it put me in a box,” adding, “We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to. Our skin is no more than that: it’s just skin. Rant over.”
So if you were one of many who wanted Idris Elba drinking shaken martinis and driving an Aston Martin, you know who to blame.
In May of 2022, New York rapper Casanova — responsible for viral hits like “So Drippy,” featuring Young Thug and Gunna, as well as “Woah” with Jeremih — pleaded guilty to the charges against him, which included firearm possession, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, racketeering, and attempted murder. It was a rough trip, including being wanted by the FBI and denied $2.5 million bond.
As of Tuesday, June 27, Casanova has received his prison sentence, and it includes 188 months — translating to over 15 years — behind bars, according to a press release from Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Caswell Senior is not just a notorious recording artist, but he is also a high-profile leader of a vicious street gang and a magnet for gang violence,” Williams said. “At a crowded Miami house party, Senior personally fired a gun that seriously injured and could have killed a victim, inciting a shootout. Further, Senior’s stature in the community was central to Gorilla Stone’s successful recruitment and nationwide expansion. Today’s sentencing — along with the other significant sentences that have been imposed in this case — shows once again that gang life is not worth it and will lead to many years in prison.”
Talen Horton-Tucker will hit unrestricted free agency at the conclusion of the 2023-24 NBA season. But before that, Horton-Tucker will play out the final year of his contract with the Utah Jazz, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN brought word via Rich Paul that Horton-Tucker will opt into the last year of his deal, which will pay him a hair over $11 million this year.
Talen Horton-Tucker is opting into his $11 million deal with the Utah Jazz for next season, agent Rich Paul says
Horton-Tucker originally agreed to this deal — a 3-year contract worth just under $31 million — back when he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. He played out the first two years of the contract in L.A., but prior to the start of last season, the former Iowa State Cyclone was sent to Utah as part of the deal that sent Patrick Beverley to the Lakers.
Horton-Tucker appeared in 65 games as a member of the Jazz, with 20 of them coming as a member of the starting lineup. He posted some of the best numbers of his young career, as he averaged 10.7 points, 3.8 assists, and 3.2 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game, and set his career-high in scoring by dropping 41 points in a win over the San Antonio Spurs in March. While this is going to be his fifth year in the NBA, Horton-Tucker won’t turn 23 years old until November.
In May, Lizzo shared a TikTok about struggling to overcome hate. “Today was one of those days where I was very angry, very angry at the world. Saw a lot of mean sh*t about me on the internet, and I wanted to give up,” she explained. However, after expressing her gloomy feelings more, she ended the rant on a high note, saying, “Then, I reminded myself to get up, get out, and get some sun, and I put on Renaissance.”
Beyoncé’s music is an oasis for many people. That album in particular is an excuse for celebration. So, when Lizzo went to The Renaissance Tour on Tuesday, June 27, in Warsaw, it makes sense that she totally let loose and have fun. A clip is circulating of the “Truth Lies” singer in attendance at the event and she quite possibly might be the most enthusiastic person there. She’s caught dancing her heart out to “Church Girls” and raising a beer.
On social media, she once divulged how many times she’s seen the Lemonade legend. “I have seen Beyoncé perform live 10 times in my lifetime,” she wrote on Twitter. “and today the 11th time was on a IG live across a body of water of a hotel and I’m not ashamed.”
So it’s only natural that the countdown until the next Coachella begins. It wasn’t until January 10 that this year’s lineup was revealed, and it then took place during the weekends of April 14 to 16 and 21 to 23.
To be fair, The Indio, California-based festival has already started teasing next year’s jamboree. “Wherever you are, the desert isn’t far,” they tweeted earlier this month. “Coachella returns April 12-14 and April 19-21.” A playful accompanying graphic in the post announced that registration is open for access to the 2024 Advance Sale, which began on June 16.
An array of hotel package options are shown on the festival’s website: La Quinta Hotel Packages, Indio Hotel Packages, Indian Wells Hotel Packages, Palm Desert Hotel Packages, and Palm Springs/Rancho Mirage Hotel Packages. Prices range from $3,099 (plus fees) to $10,999 (plus fees). Shuttle services and safari camping are also currently available to book on the website.
Trump World has not really known how to handle the classified documents case, especially because Trump keeps basically confessing to the crime. When tape surfaced of him outright bragging about hoarding said papers — and admitting that he knows he can no longer declassify them — pals like Sean Hannity twisted themselves into pretzels trying to spin it. Eventually they settled on a not very flattering defense: Trump’s a liar, not a thief. Now, after trying a few other tactics (like all-caps social media posts), he’s adopting that line, too.
In an interview with Semafor aboard his private plane, Trump claimed that the so-called classified documents he kept directly referring to weren’t actually classified documents. They were just papers and he wanted to impress people…about something that’s very, very illegal.
“I would say it was bravado, if you want to know the truth, it was bravado,” Trump claimed. “I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents. I didn’t have any documents.”
Instead, he claims, he was trying to show off in front of staffers and the biographers working on a book about his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
“I just held up a whole pile of — my desk is loaded up with papers,” he asserted. “I have papers from 25 different things.”
But does Trump have any regrets about how he handled the boxes of classified documents, which he refused to return, thus possibly committing the very same crime that he claimed Hillary Clinton did, leading to the beloved chant “Lock her up!”? (That chant, incidentally, may come back to bite him in the butt.) Of course not.
“No, I have no regrets,” Trump replied. “I didn’t have a classified document. There was no classified document on my desk.”
Trump ended the Semafore interview quickly after they asked if the audio now made public would affect him accepting a possible plea deal — but not before saying the government would fail to prosecute him and making “unverified accusations” about Joe Biden.
“Frankly, that you even ask a question like that’s a disgrace,” he told Semafore. “So let’s end it.”
To recap: The current frontrunner for the Republican presidential ticket is now claiming that he’s a liar — which may itself be a lie. Good job, the Republican Party and its voters, you’re all doing swell.
Just because you enjoy IPAs, this doesn’t mean you always want to crack open a beer with 7.5-10% ABV every time. Sure, there’s a time and place for those epic West Coast bangers and double dry-hopped hazies. There’s also a place for IPAs with slightly lower alcohol by volume, but just as much flavor as many of its higher ABV counterparts.
For the uninitiated, the beer term “session” is used to reference a beer at our below 5% ABV. These beers are also usually lighter in body, not as filling, and oftentimes very crushable. It makes for a great summer beer style. Wouldn’t you rather grab a low-ABV hoppy thirst quencher on a hot summer day than something higher in ABV and generally heavier anyway? We know we would.
To help you out, we’ve listed and ranked eight of the best, reasonably easy-to-find session IPAs available today. They’re all under 5% ABV, but each is still high in flavor and has the hoppy flavor and aroma IPA fans crave. Keep scrolling to see them all.
There are few session IPAs more well-known than Founders All Day IPA. This beer is so popular that it’s opened the door for a slew of different “All Day” beers. In fact, we enjoy its All Day West Coast with its malt backbone and aromatic, flavorful hops.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is classic West Coast IPA, albeit a little muted. Grapefruit and pine are prevalent and not much else. The palate has a little more substance with a sweet malty backbone propped up by more citrus peels and pine. The finish is hoppy, piney, and lightly bitter. Overall, a decent, mildly watery beer.
Bottom Line:
As expected, this session West Coast IPA has all of the flavors IPA fans crave. It’s just a little more muted than some drinkers might be expecting.
With a name like “Slightly Mighty,” you wouldn’t be wrong expecting a big flavor out of this session IPA. But not only is this a session IPA, but it’s also a light beer. It still manages to be hoppy and flavorful with a little extra sweetness from the addition of monk fruit.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is surprisingly fragrant and tropical for a session IPA. There’s a ton of lemongrass, orange peel, and ripe pineapple. Drinking it continues this trend with more tropical fruits, citrus peels, grass, and floral, lightly piney hops. The finish is lightly bitter. Overall, it’s a flavorful beer for the low ABV but more of a crusher than something to take your time with.
Bottom Line:
This is a decently flavorful light beer. It’s highly sessionable, but more of a summer crusher after an afternoon of lawn mowing than anything of substance.
Cigar City Jai Alai is one of the most respected IPAs on the market, but at 7.5% ABV, it’s anything but sessionable. That’s where Cigar City Jai Low comes in. It’s only 4% ABV but is still known for its bready malts, citrus flavors, and bitter hops.
Tasting Notes:
Before your first sip, you’re met with aromas of grassy, herbal, floral hops, sweet, bready malts, and bright pine. Drinking it reveals notes of wet grass, citrus peels, grapefruit zest, herbal, earthy, hops, and bitter pine. For a low-ABV IPA, it’s surprisingly balanced.
Bottom Line:
Sure, it’s low on alcohol. But this session IPA still carries much of the flavor you have grown to love when you crack open a classic Cigar City Jai Alai. It’s just all slightly tempered.
This 4.7% ABV session IPA was crafted to be crushed. Brewed with Chico yeast, Silo malt, Best ale malt, White wheat, and Cara malt as well as Citra, Amarillo, and Hull Melon hops, it does just that. It’s balanced, flavorful, and highly drinkable on a hot day.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is surprisingly light with sweet, bready malts, bright pine, and honeydew melon. There’s a ton of citrus on the palate with tangerine, lemon, and grapefruit making big appearances. There’s also a good deal of sweet malt in the background and lightly bitter, floral, resinous hops at the finish.
Bottom Line:
This beer might be touted as a crusher and it definitely is. It’s also surprisingly well-balanced. It’s the kind of beer you’ll want to keep stocked in your fridge all summer long.
This beer might only be 4% ABV, but don’t let that fool you. It’s juicy, hazy, and loaded with tropical fruit, citrus peel, and fresh hop aroma and flavor. This comes from the liberal use of HBC 586, Citra, and Amarillo hops. On top of that, it’s only 110 calories per 12-ounce can.
Tasting Notes:
Grass, bready malts, lemon zest, orange peel, and dank pine on the nose starts everything off on the right foot. The palate continues this trend with more bready, sweet malts in the background that move into caramelized pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, and floral, earthy, herbal pine. The finish is a nice mix of sweetness and bitterness.
Bottom Line:
As sessionable hazy IPAs go, this one is well-balanced and filled with tropical fruit and citrus flavors. All with a pleasant finish.
We all know about staycations, but what about a daycation? The folks at Highland Brewing are inviting you to take one when you crack open a can of This flavorful, 4.9% ABV session IPA. Loaded with hop aromas and flavors, it’s brewed with 2-row malt, white wheat, rye, Vienna malt, caramel 20 malt, and flaked oats. It’s hopped with Azacca, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of candied orange peels, clover honey, ripe grapefruit, mango, sweet malts, and grassy, floral hops. Drinking it brings forth notes of bready malts, lemongrass, honey, tangerine, grapefruit, more tropical fruits, and a nice kick of gently bitter, earthy, pine at the finish.
Bottom Line:
All in all, this is a pretty well-rounded IPA even for a session IPA. It ticks all the IPA boxes without leaning too heavily in any direction.
This award-winning session IPA is known for its tropical and citrus fruits as well as bright pine and nice, sweet malt backbone. This is thanks to the use of California ale yeast, pale malts, Munich malts, Victory malts, C-15 malts, and Carapils malts. It’s brimming with hops including Citra, Mosaic, Chinook, and Sultana.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is herbal, earthy, and lightly spicy with a ton of piney, herbal hop aromas as well as citrus peels, and sweet, caramel malts. The palate has a ton of citrus with grapefruit, lemon peel, and orange zest making up most of the flavor profile. This is followed by sweet, bready malts and a ton of herbal, earthy, resinous pine. The finish is a nice mix of bitter pine and citrus peels.
Bottom Line:
This session IPA manages not only to be overall balanced but is also well balanced between citrus sweetness and hop bitterness.
San Diego is the center of the IPA universe so it should come as no surprise that the best session IPA comes from there. This highly-rated, Great American Beerfest Gold Medal-winning IPA is known for its drinkability, but bold citrus and tropical fruit-forward flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of juicy melon, ripe berries, caramelized pineapple, mango, and tangerine make way for bright pine. The palate continues this trend with more tangerine, lemongrass, ripe pineapple, caramel malts, and floral, dank hops. Even with all of this, it manages to be gently bitter and effortlessly easy to drink.
Bottom Line:
If you only drink one session IPA this summer, make it this one. It’s as close to perfection as a low-ABV IPA can get.
Obviously, not all aged spirits are the same. While the use of charred barrels can impart flavors like vanilla, caramel, and oak to any spirit, it’s just a simple fact that whisk(e)y, rum, and tequila taste different from one another. This is because of the ingredients used to distill the spirit before it enters the barrel and various distilling and aging techniques. But just because you’re a fan of one aged spirit, this doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy another.
Specifically, we’re talking about whiskey and tequila.
Granted, there are major differences between whiskey and tequila. Take bourbon for example. This corn-based spirit is matured in charred American oak. It’s most typically know known for its sweet, vanilla, dried fruit, spiced flavors. Tequila on the other hand is known for its earthy, vegetal, agave-sweet, fruity flavor notes. That being said, there are enough similar flavors that there are many tequilas that would still appeal to whiskey drinkers.
The key is knowing how to find them.
“I recommend a reposado or Añejo Tequila,” says Oscar Aranda, restaurant director at Acre Resort in San Jose del Cabo in Mexico. “The notes, aromas, and flavors are smokier, caramelized, woody, and spicy. Don Julio 1942 is a good expression of tequila with characteristics similar to whiskey.”
To find more examples, we went to the professionals who spend their days pouring drinks behind the bar for help. We asked a few well-known bartenders to tell us the best tequilas for whiskey fans. Keep scrolling to see all of their picks.
Tequila Ocho Añejo is my pick. A few words on the tequila: Tequila Ocho’s añejo is one of my favorite recommendations for whiskey drinkers who want to cross over to agave spirits. The añejo is aged for one year in barrels.
Tasting Notes:
It starts pulling subtle notes of butter and caramel that a bourbon drinker might be looking for, while still retaining some peppery spice of the agave, offering the best of both worlds.
The Patrón Extra Añejo tequila is an amazing choice for any whiskey drinkers as it is barreled for an extensive amount of time, and much longer than regular añejos. The longer barreling period gives this bright, dark gold tequila a taste and smell similar to whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
Patrón Extra Añejo includes a light agave, fruit, and honey taste, and also enhances the aromas of vanilla, oak, and woodiness making it akin to whiskey. When smelling it out of the bottle, our resort guests and diners have often assumed it was whiskey, proving the similarity between the two.
Teremana Añejo
Teremana
Resa Mueller, bartender at R&D Philly in Philadelphia
Añejo tequila is a great choice for classic cocktails that typically call for another aged spirit, like whiskey, and works well as a substitute for classically stirred drinks such as an old fashioned. Specifically, I like Teremana Añejo because of its complementary flavors.
Tasting Notes:
I enjoy using Teremana’s Añejo for its rich vanilla, caramel, and oak notes. The attention that Teremana gives to producing their añejo, preserving the integrity of the agave plant by roasting in small batches as well as the time spent aging in whiskey barrels, creates a complex flavor profile that also makes it a great option to sip on the rocks or neat.
I’d pour a whiskey drinker Don Fulano Imperial. Aged five to twelve years, this extra-anejo tequila offers notes of cardamom, cinnamon, Mexican chocolate, and earthiness from the toasted agave.
Tasting Notes:
For a highland tequila, it’s not overpowered by vanilla but has a long, smooth finish rich with caramel. Sweet but not overly so, it’s easy to sip.
Whiskey drinkers are usually on the opposite side of the liquor spectrum than your tequila enthusiasts would be. While that gap might have some difficulty being bridged, a good handful out there build that crossover, and my favorite has to be Tapatio Excelencia Extra Añejo.
Tasting Notes:
With notes of malt, oak, and vanilla on the nose, it follows with undertones of butterscotch, chocolate, and nuttiness on the pull. With those notes and a nicely bodied mouthfeel, this is definitely one to bring you, whiskey friends, over to the agave side.
El Tesoro Extra Añejo
El Tesoro
Tom Muscolino, director of beverage innovation at Landmark Hospitality in Plainfield, New Jersey
El Tesoro Extra Añejo. Aged for five years in ex-bourbon barrels, it is beautifully balanced. It’s a great choice for whiskey fans hoping to get into tequila.
Tasting Notes:
It’s filled with notes of butterscotch, spice, vanilla, caramel, cooked agave, ripe tropical fruit, and oak that isn’t overpowering.
Siete Leguas Añejo is a great Tequila for whiskey fans because it’s aged for eighteen months in charred American oak barrels. This imparts some of the same flavors whiskey fans enjoy.
Tasting Notes:
This is a complex, highly flavorful tequila. It still has the bright agave flavors but with a softness often found in well-crafted bourbons.
Fortaleza Añejo tequila is my pick. Fortaleza is a fantastic tequila maker that keeps to long-used distilling tradition in their recipe. The result is a spirit that still holds notes of earth and molasses.
Tasting Notes:
The añejo will have sat in cedar barrels long enough to impart notes of charred wood and vanilla; flavors that any whiskey fan will be seeking, while also taming the ceiling of this noisy complex agave distillate. My message to the whisky drinkers is to start with the añejo and work your way to the reposado and then the blanco (the wildest in flavor), keeping each of the gorgeous, hand-blown bottles on the way.
El Tesoro Añejo
El Tesoro
Michael Carlisi, beverage director at Barrio in San Francisco
Aged anywhere from one to three years in oak barrels, Añejo offers characteristics similar to whiskey. El Tesoro Añejo is my favorite.
Tasting Notes:
The aging process produces a warm amber color and smooth notes of vanilla, raisins, and honey. The finish is smokey and with a caramel flavor similar to bourbon.
In my opinion, the best tequila for whiskey fans is the Patrón Añejo Sherry Cask Aged. Served on the rocks, neat, or in a classic drink (like an old fashioned or Manhattan), it will change your life.
Tasting Notes:
This is a bold, oaky tequila with two years of Oloroso Sherry cask aging, giving it a well-balanced taste of toasted pecans, caramel, and dry fruit. It almost tastes like a young whiskey or bourbon.
It was a tad slow coming but… We have officially entered summer! Check the weather map, it’s on and popping!
Temperatures are rapidly rising, last-minute vacation plans are being made, and we’re all on the hunt for the best festival gear and swimsuits we can find as we enter into the most laid-back time of the year. And when you’re sitting poolside — or just laying in the grass pretending you’re near a body of water, respect — there is no better way to chill out than with a freshly mixed drink, maybe a J, and your favorite popsicle.
What other time of year are popsicles going to be an essential part of your grocery shopping list? The time is now, and since this is a one-season-a-year type thing, you don’t want to waste your time with one of those garbage popsicles. Trust us, there are a lot of those.
Today, we’re ranking the best popsicles you can find at the grocery store right now to help ensure your freezer is only stocked up with the finest. We’re explicitly looking at popsicles, which means frozen flavored iced, not pre-packaged cones, or ice cream sandwiches. Let’s dive in!
Popsicle Colors are on just about every “Best Popsicle” list on the internet, and I get it, there is a major nostalgia factor with these things. But has anyone actually tasted these recently? Because they’re garbage.
Each flavor just tastes like ice. I almost feel like the colors are there to trick you into thinking these actually have flavors. I’m pretty sure Popsicle brand just made some Kool-Aid and froze it in a mold with a popsicle stick in it.
The Bottom Line
Worst to best: Grape, Orange, Cherry, but really, don’t get these. They’re not nearly as good as you remember.
Oh, trust me, I desperately want these to be good but they just… aren’t. A Fudge Pop should taste like, you know, fudge, and yet these just taste like watered-down ice. Yes, that’s right, watered-down ice. I know what I said!
Seriously though, where is the chocolate? I promise I’m not here to dunk on all of your favorites, I’m just trying to steer you away from the truly bad stuff, and this fits the bill.
The Bottom Line
I know, I know, you loved them but I promise you they don’t taste as good as you remember. Pour yourself a glass of chocolate milk, and then when you’re done drinking that, fill up the cup with water and freeze that. That’ll taste better than these Fudgsicles.
I don’t know what I expected here, the idea of a sour ice pop seemed gross, but I did grow up loving WarHeads so I was intrigued. In terms of being sour, they definitely deliver, they’re not quite as sour as WarHead candy but there is a sharp tart wince-inducing quality to each of these flavors. I just can’t see anyone actually enjoying eating one — it’s more a chore than anything else.
On the bright side, all of the classic Warhead flavors are here — watermelon, blue raspberry, apple, and black cherry, I was only able to get behind the blue raspberry and black cherry, the rest of the flavors will have to live in my freezer until I have a house guest over that I feel like pulling a prank on.
The Bottom Line:
Fun to experience, but ultimately wasteful as they aren’t actually enjoyable from a pure flavor perspective.
I know it’s shocking to see the Bomb Pop ranked so low but trust me when I tell you that these aren’t nearly as good as you remember either (getting tired of that yet?). If you have the full-size single-pop version, buy that in confidence, but this 12-pack mini bar version is a far cry from the sort of Bomb Pop you’d find at a convenience store freezer or in an ice cream truck.
The flavors are massively watered down and the lime section in the middle is practically flavorless.
The Bottom Line
If you can find the large single-bar version with the sour gum on top, get that, those are still good. But if 12 Bomb Pops for $3.74 seems too good to be true, trust that intuition.
Luckily, there is an alternative coming up that will scratch that Bomb Pop itch.
I love an ice pop that doesn’t pretend to be anything that it’s not. No talk of “natural” flavors here, no proclamations about calories or sugar — just 32 super frozen tooth-cracking ice pops flavored with an intense burst of cherry, lime, grape, or raspberry flavors.
I won’t pretend these are the highest quality ice pops you can find, they taste like a bunch of artificial flavors frozen solid. But nothing slaps like one of these on a hot day.
The Bottom Line:
A nonsense-free ice pop. It’s just frozen sugar, sweet and delicious, as it should be.
Whole Foods has a version of these Push-Pop clones (named Pop-Ups) that follow the traditional cherry, grape, and orange flavor rundown, but since we have the OGs on the list and they’re still delicious, we’re going to highlight this alternate set of flavors instead.
This variety pack features lemonades orangeade, and strawberry lemonade flavors. The lemon spike on each flavor gives each a nice tart aftertaste. The weakest of the three flavors is, unfortunately, the orangeade — it just comes across as a bit too zesty for my tastes. Whole Foods had the chance to opt for another flavor here (blueberry lemonade would’ve been amazing) to differentiate this pack from the regular Fruit Pop-Ups, but ultimately this is a minor complaint.
The pops are sweetened with a mix of real fruit puree and concentrate, cane sugar, and corn syrup solids.
The Bottom Line:
A good Push-Pop clone with an alternate set of flavors.
Ahh the classic Push-Up Pop… didn’t these used to be sherbet? I can’t really remember, but I have a distinct memory of the ice cream being a lot softer. While the texture is a bit too plastic-y for my liking, I can’t deny that each flavor is pretty delicious.
The “Outrageous Orange” and “Cherry Blast” are unbeatable!
There is something refreshing and satisfying about these flavors, it’s an itch that Popsicle Colors can’t scratch. One major gripe I have is that the cardboard tube that this pop is housed in sometime transfers its flavor over to the pop. It doesn’t happen all of the time, but it happened enough times through a single box that I felt it was worth mentioning.
The Bottom Line
Plastic texture and a good flavor (when it doesn’t taste like cardboard).
Made with real watermelon juice, fair trade organic agave nectar, and cane sugar, Good Pop is clearly trying to appeal to the Whole Foods crowd and for all its efforts, this is a pretty good ice pop.
But it’s good, not great. Each pop has a strong watermelon-forward flavor but it just doesn’t really deliver on the sweetness. It comes across like an unripened watermelon, all water, no juicy flavor.
Having said that what I love about these pops is just how refreshing they are. They won’t satisfy a sweet tooth but they’re a nice companion to a freshly blended slushy margarita and work as the perfect dipping apparatus.
The Bottom Line:
Not as sweet as you want them to be but refreshing nonetheless.
I’m totally aware that these are going to be a large turn-off for people who don’t like pickles, but you know what? F*ck those people. If you like pickles, you’re going to love these, they’re tangy, sour, and incredibly refreshing.
They have this savory quality that is completely unique to this brand. That said, if you don’t like pickles, this isn’t going to win you over.
The Bottom Line
It’s frozen pickle juice, which tastes way better than you’d imagine but still only appeals to those that love pickles.
I can’t believe this exists, but as soon as I saw that Power Ade “Sports Freezer Bars” (hilarious name) were a thing I had to see if they taste, as I would expect, like frozen Power Ade. And yup, this tastes exactly like someone poured 1/8 of a bottle of Powerade into a plastic tube and froze it.
It has that same slightly salty flavor that Power Ade has and the Mountain Berry Blast and Fruit Punch taste exactly like their bottled counterparts. Each bar is fortified with b vitamins, which will allow you to pretend that these ice bars are somehow good for you. Who doesn’t love that?
The Bottom Line:
Surprisingly good! Power Ade’s Sports Freezer Bars are exactly what you think they are.
Food coloring, ice, and fruit flavor, how could you go wrong? I love Otter Pops, and I say that completely without shame. While it’s true that two of these flavors are duds (looking at you Alexander the Grape and Sir Issac Lime), the other flavors are unique and delicious. Unlike Bolis, the ice here isn’t quite as dense — it’s a lot more airy and easy to chew threw. That results in a better-tasting pop that puts more emphasis on the fruity flavors, but one that doesn’t last as long.
Highlights include Strawberry Short Kook, a strangely delicate strawberry-flavored ice unlike anything on the market, Louie Bloom Raspberry (it tastes blue!), and the great Little Orphan Orange. Otter Pops also get an award for having the weirdest, most out-of-touch flavor names in the entire ice pop world.
The Bottom Line
My favorite flavors go — Little Orphan Orange, Louie Bloo Raspberry, Poncho Punch, Strawberry Short Kook, Sir Issac Lime, and Alexander The Grape.
9. Annie’s Organic Fruit Juice Pops — Cheerful Cherry
I know it’s easy to wince at Annie’s ice pops because of words like “organic” and “no high fructose corn syrup” and “no flavors, colors, or preservatives from artificial source.” It’s like, “Who are you trying to impress Annie? We’re eating ice pops, we know what we signed up for.”
And yet… I can’t hate these. They’re too delicious.
The cherry flavor here is strong and prominent, with a real noticeable richness that makes each pop worth savoring. I only wish Annie made the orange, grape, and cherry variety pack, but until then, this is our recommended flavor.
Intensely sweet and easy to chew through, Fla-Vor-Ice offers a lot of the same experience as Otter Pops, only instead of weird flavors named after imaginary orphans, you get a more varied range of flavors and a bar of ice that is four times as thick.
Your flavor options include lemon-lime, orange, berry punch, strawberry, tropical punch, and grape. To be honest, eating the ice through the plastic sleeve is kind of a chore, so your best move is to ditch the sleeve, put the ice in a bowl, and break it up with your spoon until it’s a slush and you have an experience akin to a snow cone.
The Bottom Line
Put it in a bowl and you have an instant snowcone. The only downside with Fla-Vor-Ice is that there is a high chance a few of these flavors aren’t going to be your favorites, and with 100 pops per box you might end up with 20 or so that’ll live in your freezer forever.
As good as Annie’s was at capturing that classic cherry popsicle flavor, Outshine, forgive me, outshines the brand with this three-pack. I was a bit salty that Outshine replaced the classic orange flavor with tangerine in this three-pack, but considering how delicious it is it’s justified.
The tangerine flavor manages to be the highlight, it’s tangy and sweet with an intense flavor that is a true joy to suck on. The cherry and grape are also delicious but come across as a bit flat in comparison.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for that classic popsicle flavor trio, this is hands-down your best choice.
I’m not the biggest fan of strawberry-flavored sweets — I generally think the flavors are a far cry from their real-world counterparts. But Whole Foods’ 365 Strawberry Fruit bar actually tastes like a big bar of frozen strawberries. That probably comes down to the fact that the first ingredient in these frozen bars is actual strawberries, and then water, and cane sugar. It has so few ingredients, that I was actually shocked when I looked at the box.
Don’t celebrate too soon though, because this isn’t some healthy natural snack, at 28 grams of sugar these bars have more sugar in them than most of the ice pops on this list. It is a bit more “real” than the other bars on this list though — with bits of actual strawberries embedded in each bar and a flavor that strikes a nice balance between sweet and sour notes.
The Bottom Line
Sweet, natural, and refreshing, but if you’re trying to stay away from sugar be warned — these have a lot, as much as about half a can of strawberry soda.
5. Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value — Caribbean Mix Fruit Bars
Whole Foods Caribbean Mix Fruit Bars are neck and neck with the Strawberry flavor but I have to give it to this pack for the variety factor. The main ingredient is still actual strawberries, but this one is also mixed with pineapple, mango, passion fruit juice concentrate, and has coconut flakes embedded into each bar giving it an interesting texture.
It’s so good I’ve had thoughts about melting it down and drinking it.
The Bottom Line
Delicious, fruity, and refreshing. One of the best fruit bars on the market.
This isn’t quite as it seems, if you’re thinking it’s a classic Creamsicle or 50/50 bar, you’re wrong. Instead, this is a mix of orange and coconut cream, not quite as sweet as the classic 50/50 bar, but just as delicious and a whole lot more nutty.
This dairy-free treat mixes coconut cream sweetened with a hint of vanilla with a bright orange-juice-like flavor that is sweeter than it is tart.
The Bottom Line
It’s a subtle spin on the classic creamsicle with coconut instead of a fake sub-par vanilla ice cream (don’t buy an actual creamsicle, they are worse than you remember).
It pains me to say this but Chloe’s Raspberry Pops are essential. While they’re double the price of your typical ice pop brand, and you only get four pops per box, they’re made simply with Raspberry puree, water, and cane sugar. Just three ingredients, and dammit does it make a difference.
These things taste so damn good, the raspberry flavor is bright and tart, and the bar itself is sweet from the surface of the pop to the stick.
The Bottom Line:
One of the most natural ice pops on the market, it’s expensive and you only get four pops per box, but it’s worth it. Only one flavor truly beats this one out.
I know, I know, it’s not the original, but you know what? F*ck the original. We’re not here for nostalgia, we’re here for delicious ice cream and the Out Of This World Ice Pop is a significant improvement over the OG Bomb Pop. The pop is dense, Italian ice style, with a more intense set of cherry, blueberry, and lemon flavors.
The lemon at the bottom is downright tart, and it makes getting to the end of the ice pop a fun and delicious journey. The transition process between flavors is also a bit smoother than the OG, as hints of the preceding flavor are in the core of the bottom two layers.
The Bottom Line:
I know the shape is weird but these are better than the original in every way.
Every market has a version of these ice pops, they’re almost always in a plastic bag at the bottom of the freezer section and are significantly longer than the boxed popsicles. Also known as a “Big Stick” by Popsicle brand (which for whatever reason isn’t sold anymore) this blend of cherry and pineapple flavors is unbeatable.
Is it natural? Not at all. It’s water, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup, but pineapple and cherry are an unbeatable flavor mix. It’s tart, sweet, rich, tangy, and exudes summertime vibes better than any other ice pop on the market.
The Bottom Line:
Sweet, tangy, and refreshing. You may see it under the name “Big Stick,” “Mighty Pop” or something else, but trust us — if it’s cherry and pineapple, it’s going to be good.
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