Month: June 2023

If you were in a cocktail bar in the late 1990s, you 100% drank a neon green Appletini at some point. Trust me, I was there. The power of that drink was massive and worldwide. Then whiskey started making a slow comeback in the early 2000s with the old-fashioned and the appletini largely disappeared, left to the dustbin of history as an overly sweet neon relic of “what we’re we thinking” cocktail culture.

Well, like so much 1990s nostalgia, the Appletini is back. And, dare I say, it’s better than ever.

This drink goes back to the early 1990s when Loren “Lola” Dunsworth invented the drink at her eponymous bar and restaurant Lola’s in West Hollywood. Long story short, Ketel One Vodka — a tiny brand at the time — asked Dunsworth to come up with a new cocktail utilizing their vodka. Dunworth gave the job to Lola’s head bartender Adam Karston with the edict of using apple brandy and vodka to make a new drink. So Karston mixed some Ketel with DeKuyper Pucker Sour Apple schnapps and a splash of sour mix (those were dark days, folks).

Boom! The Appletini was born and — seemingly overnight — took over cocktail culture from Hollywood to Helsinki.

By the mid-2000s, the drink pretty much disappeared off bar menus and was relegated to a joke cocktail. Sour mix and Pucker are not high-quality ingredients. Moreover, they’re sugar bombs, which made for a sickly sweet “apple” flavored drink. And some nasty hangovers. The mocking the cocktail got was well deserved.

Fast forward almost 20 years and you’re starting to hear rumblings of not only the Appletini making a comeback but of it being better than ever. That’s what we’re going to focus on with this recipe — a real Appletini made with real ingredients instead of shortcuts. And, my lord, does that suddenly make this drink delicious!

Today, we’re going to make a real-deal Appletini and it’s going to slap. Let’s get shaking!

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Appletini

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. apple vodka
• 1 oz. apple brandy
• 1 oz. apple juice
• 0.25 oz. simple syrup
• 0.25 oz. fresh lemon juice
• Granny Smith apple
• Cocktail cherry
• Ice

So you really want to get real apple flavor into this drink. Start by using apple vodka. I grabbed Smirnoff Green Apple. It has a nice balance and isn’t overly sweet.

Generally, I’d use Calvados (a Norman apple brandy) for this. Since I’m out, I used an American apple brandy. It’s perfectly fine as a filler. I would stay away from apple-flavored whiskeys though as they’re usually made with a sugary apple liqueur mixed with whiskey. Apple brandy, on the other hand, is brandy made with apples.

Next, I’m using lighter apple juice. This cocktail needs to be effervescent and you need a light apple juice for that.

Lastly, instead of sour mix, I’m using fresh lemon juice and simple syrup. It’s the same thing but you can control the quality and sugariness.

What You’ll Need:

• Coupe of cocktail glass (prechilled)
• Cocktail shaker
• Cocktail strainer
• Fine mesh strainer
• Pairing knife
• Hand juicer
• Garnish pick
• Jigger

Method:

• Prechill the glass in the freezer.
• Add the apple vodka, apple brandy, apple juice, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker. Add a large handful of ice. Affix the lid and shake vigorously for about 15 seconds until the shaker is ice-cold to touch.
• Double-strain the cocktail into the prechilled glass. Garnish with an apple slice and cherry and then serve.

Bottom Line:

This is a crazy delicious drink. It’s so light and fresh while delivering a serious apple vibe. The best part is that it’s apple-forward and only a touch sweet. It’s almost woody and has a hint of spice from the brandy. It’s actually complex while being amazingly easy to sip — all while delivering the purest essence of tart yet sweet apple.

Overall, this is a great summer refresher. It goes down so easily that you’ll be shaking another before you know it. And perhaps more importantly, this looks like a real drink and isn’t glowing an unholy neon green.

Before I go, you can make a fall/winter version of this by replacing the light apple juice with freshly pressed/unfiltered apple cider. Then replace the simple syrup with cinnamon syrup. You’ll have a velvety and spicy apple cider version that’s thick and juicy for fall and winter sipping.

Soooo, there’s this dog and I’m pretty sure it’s the actual Snoopy come to life. Seriously all the dog needs is a red dog house out back and a little yellow bird that follows it around. If you think it can’t be true, then you’re going to have to fight the entire internet about it because nobody can get enough of how much this sweet dog looks like the iconic cartoon character.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown’s pet from the comic strip “Peanuts” that eventually spawned several movies and cartoon series, and Bayley is a dead ringer for the black and white animated pup. Since we live in a digital age, people across the country have been falling all over themselves to get to the pooch’s Instagram account and admire her cartoonish mug.

Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she’s real.

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The dog’s perfectly groomed curly fur makes her face look fluffy and cartoon-like. Once you add in her black ears and black button nose, that honestly looks more like a smooth lump of coal than a dog nose, then you have the perfect Snoopy doppelgänger. Bayley came into her viral fame after Doodle Dogs Club shared her photo on their Instagram account that has over 230,000 followers, and just like that, she was “famous.”

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A post shared by Doodle Dogs Club 🧸 (@doodledogsclub)

The introductory post of the live version of Charlie Brown’s best friend racked up over 1.4 million likes and 10.3K comments. The comments ranged from people reminding others that the fictional dog was a Beagle to people demanding Bayley star in the live action version of Charlie Brown.

Whether Snoopy was a Beagle or not, there’s no arguing that Bayley looks more like the cartoon canine than real life Beagles. This probably has a lot to do with cartoons being…cartoons. Everything tends to be a bit bubbly and over exaggerated with cartoons.

Charlie Brown was supposed to be between the ages of 4 and 8 years old according to PeanutsWiki, who busted out the comic strip receipts. If cartoons looked exactly like real life, poor Charlie Brown would have a hard time walking with his oversized noggin.

Bayley’s curly fluffy fur gives her an advantage over actual Beagle’s when it comes to the ability to look like the famous cartoon character. It’s something she probably couldn’t care less about, unless every time she got compared to Snoopy equaled a dog treat. Otherwise, I’m sure the black and white sheepadoodle is perfectly happy just being a dog wondering why suddenly her mom keeps taking pictures of her.

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A post shared by B A Y L E Y 🐾♥️ (@bayley.sheepadoodle)

Since Bayley’s debut on Doodle Dogs Club, the animated dog come to life has climbed up to over 240k followers and her fanbase just can’t get enough of her. To make people love her even more, the dog’s mom uploads videos of Bayley using audio that makes it sound like the pup is a toddler trying to tell a story.

Check out some of the love Bayley gets on her Instagram account.

This article originally appeared on 4.17.23

The Toronto Raptors decided to address its lack of shooting in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft. With the number 13 pick on Thursday night, Toronto selected Kansas wing Gradey Dick, whose best attribute is his ability to stretch the floor. While there’s a little more to his game than just his shooting, Dick was the premier marksman in this class, as he stands 6’8 and connected on 40.3 percent of his 5.7 attempts per game during his time in Lawrence.

Dick made headlines for two reasons at the Draft. One is that, because he is now plying his trade in Toronto, Drake followed him back on Instagram, which either officially grants him Canadian citizenship or really should. The other was his outfit, which was very red and sparkly and included a pair of sunglasses indoors.

I’m not much of a fashionista, so I will leave that analysis to someone who is not currently wearing a t-shirt and shorts. What I will say is that Zach Lowe of ESPN tried to pull off his own version of the fit on NBA Today, and I’m certainly not going to disparage it (Lord knows I could not make this work), I’m just gonna say Dick’s had a little more pizzazz, is all.

Zach Lowe if you are reading this, I hereby call on you to do your own version of every famous NBA Draft fit whenever you appear on NBA Today henceforth. I think you can do some pretty incredible stuff with, say, the outfit Samaki Walker wore when he was selected.

There was a time it seemed that Atlanta rappers Gunna and Lil Baby were inseparable. From crafting their joint album, Drip Harder, in 2018, to appearing on each others’ performances, projects, and tours throughout the years since, they’ve been thought of as an unofficial tandem by hip-hop heads since their parallel breakouts in 2017. They were even rumored to be working with Future and Young Thug on a spiritual sequel to Drip Harder and Super Slimey, although nothing was ever solidified.

But things may have changed recently, thanks to the YSL racketeering case and Gunna’s Alford plea. In a new snippet that’s gone viral on Twitter, Lil Baby makes mention of “n****s taking pleas” and posits “slime ain’t happy” — with “slime” being a potential reference to Young Thug, who helped Baby get his start in the music business. Since Baby was never actually part of YSL, he can remain in contact with Thug, while Gunna cannot.

This has led to speculation online that Gunna really is persona non grata among his former rap friends as a result of his recently acquired “snitch” reputation. Of course, rapper’s have reeled off lines about “rats,” “snitches,” and “telling” in raps since time immemorial — even Thug’s new album has a few, and fans have been wondering about his relationship to his former protege ever since.

Only Lil Baby can say what his feelings on Gunna really are, but one thing’s clear: Hip-hop’s obsession with adhering to “street code” — whether it applies or not — isn’t helping anybody.

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

If you’re trying to figure out where we’ll be this summer, you can find us in the mountains. Seriously though, nothing screams “freedom” like a dose of absolute serenity in the middle of nowhere, trekking across Mother Nature’s beautifully sculpted landscapes and National Parks. But if the thought of missing out on some of summer’s best beaches, dancing to live music, and cheering with friends over some craft beer while you’re off the grid, out in the mountains makes you second-guess your plans, don’t worry…

You can have it all. High Sierra Music Festival is actually the ultimate mountain music lover’s dream, combining all the best aspects of mountain-high summer living with party vibes and dance culture.

High Sierra Music Festival remains the live music fan mainstay – a home away from home to for those eager to savor mountain-high music performances, continuous craft brews and artisanal cocktails pours, and body and mind-elevating wellness workshops. It’s this triple-threat offering amongst the Sierra Nevada mountains that have garnered the festival a prosperous three-decade-long iconic status in the music and adventure community.

This year is no different. In fact, the festival will make a return in Quincy, California June 29th-July 2nd and will oversee momentous performances from all corners of the music spectrum, including Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Thievery Corporation, Marcus King, Lotus, Cory Wong, Neil Francis, Sierra Hull, and many more. That only that, but it’s the festival’s family-friendly and engaging programming during the day mixed with its legendary late-night shows that take the form of sweat-fueled dance parties, psychedelic explorations, and once-in-a-lifetime musical memories that truly place it in a league of its own.

Plus, who wouldn’t want to sip on freshly brewed Sierra Nevada while listening to live music and swimming in the nearby pool — one of the most breathtaking scenic views in the continental U.S.? We know we would.

To gear up for this year’s 31st event, bask in these glorious mountain music photos from across High Sierra’s tenure, which exemplify the mountain-high energy we all want and need this summer season.

A new Young Thug album has hit DSPs despite the Atlanta rapper’s current incarceration and some fans are wondering whether one of its songs contains a coded diss for Thug’s collaborator/suspected co-conspirator Gunna. On “Jonesboro,” from the new Metro Boomin-produced album Business Is Business, Thug snarls the line “N***a told and he was my homie, I can’t miss him / Ain’t nobody feel him,” prompting some fans to speculate that he’s referring to Gunna after Gunna accepted a plea deal in exchange for his release from Fulton County Jail.

However, due to the album’s provenance, it seems unlikely that the line would be directed at Gunna, as all 15 of the tracks compiled in Business Is Business were recorded prior to Thug’s arrest and subsequent incarceration on suspicion of operating a criminal organization. While it does sound like he’s talking about a snitch, it literally can’t be Gunna, who was very much a respected member of YSL Records in good standing at the time the song was recorded.

In fact, if anything, the line seems like a prime example of exactly what I wrote about in my review of Gunna’s new album, A Gift And A Curse: a generic mobster trope of the type that litters a ton of rap records these days. Whether or not they stem from the real-life experiences of the artists in question, it’s clear that they get peppered into songs because they are what the audience expects and therefore what the market demands. It could be about a real person or it could just be an abstraction, a straw man of the sort that rappers always have to set up in their lyrics to prove their superiority over an opponent — real or imagined.

It certainly highlights how life can end up imitating art; rap fans hate “snitches” because rappers rap about hating “snitches,” when either side might not have any real experience with snitching in the first place. It’s a conundrum, for sure, but this confusion is also a big part of why Thug’s locked up in the first place. Remember, in the original indictment, the evidence used against him wasn’t wiretaps or videotapes but his own lyrics.

Listen to “Jonesboro” above. Business Is Business is out now on Young Stoner Life Records/300 Entertainment/Atlantic Records.

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

The original Project Greenlight landed over 20 years ago, a relic of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s massive success and the funky shift of reality TV from college-aged sex-havers to people winning shows based on niche talents. Then it went away for a decade and returned with a disastrous fourth season which saw HBO swear that it was always, totally, 100% supposed to be a one-off. So, after a cooling off period, it’s back again.

The fifth season, subbed A New Generation, will boldly go into the chaotic world of filmmaking to create a dramatic series and a great feature film. This iteration has replaced Damon and Affleck with Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, and Gina Prince-Bythewood as the mentors.

The trailer promises that a lot will go wrong. In other words, the stage is set for compelling television.

The funniest part is when tensions arise between the film crew and the Project Greenlight crew — a little fourth-wall-breaking signal of which crew is more important than the other, especially considering the track record of the show for producing winners. And because they only give the filmmaker 18 days to shoot. It’s hard to make anything quality in that amount of time, and it feels like a funny throwback to the 1990s indie vibe of running and gunning and making whatever gets on the reel.

In a weird and wonderful move, Max will stream Project Greenlight: A New Generation on the same day as the release of Gray Matter, the feature that Greenlight winner Meko Winbush made during the filming of the show we haven’t seen yet. Spoiler alert: the movie got made!

Both Project Greenlight: A New Generation and Gray Matter hit Max on July 13th.

Despite the fact that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush repeatedly scoffed at regulations in both emails and statements to the press before taking his jerry-rigged Titan submersible down to the Titanic crash site after being warned not to by deep-sea experts, conspiracy theorists have been having a field with the missing, and now-presumably imploded vessel.

One such conspiracy nut is anti-vaxxer MAGA media guy Stew Peters, who is convinced that the entire ordeal is a “ploy” to discourage people from learning what really sank the Titanic.

“You know our policy, if the entire media is in alignment on something, then there’s probably something hidden,” Peters said before launching into his theory that naturally involved the staples of any good wackadoo conspiracy: The Rothschilds and the Federal Reserve.

Via Mediaite:

“What if all of this is actually a ploy to keep people from visiting the Titanic wreckage? But if that’s the goal, why? Maybe because if people explore the Titanic too much, they would discover that it wasn’t an iceberg that sank the Titanic,” Peters said.

Peters dived into various conspiracy theories surrounding the 1912 sinking.

“There’s a lot of alternative theories about how that sinking occurred, that it was intentionally sunk as part of an elaborate insurance scam, and even that it was sunk by newly created Federal Reserve,” Peters theorized.

Of course, Peters isn’t the only MAGA figure who has glommed onto Titan conspiracy theories. Earlier in the week, super sleuth Donald Trump Jr. began getting suspicious that a wildly unregulated sub could somehow just disappear in the ocean despite the entire industry specifically warning that it could implode.

“Literally everything I’ve seen about this missing submarine is insane and sketchy AF,” Junior tweeted. “[A]lmost none of it makes any sense whatsoever. How long till we find other external factors making it even more so???”

Clearly, top minds are on the case, everybody. Top. Minds.

(Via Mediaite)

Glastonbury Festival 2023 is set to be yet another magical outdoor music experience. This year will mark Elton John’s final headlining appearance at the event (or so he says). But the Rocket Man isn’t the only music legend that knows how to make an entrance: Foo Fighters gave a surprise performance and managed to keep it under wraps thanks to a playful name change.

Fans speculated that the band would play at the festival after Dave Grohl posted a handwritten note on social media back on June 6. The note made use of the phrase “churning up,” which seemed like a hint that a mysterious band on the Glasto lineup, The Churnups, was actually a front to hide a surprise performance from the Foos. The jig was up when “The Churnups” took the stage today and it indeed was Foo Fighters.

Ahead of the set, Foo Fighters all but confirmed the Churnups suspicions were true by hopping on Twitter to share a photo of a flag in the audience that read, “Churn it up.”

According to fans on setlist.fm, their performance on day three of the festival holds some professional significance. As users note, Foo Fighters are “playing the same stage, night, and spot (Pyramid, Fri, 2nd from headliner) as their Glastonbury debut 25 years earlier.”

Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour dancers Les Twins went above and beyond during her stop in Hamburg, Germany, saving her from an apparent wardrobe malfunction, according to Complex. It turns out they aren’t just there to make her look good, they’re also there to keep her from looking bad. Fans caught the incident on TikTok, capturing the moment as Beyoncé came close to bursting out of her dress and one of the twins stepped in front of her to make a split-second adjustment — all on beat in a move that would have left many fans none the wiser.

Fans on Twitter praised the dancers for being so aware in the moment and for pulling off the adjustment so smoothly. “Les twins will forever have a job,” one fan wrote. Another said they were “undoubtedly the greatest in the whole world.”

Another dancer who recently joined the ranks of Beyoncé’s team was the superstar’s own daughter, Blue Ivy. Blue stole the show during her first appearance and has become something of a fixture on the tour ever since. Beyoncé praised Blue Ivy for the performance, writing, “I’m so proud and thankful to be your mama. You bring us so much joy, my sweet angel.”