Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been trying to be a chaos agent for the Democratic Party, attempting to peel away potential Biden voters with conspiracy theory nonsense that makes him sound more Republican. But on Tuesday, the chaos came to him by way of some “loud, prolonged” farting.
As per Page Six, a press dinner held on New York’s Upper East Side that was meant to boost RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign went sideways when two attendees got into a nasty screaming match over climate change (curiously one of the subjects about which Kennedy doesn’t hold a wacko opinion). After someone asked Kennedy a question about the issue, the night’s host, gossip-columnist-turned-flak Doug Dechert, who was “apparently drunk,” screamed at the top of his lungs, “The climate hoax!”
Dechert’s outburst enraged octogenarian art critic Anthony Haden-Guest, who Page Six claims “appeared to have been sleeping happily for most of the dinner.” Evidently awoken by the shouting, Haden-Guest “suddenly opened his eyes” and called Dechert, apparently a longtime pal, a “miserable slob.” He also told him to shut up.
Dechert did not, continuing to rail loudly against the climate change “scam.” All the while, Haden-Guest called him things like “f*cking insane” and “insignificant.”
Eventually Dechert happened upon a new tack: He let a big one rip, all while yelling “I’m farting!”
All the while Kennedy watched on with a “steady composure.”
Another attendee, which included tried to steer the conversation elsewhere, bringing up his assassinated father. But the subject then improbably returned to climate change, prompting still more yelling.
Reached for comment the next day, Dechert told Page Six, “I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence.” He also asked them to refer to him as a “gallivanting boulevardier” or a “beer-fueled sex rocket.”
Perhaps this could be a scene in a future season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, whose creator and star, Larry David, is none-too-happy that his onscreen ex-wife’s real-life husband is running for president.
When the Los Angeles Lakers season ended after being swept in the Western Conference Finals by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets, LeBron James teased out that he might be considering retirement after his 20th season in the league.
James said he had a lot to think about regarding his future, later confirming he was in fact talking about calling it a career. However, despite what should’ve been world-shattering news that James was considering retirement, very few people actually believed him. For one, he’s stated numerous times he wants to play with his son Bronny, who is potentially a 2024 Draft candidate after he spends a year at USC. Beyond that, James has carefully curated just about every big moment of his career, and retiring without any sort of grand goodbye — particularly given how much his partners like Nike would want to milk that — would be truly shocking.
Still, he got a couple days of the news cycle after the Lakers loss dedicated to his future, but it died down pretty quickly. On Wednesday night, if there was anyone with lingering doubt about his status for next year in L.A., he confirmed on the ESPY’s stage that he will not be retiring, noting that day won’t come until “the day I can’t give the game everything on the floor,” and “that day is not today.”
The retirement quote always felt like a 38-year-old dealing with a foot injury coming off a grueling season that was understandably contemplating in the moment whether it was worth it, but that it was a fleeting thought. James is keenly aware of his legacy and while he has the scoring record in hand, it feels like he’ll stick around until he can check that last box of playing with Bronny — and, he hopes, continuing to compete for titles in the process.
Grandaddy is maximizing the 20th anniversary of their 2003 album Sumday. This May, the indie-rockers announced Sumday Twunny, a four-LP box set including the remastered original album and a four-track demo version, Sumday: The Cassette Demos, and Sumday: Excess Baggage. That collection is slated for a September 1 release, but more information about Sumday: Excess Baggage arrived on Wednesday, July 12.
Per press release, August 25 brings a “special digital release of the Sumday: Excess Baggage, a thirteen-track collection of rarities and B-sides from the Sumday-era that unfolds like a lost Grandaddy album.” The lead single, “The Town Where I’m Livin Now,” and its accompanying video accompanied the news.
“I like making songs like this. Lots of bleak but sweet visuals. Everyday stuff available for everyone to see…but some of us just end up with the twisted work of documenting it,” Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle said in a statement.
Watch the documentary-style “The Town Where I’m Livin Now” video above, and check out the Sumday: Excess Baggage artwork and tracklist below.
Courtesy of Grandaddy/Dangerbird Records
1. “My Little Skateboarding Problem”
2. “Derek Spears”
3. “Gettin’ Jipped”
4. “The Town Where I’m Livin Now”
5. “Dearest Descrambler”
6. “Build A Box”
7. “Trouble With A Capital T (Muzak Version)”
8. “Sure It Worked”
9. “Running Cable at Shiva’s”
10. “Emit Anymore”
11. “I No How You Feel”
12. “The Rugged and Splintered Entertainment Center (A Gospel Hymn)”
Sumday: Excess Baggage Rarities Collection is out 8/25 via Dangerbird Records. Find more information here.
“The Roach continues to run through an absurd world, trivially trying to make sense of it,” Owusu said in a statement. “Maybe looking internally, focusing inward instead of outward, will provide some guidance? Who knows.”
The accompanying video begins with Owusu in the corner of a boxing ring, but he quickly finds his way to the center. He grabs the microphone and sings, “I’m feeling tied up / Tied up / Tryna be a better man / Caught! / And I’m feeling fired up / Fired up / Hot than a ceiling fan.” Later in the song, Owusu nods toward the video’s imagery, “I’m fighting through life, I have no boxing gloves.”
The three-minute visual was made in collaboration with Lisa Reihana.
“Tied Up!” comes roughly two months after Owusu announced Struggler and released its lead single, “Leaving The Light.” A press release bills “Tied Up!” as Struggler‘s “magnum opus.”
Watch the “Tied Up!” video above, and check out the Ghanaian-Australian artist’s upcoming headlining tour dates below.
10/12 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
10/13 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/14 — Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
10/15 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Music Hall
10/17 — Toronto, ON @ The Velvet Underground
10/18 — Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD
10/19 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
10/20 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
10/21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
10/25 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage
10/27 — Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre
10/28 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/29 — Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
10/31 — Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room & Garage
11/01 — Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory
11/03 — Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
11/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/07 — San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
11/09 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/10 — Portland, OR @ Star Theatre
11/11 — Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
11/15 — London, UK @ Heaven
11/16 — Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse
11/17 – Berlin, DE @ Hole44
12/01 — Perth, AUS @ Ice Cream Factory
12/08 — Melbourne, AUS @ Festival Hall
12/09 — Canberra, AUS @ UC Refectory
12/14 — Brisbane, AUS @ Fortitude Music Hall
12/15 — Sydney, AUS @ Hordern Pavilion
12/16 – Adelaide, AUS @ Hindley St Music Hall
Struggler is out 8/18 via Ourness/AWAL. Find more information here.
Earlier this month, there was a strange (but luckily untrue) rumor about two of the stars (one of them the creator) of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Perez Hilton claimed that Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson, who married in 2008, were splitting up. It wasn’t true and Olson found a hilarious way to shoot the story dead. Not long came after an even more unexpected — but also true — story about McElhenney.
I was recently diagnosed with a host of neurodevelopmental disorders and learning disabilities! At 46!
I go through the full diagnosis/prognosis on the @thesunnypodcast (which drops in 2 weeks)
It’s not something I would normally talk about publicly but I figured there are…
On Tuesday, the actor and show producer, also of Mythic Quest, took to Twitter to reveal something unusual he recently learned. “I was recently diagnosed with a host of neurodevelopmental disorders and learning disabilities,” he wrote. “At 46!”
He went on, saying, “It’s not something I would normally talk about publicly but I figured there are others who struggle with similar things and I wanted to remind you that you’re not alone. You’re not stupid. You’re not ‘bad’. It might feel that way sometimes. But it’s not true.”
It’s not clear what kinds of disorders and learning disabilities McElhenney had, but he promised to go into the “full diagnosis/prognosis” on an episode of the It’s Always Sunny Podcast that will drop in two weeks. Stay tuned.
In April, Kid Rock made his anti-trans and generally bigoted stance clear after Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, aligned with Dylan Mulvaney. “Grandpa is feeling a little frisky today. Let me say something to all you and be as clear and concise as possible,” the musician said in a video posted on April 3, showing him wearing a MAGA hat and shooting his gun at Bud Light products. “F*ck Bud Light. F*ck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.”
This week, CNN published a video report on the ongoing controversy. CNN’s Ryan Young visited Nashville, where Garth Brooks and Kid Rock have neighboring bars.
“Despite the online bravado and talk of a boycott, Bud Light was available when CNN stopped in recently. It is not clear if the ban had been lifted or if there ever had been one to begin with,” Young said about Rock’s Big Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.
“Billboard was unable to reach anyone at Rock’s restaurant by phone or email for comment at press time, but a quick check of its online menu revealed that Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Light Lime were listed under the domestic beer section,” Billboardadditionally reported on Wednesday, July 12.
In June, Garth Brooks explained to Billboard that his yet-to-open Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk would serve “every brand of beer” and emphasized that “inclusiveness is always going to be me.”
The Drums’ single”I Want It All” which was released in April, is going to wind up in an unexpected place. On Wednesday, July 12, it was announced that the band’s founding member, Jonny Pierce, is releasing Jonny, his sixth solo album. Among the 16 tracks is, as it happens, “I Want It All.”
In the album’s cover art, Pierce establishes its vulnerable tone: It features a black-and-white photo of his bare bottom. That vibe can also be heard in the poignant lyricism of his latest single, “Better.”
“When I finished Jonny, I listened to it, and I heard my soul reflected back at me,” Pierce said in a statement. “It is devastating and triumphant, it is lost and found, it is confused and certain, it is wise and foolish. It is male and female, it is hard and gentle. To encapsulate ones’ whole self in an album, to honor each and every part of you — even the parts that feel at odds with each other, is to make something deeply human, and because my religion is humanism, the album becomes a sacred place for me to worship. Each feeling a different pew, each song a hymn to the human heart.”
The press release also describes Jonny as “a love letter to a galaxy of Pierce’s younger selves” and “a reclamation a lifetime in the making.”
Listen to “Better” above, and check out the Jonny album art as well as its tracklist and The Drums’ tour dates below.
Courtesy of The Drums/Jonny Pierce/ANTI-Records
1. “I Want It All”
2. “Isolette”
3. “I’m Still Scared”
4. “Better”
5. “Harms”
6. “Little Jonny”
7. “Plastic Envelope”
8. “Protect Him Always”
9. “Be Gentle”
10. “Dying”
11. “Green Grass”
12. “Obvious”
13. “The Flowers”
14. “Teach My Body”
15. “Pool God”
16. “I Used to Want To Die”
07/12/2023 — San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
07/14/2023 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Shrine
07/15/2023 — Las Vegas, NV @ Area 15
07/16/2023 — Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren
07/17/2023 — El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
07/19/2023 — Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
07/20/2023 — Austin, TX @ Mohawk
07/21/2023 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
07/22/2023 — New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
07/24/2023 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
07/25/2023 — Nashville, TN @ Basement East
07/27/2023 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
07/28/2023 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
07/29/2023 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
07/31/2023 — Boston, MA @ Royale
08/03/2023 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
08/05/2023 — Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
08/06/2023 — Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
08/08/2023 — Chicago, IL @ Metro
08/09/2023 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity
08/11/2023 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird
08/12/2023 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Psych Lake City at Urban Lounge
08/14/2023 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
08/15/2023 — Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
08/16/2023 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
08/18/2023 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
Jonny is out 10/13 via ANTI- Records. Find more information here.
Film and TV may be largely on hiatus during the ever-escalating WGA strike, but that doesn’t mean awards have to cease. On Wednesday, this year’s Emmy nominations were announced, and among the lucky ones was Jessica Williams for Apple TV+’s Shrinking. Uproxx’s Brian Grubb called her the “funniest part of the show, for sure, and a barrel of charisma that pops off the screen.” Good for her! And good for the novel way she celebrated the occasion.
Deadlinerang up Williams after she earned her first-ever Emmy nom, but she was a little busy at the time.
“What was great about playing Gaby—sorry, I’m getting ready to go picket while talking to you at the same time,” she told the publication.
She did continue, though:
“What was great about Gaby was knowing how they wanted her to counterbalance Harrison [Ford’s] character [Dr. Paul Rhoades] and Jason [Segal’s] character [Jimmy Laird] while she also has her own life and her own stuff going on … So [to bring her to life], I just worked backward. I knew her beats in general but she was also someone who says what she thinks and wears her heart on her sleeve. Harrison, Jason and Christa Miller were great scene partners so I always felt supported, and that I had the freedom to be Gaby.”
On Shrinking, Williams plays a therapist at a center dedicated to cognitive behavioral therapy, alongside Segel’s protagonist, Jimmy. It’s a funny, at times heavy show, and it gives Williams the chance to car karaoke with Harrison Ford, who plays a senior therapist at the center who has Parkinson’s.
Dating has certainly evolved over the years—we’ve gone from courtship being purely a financial arrangement (not that this trend has ever truly died) to knights jousting for a lady’s favor, to casual hookups … and now, romance is primarily found through an app more than anything else.
Technology used for meeting that special someone has become so advanced that you can base your search entirely upon specific interests. Like … oddly specific interests. Think a fellow cat person would be the purrfect match? There’s an app for that. Wish to “love long and prosper” with a fellow Trekkie? There’s an app for that too.
No matter the changes, one thing remains the same—dating is awkward. It’s got all the unspoken formalities of a job interview, disguised as innocent fun. The balance between playing it too cool and too eager is hard to find even for the smoothest among us, and usually results in total embarrassment. Even if we aren’t the ones committing those embarrassing acts ourselves, we are often the reluctant witness to them.
Terrible dates might not always be fun in the moment, but they can be just as important as the good ones. They can teach us a lot about ourselves and what qualities we want in a partner. And at the very least, they can teach us to embrace social clumsiness with a sense of humor.
Jimmy Fallon recently asked his “Tonight Show” audience on Twitter to share a “funny or embarrassing first date story” for his ever popular #Hashtags segment. The best part—some of these awful first dates ended in marriage. There’s hope for us all.
Below, find 15 stories that are truly the best of the worst. How do some of your first dates compare?
1. “After a nice dinner, she invited me to her house. On the way up, inside the elevator, I decided to push the button to stop between floors and give her a kiss… She had a phobia of closed spaces and she smacked my face as a reflex, two punches after we were kissing and laughing.” – @PanqueAlgarvio
2. “His jeans were so tight he couldn’t sit down. Stood at a bar stool the whole time.” – @onlyintheozarks
3. “Waiting 4 my date when an older couple asked me for a ride. my date came up and said sure! We drove them home & they asked us to come in. Date said “sure”. I pulled him back & asked why he wanted to hang w/strangers. He said ‘sh@t! YOU DON’T KNOW THEM!?’ We bolted!” – @natashaham75
4. “Before the date, we had been chatting about books we liked and I talked about a great book I just read. We went on the date. I loaned her the book. She ghosted me.” – @thenextbarstool
5. “The worst first date I ever had was when my date locked his keys in the car and I had a curfew so he had to break his car window out to get me home on time. Didn’t think I’d ever see him again but we wound up married.” – @csleblan
6. “First date movie ‘Basic Instinct’ not realizing how suggestive it was. We just thought it was a mystery thriller! We left the movie discussing how each character could have actually murdered someone. We’re married now.” – @Southrnbell_Amy
7. “First date with my ex husband was a double date with his parents. The preview for ‘Speed Racer’ came on, and she leaned over me to say to her son, ‘You know what your dad’s nickname in the bedroom is?’” – @theostoria
8. “A friend asked me on a double date as a blind date with his date’s friend. I went to the bathroom and came back just in time to hear my date say to her friend, ‘why do I get the ugly one?’ I said good night to all three and headed home, leaving her w/the bill.” – @StevenTrustum
9. “He loved cheese. I was subjected to a 2 hour conversation/lecture about cheese, and why cottage cheese is not cheese!” – @Optimist_Eeyore
10. “He took me to an Asian fish market. We walked around looking at live & dead fish for a while. I don’t like seeing dead animals & I don’t eat seafood. Then we sat on a curb & he pulled out a ziplock bag of pineapple for us to share. I don’t like pineapple.” – @markayhali
11. “My cousin set up a first date for me with a family friend. During a break from dinner, Mr. Man follows me into the ladies’ room, comes up close and says in a low voice, ‘I shave my butt.’ Can’t remember what I said in response but the evening ended abruptly.” – @carli_zarzana
12. “I once took out my high school crush to a sports bar and ordered the spiciest wings there in an attempt to impress her. Not only was she not impressed. The next morning I woke up with heartburn.” –@Dmonster38
13. “My date showed up with his bestie and girlfriend, and they talked through dinner about people I don’t know. Walking to the car, he gave me a wedgie because he thought he hadn’t been paying enough attention to me.” – @surrealDazey
14. “I was taking my date home and was pulled over by the police for speeding. When the cop came to my car, she jumped out and told him she had to get home. She walked home and I never heard from her again. I’m not sure who’s #WorstFirstDate it was mine or hers!” – @eastriverbear
15. “After an evening of dancing with a first date, leaving the dance hall, I had to take a quick pee break. Rushing out to the parking lot, I see a lady, I grab her and swoop her around, and plant a big wet kiss on the lips. She was another guy’s wife. Oops!” – @seadogskamore
You can’t beat a good American rye whiskey. The use of the wheat varietal — rye is a type of wheat — in the whiskey’s mash bill (recipe) adds a very different feel than your standard corn-fueled bourbon or malted barley whiskey. Rye is often earthier, grassier, more herb-forward, a little funkier, and carries notes that highlight citrus, orchard, and light fruits with a good base for woody and yeasty spice to shine through.
That makes American rye whiskey its own beast — worthy of a good double-blind taste test.
For this double-blind tasting, my wife was kind enough to grab a dozen rye bottles from the “new” pile of whiskeys currently heaped around my desk. She cataloged and poured them for me and then I came in a tasted all 12 rye whiskeys.
From there, I ranked each whiskey based on taste alone. This was double-blind, so all that I knew when tasting and ranking was that I was tasting rye whiskey from the U.S.A. I didn’t even know proofs or age statements. That means that my ranking below is purely based on taste, which hinges on three pillars:
Depth
Balance
Deliciousness.
And, wow, there were some serious standouts today (along with plenty of perfectly “fine” whiskeys). Nothing was bad, a lot was good, and a few were great so let’s dive right in and taste and rank some new rye whiskeys!
Also Read: The Top Five Rye Whiskey Posts from the Last Six Months on UPROXX
Nose: Dark orange rinds and dried chili peppers lead on the nose with a hint of dried garden herbs, rye bread crusts, and a hint of wet oak.
Palate: The palate opens with a cinnamon and clove spiced cake cut with lemon and orange zest next to lush vanilla and a hint of honeydew melon rinds.
Finish: The end leans into the vanilla and spice but sort of peters out before landing any big flavor notes.
Initial Thoughts:
This is fine. The opening is much stronger than the finish, which leads me to think this is a cocktail whiskey that you build upon.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Huge sweet grain notes dominate the nose with whispers of old oak, Christmas trees, and black licorice.
Palate: That heavy grain converts to Cream of Wheat on the palate with an old rye bread vibe next to cinnamon orange cookies with a hint of vanilla.
Finish: The cinnamon and clove drive the finish toward a dry oakiness with a twinge more of those Christmas trees and a lot more of that Cream of Wheat.
Initial Thoughts:
This feels interesting but I can’t get a bead on it. It’s just so grain-forward that I have to fight to find the rest of the profile.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Dark fruit leather, stewed peach, and salted caramel mingle with vanilla buttercream cut with toffee and winter spice syrups on the nose.
Palate: The palate opens with a hint of grilled pineapple and peach dosed in caramel sauce and hit with salt before dark winter spice cakes arrive with dates, prunes, and old nuts with plenty of clove and allspice that eventually leads to a hint of eggnog creaminess.
Finish: The spice gets barky on the backend as the finish drives toward old wicker furniture in sweetgrass on a summer’s day next to a mild chili-peach-infused chewing tobacco leaf.
Initial Thoughts:
This is really nice. It’s classic and well-balanced.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a classic sense of rye bread with plenty of dill and caraway front and center that gives way to dark powdery chocolate, roasted almonds, toffee, and a touch of candied orange with this nice layer of nostalgic backyard on a summer day vibes.
Palate: That summer grassiness carries on through the palate as blueberry pie and vanilla cake mingle with a hint of salted caramel, more of that herbal rye bread, and a twist from a pepper mill over old boot leather.
Finish: The end sweetens with the caramel and vanilla as black licorice, stewed blueberry, and spiced winter cakes play with a nice sense of fresh herb gardens in the sun.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a really nice sipping rye with a truly nostalgic/classic vibe. It’s bright and earthy in all the right ways.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Salted caramel sweetness with a vanilla underbelly drives the nose toward rye bread crusts, a hint of dried savory herbs, apple blossoms, and a whisper of soft leather gardening gloves.
Palate: The spiciness arrives after lush vanilla cream and salted caramel with a dose of freshly cracked red peppercorns, dried red chili, and sharp winter brown spices next to a spiced oak.
Finish: The creaminess, sweetness, and spiciness coalesce on the finish with a deep sense of fruit orchards full of fall leaves and apple bark.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a damn fine Kentucky rye. It’s well-rounded and runs deep. It’s maybe a little light at the end, but that’s not a fault — more a preference.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose runs deep with a hint of dried red chili pepper that builds toward soft and fresh pipe tobacco cut with pear and packed into an old leather pouch as a little bit of old candy wrapper a note of fizzy chinotto soda with a rock candy sweetness and a hint of dry sweet cedar.
Palate: Sweet dark fruits and grilled peach open the palate as a dramatic warmth starts to build toward razor-sharp clove, cinnamon, and mace with a very slight woody bark presence before singed marshmallows come into play and the heat hits 9-point-holy-shit on the Richter Scale.
Finish: That heat fades pretty quickly on the back end as notes of old boot leather and apple skin tobacco mingle with a faint whisper of creamy almond and ginger rock candy next to a fleeting note of dried ancho chilis soaked in hot water.
Initial Thoughts:
This is astronomically better than everything that came before it. It’s not even close. This is delicious whiskey that has a depth that’s more than everything else tasted so far combined and then tripled. Translation: this is the good stuff.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Dark fruit leather kissed with clove, anise, and cinnamon drives the nose toward moist and buttery salted banana bread with black walnuts and plenty of real vanilla with this whisper of old cobwebby cellar oak staves.
Palate: The palate is luscious with deep vanilla buttercream, soft salted caramel dipped in lush dark chocolate cut with burnt orange rinds next to woody walnut shells, old cinnamon sticks, and a braid of smudging sage, cedar bark, and dill-laced tobacco.
Finish: The end just keeps going while layering in caraway-crusted rye crusts, old orange rinds soaked in brandy, more of that salted caramel, and this fleeting sense of singed marshmallow smushed into a shot of espresso.
Initial Thoughts:
To quote Action Bronson, “F*ck, that’s delicious!”
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Cinnamon sticks and nutmeg bulbs mingle with a pecan pie and this wildly subtle sense of fresh matchsticks with a vanilla bean underpinning.
Palate: Caramel pie and rye herbs counter each other on the palate with anise and caraway leading to grassiness as the caramel leads to a buttery creaminess touched by vanilla and poppy.
Finish: The end has a nice balance but kind of disappears, leaving you with a sense of grassy rye whiskey with a lush vanilla base.
Initial Thoughts:
This is really good but kind of punts the finish.
Taste 9
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a medley of winter spices — clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, anise — that leads to a mixed berry jam with a touch of salted butter over rye toast next to dark cherry leatheriness.
Palate: The vanilla opens the palate with creaminess as the winter spices adhere to the dark berries and build a sort of berry crumble vibe next to woody dryness.
Finish: That woodiness drives the finish toward more winter spice, a hint of that rye toast, and more berries with a deep earthiness — think rich black potting soil — on the very end.
Initial Thoughts:
This is very interesting and tasty. I need to revisit whatever this is in other formats — on the rocks, in a cocktail, etc.
Taste 10
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Holiday spice cakes and vanilla cookies lead on the nose with very dark and leathery dried fruit sheets over salted toffee rolled in roasted almonds and dipped in espresso-heavy dark chocolate with a rush of grassiness on the backend.
Palate: That grassiness rears its head on the palate and leads to dry roasting herbs with a sense of rye bread stuffing, dark fruit competes, and woody vanilla pods with a bark-heavy clove, anise, and cinnamon.
Finish: The end inches toward earthiness with an old woody spice vibe next to firewood stacked in fresh dirt with a sweet edge over lush vanilla cream.
Initial Thoughts:
This is really goddamn good too. It hits so many great notes and hits them clearly and concisely.
Taste 11
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of slight sourdough rye funk on the nose with a hint of pumpkin seed, caraway, sweet cinnamon, vanilla husks, and a whisper of candied ginger.
Palate: The palate leans into that sour funk and caraway as oolong tea, piney honey, and spicy, raisin-filled oatmeal cookies vibe.
Finish: The mid-palate kicks in hard with the heat as sharp cinnamon and chili dominate until a soft sense of vanilla, toffee, and dark fruit leather mingle on the finish.
Initial Thoughts:
This is funky bready rye. It’s nice. It wasn’t exciting though, which might just be the placement of this pour in this lineup.
Taste 12
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is sweet with a sense of pecan pie cut with maple syrup over spiced winter cookies, a hint of toffee, and what almost feels like marshmallow tobacco (kind of like the kind you’d get in a vape).
Palate: That toffee drives the palate toward more vanilla spice cakes and a hint of dried fruit next to old leather pouched full of dried tobacco and clove.
Finish: That clove tobacco pushed the finish toward a soft landing that feels almost like it’s cut with contact lens saline solution.
Initial Thoughts:
The end of this one is kind of baffling but somehow kind of works. The saltiness kind of mutes the finish but adds to what is there. I don’t know. It’s a headscratcher.
This new whiskey is from the micro-distillery at the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience on Whiskey Row in Louisville, Kentucky. The whiskey in the bottle is a high-corn rye with a mash bill of 63% rye, 24% corn, and 13% malted barley that ages for four years before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is such a grain bomb that it mutes everything else in the profile. It’s just too much work to find any flavor notes. I’d pass.
This Indiana distillery is owned and operated by combat-disabled veterans. The whiskey in this bottle is a blend of MGP rye whiskeys that were specifically created for mixing cocktails.
Bottom Line:
This is a decent cocktail base. It’s nothing that special though. If you’re in Indiana, support our veterans and give this a try.
The latest “voyage” release from Jefferson’s is a Canadian rye that was aged in classic new char 3 oak. Those barrels were then sent to Kentucky where they were batched and re-barreled into both new char #3 oak and toasted barrels. Then those barrels were loaded onto a ship and sent around the world to age. You can check out the whole voyage here. Finally, the barrels were returned to Kentucky, batched, proofed, and bottled.
Bottom Line:
This was fine. I kind of like the salinity at the end. That said, this is something I’d make cocktails with on a weekday.
9. Middle West Spirits Straight Rye Whiskey Dark Pumpernickel Batch No. 125 — Taste 11
This Ohio whiskey is made with dark pumpernickel rye, Ohio soft red winter wheat, yellow corn, and 2-Row malted barley. The hot juice is then aged for four years in new white oak before it’s bottled with a touch of local Ohio water.
Bottom Line:
This is decent rye. Is “decent” enough to get all hot and bothered about? Maybe not. That said, I would check this out if I was in Ohio — always eager to support an emerging scene.
This new bottling from Lux Row in Kentucky highlights a unique Indiana rye. The rye in the bottle is hewn from a very high-corn rye whiskey with a mash bill of 51% rye, 45% corn, and 4% malted barley. That whiskey is aged and charcoal filtered before batching, proofing, and bottling in Bardstown, Kentucky.
Bottom Line:
This was pretty decent stuff too. It didn’t quite stick the landing but you can cover that up in a good cocktail.
7. Old Hunting Creek Straight Rye Whiskey — Taste 9
This new rye is from award-circuit darling Southern Distilling Company. The whiskey is made from a low-rye mash of 51% rye, 39% corn, and 10% malted barley. The whiskey then ages for at least four years before it’s batched and proofed to bottled in bond strength (100-proof) for bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is good rye whiskey. It has a nice depth and feels very classic. That’s all.
6. Brother’s Bond Four-Grain Small-Batch American Blended Rye Whiskey — Taste 3
This brand-new release from Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley’s Brothers Bond is their first foray into rye. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of their bourbon cut with a four-year-old 95/5 rye (rye/malted barley). The final product ends up being a 77% rye whiskey once batched, proofed, and bottled.
Bottom Line:
This is also a very good rye whiskey. It’s not exciting or arresting but it is good whiskey. If you’re looking for a good entry point to get your feet wet in the rye genre, this is a good starting point.
5. Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Aged 7 Years — Taste 5
This new whiskey from Beam marks the age-statement return of their iconic Knob Creek Rye. The whiskey in this case was aged seven years before batching, slight proofing, and bottling.
Bottom Line:
Again, this is a good rye whiskey. I used this for cocktails and it rules. Do the same, you won’t be disappointed.
This Missouri whiskey is all about local to the point that even the barrels are hyper-local — a perk of making whiskey near one of the biggest sources of oak in the country. The whiskey is made with a mash of 100% local rye grown in Missouri. That whiskey then goes into a special Missouri oak barrel that was seasoned outside for 24 months before being toasted and charred specifically for this whiskey. Those barrels of rye were then batched, proofed with local water, and bottled.
Bottom Line:
This is getting into the really good stuff. This is a bold and nuanced whiskey that works well as a slow sipper. It’ll make a mean cocktail too.
3. Heaven’s Door Aged 10 Years Decade Series II Straight Rye Whiskey — Taste 10
This brand-new release from Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door focuses on 95/5 rye whiskey. In this case, select barrels that were 10 years or older were chosen for the batch. Once batched, this whiskey was proofed to 50% and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This has enough depth to be a serious and very rewarding sipper. I need to try this in a Manhattan next. It’s just good juice, folks.
2. Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee Rye Whiskey — Taste 6
The whiskey in this bottle is drawn from single barrels of the good stuff. The whiskey in those barrels was made with Jack Daniel’s rye mash bill of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley that’s fermented with Jack’s proprietary yeast and lactobacillus before running through column stills. The hot juice is then slowly — literally one drip at a time — filtered through 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal made on-site at the distillery. Once filtered, the whiskey is filled into new American oak barrels and left to rest until each one was just right for a barrel-proof bottling run.
Bottom Line:
This was leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the pours on this panel. The depth of this whiskey is massive. Yet, it feels approachable. This is stellar rye. Drink it slowly and really let it wash over you.
1. Sagamore 8-Year-Old “The First” The Prime Barrel Exclusive Single Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey — Taste 7
This new barrel pick from The Prime Barrel is a limited release that highlights the power of the folks picking the whiskey. The whiskey in the bottle is an eight-year-old Maryland rye produced in Baltimore. The whiskey went into the bottle as-is to highlight the local vibe.
Bottom Line:
Sagamore has hit a stride at eight years old. This whiskey is just delicious. Drink it however you like to drink your whiskey. It’s great. The reason it’s first over the Jack Daniel’s is that this didn’t feel like homework. This felt, dare I say, fun. That’s a quality that can’t be beaten.
Part 3 — Final Thoughts on the Rye Whiskey
Zach Johnston
The top two are the whiskeys you really want to focus on from this panel. They’re far and away the best pours.
I’d say if you’re looking for an easy-going pour that’s going to give you nice rye whiskey, not challenge you, and work well in a cocktail, then go with 7 through 3. The rest is fine but skippable at the end of the day unless there’s something in their tasting notes that really jump out at you — then have at it.
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This article originally appeared on 9.22.22
