Most people have seen those fancy transition videos on social media. The person starts off either in a bath robe or oversized lounge wear while music plays, suddenly their hand waves in front of the camera and poof, they’re a bombshell. It’s often so flawless that it looks like there was some sort of magic involved.
But there’s no magic and in most cases, there’s not even a trick of the camera. These are just people determined to make the most flawless transition as possible and one influencer is pulling off the veil on what actually goes into these trends. Courtney Michelle Dlugos posted a behind the scenes recently and it hilariously captures what is actually happening on the other side of the camera.
Dlugos starts off in a bathrobe and towel lip syncing to the music playing before closing the bathroom door and immediately reopening it to stop the camera. Then she’s seen brushing her teeth, cleaning her ears and burning herself with the curling iron.
There are several instances where she’s uncomfortably close to the camera and shouting while looking for things. After reappearing fully dressed she finishes the transition making it appear that she never missed a beat. Commenters are praising her realness and also demanding to see the finished product.
“Do you know how many ‘before’ transitions I have saved in my drafts,” someone laughs.
“When the towel on the back of your door moves and ruins the entire clip anyway…,” another commenter writes.
“i love these – a) yes it [sic] hella funny, very accurate, b) there’s a real destigmatization that’s happening at the same time. A+ comedy,” someone else shares.
Who knew so much work went into doing those trending transitions? They look like a lot of fun but the magic that happens behind the camera may have some folks just enjoying the show while they sit in their sweats scrolling TikTok. See how it all takes shape below.
Over the past few years, book bans have been happening in public libraries and schools across America. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, over 3,300 books were banned in 182 school districts in 37 states.
Most books that have been banned deal with LGBTQ and racial themes. According to a report from PEN America, Florida has been the most aggressive state regarding book bans, accounting for about 40% of those taken off the shelves.
On November 5, Collier County, Florida, announced that it was banning 300 books from its school libraries out of an effort to comply with state law HB 1069, which says books that depict or describe “sexual content” can be challenged for removal.
Among the books banned by the school district was “Shopgirl,” a novella by author Steve Martin published in 2000. Martin is also the star of the hit Hulu show, “Only Murders in the Building,” featuring Martin Short and Selena Gomez.
Upon hearing about his book being banned, Martin responded with his iconic wit on Instagram, saying, “So proud to have my book Shopgirl banned in Collier County, Florida! Now, people who want to read it will have to buy a copy!”
“Shopgirl” is a story about a young woman who works in a luxury department store and has an affair with a wealthy older man. It was made into a movie in 2005 starring Claire Danes and Martin. It’s believed the book was banned for its mild sexual content. On Amazon, the book is recommended for readers ages 13 and up.
Seeing the northern lights is a common bucket list adventure for many people. After all, it ticks a lot of boxes—being a dazzling light show, rich historical experience and scientific phenomenon all rolled into one. Plus there’s the uncertainty of it all, never quite knowing if you’ll witness a vivid streak of otherworldly colors dance across the sky…or simply see an oddly colored cloud. It’s nature’s slot machine, if you will.
Traveler and content creator Pency Lucero was willing to take that gamble. After thorough research, she stumbled upon an Airbnb in Rörbäck, Sweden with an actual picture of the northern lights shining above the cabin in the listing. With that kind of photo evidence, she felt good about her odds.
However, as soon as she landed, snow began falling so hard that the entire sky was “barely visible,” she told Upworthy. Martin, the Airbnb host, was nonetheless determined to do everything he could to ensure his guests got to see the spectacle, even offering to wake Lucero up in the middle of the night if he saw anything.
Then one night, the knock came.
In a video Lucero posted to TikTok, which now has over 12 million views, we hear Martin ushering her out to take a peek. Then we see Lucero’s face light up just before seeing the sky do the same.
“I thought it was a prank,” the onscreen text reads in the clip. “And then I see it….”
I’m on the verge of crying every time I watch this video I still cannot believe it. 📍 Rörbäck, Sweden
“I was mostly in awe of what this Earth is capable of,” Lucero recalled. “I never expected it to be THAT beautiful for the naked eye.” This is a hopeful sentiment against the widely accepted notion that the northern lights are often better looking in photos than they are in real life.
As Lucero asserted in a follow-up video, “Our video doesn’t do it justice at all…I would argue it’s even better for the naked eye.”
Others were quick to back Lucero with anecdotes of their own experience.
“It’s definitely possible to see it like in the pics. I saw it this winter in Norway, there was bright green, purple and so much movement.”
“They’re so much better in person, the way they dance and move around is insane and beautiful.”
Of course, if you ask Martin, who everyone agreed was the best host ever, seeing guest reactions of pure wonder and joy is even “better than the lights themselves.” But still, he can’t deny that there’s a breathtaking magic to it all. He shared with Upworthy that “Sometimes it feels like it will pull you up in the sky like you are in the middle of it. I wish everyone would have the chance to witness it.”
When it comes to tips for actually seeing the northern lights, Martin admits it still mostly comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Luckily, his Airbnb listing can help with that.
Nature has a great way of reminding us that beyond the distractions and distresses of modern life, there is sublime beauty waiting for the chance to capture our hearts.
Logan Roy, the fictitious patriarch of Succession, has been dead since last summer, but do characters (or shows) ever really die? Brian Cox, who won a Golden Globe (but never an Emmy!) for playing the gruff corporate tycoon, recently said he’d be up for exhuming him for a prequel movie. (If that happens, it might not involve Succession creator Jesse Armstrong.) Thing is, he’s already dusted the guy off, not for a movie or another show but, quite randomly, for a French commercial.
Lille, nouveau Paris ? Bien sûr !
Sylvie Grateau et Savoir s’installent dans le Nord pour conquérir Séries Mania. Problème ? Un redoutable concurrent.
Par Stéphane Foenkinos et Benoît Pétré, avec Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu et Brian Cox. pic.twitter.com/VMjrpVudyl
Per Deadline, Series Mania, a media pow-wow set to unfold in March, dropped a new, high-concept ad for this year’s festivities. It begins as a simple Emily in Paris parody, with the fest’s boss Laurence Herszberg standing in for Lily Collins’ beret-loving ex-pat as she has a meeting with her exasperated boss (played, semi-confusingly, by an actual show cast member, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu).
Then Logan Roy suddenly appears on a monitor. When Leroy-Beaulieu’s character tells him, “I thought you were dead,” he responds, “Never felt better.” Undead Logan then announces he’s buying the festival, cackling as he declares, “Series Mania is mine!”
Okay! It’s good to see Logan back after his less-than-ideal death, but surely there are better ways to resurrect him than in a mildly chaotic French ad parodying shows from different streamers. Then again, perhaps beggars can’t be choosers. Welcome back, Logan, we guess?
For six episodes on Netflix, Griselda has showcased Sofía Vergara in her first dramatic role, and what a role it is. She portrays fearsome drug lord Griselda Blanco, who raked in around $2 billion during the time that she pioneered and ruled the Miami cocaine trade in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Naturally, she was known as the “Cocaine Godmother,” and this was one of the only recent streaming shows where I thought it would be swell to have a few more episodes in a season. Crazy, I know, but I’m not the only person who seemed to feel that way. So, will there be a second season of Griselda?
Sorry, but nope. This show was only intended as a limited series (from Narcos: Mexico executive producer Eric Newman and Narcos co-creator Doug Miro), so unless they intend to write some fictional account of Bianco’s life behind bars, there’s really no chance of a second season. And let’s be honest — that’s a silly idea, and no one wants to see Griselda’s life while she languished in prison. However, Griselda is available to stream in full on Netflix as of January 25. She was, as the show wastes no time in informing the audience, the only woman who scared the hell out of Pablo Escobar.
In other words, this is a limited series worth binging if you liked Narcos (or Amazon’s Zero Zero Zero), and you don’t have to wait long for multiple Narcos actors to start popping onscreen, too. Good times.
James Gunn is hoping to give the DC universe a fresh new start in the coming years, and he is recruiting some new faces to help him out. It’s been a tough few years for the guy.
This week, it was announced that House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock has been picked to play Supergirl in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, based on Tom King’s 2022 comic book. This story is set to follow Superman: Legacy, which will be the first film to kick off the new DC era. David Corenswet will lead as Superman while Rachel Brosnahan is set to star as Lois Lane. Production on that is set to begin in March.
Gunn, who seemingly left Twitter/X behind in 2023, took to Threads to share the news. “In case you missed this exciting news yesterday. Strangely, Milly was the FIRST person I brought up to Peter (Safran) for this role, well over a year ago, when I had only read the comics,” Gunn explained.
He then confirmed that he was so impressed with Alcock’s performance in House of the Dragon, he knew she would be the one for the role. “I was watching House of the Dragon & thought she might have the edge, grace & authenticity we needed for the DCU’s Supergirl. And now here we are. Life is wild sometimes,” he concluded. Life is wild, James Gunn.
Alcock starred in the first half of House of the Dragon where she played a young Rhaenyra Targaryen. After her stint with the dragons, she seemed to be done with the fantasy stuff. But superheroes can be a nice middle ground.
As a result, I know more about fast food than anyone likely needs to. Do you have a question about anything fast food related? I can tell you, from the newest menu items, to where the best deals are, and whose food is the highest quality. And because I have a pretty intimate knowledge of the menus of some of the biggest fast food chains, it’s time to rank 10 of the best fast food restaurants in America.
Before we dive in here are some things to keep in mind:
This is only a list of 10, so naturally, not every fast-food restaurant is going to be covered. For the most part, I’ve stuck to restaurants that have a multi-state presence and consistently place on our fast food rankings.
If your personal favorite isn’t on this list and a restaurant you hate is, don’t take it personally, I’ve probably excluded it because there were 10 other restaurants I felt were more vital to review, don’t know the menu well enough to speak on it, or I’ve never been there. If your restaurant is missing, tell me, I want to know what your favorite is — plus, I’m always looking for suggestions.
I almost always deferred to the most popular restaurants here. There are at least 10 fast food restaurants that I love more than our number 10 pick, but these brands are more obscure/just starting out/ not as well known. I wanted this list to be a list of 10 restaurants that most people have been to, or at least heard of.
Of the 10 restaurants chosen, I’ll be scoring them 1-5 on a few factors:
Consistency: Generally, how much does the food taste the way it’s supposed to? Are the fries always cold? Does the quality vary widely from restaurant to restaurant?
Freshness: How fresh is it, is it made to order? Are they using frozen ingredients? Quality ingredients?
Flavor: How good is the best thing on the menu?
Okay, enough rules — let’s rank the 10 best fast food restaurants, starting with our least favorite. If you’ve read Uproxx fast food coverage in the past, you’ve seen this one coming.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Food Rankings From The Last Month
Consistency: 2 Freshness: 2 Flavor: 2 Total Score: 6
Thoughts:
I, like most of America, am not a fan of Burger King. And it’s not for lack of trying. Anytime the chain drops a new menu item I always pull up to that drive-thru hoping they’re finally going to wow me. They did once in 2021 with the Ch’King sandwich, a direct response to Popeyes Chicken Sandwich. This chicken sandwich was big, juicy, and hand-breaded on-site.
It wasn’t Popeyes-level good, but it was a sign that BK was moving in the right direction.
And then the brand discontinued it, changed the preparation process to be less labor intensive, and renamed it the “Crispy Chicken Sandwich.” It sucks. And now Burger King is going back to its roots with a long chicken sandwich, which is a step in the right direction but doesn’t match the flavor and form factor of the Ch’King. Elsewhere on the menu, you’ve got the fries, which are almost always too salty if they aren’t stale and cold, chicken nuggets that are terrible, and the Whopper — which may have been a novelty at one point in the fast food space, but today just tastes like the sort of burger you get at a sad cafeteria.
This is unrelated to the food but I feel like it’s worth mentioning:
Burger King now requires its employees to say “You Rule,” and the end of every customer’s order. To which we have to ask — why? Whose day is this improving? Why Is BK focusing on sh*t like this instead of just making better food? If you make good food, all is forgiven, and considering how many fast food chains out there make legitimately good food, we know it’s possible!
Go back to the lab and start changing up those recipes BK, we want better for you!
Best Order:
A Whopper with cheese and a side of Onion Rings.
9. Jack in the Box
Jack in the Box
Consistency: 2 Freshness: 2 Flavor: 3 Total Score: 7
Thoughts:
Growing up I loved Jack in the Box. At a time when fast food menus all resembled one another, it felt a bit different thanks to random inclusions on the menu like egg rolls, teriyaki bowls, bacon potato cheddar wedges, mozzarella sticks, and that delicious Oreo milkshake. These days the menu just doesn’t feel that adventurous. JiB does pretty much what the big restaurants like McDonald’s and Wendy’s do, but not nearly as well.
Not to mention JiB seems to have ended its original policy of “we don’t make it ’til you order it.” That policy ensured the food was always, at the least, piping hot, which almost always makes fast food taste better. These days the consistency is all over the place. I’ve had experiences where the food is fresh and tasty, but most of the time I’m getting something old. An old chicken strip, stale fries, cold tacos — it’s always something.
It looks like things are getting better at JiB, though. The recently launched Smashed Jack is one of the best new fast food burgers I’ve tasted this year (we’re still in January) and the new menu options like boba, and the various Munchie Meal exclusives show that JiB is still experimenting, which is always a good thing.
Best Order:
A Bacon Double Smashed Jack with a side of Curly Fries.
8. Popeyes
Popeyes
Consistency: 2 Freshness: 2 Flavor: 5 Total Score: 9
Thoughts:
I know, I know, trust me, I know. I’m going to anger a lot of fast food fans for ranking Popeyes this low. And look, I’m even a bit mad at myself. I love Popeyes, I eat Popeyes regularly, for pleasure, not for work. But we have to be real about the things we love. The consistency of Popeyes is all over the place.
Eating here is a gamble, you never know what you’re going to get in terms of quality. And I know it’s not location-specific because I run into this at various restaurants. Part of that is the nature of making fried chicken, each restaurant is always dropping chicken, whether it be mild, spicy, bone-in, or tenders and sometimes you come in at a bad time and you get some old chicken. A few times I’ve come in and gotten old stale tenders and nuggets, or seen the cajun fries being warmed under a heat lamp rather than being fried to order.
Normally I don’t hold this against Popeyes, it’s just what I’ve come to expect. And when you get lucky, the food is amazing. But you just can’t count on it, and because of that, I can’t rank this chain any higher.
Best Order:
Popeyes Chicken Sandwich with a side of Cajun Fries.
7. Taco Bell
Taco Bell
Consistency: 4 Freshness: 2 Flavor: 3 Total Score: 9
Thoughts:
People are ride-or-die over Taco Bell, and I get it. What the chain restaurant does — stoner/drunk friendly guilty pleasure Mexican-adjacent flavors — it does incredibly well. But let’s not pretend this food is quality.
The cheese is pre-shredded, all the protein options are low-quality (the steak is downright inedible), the beans are powdered, the hot sauce (packet and sauce cup) is watery and lacking in flavor, and the produce is just sad.
But when these ingredients all combine something special happens. I can’t explain why the Mexican Pizza or the Crunchwrap Supreme ignites all the pleasure centers in my brain but it does. And given how cheap the food is and how consistent the product is (Taco Bell always tastes like Taco Bell) I always know Taco Bell is going to scratch that itch when I have it.
Best Order:
A toss-up between the Crunchwrap Supreme, Mexican Pizza, and Classic Crunchy Taco.
6. McDonald’s
McDonald
Consistency: 3.5 Freshness: 3 Flavor: 3 Total Score: 9.5
Thoughts:
I’m giving McDonald’s a slight edge over Popeyes and Taco Bell because the consistency of its product doesn’t vary quite as much, but I’ve had many an experience at McDonald’s where I’ve been disheartened by cold fries or stale chicken McNuggets that taste like cardboard. And what’s with that ice cream machine that seems to never work?
At McDonald’s you’re not going to find a whole lot of fresh food, the fries are frozen before frying, same with the burgers, chicken, and most of the breakfast. For the most part, you’re essentially paying for warmed-up pre-cooked food.
The burgers have stepped up in quality as of late and if you haven’t been in the last year, it’s worth checking out. The smartest move for McDonald’s to make is to elevate their game when it comes to their core line of products, and it seems like they’re doing just that.
We have high hopes that McDonald’s continues to make improvements.
Best Order:
A Quarter Pounder and Fries. For the best experience, eat these immediately after ordering. Park the car if you have to!
5. Wendy’s
Wendy
Consistency: 3 Freshness: 4 Flavor: 4 Total Score: 11
Thoughts:
Before the era of what I like to call New Classics (your Chipotles, Chick-fil-As, etc) Wendy’s used to be the gold standard of fast food. The burgers are made using fresh non-frozen beef, everything is cooked to order, and the menu is robust. The cheeseburgers are amazing, the chicken sandwiches are amazing, the sides are interesting — where else are you going to be able to get a side of chili and a baked potato? Everything Wendy’s does, they do well and if I’m taking a road trip, Wendy’s is always the go-to.
It just doesn’t have the quality control of the fast food restaurants we’ve ranked higher. Your experience is going to vary, sometimes your fries will be stale, or the chicken sandwich will taste like it has been sitting around for a long time. The burgers are almost always on point, so your safest bet is to order a cheeseburger.
Best Order:
Baconator with a side of Spicy Nuggets.
4. Chipotle
Dane Rivera
Consistency: 2 Freshness: 5 Flavor: 5 Total Score: 12
Thoughts:
Chipotle has a lot of haters and, as a Los Angeles native, I get it. Chipotle is marketed as Mexican food, and for some people in some places throughout the country, it’s one of the only representations of Mexican food, and nothing on the menu matches the depth of flavor of an actual taqueria. My point is, Chipotle isn’t really Mexican food and when you think of it as such, it misses the mark.
But if instead you think of Chipotle as a remedy to the typical practices of fast food, it’s kind of amazing. All of the food is fresh and prepared in-restaurant daily (except the tortillas). The meat is braised in the restaurant, the guacamole is made in the restaurant, the fajitas are grilled in a restaurant, the cheese is grated in the restaurant — you get our point. They’ve got some fresh food, that’s their strength.
Has that led to some incidences of food-borne illness? Yes, unfortunately, but anecdotally, that’s never been my experience at Chipotle. One thing I don’t love about the restaurant though is its lack of consistency. Sometimes the guacamole straight up isn’t good. Sometimes you’re going to get cold beans. Sometimes the meat will be lukewarm at best.
Having said that, I appreciate what the restaurant is doing and hope that more restaurants take note and start valuing fresh ingredients as much as their hungry customer base does.
Best Order:
Oh, boy are you in for a treat. We’ve done the research here, this is the best burrito build, best taco build, and best bowl build.
3. Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A
Consistency: 5 Freshness: 4 Flavor: 4 Total Score: 13
Thoughts:
Chick-fil-A has got service down, more than any other fast food chain. And not because their employees say “My pleasure,” anytime you ask or thank them for anything. Your order comes out lightning fast, whether you’re ordering in the drive-thru or in the restaurant. More than a few times I’ve placed an order inside a Chick-fil-A, walked over to pick up my favorite sauces, napkins, and a straw, and arrived at my table only to find an employee already there with my food.
The food is always hot, and I’ve never had a mistake on any of my orders. I honestly don’t know how they do it or why other fast food restaurants can’t match up with this quality of service. And most of the food is hand-prepared in the restaurant daily. Chick-fil-A always provides a quality experience and for that, we have to rank this brand highly.
Having said that, the best menu items are all dishes I’d rather eat elsewhere. The chain doesn’t have the best chicken sandwich, doesn’t have the best fries, and doesn’t have the best breakfast. Where they really shine is those nuggets.
Best Order:
An 8-count chicken nugget with a side of Waffle Fries and a SunJoy (Arnold Palmer).
2. Raising Canes
Raising Canes
Consistency: 5 Freshness: 5 Flavor: 4 Total Score: 14
Thoughts:
Raising Canes does one thing: chicken tenders, and they do it well. The chicken is one of the few chicken chains that uses fresh non-frozen chicken tenders, hand-breads them on sight, and cooks them to order. They hand-butter their famous Texas toast and grill them to order, and they even make their own lemonade. The only thing from Raising Canes not fresh are the crinkle-cut fries, which are fried to order but frozen.
There are days when I wish Raising Cane’s had more variety, but on days when I don’t feel like eating chicken strips, I simply go somewhere else.
Overall, I wouldn’t say the food is mind-blowing because I’ll always prefer a chicken sandwich or a cheeseburger over tenders (to be fair Raising Canes has a chicken sandwich but it’s made with chicken tenders, which doesn’t count), so in terms of overall flavor, I’m going to have to knock them a point. But if you want chicken tenders, this is the place to go.
Best Order:
3 Finger Combo with a side of fries and Texas Toast buttered on both sides.
1. In-N-Out
In N Out
Consistency: 5 Freshness: 5 Flavor: 5 Total Score: 15
Thoughts:
Oh trust me, I’m fully aware that putting In-N-Out at number 1 is going to make a lot of people mad.
I’ve heard it all before, “In-N-Out is overrated!” “The fries suck!” “The burger isn’t that good” but, I’m sorry. You’re wrong.
I have no issue if you don’t like In-N-Out, that’s a fair opinion to have, but when you start saying things like “In-N-Out is overrated” or just “In-N-Out sucks,” it seems like you’re being contrarian for contrarian’s sake. Like saying the Beatles suck or pretending Radiohead isn’t the best rock band of the 90s. It just sounds ridiculous.
Tell me how a place that makes burgers from fresh beef to order, hand-peels and fries its French fries on sight, hand-leafs its lettuce, always has ripe tomatoes, gets its buns baked fresh, and has delicious luxurious milkshakes can ever be overrated? There is a reason In-N-Out has only closed one location ever (and it wasn’t for sales reasons) — the restaurant is just remarkably consistent, fresh, and delicious.
Is it my favorite fast food burger? No actually, that would be Shake Shack, but In-N-Out always tastes like In-N-Out. I’ve eaten at this restaurant in multiple states and up and down California and it always tastes exactly like I expect it to taste. For a thing to be overrated in the first place, it has to be consistently and wildly praised, which In-N-Out is. If it doesn’t live up to the expectations you’ve put upon it in your own head, that’s… kind of on you.
If I had to choose only one fast food restaurant to eat at for the rest of my life, it would be this one, no question.
PETA is known for having guilt-trippy ads with fun guest stars, so it’s no surprise that they got Emmy award-winning actress Edie Falco to cry over some stolen cheese. You never know what those animal lovers are going to do next.
In a new Super Bowl ad (that is set to air only in New Jersey…..) Falco stars as an unsuspecting woman who is trying to make pizza, but her cheese is viciously taken from her. The ad then shows Falco pleading for her cheese, juxtaposed with a real video of a cow running after her young calf. Text on the screen then reads: “Cheese isn’t your baby. But it robs a mother of hers. Go vegan.” It’s definitely something.
To take it one step further, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk threw in a Sopranos reference in the press release: “Once people think about severing the bond between mother cows and their beloved calves, it’s a fair bet that many of them will say ‘fuhgeddaboudit’ to cheese,” Newkirk said, seemingly forgetting that half of The Sopranos took place inside the bloody backroom of a butcher shop.
The company is offering vegan starter kits to anyone who was moved by Falco’s performance.
But what might be the most bizarre part of the ad is the fact that Falco was going to make pizza with a block of cheddar cheese. There are many dairy-free mozzarella alternatives!
Few beers are perfectly suited for drinking all year long. Sure, you could enjoy a piney IPA in the middle of winter or a crisp pilsner on a frigid day. But both of those beers hit the best during the summer months. Wheat beer, however, manages to seamlessly bridge the gap between the warmer and colder months. Especially Belgian witbiers, German hefeweizens, and American wheat beers.
This top-fermented beer style is known for having a larger percentage of wheat than the usual barley. This gives the beer a sweet wheat, fruity, gently spicy, sometimes banana-forward flavor, depending on the style (beer is so freaking diverse it’s nearly impossible to ever generalize). The sweet, winter-spiced flavor makes it a great beer for the cooler months.
To help you find the right winter wheat beer for you, we selected eight flavorful, wintry wheat beers and ranked them based on how well they drink during the colder months. Keep scrolling to see them all.
This award-winning Belgian-style wheat beer is unfiltered, and hazy, and gets its traditional flavor from the addition of Curaçao orange peel and coriander. The result is a beer that pays homage to the European beers that came before it with classic, memorable flavors.
Tasting Notes:
You’ll find notes of coriander, orange peels, sweet wheat, and yeasty bread on the nose. The palate continues this trend with a ton of sweet malt and wheat upfront and candied orange peels, coriander, and other light wintry spices.
Citrus, spice — what’s not to love?
Bottom Line:
This is a great interpretation of the traditional Belgian-style wheat beer. Yeast, wheat, orange peels, and spices. It does it right.
This year-round Belgian-style witbier was brewed with Belgian wit yeast, Pilsner malt, wheat, as well as Cluster, Vanguard, and Mt. Hood hops. This yeasty, unfiltered wheat beer gets its classic, European flavor from the addition of organic coriander and orange zest.
Tasting Notes:
Wheat, cereal grains, freshly baked bread, coriander, and orange peel are prevalent on the memorable nose. The palate is filled with hints of fresh bread, sweet wheat, yeast, coriander, and a nice kick of orange zest to tie everything together nicely.
Bottom Line:
This beer has everything traditional Belgian-style wheat beer fans love in a sessionable 4.7% ABV package.
Brewed with malted wheat, Pilsner, and Vienna malts as well as German Wheat yeast, it gets its hop presence from the addition of German Northern Brewer hops. The result is a classic wheat beer with notes of yeast, wheat, banana, clove, and gentle wintry spices.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mix of bread, yeast, wheat, bubblegum, pepper, and bananas. Drinking it reveals a lightly tart beer with notes of cracked black pepper, cloves, bananas, yeasty bread, sweet wheat, and lightly floral hops.
Bottom Line:
This is an interesting take on the classic German wheat beer. It’s lightly tart, spiced, and fruity.
Ommegang is well-known for its traditional Belgian-style beers. It’s Ommegang Witte is one of its best. Brewed with flaked oats, and unmalted, and malted wheat, it gets its hop aroma and flavor from Hallertau Spalter Select hops. It’s spiced with coriander and sweet orange peel.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lot of spice on the nose. Cloves, coriander, and other baking spices are followed by wheat, yeasty bread, and light floral hops. Sipping it brings forth notes of coriander, orange peels, cloves, cracked black pepper, ripe banana, and wheat.
Bottom Line:
This beer is heavily spiced in the best way possible. It has the warming spice of winter along with the classic flavors of European wheat beers.
This beloved 5.5% ABV unfiltered Belgian witbier is hazy, cloudy, and known for flavors like wheat, cloves, and banana. It may have been created with St. Bernardus’ former master brewer Perre Celis in the 1960s, but it’s still extremely popular among Belgian beer fans today.
Tasting Notes:
You’ll find aromas of candied orange peels, cracked black pepper, coriander, cloves, yeasty bread, and wheat on the nose. The palate is lightly acidic, tart, and filled with notes of wheat, fresh bread, coriander, pepper, cloves, banana, fruit esters, and orange zest.
Bottom Line:
This is a classic Belgian witbier. It’s the kind of beer that American brewers from coast to coast attempt to recreate every day.
When it comes to Canadian beer brands for drinkers looking for Authentic European-style beers, it’s tough to beat the appeal of Unibroue. While you can’t go wrong with any of its beers, Blanche de Chambly is an outstanding Belgian-style wheat ale. Named for Quebec’s Fort Chambly, it’s known for its Sweet, citrus, and spiced flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a bouquet of yeasty bread, cloves, coriander, candied orange peel, and sweet wheat. The palate continues this trend with a ton of fruit esters, yeasty bread, wheat, orange peel, clover honey, and wintry spice. There’s also a memorable tart acidity throughout.
Bottom Line:
Drink this beer with your eyes closed and you’d assume you were drinking something from Belgium. Heck, drink it with your eyes open and if you’ve never heard of Unibroue, you’d think it was located in Belgium instead of Quebec.
When it comes to American-made wheat beers, there are none as respected and beloved as Allagash White. This award-winning Belgian-style wheat ale is brewed with malted wheat, raw wheat, and oats. It gets its traditional flavor profile from adding coriander and Curaçao orange peel.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are scents of candied orange peels, wheat, freshly baked bread, cereal grains, bananas, and coriander. Drinking it reveals hints of coriander, clove, yeasty bread, orange zest, lemongrass, cracked black pepper, and sweet wheat. The finish is yeasty, sweet, and lightly crisp.
Bottom Line:
The hype is real. When it comes to American wheat beers, you’ll have a hard to finding one better than Allagash White.
To say that the brewers at Bavaria’s Weihenstephaner have mastered the art of brewing is a bit of an understatement. Not only is the brewery old. It’s the oldest brewery in the world with a genesis of 1040. It’s the type of brewery that creates nothing but award-winning brews. Our favorite is its Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier, known for its fruity, spicy, banana-like flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of cloves, wheat, yeasty bread, bananas, citrus peels, bubblegum, and gentle spices make for a very welcoming nose. The palate only adds to this start with yeasty bready malts, bananas, cloves, fruit esters, honey, orange peels, and more warming spices. It’s a perfectly balanced sweet, fruity, lightly spicy wheat beer.
Bottom Line:
If you only try one beer on this list, make it Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier. This is as traditional as wheat beers get. Everything fits together in perfect unity.
Girl In Red announced that her new album, greatly titled I’m Doing It Again Baby!, will be arriving this spring. As part of the reveal, she also shared that the lead single, “Too Much,” will be dropping on February 9.
“I definitely feel like this new album is a lot more optimistic, but I obviously have some sad love bangers because love is always going to be a part of it; I’ve been on a journey of feeling really shitty and having really low self-esteem, but I’m in my positive era now,” Girl In Red previously shared during an interview with Dork Magazine, where she spoke about how her sound will evolve on this new album
“It’s still a very eclectic record,” she added. “The first one was all over the place, and some people said that was my weakness, but absolutely not. All those songs had strong identities, and I’m doing the same thing on this record. Maybe in the future, I’ll calm down and put out a record like Folklore, but I’m not there yet.”
Check out Girl In Red’s album announcement post below.
I’m Doing It Again Baby! is out 4/12 via Columbia. Find more information here.
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Lille, nouveau Paris ? Bien sûr !
