Month: March 2024

You might see the term “cold IPA” and assume that this is simply a beer style created to be imbibed during the colder months. And while many brewers release their cold IPAs during the winter months and into the spring, some release them in the height of the summer. The name is simply a reference to the fermentation process. Cold IPAs are fermented at a lower temperature with lager yeast than other PAs.

The result is a malty, refreshing, crisp, crushable, very hoppy IPA. And this hybrid of a crisp pilsner and a West Coast IPA is perfect for any time of year. Especially spring.

The style was invented by Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon in the fall of 2018. It was originally called Wayfinder Relapse IPA and it was created to pay tribute to Relapse Records. The goal was to create a ramped-up version of the classic West Coast IPA with classic bitter, piney hops but drier, crisper, and with a clean, memorable finish like a lager. That’s exactly what they did and it became so popular that other brewers tried their hand at making it.

Keep scrolling to see eight of our favorite cold IPAs to try this spring. We ranked them based on overall hoppiness and crisp, drinkable flavor.

8.) Karl Strauss Brisky Business

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $14 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans

The Beer:

This collaboration with Harland Brewing is made with HBC 586, HBC-638, Strata, and Chinook hops. It gets added flavor from the addition of 2-row malt, puffed jasmine rice, white wheat, and toasted rice. The result is a memorable, flavorful IPA with a ton of citrus, tropical fruit, and pine notes.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a mixture of tangerine, lime peel, grapefruit, peach, pineapple, and floral, piney hopes. There’s more of the same on the palate and we couldn’t be happier. There’s a lot of peaches, pineapple, sweet wheat, orange zest, lemon, and dank, resinous pine. It’s surprisingly smooth, creamy, and sweet with more pine than actual bitterness.

Bottom Line:

This is a very well-rounded, sweet, easy-drinking, crisp, complex IPA you’ll go back to again and again.

7.) Ellicottville Chilly Willy

ABV: 5.8%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack from Totalwine

The Beer:

This popular winter IPA is fermented at a lower temperature to add to the hop character. It’s brewed with Mosaic and El Dorado hops. The result is an amber-hued, light, refreshing, crisp IPA with notable citrus, fruit, and dank pine flavors. It might be light and thirst-quenching, but it’s flavorful enough to be sipped any time of year.

Tasting Notes:

This beer smells like a tropical oasis. There’s a ton of ripe pineapple, peach, passionfruit, tangerine, grapefruit, and lemon. There are also grassy, floral, and piney hops to hold it all together. Drinking it reveals more tropical fruits like mango, pineapple, orange peel, peach, and grapefruit, but also some sweet malt flavor, and a dank, resinous pine finish.

Bottom Line:

Every sip of Ellicottville Chilly Willy is like taking a vacation to a tropical island where there’s also somehow an abundance of pine trees.

6.) Sierra Nevada Cold Torpedo

ABV: 7%

Average Price: Available in mixed packs

The Beer:

Sierra Torpedo is already an outstanding imperial IPA. So, it shouldn’t surprise you that its cold IPA version Cold Torpedo is pretty great as well. Brewed with 2-row pale, Carapils, and Vienna malts, it gets its hop presence from the addition of Chinook, CTZ, El Dorado, and Motueka hops.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find aromas of cracked black pepper, grapefruit, orange peel, lemon, and floral, earthy piney hops. On the palate, you’ll be treated to flavors of candied orange peels, freshly baked bread, toffee sweetness, grapefruit, pineapple, and dank, floral, pine needles.

Bottom Line:

If you prefer your dank, piney cold IPAs to have a nice sweet malt backbone, this is the beer for you.

5.) Big Top R-22 Cold IPA

ABV: 5.4%

Average Price: $14 for a six-pack

The Beer:

Big Top’s R-22 Cold IPA wasn’t crafted to be your classic bitter, piney IPA. It was brewed to have the crisp, easy-drinking, refreshing nature of a classic, light lager and the piney, hoppy, lightly bitter flavors of an IPA. Add in all the tropical fruit flavors and you have an exceptional, unique beer.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find a symphony of tropical fruit aromas including guava, mango, passionfruit, papaya, and pineapple. There’s also a nice caramel malt presence and memorable pine needle scents. The palate follows suit with juicy peach, mango, guava, pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, and dank, pine. But unlike most IPAs, the finish is clean, and crisp, and has much less bitterness than you’d expect from the heavy pine aroma and flavor.

Bottom Line:

If you’re a fan of bold, tropical, dank aromas and flavors, but you prefer less bitterness at the finish, this is your jam.

4.) August Schell Fresh Prints

ABV: 6.5%

Average Price: $10 for a six-pack

The Beer:

The folks at August Schell took the blueprint for its West Coast IPA and turned it on its head. Like other cold IPAs, it was cold-fermented to give it a crisp, clean flavor. It’s known for its fresh, thirst-quenching flavor and bright citrus and tropical fruit aromas and flavors.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is centered on freshly baked bread, lemongrass, mango, guava, ripe pineapple, and dank pine. Sipping it brings forth notes of honeydew melons, tangerine, lemon, yeasty bread, mango, lime zest, and floral, earthy, spicy piney hops. The finish is lightly bitter and leaves you craving more.

Bottom Line:

This is a beer for fans of dank pine and citrus zest. It has both in absolute abundance.

3.) Wayfinder Original Cold IPA

ABV: 7%

Average Price: $8 for a 16-ounce can

The Beer:

Wayfinder calls this beer Original Cold IPA for a reason. This is the OG cold IPA. Wayfinder invented the style back in October of 2018. It’s brewed with an adjunct lager malt bill (that includes rice or corn and 2-row pilsner malt) and lager yeast. It’s dry-hopped and loaded with tropical fruit, citrus, sweet malt, and pine notes.

Tasting Notes:

Breathing in the nose, you’ll be met with ripe berries, peaches, tangerines, lemon, pineapples, sweet malts, and floral, piney hops. The complexity remains on the palate as you’re met with flavors like raspberry, ripe peach, tangerine, mango, pineapples, sweet, bready malts, and spicy, floral, piney, bitter hops. The finish is crisp and almost lager-like.

Bottom Line:

Wayfinder manages to bridge the gap between IPA and lager perfectly this beer has all the aroma and flavor characteristics of a classic IPA, but finishes like a sweet, refreshing, crisp pilsner.

2.) Highland Wishing Star

ABV: 6.8%

Average Price: $3 for a 19-ounce can

The Beer:

This year-round cold IPA is brewed with Apollo, Centennial, Strata, and Mosaic hops. It gets its sweet malt backbone from the liberal use of pilsner malt and flaked rice. This results in a fruity, piney, malty, sweet, well-balanced, crushable cold IPA.

Tasting Notes:

Aromas of bright berries, honey, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, grass, crack-like malts, and bright pine start everything off on the right foot. The palate is filled with yeasty, bready, cracker malts, candied orange peels, caramel, grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, and resinous pine. The finish is crisp, lightly bitter, and highly memorable.

Bottom Line:

This is another beer that feels like someone created a beer that was half crisp, refreshing pilsner, and half citrus and pine bomb IPA.

1.) Fremont Legend

ABV: 7%

Average Price: $12 for a six-pack

The Beer:

This year-round triumph of a cold IPA is brewed with a base of 2-row pale malt and also has pilsner malts and flaked corn. It’s hopped Citra, Centennial, Citra Cryo, and Strata hops. All of this combines to make an award-winning cold IPA loaded with cereal, berries, stone fruit, and pine aromas and flavors.

Tasting Notes:

A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are bold, memorable scents of ripe raspberries, strawberries, apricots, cereal grains, grapefruit, lemongrass, and resinous pine. On the palate, you’ll find notes of honeydew melon, grapefruit zest, mandarin orange, strawberry, caramel malts, and gently bitter floral, piney hops. The pine tree bitterness lingers in a very pleasant way.

Bottom Line:

If you only drink one cold IPA on this list, make it Fremont Legend. The best part? It’s available all year long so you can easily add this banger to your rotation.

Did you see Damien Chazelle’s Babylon in theaters? There’s a good chance you didn’t. A star-studded, pricey extravaganza about Hollywood’s chaotic transition to synch sound — it’s basically a hard-R, epic, downer version of Singin’ in the Rain, which makes a surprise cameo — it hit the nation’s theaters like a thud, grossing a measly $15 million. Some of us saw it in an otherwise empty theater! Chazelle’s CV includes the almost Best Picture winner La La Land — to say nothing of Whiplash — so surely his career isn’t toast. And yet he’s still unsure about his future.

Per Variety, Chazelle recently appeared on the podcast Talking Pictures, where he was blunt about how he’s doing post-Babylon’s failure, a year and change off.

“I’ve been head in the sand. I’ve been sort of busy writing. So I’ll get a real taste of how it’s changed or not [since Babylon] once I get to finish this script and try to actually get it made,” Chazelle said. “I’m in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won’t get a budget of Babylon size any time soon, or at least not on this next one.”

Babylon — which stars Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt as silent-era movie stars who do not make the transition to synch sound, to put it mildly — wasn’t a hit with critics either, and it was ignored by the Oscars to boot. Maybe one day it will be redeemed; swing-for-the-fences doozies like Babylon often are. But for now Chazelle can’t ignore its stink.

“Certainly, in financial terms, Babylon didn’t work at all,” he admitted. “You try to not have that effect what you’re doing creatively, but, at some level, it can’t help but affect it. But maybe that’s okay? I have very mixed mind about it. Who knows. Maybe I won’t be able to get this one made. I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Before Babylon, Chazelle reunited with La La Land co-star Ryan Gosling for the Neil Armstrong docudrama First Man, which didn’t bomb but did underperform. Perhaps he’ll return to smaller films like Whiplash and get back on top. Or perhaps viewers will eventually reclaim Babylon after streaming it on Paramount+, where it currently lives. After all, it’s got Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt.

You can listen to Chazelle’s Talking Pictures appearance below.

(Via Variety)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day recently surfaced in many people’s memories due to a current (and sobering) event, which might bring to mind how Arnold Schwarzenegger will always be back. That also includes returning to his first leading TV role, Netflix’s FUBAR, which turned into a top dad-show for the masses in 2023. The streamer didn’t waste any time in renewing the show, so it’s worth discussing what will come next for the former CIA agent who supposedly returned for “one last job.”

Silly rabbit, it’s never only a solitary final job, but fortunately, this show brings plenty of action and levity to keep the entertainment factor high with this show. Arnold will never go out of style (Netflix even dubbed him as their “Chief Action Officer” when this series proved to be a hit), so let’s talk out what the second season will bring.

Plot

As acronym lovers already know, FUBAR generally refers to the abbreviation for “F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition.” The show revolves around a True Lies-squared type of story where Arnold portrays a secret CIA operative, Luke Brunner, who would really like to retire but gets hauled back into the field. He also discovers that his daughter, Emma (Monica Barbaro from Top Gun: Maverick), is also a hush-hush CIA operative. This allows for father and daughter to save each other’s asses and work in some bonding time in the process, along with giving the audience what they really want: enough trademark Arnold one liners to light a cigar.

The first season finale ended with (as suggested by cast member Fortune Feamster) Arnold uttering “FUBAR,” which subsequently became the title of the series. Diego Luna’s arms dealer, Born, attempted to make Luke and Emma kill each other during a wedding standoff, but that did not end well for Boro. Once the day is saved, the team of undercover operatives realizes that their compromised identities prevent them from returning to their current at-home lives, which opens the door for them to either be on the run or adopting newfound aliases when the show returns.

For the second season, creator Nick Santoro told Tudum to expect something “bananas.” There will be “a million things” for the Brunners to work out, and “we’re going to go in knowing there might be a rat in the kitchen. And what are they going to do about that?”

Cast

Arnold and Monica Barbara shall return with new additions to the extended Brunner family remaining under wraps for the time being. The first season co-starred Fortune Feamster, Milan Carter, and Travis Van Winkle as fellow undercover agents along with Gabriel Luna as a baddie.

Release Date

The first season arrived close to Father’s Day 2023, and since this is a clear-cut case of dad TV, it’s entirely possible that Netflix will choose the same window in 2025 to release the second season. Then again, the first season took five months to shoot, so nothing is preventing the streamer from finishing this show up and delivering a surprise “early” release.

Trailer

No trailer exists yet, but seriously, if you haven’t yet watched this declaration from Arnold as starring in every Netflix show — including Cobra Kai, The Queen’s Gambit, Emily In Paris, and You — via “FUBAR mode,” then you have really been missing out on some sheer joy.

Scottie Barnes is not the only player to suffer a fractured left hand during Friday night’s slate of NBA games. During the matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Wizards at Crypto.com Arena, Clippers guard Russell Westbrook left the game and got ruled out for suffering the same injury that ended Barnes’ night.

Unlike Barnes, who pretty clearly hurt his hand against the Golden State Warriors, it was much harder to see when Westbrook got hurt. But thanks to Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, we saw that Westbrook appeared to get banged up early in the second quarter while trying to poke the ball away from Jordan Poole. He managed to stay in the game for another two minutes or so before exiting.

While Westbrook is no longer the all-encompassing force he was earlier in his career, Ty Lue has trusted him to serve as the team’s backup point guard this year. With his injury, it is easy to assume that a path will open up for young guard Bones Hyland — who was put on leave prior to the All-Star break but has returned to the Clippers — to get more minutes.

On the year, Westbrook is averaging 11.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 22.8 minutes per game.

Gesaffelstein is scheduled to perform at Coachella 2024 next month, and the French DJ and electronic producer will have plenty of new material. On February 15, Gesaffelstein announced Gamma, his third studio album and first since 2019, will be released on March 29. On Friday, March 1, he wet fans’ appetite by dropping “Hard Dreams,” written and sung by Yan Wagner.

The Jordan Hemingway-directed video finds a masked Gesaffelstein alone in an ominous room. He stares at himself in the mirror, and the mirror explodes. He falls backward as shards of glass spray into the air — and pieces of the glass slowly reveal a beautiful woman. The disjointed elements in the video match perfectly with Wagner’s lyrics about a confusing love with verses like, “I trick myself with gasoline / The fire grows inside my skin / No fantasy, no in-betweens / Don’t tell me no lies.”

“The new album showcases Gesaffelstein’s raw, industrial sound and finds Gesaffelstein finally giving the mask a voice,” a press release explained upon Gesaffelstein’s Gamma announcement, adding, “The visuals and imagery for the album have been spearheaded by Jordan Hemingway (FKA Twigs, Post Malone, Gucci, Acne Studios) in close collaboration with Mike Lévy.”

Watch the “Hard Dreams” video above, and check out the album’s trailer and tracklist below.

1. “Digital Slaves”
2. “Hard Dreams”
3. “Your Share Of The Night”
4. “Hysteria”
5. “The Urge”
6. “Mania”
7. “Lost Love”
8. “The Perfect”
9. “Psycho”
10. “Tyranny”
11. “Emet”

Gamma is out 3/29 via Columbia Records. Find more information here.

The Toronto Raptors won’t have the services of Scottie Barnes for the foreseeable future. In the aftermath of the team’s 120-105 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, the team announced that the former Rookie of the Year and the up-and-coming face of their franchise is out indefinitely after suffering a fracture in his left hand.

The injury occurred late in the second quarter of the game. Barnes attempted to contest a layup by Jonathan Kuminga, but as he was getting ready to jump, his left hand caught the leg of his teammate, Immanuel Quickley. He was in clear pain after the play, and following a Gary Trent make on the next possession, Barnes took a personal foul and made his way into the back.

While Toronto sits in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and are 4.5 games back of a berth in a Play-In Tournament, losing Barnes is absolutely brutal, as the team entered Friday night’s game with three wins in its previous four games. Getting to use the final month and a half as a chance for Barnes and his teammates to continue to build up chemistry would have been incredibly valuable, and while we’ll have to see if he’s able to return this year, those efforts took a hit on Friday night.

Entering Friday night’s game, Barnes — who made his first All-Star team this season — averaged 20 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.3 steals in 35.2 minutes per game.

On Thursday, February 29, Porter Robinson scared his fans. A paparazzi asked him if he was “really deleting his music,” which earned a playful thumbs-up from Robinson. “Yes,” he said, as captured by Getty. “Yes, I am. Thank you!” It turned out to be an expertly executed troll job, as Robinson confirmed on Friday, March 1, that his third studio album is arriving sooner than later.

“The album is done,” Robinson posted on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). The post also included a photo of Robinson holding a giant pink star over his shoulder. The star has hearts and faces spray-painted onto it. The photo could be anything from a one-off or a promotional press image to the official album artwork or an as-yet-announced single’s artwork. For now, Robinson’s announcement remains vague.

However, on Instagram, Robinson also posted a video showing him in what appears to be his studio. Once he hits play, his face is covered by a pink cartoonish face — the same animation is now Robinson’s profile icon across his social media accounts, as well as his Spotify page. The video’s foreshadowing caption reads, “_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 😀 #NEWMUSIC.”

Robinson’s forthcoming third LP will follow 2021’s Nurture, peaking at No. 52 on the Billboard 200, and 2014’s Worlds, peaking at No. 18 on the Billboard 200.

There’s a lot more where Cardi B’s “Like What (Freestyle)” came from, and she has the receipts to prove it. On Friday, March 1, Cardi dropped “Like What” alongside a video directed by Offset, which is another conversation to be had at a different time. Cardi B has been busy promoting the well-received song on her Instagram Story, sneaking in a tease for future music.

In one video, Cardi B scrolls through “like 100 songs” on her computer dating back to January 2023. “Look how long I’ve had this f*cking record for,” she says off-camera. “January 27, 202-f*ckin’-3. I was working on this sh*t at 5 a.m. You know I’m a night owl.”

Cardi added, “I’m not letting my anxiety, I’m not letting what haters say, I’m not letting what fans say — if I do a song, I’m gonna just f*cking drop it. Well, I got no choice because I’m dropping my album this year, so stay tuned for the announcement. But don’t play with me!”

Cardi’s next album will be her first since her sensational, record-breaking 2018 debut, Invasion Of Privacy. Whenever it arrives, Cardi will likely prove why her forthcoming sophomore LP was among Uproxx’s “Most Anticipated Albums Of 2024.”

For now, watch the “Like What (Freestyle)” video above.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On Friday, March 1, Cardi B released her “Like What (Freestyle)” alongside a salacious Offset-directed video, putting Cardi’s rap prowess front and center. Uproxx’s Aaron Williams led this week’s “Best New Hip-Hop” with it, and Missy Elliott appears to agree with that assessment. Missy’s opinion would matter regardless, but it especially matters in this case because Cardi freestyled over a sample of Missy’s “She’s A B*tch” from her 1999 Grammy-nominated album, Da Real World.

Missy Elliott spent Friday responding to fans’ “Like What” reactions on X (formerly Twitter). She mostly replied with various Memoji stickers — the heart hands, the dancing salsa lady, a purple heart, the prayer hands — but the recent Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee had something to say to one person.

Someone going by Jus on X wrote, “Do these children really not know that it’s a freestyle to Missy Elliott’s song?? Like wtf is going on in these schools? In these homes??!! Just uncultured! lmao” Missy initially replied with another Memoji, which led to Jus writing, “Missy we gotta educate the children like it’s getting out of hand. Also, I love you and your music! You are a LEGEND! A ICON!” To that, Missy wrote, “Yes….The ones before my era taught us also.” Of course, there were two Memojis accompanying that message.

Missy also promoted”Like What” on her Instagram Story.

Watch Cardi’s “Like What (Freestyle)” video above, and check out Elliott’s X posts below.

Cardi B and Missy Elliott are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A week after Cody Rhodes challenged the Rock to a singles match, WrestleMania XL plans are coming even clearer into picture.

Roman Reigns came out to open SmackDown and demanded the crowd acknowledge him over and again. When he felt disrespected, he threatened to leave. Paul Heyman interrupted him and told Reigns he couldn’t leave because The Rock would be coming out any minute.

After a brief break, Rock hit the ring and talked down the Arizona audience. Rock said the Bloodline is in a good mood because professional wrestling is cool, exciting, and electrifying once again. Rock continued that Cody Rhodes is not cool and called him an idiot to think he’d go one-on-one with the People’s Champ.

Rock said he’s a businessman and the Bloodline has a counter offer to Rhodes’ challenge for a singles match that would have taken place at Elimination Chamber: a tag team match with himself and Reigns against Rhodes and Seth Rollins on Night 1 of WrestleMania XL.

If they win, the Bloodline is barred from Night 2 of WrestleMania, where Rhodes will challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. If they lose though, it’s Bloodline rules, which means anything goes. Rock continued to talk down Rhodes and Rollins, and reminded them that he’s their boss and he sits on the board of TKO.

Rock demanded that Rollins and Rhodes meet them next week on Smackdown to give their answers. As the Rock began his “If you Smell,” Reigns snatched the microphone from his hand. He asked Rock to acknowledge him, which Rock did.