As his breakout television shows BMF starring and Power Book II: Ghost return for new seasons this month, rapper 50 Cent stopped by REAL 92.3 FM’s show Big Boy’s Neighborhood to discuss each show (which he serves as an executive producer) on and more. As he chatted with host Big Boy, 50 revealed that he would be adding yet another television series to his lengthy production resume.
As the pair talked about 50’s relationship with fellow rapper Eminem and their performance at Super Bowl LVI in 2022, 50 declared a television series version of Eminem’s biopic 8 Mile was underway.
“I wanna bring… I’m gonna bring 8 Mile to television,” 50 said. The mogul confirmed that his dear friend was aware of his plans before continuing, “We in motion. It’s gonna be big. I’m working. I ain’t got no duds.” This news served as a surprise to the host as just days ago actor Mekhi Phifer shot down the idea of a sequel as the film’s anniversary approached.
When asked about the potential for a remake of the film, Phifer replied, “Sometimes it’s just best to leave it alone. Once you make it a classic, no reason to fool around with it,” he said. Phifer ended with, “It could be interesting, but I wouldn’t be in it, and I’m sure Eminem wouldn’t be in it either.”
But 50 Cent creatively disagrees telling Big Boy, “I think it should be there for [Eminem’s] legacy because it’s important to me that they understand it.”
Gloria Trevi responded to a lawsuit that resurfaced claims that she groomed and exploited young women for her ex-producer Sergio Andrade in the ’90s. Today (January 6), the Mexican pop star released a statement where she maintained her innocence against the allegations of her involvement in a cult-like sex ring.
Earlier this week, Rolling Stonerevealed that a lawsuit was filed in LA on December 30 against Trevi and Andrade by two Jane Doe’s. The Doe’s claimed they were 13 and 15 years old when Trevi lured them into Andrade’s alleged sex ring with the promise of making them into stars. In the lawsuit, they accused Trevi of grooming them to become sex slaves for Andrade. The Doe’s are described as “survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sexual battery, assault, molestation, and abuse” in the filing.
Trevi opened her statement by mentioning that she was a victim of sexual abuse as well. At the 2018 Latin American Music Awards, she gave a speech where she implied that Andrade took advantage of her without directly naming him.
“My words are directed to everyone who may have seen recent allegations about me but do not know the background and my story,” Trevi said in her statement. “Being a victim of physical and sexual abuse is one of the worst things that can happen to a human being. I say it, and I know it, because I am a survivor. And, my thoughts go out to anyone who, like me, has ever been the victim of any kind of abuse.”
Trevi then called the claims against her in the lawsuit “false” while adding that she acquitted of the sex ring charges in Mexico in 2004. After serving four years in pre-trial detention in Chihuahua, a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to support the rape, kidnapping, and corruption of minors charges that she faced in Mexico.
“But I will not remain silent while I am unfairly accused of crimes I did not commit,” Trevi said. “These false accusations, which were first made against me 25 years ago, have been tried in various courts and, in all instances, I have been completely and totally acquitted. For these old, disproven claims to resurface now is tremendously painful for me and for all my family. The accusations were false when they were made and remain false today.”
In addition to denying the claims, Trevi added that she filed a lawsuit in the US to “expose and hold all those who are trying to defame me accountable.” She ended her statement with confidence that she will be able to clear her name in court: “I will continue to move forward and work to get justice in this case — and I will do so knowing that the truth is on my side.”
Trevi closed out 2022 as the second highest-grossing female Latin touring artist in North America. In terms of ticket sales, her La Isla Divina Tour finished in second place behind Karol G’sStrip Love Tour. Last year, Trevi also released her La Isla Divina album that featured artists like Guaynaa, Mónica Naranjo, and Timo Nuñez.
Just over a decade ago, Garrain Jones found himself living out of a car, wondering where it had all gone wrong. “I had all of these negative ideas in my head and I was in a really dark place,” says Jones. “I was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, my girlfriend had broken up with me, my daughter had disowned me, I had spent two years in prison, and my mother was sick in the hospital. I had lost all direction.”
That all changed in one fateful moment two years later, when Jones screamed out to the universe for help. One week after begging for change into the cosmos, a stranger gave him a phrase that would set him on a new path. “This homeless guy came up to me to ask for money and I told him that I had even less than him,” says Jones. “That man said, ‘Change your mind and change your life.’ I started to come to the realization that I had ended up where I did because I was following the wrong train of thought.”
This started a chain of positive choices that took Jones from destitute to destined for greatness. Flash forward to the present day, Jones has become one of the most respected transformation coaches in the world, leading people of all kinds into a more empowered existence. Uproxx was able to spend some enlightening time with Jones, he shared some advice for anyone looking to make meaningful changes this year.
FIND YOUR INNER CHILD
Garrain Jones
“There are a lot of people who have plenty of material things but still aren’t happy, and one reason is they have been ignoring that little kid inside of them. The one who wants to sing, dance, or run, who didn’t even know about half the things they’ve bought over a lifetime. One way I put it is this. Imagine yourself as a little child coming up to you and saying, “Mom!” or “Dad!” And you are flat out ignored by your older self for a few decades. How do you think that relationship is going to feel? Not great.
“One way to reconnect with that inner self is to do those things that we loved to do as a child like singing, dancing, running, or reading. I met a lady who hadn’t danced in 20 years, and I made her sign up for a dance glass. One year later, she had found a man, her intimacy was better, her finances, everything was better because she was looking to fulfill what was inside before the outside.”
FIND YOUR TRIBE
Courtesy
“I love the phrase: ‘flowers grow together faster than they do by themselves.’ Being part of a community, where you can immerse yourself in a better culture, does more for you than pretty much any work that you can do alone. For example, you could either take five minutes a week with an app trying to learn French while sitting in a Coffee Bean, or you could go to a French cafe and immerse yourself in that community. Even if you aren’t able to travel, there are groups all over social media platforms like Facebook where people will get together. Maybe something like ‘healthy moms in Austin’ or ‘sports dads in Cincinnati.’ Those can work too.
“Don’t wait for those opportunities to come to you, or those people to stumble into your life, seek them out. Find people who are thinking like you want to think and doing what you want to do, even if that’s not the way you are in that moment. Back when I was homeless, trying to find my way out of living in a car I worked to find a community that was living the life that I wanted to live. Instead of going out to drink or party, I would go to free self-help seminars where I could use my brain instead of waste it.
“This principle also guided me through my weight loss journey. Growing up I was fed nothing but fatty foods, and I knew nothing about a healthy or active lifestyle. Pretty much everyone in my family was overweight or obese, and I was 40 pounds overweight. Then when I was 32 I started that change by seeking out people around me who were leading a healthy lifestyle. They were speaking in a way I had never heard, saying words I had never heard, doing things I had never seen, and eating foods I hadn’t eaten before.
“From leaning on those people, and doing what they did, I lost 35 pounds of fat and put on 19 pounds of muscle. I took my body fat percent from 16 percent to 6 percent. Those practices became habits, and now I have been able to keep that up for a decade.”
BREAK THE TECHNOLOGY TETHER
Unsplash
“One of the best steps I took was to turn off the television and started putting down my phone more often. I took all of the energy that I used to use scrolling or watching mindless shows, and I put all of that energy into reading or listening to books. I read The Power Of Positive Thinking by Doctor Norman Vincent Peale over 300 times. Good things just kept happening while I was reading those pages. I read Grow Rich! With Peace Of Mind by Napoleon Hill and The Power by Rhonda Byrne.
“I wasn’t reading those books for memory, I was reading those books for mastery. I relate it to listening to a song over and over again. Before long your subconscious mind is going to have a hold of it, and think of it. That is what these books were to me. Once they were in there, I couldn’t get those books or good ideas out of my head. The lyrics from their books were abundance, kindness, love, forgiveness, and letting go of resentment. That was the song in my head. That is the song that I was singing to others as well. Before I started reading and listening to all of these great minds, my brain was filled with negativity and random thoughts that had nothing to do with my life moving forward. You can’t just pick up oil out of a cup. But if you pour in enough water, the oil will be flushed out of the cup. My brain was that cup.”
SET YOUR INTENTIONS
Courtesy
“Intention plants the seed for the results that you want to create. If you are working without intention, then you are throwing pasta at a wall and hoping that a spaghetti dinner ends up on the table. One of the exercises that I have adopted to stay on track is writing a letter to myself in the future every year congratulating for hitting the milestones I want. I find that by staying within the bounds of 365 days it is easier to focus on attainable goals and those critical steps that will lead to massive change.
“Start by putting today’s date at the top, and address yourself saying how proud you are for accomplishing all of the goals that you want to see achieved. Try to get details in the text, because seeing is believing and this can bring you that much closer. For example, if you wanted to lose 40 pounds, say how proud you are of yourself you are for finding a gym, a trainer, a partner that helps you, eating better, going every other day, finding a healthier community, or whatever else you think will get you there.
“Put that letter in the post to yourself, and don’t open it until a year later. You might be surprised at where you are when you read that letter again.”
***
These are just a few pieces of advice from Jones to get you started. For those interested in getting more of his teaching or engaging with him more you can find him on social media or on his website. Don’t get discouraged if you have missteps, but if you begin the process of transformation in a strong way with these fundamentals you could find yourself well on the way to a better life. “The funny thing is when you dig really deep into it — if you have the fundamentals, and you make them a part of everything that you do, that’s when you are doing that high-level work,” encourages Jones. “Even the masters have to do the basics.”
With all of the various sequels that have been popping up lately, it’s hard to decide which ones will be good, and which ones might fall very, very flat. Of course, when the original director is on board, this could change things, which just might be the case for the upcoming Gladiator sequel.
Deadline reports that Ridley Scott is itching to get back to that colosseum for some good old-fashioned violence, this time with the internet’s current golden boy Paul Mescal as the one in all of that snazzy armor. Costume designer Janty Yates is also slated to return, along with production designer Arthur Max. The original flick starred Russel Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, and Oliver reed.
Mescal won’t be replacing Crowe, because that is an unattainable goal for anyone, but he will instead portray Lucius, the son of Nielsen’s Lucilla from the first film, who has now grown enough to be his own main character. This will be the latest of many fan-favorite projects for Mescal, who has been earning some Oscar buzz for his performance in Aftersun.
Scott, who most recently directed a different type of violent Italian-adjacent drama film (House Of Gucci) will return to lead the project after announcing that he was working on a script for the sequel in 2021, over two decades since the original film was released. Scott recently wrapped filming on the Apple TV film Napoleon, where he reunited with Phoenix, which is expected to be released this year.
A horror movie doesn’t necessarily need redolent, relevant subtext, or some grand unifying metaphor to tie it all together, but it does help. That’s especially true in the case of M3GAN, opening this week from director Gerard Johnstone and writers Akela Cooper and James Wan, which, absent social commentary, is basically just a scary doll movie. We’ve seen those (in multiple, still-running franchises); even the lowest-brow popcorn head naturally expects this one to have some satire.
M3GAN is indeed a scary doll, but her powers are robotic, not strictly supernatural, and the subtext of this riff on killer AI is that it’s dangerous to let technology raise our kids. M3GAN (you can annoy your friends by stubbornly referring to it as “muh-THREE-gan”) opens with a family on their way to a ski trip. Mom and dad are bickering, and daughter, Cady (Violet McGraw) is occupied playing with a weird doll designed to poop itself. The doll was a gift from Cady’s aunt, Gemma (Allison Williams) and both parents think it’s weird, and that Cady probably shouldn’t be playing with it. Yet, as dad points out, what’s the alternative? Cady whining and bugging them the whole drive? Easier to let Cady play with her weird new tech, even if it might be warping her brain. Her whole generation is going to have warped brains anyway, wouldn’t want her to be left out.
It’s a version of a dilemma every parent has faced these days. Whether to let your kid disappear into their tablet to look at God knows what, because it’s easy and we’re too overworked or lazy, or to try to do the “right” thing and force them into the real world, at great personal cost and the risk of possibly becoming the modern version of the kids we remember whose parents wouldn’t let them watch TV and thus missed out on every playground reference to the Simpsons.
Because M3GAN is a horror movie, Cady quickly becomes orphaned via snowplow (get well soon, Jeremy Renner) and sent to live with her aforementioned aunt Gemma, a curiously attractive AI toy designer in Seattle. Gemma is a robotics whiz, but her boss, David (Ronnie Chieng) keeps pressuring her to design toys that can be manufactured cheaply (hence the shitting Furby she gifted Cady). Cady turns Gemma’s life upside down, but also inspires her. To defy her boss yet again and create M3GAN, short for Model 3 Generative Android, a lifelike android companion, and the opposite of a cheap toy. M3GAN is so impressive that the only question is, will she cost less than a Tesla? The plan is for her to be a status toy.
This, of course, puts Cady, as the M3GAN prototype’s primary user, in the metaphorical backseat of a Tesla on full self-drive beta mode. Hopefully, the fancy tech will get her to school safely, but there’s always the risk that it mows down a few pedestrians along the way or ejects her into an abandoned quarry.
M3GAN is a pretty pitch-perfect satire, of both parenting in the age of predatory technology, and of the tech industry itself. Both of which tend to pit convenience and luxury against mental health and a right to privacy.
It’s also better at comedy than it is at horror. M3GAN is strong on color — Gemma’s obnoxious neighbor, Celia, and the other moms at the free-range alternative school Gemma sends Cady to are all lovingly sketched and imbued with memorable detail — but a little light on logistics in a mildly disappointing way. The kills are reasonably delicious (a must in this kind of movie), but they’d probably be more delicious if Johnstone had taken more time to plot and stage them in a way that made spatial and practical sense for a four-foot silicone doll. Art thrives on limitation and all that, but M3GAN seems like it’s kind of in a hurry. And so the doll just kind of defies physics whenever the story requires. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but it does feel like this could’ve been so much more fun with just a little more care and creativity in the staging. Subtext is great, but don’t sell out the text for it.
The upside is that the doll (supposedly some combination of practical effects, CGI, and a child actor in a costume) is delightfully weird, breaking into song on occasion, and the kind of proper boss bitch it’s easy to cheer for. That dead-eyed stare, those inscrutable facial expressions and bitchy comebacks — she’s the ultimate real housewife, in miniature.
Mostly, M3GAN is fun: kinda smart, kinda stupid, and in either case punching way above its weight for a horror movie released in January (traditionally the studio dumping ground for schlocky turds). If this is the new bar for mass-market horror, the industry is in good shape.
‘M3GAN’ is available now in theaters everywhere. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can read more of his reviews here.
Remember Billy Bush? Hopefully not! He’s the nephew of George H.W. Bush who got fired from hosting the Today show after a tape of him and Donald Trump making lewd comments about women was obtained by the Washington Post.
And that’s the last we heard from either men.
Uh, not quite. We all know what happened with Trump (he went insane). As for Bush, he’s been the host of Extra since 2019, proving there’s no such thing as cancel culture, and now he’s caught in another hot mic controversy. The Daily Beastreports that “Bush joked on-set during a taping of Extra about model Kendall Jenner’s Toy Story-inspired Halloween costume and her attractiveness in the outfit.” During the October 31st taping of the news-gossip show, Bush joked, “Kendall goes as Jessie and, believe me, there were a lot of woodies,” eliciting hyena-like laughter from production staffers.
Notably, in the final segment that aired on Oct. 31, Bush was a bit more demure when it came to discussing female celebrities’ physical appearances. While reporting on Jenner’s costume, the Extra host only went so far as to remark that “it’s going to be hard to see Toy Story the same way ever again.”
Cask strength single malt Scotch whisky is usually the rarer stuff. The vast majority of single malt whisky is proofed down to 46% or 43%. Generally, if you’re looking at a 46% ABV bottle, you know it wasn’t filtered. 43%, it was. Cask strength single malts are often only released as limited edition batches or special yearly one-off releases as a sort of highlight of the brand’s wonderful, lesser-seen barrels.
All of this is to say that it’s time for another blind taste test, and this time I’m reaching for single malt Scotch whiskies that are bottled at cask strength. That makes our lineup today the following bottles:
The GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 10 Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Octomore 13.3 Edition Aged 5 Years Super Heavily Peated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Oban Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 10 Years 2022 Special Release
Cardhu Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 16 Years 2022 Special Release
The GlenAllachie 10-Year-Old Cask Strength Batch 7
BenRiach Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky Malting Season Second Edition
Clynelish Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years 2022 Special Release
Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 11 Years 2022 Special Release
When it comes to ranking these, it’s all about the taste, folks. Peated and unpeated whiskies have equal value, depending on what you’re looking for. Well-made whisky is a well-made whisky whether it’s peated or not and whether you like it or not. So, I’m mixing some great peaties in with the sweeter unpeated malts for this one. In the end, I’m just looking at which bottles have the deepest and most enticing flavors.
Nose: Backporch wicker vibes with soft prunes and spicy holiday cake with a clove focus next to soft sultanas and berries with an echo of dead fall leaves lurking underneath it all.
Palate: The palate leans into the holiday cake with a matrix of ginger sharpness, cinnamon, nutmeg, candied fruits, and citrus peels, and a roasted nuttiness with a hint of dates and black tea with soft toffee drizzle just touched with salt.
Finish: The end leans back into that wicker from the nose with a supple sense of toffee-covered shortbread and stewed plums.
Initial Thoughts:
This has a heavy bourbon vibe. It’s pretty great if you’re looking for a dark, spicy, and fruity whisky that will feel familiar to an American whiskey drinker. But does that take away from the “scotch” of it all?
I’m on the fence.
Still… delicious.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is a subtle mix of salted caramel with sweet caramel malts, apricot jam, gingerbread, and a touch of nasturtium with a whisper of smoked apples and pears before the ashen peat starts sneaking in with a sense of a BBQ pork rib rack smothered in BBQ sauce.
Palate: The palate opens with smoked brown sugar next to rich marzipan with a hint of Almond Joy next to Kiwi boot wax, orange marmalade, dried roses, lemon pepper, and a hint of oyster liquor.
Finish: The end has a caramel maltiness that’s just kissed with sea salt and potpourri cut with mild dark spices and more of that marzipan, finishing on a light fruit soda vibe.
Initial Thoughts:
This had me at BBQ pork ribs. Beyond that very familiar note, it’s also just complex and rich with a lightness that keeps things fun for the senses. This is good whisky.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a lithe sense of lemon/lime saltwater taffy and Whether’s candies wrapped in white wax paper with a hint of lime leaves and wild sage next to salted smoked lemons and tangerines with a hint of really good and cloudy extra virgin olive oil speckled with smoked sea salt and freshly cracked red peppercorns.
Palate: The palate is silken and full of layers of smoked grapes, smoked plums, and salted chili pepper candies with a fleeting sense of violet and lavender creaminess tied to a lush vanilla underbelly.
Finish: The end has a mild woody chili pepper spiciness that’s dry and leads to a limber finish with warmth, lightly caramelized malts, and smoked apricot jam with brandy cream.
Initial Thoughts:
This is pretty nice. The butterscotch on the nose was subtle and felt real. By the end, you felt like you were drinking candied malt.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a definite sense of aura of funky rumminess with a hint of barrel char and grilled tropical fruits with plenty of brown spices — clove, allspice, nutmeg — surrounded by creamy lemon meringue pie, mango lassi, and freshly washed sheets flapping in the summer breeze (it’s wildly engaging and kind of weird but I love it).
Palate: The palate has a rummy butterscotch syrup mood with spiced rum cocktails cut with banana bread, walnuts, and brown butter with a hint of brandy-soaked oak staves.
Finish: The end has a light black pepperiness with more of that rummy barrel funk and soft and sweet (not acidic) tropical fruit.
Initial Thoughts:
That butterscotch was a little better on this sip. Overall, this was complex and had a great feel with a wonderfully nuanced finish that sticks with you.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Subtle notes of honey and raisins mingle with cinnamon sticks and nutmeg with a hint of dark chocolate orange balls and maybe even some orange mocha frappuccino on the nose.
Palate: That dark chocolate dominates on the early palate as rum raisin, figs, and stewed plums with plenty of winter spice and orange zest dance with each other.
Finish: The end has a gingerbread vibe with more dried dark fruits and a very mild maltiness.
Initial Thoughts:
This ended very mildly. It felt a little thin but still perfectly okay overall.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice sense of rich caramel malts on the nose with a sense of distiller’s beer from the washback next to fresh tangerine skins, almond shells, and a touch of macadamia nut cookies.
Palate: The palate leans into fresh and lightly piney honey with a sense of apple bark and orange oils next to creamy caramel malts and vanilla malts.
Finish: The end leans into marzipan laced with lemon oils next to plums and apricots dipped in that fresh honey and spun with thin lines of apple tobacco.
Initial Thoughts:
This was also perfectly okay all things considered.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a subtle mix of mincemeat pies, syrupy pears from the can, floral honey, and a herbal note of maybe bay leaf or sage with a whisper of mint on the nose.
Palate: The palate has a waxy saltwater taffy vibe tied to vanilla with a soft pepperiness and woody winter spice warmth next to soft toffees.
Finish: The end is lightly spiced with dried chili pepper and peppercorns next to that soft and waxy vanilla saltwater taffy on the spicy finish.
Initial Thoughts:
This was a fruity and classic malt whisky. I felt quintessential from the nose to the finish and really delivered a nice experience.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a clear sense of seaside campfires far down a rainy beach next to a fruit orchard with a hint of nori sheets, old boat rope, and a dash of brown wintry spices on the nose.
Palate: The palate leans into the oiliness of the nori with a slightly singed salmon skin vibe, smoked fish oils, and a touch of that distant campfire next to smoked plums and apricots with a hint of salted pear chips and dry red chili pepper.
Finish: The end has a long meander through a pebble beach with sea salt, smoked pear, and briny seaweed salad next to a hint of fatty smoked salmon bellies with a black and red pepper crust.
Initial Thoughts:
This was on another level. There was a depth and complexity to this pour that just blew the last seven pours out of the water (no pun intended). It’s just perfectly balanced whisky.
Aged in a combination of Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry puncheons, Rioja barriques, and virgin oak casks, all personally selected and blended by esteemed Master Distiller Billy Walker. without added coloring or chill filtration
Bottom Line:
This very much slotted into the “fine” column today. I can see this working in cocktails perfectly well but would pass on it as a sipper.
7. BenRiach Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky Malting Season Second Edition — Taste 6
The second edition of BenRiach’s Malting Season series is also made with barley malted fully in-house at the distillery in Speyside. The barley in this case is Concerto barley grown for this release. Once distilled, the hot juice went into 30 first-fill bourbon barrels and was rested for around nine years before batching and bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This was also “fine” but had a little more moxie to it than the above pour. There was a nice sweet porridge vibe that was enticing on the nose and delivered a citrus-forward maltiness that was overall pretty nice.
6. Oban Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 10 Years 2022 Special Release — Taste 3
This lightly peated Highland whisky from the tiny Oban Distillery is rendered from refill and new American oak barrels. That whisky is vatted and then refilled into Amontillado-seasoned casks for a final rest before batching and bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This had a nice balance of peat and sweet malts that ended very sweet with a “candied malt” vibe. If you’re looking for that sweetness with a hint of peat, then this is the bottle for you.
5. Cardhu Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 16 Years 2022 Special Release — Taste 4
This Speyside unpeated malt was aged in refill and re-charred American oak bourbon barrels for 16 years. That whisky was then refilled into Jamaican pot still rum-seasoned casks for a final rest before vatting and bottling as-is.
Bottom Line:
This had a clean and deep flavor profile. The sweetness was tied to a lot of great fruit and spice with a classic maltiness. In the end, this is a pretty easy-going sipper that’s sure to please (just not “wow”).
4. Clynelish Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years 2022 Special Release — Taste 7
This unpeated Highland malt was mellowed in refill American oak barrels that held bourbon and then finished in Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry-seasoned casks.
Bottom Line:
This was a classic unpeated malt whisky. It’s fruity, sweet, and lush. It’s kind of everything you want from a classic, well-made single malt in every sip.
3. The GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 10 Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky — Taste 1
The 10th release from the most beloved The GlenDronach Cask Strength series is another instant classic. The whisky in the bottle is blended by Dr. Rachel Barrie from whisky aged in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks. The whisky is then vatted and bottled as-is with no fussing.
Bottom Line:
I really like this but it is 100% a bourbon drinker’s single malt. Which is totally cool, yo. Because this is such well-made whisky that I don’t even care if it has a bourbon aura about it.
That said, if you’re looking for a bridge between American bourbon whiskey and unpeated Scotch single malt whisky, this is the bottle to grab.
2. Octomore 13.3 Edition Aged 5 Years Super Heavily Peated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky — Taste 2
This new limited edition Octomore from Bruichladdich is all about Islay. The whisky is made from heavily peated malts grown on the island (most malts are shipping in from the mainland) back in 2015. In 2016, the whisky was distilled right by the sea at Bruichladdich and then loaded into first-fill, ex-American whiskey casks and second-fill European oak casks from the Rivesaltes region of France and the Ribera del Duero region of Spain. After five years, the casks were vatted and then bottled completely as-is.
Bottom Line:
This is just good whisky. It’s very peated, sure. But that peat expresses itself in very familiar ways via that BBQ pork rib vibe. There are touchstones that help this one shine, especially on an American’s palate.
1. Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 11 Years 2022 Special Release — Taste 8
This classic lightly-peated Talisker is aged by the sea in American oak, ex-bourbon first fill, refill casks, and wine-seasoned casks. Those barrels are batched and then bottled as-is after 11 years of quiet mellowing.
Bottom Line:
This is a perfectly balanced whisky that just slaps from top to bottom. Nothing on this list came close to this pour.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
Yes, this list was full of great whiskies. Each one had its own feel and worth. But that Talisker really had no competition today. It was just so hauntingly brilliant and balanced.
That said, if you’re looking for a big and familiar peated whisky, the new Octomore is a great play, especially with spring BBQ season just around the corner. I also really dig The GlenDronach as a bourbon drinker. It’s just that little bit extra.
In the end, get the Talisker. It’s a truly fantastic whisky and — at that price — a pretty great value.
January is an exciting month for new whiskey. Mostly, that’s due to a bunch of late December releases hitting shelves and everyone being a little too busy and distracted to notice it all. Luckily, January is a long month with plenty of time to appreciate new whiskeys so let’s name some great whiskeys that you should be looking for and drinking right now.
For this list, I pulled 12 whiskeys that popped on my radar over the last couple of weeks (some of them in the last couple of days) that are easy(ish) to find right now. These are the new whiskeys that you should be excited to drink because they’re all really f*cking good. That in turn means that these whiskeys aren’t ranked. That’d defeat the purpose and also be a little mad. There are some whiskeys on this list that transcend ranking due to their pure greatness. That also means that some of these aren’t going to be on every single shelf around the country — so happy whiskey hunting out there, folks.
Let’s dive in and find you a great whiskey to drink this January!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This is the mountaintop of Johnnie Walker’s whiskies. The blend is a marriage of ultra-rare stock from extinct Diageo distilleries around Scotland. That’s just … cool. This expression is all about barrel selection and the mastery of a great noser and blender working together to create something special.
Beyond what’s in the bottle, the actual bottle is also really freakin’ cool. This year’s Chinese New Year design was created by rising fashion star Angel Chen. Chen interpreted the Chinese rabbit Zen sign for a stunning bottle and box design that hinges on the ethea of mercy, elegance, and beauty.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this one feels like silk with soft malts, dried plums, good marzipan, old boot leather, mulled wine spices, and a whisper of fireplace smoke.
Palate: The taste layers orange oils into the marzipan as rose-water-infused honey leads to a line of bitter dark chocolate that’s touched with smoked malts and nuts.
Finish: The end has an even keel of velvet mouthfeel next to floral honey, soft smoldering smoke from a fireplace, and old dried fruit.
Bottom Line:
Johnnie Walker Blue Label really is that good. It lives up to all of the hype. Add in a collectible and dazzlingly beautiful bottle and you have a must-have bottle of whiskey for January 2023.
Barrell’s New Year Bourbon is one of the most beloved releases of the year. This year’s batch is made from a grouping of five, six, seven, eight, and 10-year-old straight bourbon whiskeys distilled in Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Wyoming, New York, Texas, and Maryland. Those whiskeys were batched in Kentucky and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a classic bourbon on the nose with deep flavors of buttered buttermilk biscuits, salted caramel, singed marshmallow, Almond Joy, cherry cream soda, and a touch of Nutella and maple syrup.
Palate: The palate leans into cherry root beer with a hint of vanilla cream soda next to eggnog spices and creaminess, old dried roses in older leatherbound books, and a whisper of red peppercorn cracked over some sweet pipe tobacco.
Finish: The end has a candied chili pepper vibe next to burnt orange, marzipan, and creamy dark chocolate with a hint of walnut and cherry saltwater taffy.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty easy win for January 2023. It’s a bottle that’s specifically made for celebrating the new year. That aside, this is also a very tasty and unique bourbon that’s sure to wow novices and aficionados alike.
Frank August Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Barrel No. 0002
This brand-new release from awards-favorite Frank August dials things into a single barrel of whiskey. The whiskey in the bottle is a 5.1-year-old Kentucky bourbon from an undisclosed source. That barrel is bottled 100% as-is with no cutting, filtering, or fussing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a very classic Kentucky bourbon nose with big winter spice notes tied to barks and buds with a hint of nutmeg before leaning into oily vanilla pods and salted caramel chews with a nice hint of apple cider and black cherry cola.
Palate: Clove buds, cinnamon bark, and allspice berries lead on the palate with a hint of chili pepper spiciness before a lush sense of vanilla white cake with toffee frosting and burnt orange creates a luxurious mouthfeel with a hint of alcohol warmth.
Finish: The end arrives with a deeply classic vibe that’s slightly tied to old oak cellars next to cherry bark, old bottles of vanilla, and easy-going salted caramel sweetness next to a hint of apple cider tobacco rolled with cinnamon bark and cedar.
Bottom Line:
This is an excellent bourbon whiskey. If you can find a bottle, buy two. It’s that good. Then take your time with it and let the nose and palate wash over you slowly.
Pursuit United Blended Straight Rye Whiskeys Finished with Sherry French Reserve Oak
This brand-new rye from the team over at Bourbon Pursuit is a masterful blend. The juice is hewn from Bardtown Bourbon Company 95/5 Kentucky rye batched with two Sagamore Spirit ryes — one a 95/5 and one 52/43/5 rye/corn/malted barley. Those whiskeys are batched and re-barreled into a French sherry reserve cask for a final rest before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of dark fruits — black cherry, dates, rum raisin — on the nose that leads to soft and sweet oak next to worn leather, mulled wine, and brandy-soaked fig cut with nutmeg and clove.
Palate: The taste is more on the woody side of the spice with a clear sense of old-school mulled wine with sweet vanilla and star anise over orange rinds and raisins with a slight chili warmth underneath.
Finish: The chili warmth drives the finish toward a soft red-wine-soaked oak that’s spiced with orchard barks and fruits next to vanilla/cherry tobacco just kissed with dark chocolate.
Bottom Line:
This is a real home run from the Bourbon Pursuit team. While I lean more towards Manhattans and Sazeracs with this one, it’s perfectly nice as a slow sipper on a cold winter day too.
Bardstown Bourbon Company Origin Series Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey Finished in Toasted Cherry Wood and Oak Barrels
This whiskey — from Bardstown Bourbon Company’s own Origin Series — is their classic 95/5 rye that’s aged for almost five years. Then the whiskey is finished with alternating toasted American oak and toasted cherry wood staves in the barrel. Once the whiskey is just right, it’s batched, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is classic with fresh cherry layered with nasturtiums, cinnamon sticks, and soft cedar planks just kissed with clove, nutmeg, and anise before light red peppercorns and brandy-soaked cherries dipped in salted dark chocolate kick in.
Palate: The palate follows the nose’s lead with a lush mouthfeel that’s full of spicy stewed fruits and ciders mixing with creamy vanilla and nutty bases over subtle chili pepper spiciness far in the rear of the taste.
Finish: The end pushed the woody spices toward an apple cider/choco-cherry tobacco mix with a cedar box and old leather vibe tying the whole taste together.
Bottom Line:
Bardstown Bourbon Company’s new rye is a buzzer-beating three-point swish from half-court. This whiskey rules and will be a staple going into 2023 as a house pour on the rocks and an excellent cocktail base.
This whisky was named after a famed whisky thief — or “dog” — that was flattened to stop too much whisky being thieved back in the day. The actual whisky in the bottle is from two casks that were put on the racks in 1974 and 1978 and left alone.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a classic sense of old and sweet malts on the nose that leads you to sweet and floral perfume that’s so subtle and enticing before a hint of sticky toffee pudding and geranium bound toward old mint rolled into chocolate malts.
Palate: The palate has a soft and salted toffee with honey nut cluster dusted with light notes of sweet winter spice and floral orchard blossoms before a hint more of honey and sweet old oak arrives.
Finish: That sweet oak drives the finish toward nutty creaminess, old orchard wood, and a sense of soft summer flowers with a hint of malt cookies cut with raisin and cinnamon.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those whiskies that come around once in a lifetime. If you’re in the market for this level of whisky, then kudos because you’re rich.
Seriously though, this is truly delicious whisky that deserves all the love it gets.
The last batch of Booker’s of 2022 is a nod to Booker Noe’s father, Pinkie Noe. The whiskey in the bottle was created from barrels from the middle/sweet spot of four warehouses. The average age of the batch ended up being 6 years, 10 months, and 10 days old when it was bottled completely as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is full of dark brown sugar vanilla pods and winter spices that start to lean toward chili and cumin and then a sense of a well-seasoned pork butt before it goes into the smoker — it’s kind of like raw leather.
Palate: The palate is classic bourbon with a rich vanilla white cake frosted with buttercream next to bold dark cherry, woody notes of dry reeds, and salted caramel with a twinge of orange oils.
Finish: The end has a mild sense of tangerine flesh and star fruit that leads back to warm ABVs and dark winter spices layered into fresh tobacco and old cedar bark.
Bottom Line:
I love it when Booker’s goes a little funky and fresh and this release is that to a tee. It’s delicious, different, and worth tracking down right now.
Talisker Forests of the Deep Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 44 Years
This is one of the more unique Taliskers to hit shelves. The 40-plus-year-old juice is made finished in casks made with staves that were charred with Scottish sea kelp and stave wood shavings. The staves are then used to finish the whiskey before it’s vatted and bottled 100% as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of classic fruit orchards with a hint of blossom next to briny smokiness from a distance that slowly fades in toasted seaweed salad tossed with roasted sesame seeds and chili oil with a fleeting sense of mild soy sauce lurking way in the background.
Palate: The taste leans into orange zest and maybe even lime leaves with a twinge of old and sweet oak before a twinge of soft rope dipped in seawater leads to a thin line of a beach campfire surrounds by grey stones and spitting rain.
Finish: A mild note of chili pepper arrives late with a mild waxiness tied to chocolate, plum, and pear with a final flourish of a fruit orchard in full bloom.
Bottom Line:
Only 102 bottles of this are available in the U.S., which is a shame because it’s a delicious whisky. You really want to take your time with this one and nose it, taste it, add some water, do it all again, and really plumb the depths of this masterpiece pour.
This new batch from Sazerac’s Virginia distillery is all about upping the ante on last year’s bold ABV release. This year, Batch #2 takes the ABVs even higher in this cask-strength bourbon bomb thanks to the careful selection of old barrels that are batched and left completely uncut and non-chill-filtered.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a leathery nature on the nose with classic bourbon deep flourishes of very black cherry, salted caramel, cinnamon toast with cream butter and old vanilla pods, a touch of orange oil, and woody spice berries and barks.
Palate: Apple orchards and cherry pies open the sweet palate toward a massive heat from the ABVs that eventually fades towards creamed soft nut butter, vanilla cake, and apple cider spiked with spiced cherry tobacco.
Finish: The heat comes roaring back on the finish with brash woody winter spice and burnt orange with a touch of vanilla trying to find a counterbalance to all the heat.
Bottom Line:
This whiskey is bold with a capital “B”. It’s also nuanced and delivers a great bourbon flavor profile. For something with a shockingly high Hazmat ABV, this is perfectly balanced. Just add a rock before you dive in head first.
This rye is sourced from expertly picked barrels for a very small batch offering. The mash is a classic 95/5 rye/malted barley bill. The barrels are close to seven years old before a handful come together to create this barrel-strength bottling of only 620 bottles.
Nose: The nose is a straight-up classic with a sense of cherry and cinnamon tied to fresh and chewy tobacco with a sense of old cedar bark braided with dry sweetgrass and smudging sage with a light sense of pear candy and cream soda.
Palate: The taste leans into spiced cherry tobacco and stewed pear with a hint of marmalade and peach cobbler next to a hint of black-tea-soaked dates, salted whiskey-laced toffee, and clotted cream before a red chili pepper spiciness kicks in with a sense of cinnamon and cherry bark.
Finish: The woodies of the orchard fruit and spice drive the warm finish — but never hot — toward a luxurious and creamy end full of sharp yet sweet tobacco, a whisper of dank resin, and echoes of old fruit orchards.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best ryes of 2023. Yup, I’m calling it now. It’s that good.
This new release from whiskey-nerd-beloved Waterford out in Ireland is named after pioneering plant breeder Dr. Herbert Hunter. The initial grow for the barley for this whiskey was started with a 50-gram bag of Hunter barley. Over several seasons, they produced enough barley to fill 50 barrels of whiskey with the help of two other almost extinct heritage barley varieties, Goldthorpe and Old Irish. Finally, the whiskey in the bottles ended up being a blend of 45% first-fill ex-bourbon, 19% new American oak, 21% French oak, and 15% Vin Doux Naturel barrels (a Southern French sweet wine).
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a sense of old black potting soil on the nose with a rush of freshly bailed hay, bushels of red apples, orange marmalade, and a whisper of fresh rain on slate roofs.
Palate: That orange turns into an orange upside-down cake with a cinnamon/clove caramel drizzle next to old prunes, oatmeal cut with raisins and brown sugar, salted butter, and a twinge of old cedar planks with singed edges and a faint echo of sage.
Finish: That sage leads to a green pepperiness and a hint more of savory green herbs with plenty of orange oils and dried fruits next to a final note of soft spice.
Bottom Line:
This is a one-of-a-kind whiskey from Waterford. It’s delicious and dark and different. You really need to take your time with it, add water, let it oxygenate, and go back and forth on the nose and palate … really take it slow and savor it.
Mortlach Midnight Malt Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged for 30 Years
This is 30-year-old Mortlach from a couple of barrels that actually made it that long without drying out or becoming undrinkable — it’s kind of a miracle in that sense. The vatted whisky was finished in a trio of barrels — Bordeaux wine, Calvados, and Guatemalan rum — before bottling completely as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a lovely hint of malt dipped in honey with a touch of apple stewed with cinnamon and saffron that leads to roasted pork skin and fat cut with a sense of rosemary and singed sage before a honeyed oaked sweetness arrives again
Palate: The taste is like a creamy, apple-forward, malty lush elixir cut with hints of black pepper, burnt orange, and marzipan that leads to a sense of honey-soaked cinnamon sticks floating in apple cider.
Finish: There’s another rush of that black pepper late that leads to woody apple cores and wintry barks that eventually fade towards a mildly spiced apple-cinnamon tobacco leaf packing into an old cedar box.
Bottom Line:
This is a pièce de résistance whisky. It’s just perfect.
Like most people across the country, the big topic on Jimmy Kimmel’s mind last night was the seemingly never-ending inability for House Republicans to just name a Speaker of the House and get on with it. Of course, as we all know — and as the host explained — “the reason Kevin McCarthy can’t get over the hill is because a group of about 20 super-right-wing holdouts are refusing to go along with the majority.”
Chief among the so-called Republic Freedom Caucus is the Forehead from Florida, Matt Gaetz. The 40-year-old congressman has treated the floor of the House like open mic night at the Chuckle Hut as he has spent the past several days standing up and excitedly nominating a roster of names with zero chance of succeeding. But it seems as if Gaetz might be a fan of Mike Lindell’s Frank Speech TV, because just a day after the MyPillow kook wondered why no one had yet thrown Donald Trump’s name into the mix, Kimmel shared that “circus jerk” Matt went ahead and did it.
It didn’t go well.
With all eyes on him, Gaetz declared that he was nominating Trump “because we must make our country great again, and he can start by making the House of Representatives great again.” One person clapped. (If elocution queen Lauren Boebert can indeed be described as a “person.”)
Kimmel loved every second of Gaetz’s performance, calling him an “ass-kisser,” and really ate up the fact that no other person voted for Trump — nope, not even Boebert. (Which didn’t stop Gaetz from nominating the former president a second time during the next round.) In the many, many rounds of voting since, Gaetz has thrown some more names into the mix. It’s only a matter of time before he starts naming vegetables and Disney characters.
You can watch the clip above, beginning around the 3:55 mark.
James Gunn has been pretty busy lately as he single-handedly tries to breathe some life back into the DC universe. Gunn was shuffled in late last year alongside Peter Safran in order to try and repair some of the damage that has been done over the years.
Though as the duo began to announce some projects, things seemed to look even worse: Gunn announced that Wonder Woman 3 is probably not happening anytime soon, meanwhile, Henry Cavill is out as superman once again and The Rock seems to be done with Black Adam. This begs the question: are they moving forward with anything at all over there in DC world?
Gunn seemed to sense the hesitation among fans, so he sent a nice little update with everything he’s been working on this week, including various MCU projects. Is that even allowed?! Regardless, Gunn tweeted that he wrote a third of a currently unannounced DC series.
My day: wrote 1/3 of an unannounced DC TV show (); ok’d 100 VFX shots, did reference acting for Rocket, & gave editing notes for Vol 3; & had two big DC Studios meetings. pic.twitter.com/tmtuTbz1uF
It was announced last year that Gunn would be working on season two of Peacemaker, the John Cena-led series on HBO Max. Since he specified that he had been working on an “unannounced” project, this might spark some hope among fans. And not one but two big DC meetings could be a good sign, though sometimes those meetings don’t pan out too well.
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); ok’d 100 VFX shots, did reference acting for Rocket, & gave editing notes for Vol 3; & had two big DC Studios meetings.