Bye weeks arrive in full force in NFL Week 5, slimming the volume of games for the handicapping public to dive into. While that is, of course, limiting to some degree, we found our footing a bit in Week 4 and actually produced positive results. It did not come without challenges, including a maddening pick-6 from Jacoby Brissett to doom the underdog Patriots, but we press on.
Before diving into the Week 5 slate, let’s take stock of a slow start to 2024 that we’ll be trying to climb out of for a while.
Week 4: 3-1-1
2024 Season: 6-13-1
Come get these winners.
Atlanta Falcons (-2.5) over Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Widely Available
I generally don’t love giving out the Falcons as a lifelong Falcons fan, but this is a good spot. The Bucs are banged-up from an injury standpoint. It’s a short week for everyone, and I tend to lean toward home teams on Thursdays, especially with Atlanta not traveling between its win on Sunday and now. In addition, Tampa Bay has run quite well to begin the season, and I tend to lean toward Atlanta as the better team on a neutral field despite a one-game deficit through four weeks.
TEASER: Cincinnati Bengals (+8.5) over Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks (-0.5) over New York Giants – Widely Available
If anything, I’ve felt low on the Bengals all season, but this is a good spot for an advantage teaser leg. Cincinnati finally righted the ship a bit in Week 4, and they’re catching points at home against a Ravens team that admittedly looked great against Buffalo in a game we backed them. I think Cincy is live to win outright, and I like +2.5 in its normal state, but I’m favoring a teaser to pair with Seattle. The Seahawks take care of business at home against New York.
Buffalo Bills (-1) over Houston Texans – Widely Available
I’m not sure the Texans are good. They aren’t bad by any means, but Houston hasn’t impressed in any of its wins and the team’s one loss was quite ugly. Buffalo was smacked back to some level of reality last week, but I rate the Bills as the solidly better team. This opened around pick’em, and I wouldn’t go much higher than -1, but I do like it.
Jacksonville Jaguars (-2.5) over Indianapolis Colts – BetMGM or FanDuel
I regret to inform you that we are at it again. To be fair, we had both of these teams last week and both covered, but I do understand that the Jags are winless. Indianapolis has injury uncertainty, and I’m going to have to be proven that Jacksonville is as bad as this line foreshadows. Lay the tiny number.
New England Patriots (-1) over Miami Dolphins – Widely Available
Since the moment Tua went down, there is nothing to suggest that the Dolphins can be trusted in a virtual pick’em spot against any team in any venue, much less in a division game on the road. The Patriots burned us last week, but we’re going back to the well. I’m going to fade Tyler Huntley here against a solid-ish defense.
As Sabrina Carpenter famously declares on her hit single “Espresso,” “I’m working late ’cause I’m a singer.” Lately, though, there’s been some speculation that she is not, in fact, a singer… or at least that she’s not always singing when she claims to be.
Some fans have accused Carpenter of lip-syncing during the recently launched Short N’ Sweet tour. In a TikTok video, one fan asks (as Pop Base notes), “Does she ever sing live?” Another responded, “Hate to say it but 30% lip [syncing] 30% backing track 40% singing [single tear emoji].”
Carpenter fired back, though, commenting, “i sing live every show 100% would you like to speak to my audio engineers.”
One thing that Carpenter is definitely not likely to be singing on her tour, though, is her iconic “Nonsense” outros, which see her humorously or suggestively changing the song’s lyrics to fit her current situation. In a recent interview, she explained, “The extreme ‘it’s over forever’ is just not in my repertoire. Maybe I’ll feel random one day and bring it back. [But] that was for that album, for that era. You’ve got to keep a thing good.”
She also spoke about how “Espresso” becoming her signature song has changed her approach to the beverage, saying, “I’ve intentionally stopped myself from getting them now.”
Daredevil: Born Again has gone through some stuff. That’s an understatement, but it’s also no secret that, aside from Deadpool and Wolverine (who are newly inducted), that the MCU went through a “blip” of its own after the Thanos phase concluded. Kevin Feige admitted that lessons were learned following flagging box-office returns after the universe had oversaturated its audience with too much “homework”: too many TV shows, too many movies, and too much “multiverse” meant that an overhaul was in order. Who knows whether the supposed Blade reboot will survive these changes, but Marvel Studios did prioritize a substantial retooling of Matt Murdock’s (Charlie Cox) return to TV with rewrites, reshoots, and the works.
As a result, Netflix’s former Daredevil series was declared official canon, although it’s not crystal clear whether the same will apply to the troubled Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal), who will still appear in this rewritten MCU series, after The Punisher Netflix series took a bizarre and softer turn in its own second season. But hey, look ^^^ at those photos of Cox and Bernthal filming in New York City earlier this year. It’s happening, so let’s figure out what to expect from the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen or Hornhead, or whatever the kids are calling him these days.
Plot
Disney+ subscribers already saw Charlie Cox returning to the MCU as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in an Echo fight scene after Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin circled back to the universe in the Hawkeye series. He, too, will return, but on that action note, Marvel Studios streaming chief Brad Winderbaum recently told Entertainment Weekly that this series will contain “some of the most brutal action we’ve ever brought to the screen is coming in Daredevil: Born Again, which isn’t a horror show, but really it packs a lot of power and there’s a lot of visceral action.”
As for the rewrites, the retooled story will be grittier than the nixed version, which Hollywood Reporterdescribed as follows:
Sources say that [Matt] Corman and [Chris] Ord crafted a legal procedural that did not resemble the Netflix version, known for its action and violence. Cox didn’t even show up in costume until the fourth episode. Marvel, after greenlighting the concept, found itself needing to rethink the original intention of the show.
“Cox didn’t even show up in costume until the fourth episode”?
That wouldn’t fly for sure, but now, Daredevil: Born Again will be considered a continuation of the Netflix series. Fingers crossed that Jessica Jones could eventually receive the same treatment, as long as that effort isn’t rushed, but it sounds like Frank Castle/The Punisher will be a prominent part of this new series, which is happening on Disney+, so let that sink in. Zero hints have dropped on whether Castle will appear like his first season Netflix incarnation rather than what ended his show.
Getty Image / Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
For that matter, Disney+ has kept their lips zipped on too many plot details, other than (thankfully) to expect an end product like we saw from Daredevil on Netflix.
Cast
Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle are the main attractions. Additionally, two returning faces include Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin and Wilson Bethel as as Benjamin Poindexter/Bullseye. Later breaking confirmed comebacks include Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson. The cast also includes Margarita Levieva, Arty Froushan, Michael Gandolfini, Nikki M. James, and Sandrine Holt.
For the next two weekends, October 4 to 6 and October 11 to 13, the festival takes over Zilker Park in the Texas capital with headliners Dua Lipa, Tyler The Creator, Chris Stapleton, Blink-182, Sturgill Simpson, Pretty Lights, Khruangbin, and Leon Bridges. There’s also Chappell Roan, who isn’t technically a headliner, but you wouldn’t know it from the size of her crowds.
Curious about who to see and when? You can see schedule highlights below, and find the full set times here.
Austin City Limits Festival Set Times For Friday, October 4, 2024
ACL 2024 has a strong first day with Dasha at 2:45 (all times are p.m. and local) on the American Express Stage, Mannequin Pussy at 3:40 on the Miller Lite Stage, Foster The People at 6:10 on the Honda Stage, Leon Bridges at 6:30 on the American Express Stage, Porter Robinson at 7:10 on the Miller Lite Stage, The Marías at 7:30 on the T-Mobile Stage, Blink-182 at 8:10 on the Honda Stage, and Chris Stapleton at 8:30 on the American Express Stage.
Austin City Limits Festival Set Times For Saturday, October 5, 2024
The day 2 can’t-miss sets include Something Corporate at 2:10 on the Honda Stage, Lola Young at 2:20 on the American Express Stage, Spinall at 3:20 on the IHG Hotels & Resorts Stage, Teddy Swims at 4:10 on the Honda Stage, Benson Boone at 6:10 on the Honda Stage, Khruangbin at 6:20 on the American Express Stage, Vince Staples at 7:20 on the IHG Hotels & Resorts Stage, Reneé Rapp at 7:20 on the T-Mobile Stage, Pretty Lights at 8:10 on the Honda Stage, and Dua Lipa at 8:20 on the American Express Stage.
Austin City Limits Festival Set Times For Sunday, October 6, 2024
The Sunday lineup features Flo at 1:40 on the Miller Lite Stage, Petey at 2:00 on the IHG Hotels & Resorts Stage, Flipturn at 2:45 on the American Express Stage, Orville Peck at 4:25 on the Honda Stage, That Mexican OT at 5:45 on the T-Mobile Stage, Mike. at 6:25 on the Honda Stage, Chappell Roan at 6:45 on the American Express Stage, Kehlani at 7:25 on the Miller Lite Stage, Dom Dolla at 7:45 on the T-Mobile Stage, Sturgill Simpson at 8:25 on the Honda Stage, and Tyler, The Creator at 8:45 on the American Express Stage.
The weekend 2 lineup is largely the same, but not entirely. See the changes here.
AI is a bit of a gold rush at the moment, and Spotify has been getting in on it, too, with their AI DJ feature. A new AI playlist feature leaked in late 2023, but now Spotify is moving towards giving it an official, wider release.
How To Use Spotify’s AI Playlist Maker
Per Spotify’s announcement post, the feature is available on the mobile app and can be found by going to “Your Library.” From there, tap the “+” button on the top-right of the screen, then select “AI Playlist.”
Then, users will be presented with suggested prompts or the option to type their own. Spotify encourages specificity, sharing examples that include “sad music for painting dying flowers” or “tracks for horse riding into the sunset.” Spotify will then compile some tracks that match the prompt.
Users can also fine-tune the mix by telling AI Playlist what specifically they’re looking for, with example prompts like “more pop” or “less upbeat.” Once the playlist is in a good state, users can then tap “Create” to save the playlist to their library.
Spotify also notes, “While it’s designed to be fun, the tool is still in beta and won’t produce results for non-music-related prompts, like current events or specific brands. We also have measures in place around prompts that are offensive — so please prompt responsibly!”
Currently, the feature is in beta and is only available to users with iOS and Android devices in the UK and Australia. It’s not clear when or if the feature will be made available to users in the US and other countries.
On Thursday morning, October 3, Elle published a wide-ranging profile on Kesha. Within it, journalist Suzy Exposito relayed how and why Kesha and Rapp changed the “Tik Tok” lyric at Coachella, as excerpted below:
“Prior to their performance, the women discussed a remix of Kesha’s original opening line — ‘Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy’ — to condemn the disgraced music mogul, Sean Combs, who was indicted on sex trafficking charges in September, and faces multiple lawsuits alleging sexual assault and harassment. ‘Wake up in the morning like F*CK P. Diddy,’ Kesha and Rapp shouted in unison, to the approval of thousands of screaming fans.
The decision to make the switch ‘was pretty quick and easy for the both of us,’ Rapp tells me over the phone. ‘Diddy is such a f*cking asshole. So many men who were working prominently at that time were such disgraceful shames of human beings. Kesha certainly doesn’t put up with any sh*t, and I most definitely don’t put up with any sh*t.’”
The NFL season is in full swing as we head into Week 5, and we are starting to get an early idea of what teams are going to be a factor in the various divisional races. There’s still plenty of time for teams to right the ship (or, conversely, fall apart), but we can start focusing in on key games in each division that figure to loom large when it comes time to sort out playoff seeding at the end of the season.
This week features a couple of those, starting with a Thursday night battle in the always tight (even if not always good) NFC South between the Bucs and the Falcons. That leads our Week 5 preview as we take a look at the biggest games of the week, last week’s best performance, and offer up our best bet of the week.
Primetime Game of the Week: Buccaneers at Falcons (Thursday 10/3, 8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
The other two primetime games this week — Cowboys at Steelers on Sunday, Saints at Chiefs on Monday — are also interesting, but none of them are the sort of high-profile matchup between Super Bowl contenders that make this space easy. As such, let’s go with the divisional matchup on Thursday between arguably the best story in the league through the first month of the year, Baker Mayfield and the Bucs, and an NFC South foe that entered the year with aspirations of winning the conference, the Falcons.
I am beyond fired up to see how Atlanta deals with Mayfield’s ability to throw the ball down the field, particularly to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The chess match between Mayfield and star Falcons safety Jesse Bates is going to be a blast, especially because Atlanta isn’t especially great at speeding up or getting to quarterbacks. And on the other side of things, while the Bucs have been pretty good against the pass, teams have carved them up on the ground — they’re allowing five yards per rushing attempt, the third-worst mark in the league, and have to go up against Bijan Robinson, who was banged up this week but is still one of the most dangerous running backs in football. If he gets going, and Kirk Cousins can use the play action game to throw the ball, look out.
You always need to temper expectations a bit with Thursday Night Football, but this game does have a fun mix of stakes in the division, stakes in the conference, and two pretty fun football teams. Maybe this ends up being a 17-10 stinker where Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit clearly wish they could just go home, but I’d bet against it.
Sunday Funday Game of the Week: Bills at Texans (Sunday 10/6, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS)
The Stefon Diggs revenge game should be a blast, because even beyond the obvious storyline with Diggs going up against his old team, Buffalo and Houston are two squads with legitimate aspirations of winning the AFC this season. They’re both 3-1, and while the Bills have been the longtime No. 1 contender in the conference for the Chiefs’ crown, the Texans have legitimate aspirations of taking that perch and, eventually, overtaking Kansas City.
Houston could really use Joe Mixon back from the ankle injury that has cost him the last three games — their rushing attack has just not been able to get going with Cam Akers in the backfield. Having said that, Diggs and Nico Collins are one of the best 1-2 punches at receiver in the NFL, and Buffalo’s front sans Von Miller will have to get after CJ Stroud. If they can, Josh Allen has been playing well enough to take it to a good Houston defense. If not? Diggs very well may end up getting his revenge.
Under the Radar Banger: Jets vs. Vikings (Sunday 10/6, 9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network)
Normally I, as an American, am ashamed at the disgusting slop we send abroad for NFL games in Europe. This game should be gross, but in a fun and compelling way, as it’s a pair of elite defenses that have given opposing offenses headaches all year. Oh, and the guy who is in the middle of a career renaissance under center for the Vikings was a former Jet, while the signal caller for the Jets spent the first two decades of his career tormenting the Vikings. Should be fun!
Who Won The MVP Last Week: Jared Goff
I think a pretty good precedent to set is that if you go 18-for-18, throw for a few touchdowns, and catch another one against a good Seahawks defense, you win this. Jared Goff just happened to do all of that, and as such, he gets the Who Won The MVP Last Week for this column. Congratulations to Jared Goff on the honor.
Best Bet (2-2): Raiders at Broncos UNDER 36
Look, let’s not overthink this. Broncos games have come in under this number in three straight weeks. The Raiders aren’t going to have Davante Adams amid his trade request. Both of these offenses will need long, sustained drives to put touchdowns on the board and I don’t think they have the facilities for that. Give me the Under.
One of the best songs on Eminem‘s The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) is “Temporary,” a sweet ode to the rapper’s daughter, Hailie Jade. The music video for the track is equally touching, with home video footage of the two of them. It culminates with Hailie Jade giving her dad a Detroit Lions jersey with “Grandpa” on the back. That’s right, Eminem — who once rhymed “I smacked him in his face with an eraser, chased him with a stapler” with “and stapled his nuts to a stack of paper” — is about to be a grandfather. To quote Em himself: damn.
You can watch the music video for “Temporary” (which features vocals from Skylar Grey) above.
Hailie Jade discussed her reaction to “Temporary” and “Somebody Save Me,” which depicts an alternate reality where Eminem died when she was young, on a recent episode of her Just A Little Shady podcast.
“Speaking of things I watched this past week, which I guess I’ll say watched, but I refused to watch again — the ‘Somebody Save Me’ music video is out and I did watch the thing. I don’t think I can do it again. I definitely cry every time I hear it at all,” she said. “Between that and ‘Temporary,’ OK, well, that I listened to and it broke me. I audibly sobbed I think for both songs, but especially ‘Temporary.’”
Bourbon and the big screen have a long-running history. Whether it’s a background player, relegated to a quick glimpse in a throwaway scene, or a feature star with prominent placement throughout the film, big name bourbons can be found in some of the most beloved movies of the past 100 years.
Look, it’s still pretty common to see alcohol used in stereotypical ways. Need to portray a character’s devil-may-care attitude? Shot of bourbon. Do they need to establish their machismo (or gender non-conformity for women)? A glass of bourbon should do the trick. Is the character spiraling off the rails due to tragic life events? Drink it straight from the bottle!
While these portrayals are regrettably lazy and cast the spirits industry in a negative light, there are a few cinematic auteurs who have used bourbon to reflect good taste or, better still, as just another normal part of life. Indeed, many movies and individual characters celebrate bourbon as a premium drink or one to be savored, rather than shot with total disregard. That said, this list has many predictable tropes featuring lovable scallywags because, hey…anti-heroes deserve a drink, too.
But while many people might think of the uber-cool spy/assassin or the stoic cowboy on the open range as the only archetypes to slug back the good stuff, you’ll see on this list that many different characters over the years have been known to enjoy a pour of bourbon, and they often ask for their favorites by name.
Typically, it’s the major brands getting all the love, meaning Jack Daniel’s, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey, and Jim Beam appear regularly over the years (apparently TV characters drink all the high-end bourbon). Still, the wide range of characters and situations when they drink those bottles is worth celebrating.
Enough talk; it’s time for us to rank the most iconic bourbon-drinking movie characters of all time!
20. Billy Bob Thornton as Willie T. Soke in Bad Santa
Miramax
The Movie:
Bad Santa, directed by Terry Zwigoff, revolves around the story of Willie T. Soke, the career crook who gets a seasonal job as a mall Santa as a means to rob the mall’s stores blind. Throughout the movie, Willie is portrayed as a reckless character showing little regard for those around him, and his penchant for getting drunk on the job and drinking directly from his ever-present bottle of booze is used as a reflection of that, which is why he ranks so low on this list. Show some more respect for OGD, Willie!
Old Grand Dad Bonded is made using Jim Beam’s high rye recipe, and it’s bottled at an even 100-proof, making it a great whiskey for neat sipping but a dangerous one for drinking straight out of the bottle. Old Grand Dad is also offered at 80-proof and the most heralded bottle in the lineup clocks in at a hefty 114-proof.
19. Justin Timberlake as Ronnie Morgan in Black Snake Moan
Paramount Vantage
The Movie:
Black Snake Moan was a critical and commercial failure, written and directed by Craig Brewer, but it also features one of the best bourbons on this list courtesy of Justin Timberlake’s character, Ronnie Morgan. Ronnie is a soldier who suffers from a severe anxiety disorder, which results in him being discharged from the National Guard. When he’s released, he goes on a journey trying to track down his captive, estranged girlfriend, Rae Doole, played by Christina Ricci. Along the way, he happens to have some Rock Hill Farms bourbon, which a disloyal friend proceeds to drink straight out of the bottle, much to Ronnie’s displeasure.
Rock Hill Farms follows the trend from Buffalo Trace’s mash bill #2, which has almost exclusively been used to produce single-barrel bourbons. Named after the rich farmland along the Kentucky River, this hard-to-find bottle clocks in at 100-proof and has become highly sought-after among enthusiasts as an elevated-ABV alternative to Buffalo Trace’s most famous bottle that uses mash bill #2: Blanton’s.
18. Thomas Jane as Frank Castle in The Punisher (2004)
Lion
The Movie:
The Punisher is a film that plucks its story from the Marvel comic of the same name, and it’s centered around the story of undercover FBI agent Frank Castle, who later goes on to dole out vigilante justice as the classic anti-hero “The Punisher.” As you can guess, due to Castle’s double life and dangerous line of work, he takes to drinking one of the best bourbons 2003 (or any year, for that matter) can offer for a respite from the stress: Wild Turkey 101.
The Whiskey: Austin Nichols Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
Wild Turkey 101 in 2003 wasn’t much different than it is today, with the exception of the fact that there was likely a higher percentage of older whiskey in every bottle, and there’s a chance that Frank Castle’s bottle didn’t have a URL code on the back. That said, Wild Turkey 101 has long been a go-to bottle for society’s heroes and castoffs alike, so the choice was perfect for the troubled Punisher.
17. Kirk Douglas as Jack Burns in Lonely Are The Brave
Universal Pictures
The Movie:
Jack Burns is a Korean War veteran with a horse named Whiskey and a deep love for the nomadic cowboy lifestyle in 1950s New Mexico. He begins at first by trying to break his friend out of jail, deigning to do so by first getting arrested himself by drinking bourbon at a bar and picking a fight with a one-armed man. Upon his arrest, Burns discovers that his friend has accepted his two-year jail stint, content to follow the rules of society to return to his family, while Burns despises the thought of having his freedom impugned, so he breaks out by himself and leads the police on an epic chase toward Mexico with tragic results.
Old Jack Burns would’ve been sipping this discontinued seven-year version of Old Charter Bourbon produced by Schenley in the mid-1950s, a well-regarded 86-proof bourbon in its heyday. Much later, in 1999, the Old Charter brand was acquired by the Sazerac Company, which also owns Buffalo Trace and produces an 80-proof version of this bourbon today.
16. Kurt Russell as “Stuntman” Mike McKay in Death Proof
Troublemaker Studios
The Movie:
Death Proof, the 2007 slasher film that was written, directed, co-produced, and shot by Quentin Tarantino, is a heart-racing ride alongside two separate all-female friend groups who find themselves in the murderous crosshairs of “Stuntman” Mike. To put it plainly, Mike is a pretty abhorrent son of a gun, undeserving of the bourbon he brazenly treats his wounds with, but the feature itself is a cool, bare-bones take on the slasher genre.
Four Roses Yellow Label Bourbon hasn’t always been as stellar as it is today, and in all likelihood, Stuntman Mike was treating his cuts & scrapes with the dregs of the vaunted distillery’s bourbon, but today’s Four Roses Bourbon is really high-quality juice. So much so that we’ve recommended it heremany times.
15. Rip Torn as Maury Dann in Payday (1973)
Fantasy Films
The Movie:
In Payday, Maury Dann, portrayed by the legendary Rip Torn, is a successful Country music performer who has a penchant for getting in fights as well as getting in bed with other men’s girlfriends. While we follow Maury’s exploits across various small-town clubs, we see him bribe a DJ at a local radio station with a bottle of bourbon, namely, Wild Turkey 101.
While it requires closer inspection, we can surmise that the bottle of Wild Turkey 101 Maury was drinking (and bribing DJs with) was probably produced between 1971-1973 when the film was released. That timeframe was a very interesting one in the history of Wild Turkey because, in 1972, the brand began transitioning its labels to “Lawrenceburg, KY” instead of “New York, NY.” According to multiple reports, 1971 and the J.T.S. Brown Distillery’s purchase by Austin Nichols & Co. marked the last year Wild Turkey officially sourced all of their bourbon. That’s all to say that despite Wild Turkey’s decades-long streak of consistency today, in 1973, it was much less clear what you might expect when picking up a bottle of classic 101. Save for the fact that it was probably damned delicious, no matter what.
14. Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn in Spider-Man (2002)
Sony Pictures
The Movie:
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and the two films that ended up completing the trilogy stood for years as the modern era’s proof that a superhero franchise could be successful. Of course, 2008’s Iron Man would blow the doors off the genre and usher in the age of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe supremacy, but in 2002, the precocious Spider-Man showcased the kind of grounded storytelling that would soon become absent in a world of high-tech CGI and formulaic, monster-of-the-week style films. Willem Dafoe’s stellar take on the tortured Norman Osborn, however, still ranks highly with critics as one of the best supervillain portrayals in film, so much so that his character was resurrected and served as the most significant foil in Marvel’s most recent Spider-Man film, No Way Home.
Have you ever had an evil mask speak to you telepathically and tell you to do bad things? I’m guessing not, but if you’re reading this, then there’s a high likelihood that you’ve had a glass of Maker’s Mark speak to you. With its mellow and approachable flavor profile and ubiquity on liquor store shelves and local bars around the world, it’s a bottle sure to soothe whatever ails you. The only risk of negative thoughts with this bourbon in your glass is the fear that it’ll soon be empty.
13. Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins in Devil in a Blue Dress
Sony Pictures
The Movie:
Easy Rawlins, portrayed by Denzel Washington, is a rookie private investigator tasked with locating a woman with significant ties to an upcoming mayoral race in Los Angeles during the summer of 1948. On his journey he finds trouble in all of the most expected places, namely in juke joints, motels, and other underworld haunts. Along the way, naturally, Easy finds himself atop several barstools where he’s served both Kentucky Tavern and, most impressively, Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond Bourbon.
Set in the summer of 1948, that means this Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond bottle would have been comprised of juice from the legendary Stitzel-Weller Distillery. There are brands today built on even the most tenuous relationship to that historic sight, so it’s really remarkable to think that in 1948, bottles like this one would’ve lined the bottom shelf and could’ve been purchased for just a few dollars. Today, a bottle of 1940s Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond would cost you about two grand, and having had some recently, I hate to say that I kind of get it.
12. Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill in North By Northwest
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Movie:
North By Northwest is an enthralling tale of mistaken identity, espionage, and murder that stars Cary Grant as ad executive Roger Thornhill. Thornhill is thrust into an underworld of obfuscation and competing motives, and along the way, he’s held down by thugs and forced to drink a copious amount of bourbon for the staging of a drunk driving accident. It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the bourbon industry, but in the digital age, it’s one of social media’s go-to gifs for imbibing. Funny how that works.
The Whiskey: Movie Prop Bourbon
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
ABV: ??% Average Price: Not Available For Sale
In an increasingly common move, many films skip the use of real bourbon labels and invent a fake brand for their movie. In one scene, Roger Thornhill is plied with a very real brand, Campari, but immediately after, the “bourbon” he’s poured is from a bottle faintly reminiscent of Four Roses. You can’t believe everything you see on the big screen!
11. Hugh Jackman as Logan in Deadpool and Wolverine
Walt Disney Studios
The Movie:
2024’s thrilling Deadpool and Wolverine featured a team-up that comic book fans have long been calling for, and the critical consensus on the film indicates that it was worth the wait. Fans got the unbridled Deadpool film they wanted, Wolverine fans saw their favorite character extend his final chapter alongside some familiar faces, and Marvel got to milk two cash cows at once. Not one for milk, however, is the down-on-his-luck failure of a Wolverine that we see portrayed in this film, who very much prefers whiskey neat and can be seen guzzling Jim Beam directly from the bottle to drown his sorrows.
Assuming the Jim Beam in the film is the same whiskey found in this universe (Marvel has been dabbling in several alternate universes over the past few years), then Wolvey is drinking one of the most reliable bottom-shelf bourbons on the market. Jim Beam White Label has a reputation as the preferred choice for outlaws and other rough-cut societal figures despite its bare minimum 40% ABV, but then, if you’re liberally drinking it directly from the bottle, your liver’s ABV is sure to increase pretty quickly.
10. Burt Young as Paulie Pennino in Rocky (1976)
The Movie:
Rocky is a timeless sports film that focuses on the titular Rocky Balboa, a small-time loan shark and local boxer who’s spent most of his career wasting his potential. Enter: Apollo Creed, a championship fighter with a big bout scheduled in Rocky’s hometown Philadelphia. Creed’s opponent suffers a last-minute injury and so he goes the unorthodox route of fielding local fighters to replace the injured man, eventually settling on Rocky. Rocky’s best friend, Paulie, is a bit of a lout and that’s underlined by the fact he always has a handy bottle of whiskey in his pocket, casting him as a belligerent drunken townie opposite Rocky’s more resilient, newly goal-oriented disposition.
Four Roses buffs will note that the expression Paulie was slugging throughout his run in Rocky was actually the brand’s blended American whiskey, which, at the time, was beloved by society’s most downtrodden members for its affordability. At the same time, Four Roses’ future Master Distiller Jim Rutledge had just begun working for Seagram in the Louisville Plant’s Research and Development Department. That’s a significant note because it was Rutledge who would eventually bring Four Roses bourbon back to the U.S. market decades later during his tenure as Master Distiller.
9. Paul Newman as Fast Eddie in The Hustler
20th Century-Fox
The Movie:
The Hustler is centered around “Fast Eddie” Felson, a highly-talented pool shark who hustles people out of their hard-earned money on the felt. Fast Eddie suffers many highs and lows throughout the film, something any reprobate gambler can understand, but during one of his short-lived highs he’s seen outclassing the legendary pool player Minnesota Fats to the tune of $18,000 before he goes bust and breaks even. While Fast Eddie is on that hot streak, he and Fats have an entire bottle of bourbon nearby that they share between them. The name of that bourbon is J.T.S. Brown.
Named after John Thomson Street Brown, who was integral in the founding of Brown-Forman, J.T.S. Brown has long been appreciated as a standard bearer of high-quality, affordable bourbon. In 1960, this brand would have been owned by the Ripy Brothers, who most famously would go on to produce Wild Turkey. Coincidentally, the longest-serving Master Distiller in world history would’ve also been producing the whiskey that went into J.T.S. Brown in 1960: Jimmy Russell.
8. John Belushi as John Blutarsky in Animal House
Universal Pictures
The Movie:
Hailed as one of the best comedies of all time, Animal House wouldn’t be what it is without the standout performance of John Belushi as John Blutarsky, the Delta Tau Chi frat bro who serves as the film’s most inspired comedic force. In one of the most memorable scenes in Belushi’s entire career, he’s seen spiraling as the Delta frat house is being raided by police, with the cops going so far as to confiscate “the whole bar.”
Luckily, a bottle of Old No. 7 was saved from the raid, and once tossed to John, he proceeds to down the entire bottle in one shot, instantly regaining his composure.
Belushi’s iconic turn as John Blutarsky was already epic, but the shot of him with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s raised to his lips in his eternally fashionable “College” sweatshirt transcended 80s gross-out film subculture and entered the larger cultural zeitgeist. It’s a touchstone both for the 80s and representative of an enduring American archetype, the affordable whiskey-swigging college dude. Admittedly, it isn’t the world’s best representation of American drinking culture, but it does maintain a level of cool, even all these years later.
7. Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham in The Holdovers
Focus Features
The Movie:
Set in a small college town in 1970 New England, The Holdovers is about a strict, obstinate all-male boarding school teacher, Paul Hunham, who is forced to supervise five students over holiday break. Eventually the group is whittled down to just Hunham, cafeteria manager Mary Lamb, and Hunham’s most challenging student, Angus Tully. As the group learns to coexist, through fits and starts, the heartwarming core of the film is exposed as Paul and Angus learn about themselves in the process. Over the course of the film, Paul’s appreciation of fine bourbon ranges from Old Grand-Dad to Jim Beam White Label, but he seems particularly fond of vintage Old Forester Bottled in Bond.
Paul’s choice of Old Forester Bottled in Bond would’ve only been a few bucks back in 1970 when the film was set, but today, that same bottle is fetching $2,000. The modern equivalent of Old Forester Bottled in Bond would be Old Forester 1897, part of the brand’s Whiskey Row Series and retails for a much more reasonable sum of $55.
6. Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes in Chinatown
The Movie:
In the cinematic classic Chinatown, set in 1937, Jake Gittes is tasked with uncovering a mystery that runs far deeper than it initially seems. The story he (partially) gets to the bottom of is ensconced in misdirection and mystery, to the point that no one could blame you for grabbing a drink just from watching the film unfold. For his part, Jake reaches for a liquor cabinet full of National Distillers brands, with Old Crow featured prominently among them.
Quiet as it’s kept, there are few bourbon brands with as rich a history as Old Crow Bourbon. Founded by Dr. James C. Crow in the 1830s, who is at times known as “the father of bourbon,” the brand was formerly one of America’s premier bourbon expressions. Crow pioneered practices that are widespread today, such as sour mash fermentation and the use of charred oak barrels for aging. Today, it’s an overlooked bottom-shelf offering in the Jim Beam portfolio, which has seen its proof changed to 40% ABV, although there was a TTB filing earlier this year that indicates the brand may soon return to the 86-proof format. Watch this space.
5. Bill Murray as Phil Connors in Groundhog Day
The Movie:
Groundhog Day is a classic film about a weatherman tasked with covering the droll Groundhog Day ceremony in sleepy Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes stuck in an inexplicable time loop that forces him to relive the same day repeatedly. During the repeating bar sequence, Connors carefully orders his preferred drink, “Jim Beam, ice, water,” but switches over to sweet Vermouth on the rocks with a twist to impress his love interest Rita Hanson, played by Andie MacDowell, after learning it was her favorite drink the day before.
Given its classic nature, it should come as no surprise that Jim Beam has a feature role in several classic films. In 1993, when this film hit theaters, Jim Beam was still producing decanters of their entry-level bourbon to entice consumers to buy more bourbon. Because we never get to see Connors actually drink his Jim Beam, we also never see the bottle behind the bar, but it’s a safe bet that he got his preferred pour from the iconic white-label bottle Jim Beam is known for.
4. Taron Egerton as Eggsy in Kingsman: The Golden Circle
20th Century Studios
The Movie:
If you’re looking for an outrageous, polished send-up of the debonair secret agent subcategory, then the Kingsman franchise is just what the doctor ordered. In this sequel to the well-received Kingsman: The Secret Service, we see most of the same cast of characters from the original, showcasing the clandestine spy organization’s British faction teaming up with their U.S. counterparts, The Statesman, whose secret base is hidden in a functioning bourbon distillery in Kentucky. If you were wondering, despite the Old Forester tie-in, the “distillery” featured in the film is the product of CGI magic and isn’t actually a place you can visit on Kentucky’s Whiskey Row.
While many films have been known to create fake brands for the purpose of the film, the Kingsman movie is perhaps the first case where a movie actually partnered with a bourbon brand to create a brand-new expression. The moderate success of the film spawned a franchise that’s currently four films deep, and the commensurate success of the expression transformed Old Forester Statesman from a one-off release to an ongoing one available on shelves to this day.
3. Roger Moore as James Bond in Live And Let Die
Eon Productions
The Movie:
Ian Fleming’s iconic character, James Bond, is famously known to order his martinis “shaken, not stirred” on the big screen but many people don’t know that Bond, loyal as he was to his classic cocktail, also frequently drank bourbon in the books. 007’s discernment in his drink orders made it on film for 1972’s Live And Let Die when, on a train through New Orleans, he wisely orders an Old Fashioned and, ever the exacting man of culture, goes the extra mile to specify his bourbon of choice: Old Grand Dad.
While Bond doesn’t specify which OGD he wanted in his cocktail, given the prevailing drinks culture of the time and the prevalence of the standard version, it seems fair to surmise that he would’ve received this 1971 86-proof version. Contemporary Old Grand Dad is only available at three proofs, 80, 100, and 114 but during Roger Moore’s time portraying the secret agent, Americans wanted a bit more flavor than they found in 80 proof offerings, which was the standard globally. Because Americans always have to be different. And so the 86 proof point became the most popular entry-level proof level for bourbon throughout the 70s and 80s. Also, it seems a little too on the nose for the debonair double-0 to order the “bottled in bond” version, don’t you think?
2. Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining
Warner Bros.
The Movie:
The 1980 psychological horror film The Shining centers around Jack Torrance, the caretaker of the Overlook Inn, during its off-season. Before taking the job, Jack is warned that solitude in the isolated inn has previously been known to drive men mad; in fact, the person who had the job just before Jack viciously murdered his family and chopped their bodies up before doing himself in on the receiving end of a shotgun barrel — brutal stuff. Shaking off the warning, Torrance insists that he favors solitude and that it’ll give him time to work on his manuscript.
Writers and whiskey go hand in hand, I should know, but the Jack Daniel’s that Jack is served comes courtesy of a ghostly barkeep who uses it as a tool to fuel his descent into murderous madness.
If you don’t know the story of expert assassin John Wick, do you even drink bourbon? The underworld’s most famous and feared hit-man successfully got out of “the life” to become a family man, but after the death of his wife and the murder of his dog by an oblivious and overzealous crime boss’s kid, he’s sent on a murderous rampage that spanned four “chapters” and single-handedly produced a new horde of bourbon bros who saw their favorite badass knocking back Blanton’s as steadfastly as he knocked out nameless thugs.
In one of movie history’s most famous bourbon-themed exchanges, the doctor fixing John up after a particularly nasty run-in with some of the thugs above asks, “Do you need anything for the pain?” to which Wick gestures to his glass and replies, “No, I’ve got that covered” before taking a healthy gulp. And that, kids, is how you become iconic.
One of the most polarizing and hyped bourbons in all of the land, Blanton’s is the original single-barrel bourbon. Launched in 1984, each bottle of Blanton’s is the product of a single barrel, an idea hatched by Buffalo Trace’s then Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee. Today, while the quality is still reliably solid, there’s no denying that this bottle’s collectibility (the toppers all have different markings with the full set spelling out “Blanton’s”) and the cool factor is the reason it’s become almost impossible to find on store shelves. While the packaging itself is part of that, Keanu Reeves’ iconic portrayal of John Wick is a significant part of it as well.
Kesha is finally free in “maybe the most beautiful time in my entire life,” as she told Paper, but she also wants to do what she can to prevent young pop girlies’ from struggling like she did.
“Kesha was so lovely to me after my Lollapalooza set,” Roan told Exposito. “Because with that huge of a crowd, maybe only five other people there understood what that’s like. Kesha came to talk to me after, and it felt like a big sister was helping me through it. Me and Reneé were crying because we felt like we were seen in a way we never had been before.”
Roan added, “Kesha has always stood up for women and what she believes in, and that’s very inspiring.”
Elsewhere in the profile, Exposito revealed that Kesha “has offered Rapp a space space to process music industry woes and seek advice” over private Instagram DMs.
“I do have a sense of feeling protective of young women in music,” Kesha said. “I really hope my joy can stand for others to know that it’s available to them and to not give up. I enjoy feeling my power, which hasn’t been available to me for a really long time, and I’d love to give that gift to others if I can.”
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