Are we having fun yet? I don’t know about you, but I keep finding myself wanting to yell, “SOMEBODY STOP THIS THING—I WANNA GET OFF!” All of these ups and downs and roundy rounds are making me queasy, I gotta tell you. And that last drop was a doozy.
While we’re wondering what lies on the other side of the next climb or around the next corner, let’s close our eyes and take stock of what else is happening. Smell the buttered popcorn and funnel cakes in the air. Feel the warm sun on our face and wind in our hair. Be grateful for the friend in the seat beside us, holding our hand as we scream on the descents and laugh on the straightaways.
We can’t control or predict everything. But we can choose to find some good amid the chaos.
If you’re struggling with the ride and having a hard time finding the good in the moment, this list won’t fix everything. But maybe it’ll give you a little reprieve and bring a smile to your face a few times. And maybe, for now, that’s enough.
May we all be as jaunty and jovial in our years as this awesome auntie.
I went to discharge a toddler from the hospital and found a medical student in the room carefully bandaging her owl stuffy who had a u201cbroken wingu201d. He left the toddler clear u201cstuffy care instructionsu201d and some stickers. nnThe future of medicine is bright
Aw. After the hell that healthcare workers have been through the past two years, it’s lovely to see such a pure, sweet hope coming from the medical field.
Little boy sees his mom coming down the aisle, and adorableness ensues.
The way he looks for her and the way his face lights up when he sees her. A perfect walk down the aisle.
A boy in Kansas sent off a note attached to balloons. A man in Quebec found them.
Incredibly, Reid Habbert’s bunch of balloons traveled more than 1,800 miles with a note attached asking whoever found them to contact him. Cree hunter David Longchap found them on the traditional lands of the Cree nation in Quebec, Canada, and a beautiful cultural exchange resulted. Read the full story here.
This boys’ school marimba band is nothing but sheer joy.
Blue Jays fan caught a homer and immediately gave it to a young Yankees fan.
Blue Jays fans are the best. Judge hit a homer, Blue Jays fan caught it and without thinking gave the ball to the little kid whou2019s a Yankees fan who was also wearing a Judge t-shirt. There are good people out there. #NextLevel #RepBXpic.twitter.com/oF9Ks41fqU
Have you heard of Buddy the cat? Buddy’s story has a little bit of everything: narrowly avoiding death, making the ultimate comeback, and sharing his miracle to save others.
Once upon a time, Buddy was just your average neighborhood feline. The Philly street cat would traipse around the block winning hearts wherever he’d roam. Until one day, a couple teenage boys sicced their two dogs on the poor guy. A surveillance camera caught the brutal attack, and eventually a man came to the rescue.
From there, things looked bleak. Buddy was already bleeding internally and had a heart rate nearly twice what it should have been by the time he reached the BluePearl emergency veterinary facility. The vets didn’t know if he’d make it through.
The video has since been taken down due to its graphic content, but not before going viral. It wasn’t long before the Pennsylvania SPCA received a flood of inquiries, messages, and donations of money and cat treats. And not just from Philadelphia, or the United States, for that matter. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Buddy receiving donations from Europe, Asia, and Australia. People around the globe were rooting for his recovery.
Not only did Buddy pull through, he received a whopping $100,000. PSPCA spokeswoman Gillian Kocher told the Inquirer “this is the biggest outpouring of support we have had for a single animal in the last decade. There is nothing that comes close to it.”
With all that money left over, the PSPCA was able to create a Buddy Fund to help care for other abused animals, including medical care and prosecuting their offenders (thankfully, Buddy’s attackers ended up turning themselves in.)
Buddy doesn’t seem to mind parting with the cash. He’s purrfectly happy helping others while lounging on his white blankie.
The PSPCA even made adorable t-shirts and stickers that say “Save Every Buddy.” The t-shirts alone have raised over $30,000. This kitty’s popularity just won’t stop.
As for Buddy, he’s living up his second life in luxury. He went home for foster care with Katie Venanzi, the BluePearl vet who took care of him the night of the incident on April 1. But according to Audacy, Vananzi hopes to make Buddy a permanent family member.
Check out this adorable photo of Buddy snuggling up next to his new brother Teddy.
Even after finding his new home, it looks like Buddy will remain a social media star. He has a loyal audience who regularly read his blog and eagerly await his videos–which are always a hit, even though it’s usually just him playing with his toys. The PSPCA jokingly complains that they can’t go longer than a day without some kind of Buddy post.
He even receives fan mail, which goes straight to a dedicated bulletin board.
Kocher told the Inquirer, “Everyone is very invested in this cat. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I could post his left ear, and people would go crazy about it.” She thinks it’s for the hope he instills in others. “Out of something pretty horrible can come so much good. Despite bad things happening, there is still so much good in the world.”
Buddy’s story might have begun with tragedy, but kindness and compassion won in the end. We are so happy this kitty has not only survived, but is thriving and inspiring.
I learned about the Tulsa Massacre in graduate school and upon learning about it, I thought my previous education had failed me, but I learned it wasn’t just me. Turns out that most students didn’t learn about the history of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street and the atrocities that occurred to set the residents back. Surprisingly, even students in Oklahoma didn’t learn about what happened in the bustling, prosperous Black community in 1921. Just over 100 years ago, an angry white mob descended on Tulsa’s Greenwood District, the small Black community that had amassed wealth in the short 56 years following the Emancipation Proclamation being signed. The community was entirely self-sufficient with their own barber shop, bank, grocery store, newspaper and school. There were even doctors and real estate agents within the community, which allowed them to exist without the need to depend on others outside the community.
When the mob came to town, they burned the entire community to the ground and killed around 300 people, historians surmised. The city lay in ruins for years as the state focused on building up the more predominantly white areas and refused to allocate resources. Insurance companies refused to pay out claims to rebuild the once thriving community. Residents of Greenwood felt the effects of this for generations. Today there are three surviving members of Black Wall Street, Lessie Benningfield Randle, 107, Viola Fletcher, 107, and Hughes Van Ellis, 101 and a judge just ruled that their lawsuit seeking reparations can proceed.
This is a huge victory for the three surviving victims because not only will they see justice in their lifetime, it would finally be monetary recognition of the generational setbacks Black people endured. Reparations is always a prickly subject to delve into, but this is because we’ve been told our entire lives: if you want to make it in America, everyone has the same opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. As a result, people feel that descendants of the enslaved, including the last three Tulsa Massacre survivors, are getting something undeserved without work.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is in Tulsa at the court house with Tulsa Greenwood Massacre survivors, all of whom are over 100 years old, to seek reparative justice. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on this very legal theory.pic.twitter.com/h3XEul2GST
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@Sheila Jackson Lee) 1651526127
Reparations is something that was promised from the beginning to help level the playing field a bit and if you’re living in this market you know that property is an investment and a way to create generational wealth. Enslaved African Americans were promised up to 40 acres of land per family upon being freed but the land was ordered to be returned by Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor. Returning the land allowed white citizens and slave owners the ability to continue to create generational wealth, the effects of which can still be felt today. There have been other instances that play into the racial wealth gap in America like redlining, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, etc., so the possibility of at least the survivors getting reparations is a reason to celebrate.
If the three elderly Tulsa Massacre survivors win their case, it will not only provide reparations for them, but for their descendants as well. Civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons told the Associated Press, “We want them to see justice in their lifetime,” he said, choking back tears. “I’ve seen so many survivors die in my 20-plus years working on this issue. I just don’t want to see the last three die without justice. That’s why the time is of the essence.”
The court room was packed and cheers echoed in the chambers when the judge ruled the case could move forward. Winning this case would not only be justice for the survivors but a positive moment in history to witness.
First off, I’d like to apologize for missing a couple of weeks. It’s been a busy time at Uproxx and between that, covering Coachella, and dealing with personal stuff (as we all do from time to time), regular readers may have felt disappointed when this column didn’t show up in their feeds. Fortunately, we’ve got a strong lineup for its return, and next week, we’ve got a new writer taking over, which should help keep things on schedule from here out.
Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending May 6, 2022.
Albums/EPs/Mixtapes
Black Star — No Fear Of Time
Black Star
Returning with their first album in nearly 25 years, Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) and Talib Kweli are still Black Star. Picking up where they left off in 1998, they spit more revolutionary wisdom on their comeback, this time backed by busy Madlib beats.
IDK & Kaytranada — Simple
IDK
The DMV MC takes a hard left turn on his latest between-albums EP and ends up with what is perhaps his most innovative and polished-sounding work yet. Of course, plenty of credit is owed to his collaborator, dance music producer Kaytranada, who blends soulful hip-hop with two-step-ready house beats.
Jack Harlow — Come Home The Kids Miss You
Jack Harlow
Following up the skyrocketing success of his debut album, That’s What They All Say, and his first solo No. 1 single “First Class,” Jack Harlow leans into the mores of millennial hip-hop, signaling what could be the genre’s next major evolution.
Lil Gotit — The Cheater
Lil Gotit
The Atlanta mainstay is closely affiliated with the city’s modern-day regents through his blood brother Lil Keed, and on his latest, he works to earn this distinction. It helps that Keed and other 1017 and YSL affiliates like Enchanting and Yak Gotti put in appearances as well.
Singles/Videos
Ace Hood — “Greatness” Feat. Killer Mike
Ace Hood has been a positive light in Florida hip-hop for the past couple of years and taps one of rap’s most uplifting voices on the latest single from his new album, M.I.N.D.
Courtney Bell — “Introspection”
The Detroit rapper makes his return with a jazzy, thoughtful track that proves the city has its fair share of heady, inspirational rappers to balance the scam and drill rap that has gotten the most attention of late.
Duke Deuce — “Crunkstarz”
You gotta give Duke Deuce points for consistency. Maintaining the level of energy he brings to every track can’t be easy, but he remains committed to his brand, even when he slows things down.
Headie One — “Came In The Scene”
Back in 2019, Headie One introduced many in the US market to the concept of UK drill when he collaborated with Drake on “Only You.” Here, he stands on his own, proving himself deserving of the attention he received back then — and more.
Juicy J — “Step Back” Feat. Duke Deuce
Juicy has always been generous with his co-sign for fellow Memphis artists and here, he lends Duke Deuce a little crunk credibility. The video’s concept is also quite reminiscent of the one from Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” video, although turning himself into James Harden makes it objectively funnier.
Kevin Gates — “Wizdom”
Baton Rouge’s finest returns with a soulful new single that finds him handing out advice to listeners that positions him as a weathered veteran who wants to see everyone win.
Lakeyah — “I Look Good”
The Quality Control rapper takes on a funky, bass-driven track for a club-friendly single whose video includes not-so-oblique references to 50 Cent’s “In The Club.”
Ray Vaughn — “Potential”
Long Beach rapper Ray Vaughn has some heavy expectations on his shoulders. With Kendrick Lamar leaving TDE soon, someone on the label needs to pick up the torch. He puts in a strong resume on his latest single, which toes the line between mainstream-friendly flexing and the label’s signature picture painting.
Shy Glizzy — “Borderline” Feat. EST Gee
EST Gee’s been on a roll lately. DC fixture Shy Glizzy wisely acquires his services to bolster his latest, street-focused single. The Louisvillian delivers, low-key stealing the show.
Tyga — “Sheikh Talk”
Tyga has yet to miss this year. While he’s yet to drop a single that comes close to the volcanic potential of 2019 hit “Taste,” he has also yet to show any signs of rust. It’s likely only a matter of time until he lands another inescapable earworm.
Wiz Khalifa & Juicy J — “Why Do I Stay” Feat. Elle Varner
Wiz and Juicy continue to promote Stoner’s Night with a video celebrating the merits of their shared favorite pastime.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In the aftermath of a comedian getting attacked on stage, (not that one) people love to jump in with all sorts of takes. After comedian Dave Chappelle was tackled by an audience member on stage at the Netflix comedy festival, the attacker, identified as Isaiah Lee, was allegedly beaten up by security. Now, many fellow comedians are chiming in, including Kevin Hart.
Hart stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week with stand-in host Mike Birbiglia to promote his new children’s book and line of tequila (seriously) but he also had some choice words for Chappelle’s attacker. “It’s one of those things that needed to happen,” Hart said, implying that the attacker was put in his place to set an example for others.
“Do you want people to continue to think that they can cross that line and break the barrier of entertainer and [the audience]?” Hart explained. “Somebody getting their ass whipped sends a message out to other people that was like, ‘I was thinking about doing that, but seeing that, I don’t really want to do that.’”
“I think that the world that we’re in right now, there’s a lot of lines that have gotten blurred, and sometimes you gotta take a lot of steps back to take a step forward,” Hart said, applauding Chapelle’s recovery. “He quickly moved on from it and got back to doing comedy…I think it’s time to get back to a place of respect for your live entertainer and understand that you’re coming to a show.”
The attack has social media divided, with many people believing that while it was a bad idea for the heckler to come on stage, beating him up wasn’t the best move. Others think he deserved it, as Chapelle is known for his controversial jokes over the last few years, mainly his offensive stance on trans people. Chapelle made light of the situation shortly after by joking that the attacker was “a trans man.”
If you think I’m going to feel sorry for that transphobe Dave Chappelle, please don’t.
The moment security protects him from the attack, he immediately jokes it was a transgender man (it wasn’t) — but it’s clear he will continue to put a target on trans people regardless.
Another Will Smith project has been put on the back burner. Although, this time it’s not because of The Slap. Entirely. Smith’s upcoming action drama movie, Emancipation, is reportedly being pushed into 2023. Apple had hoped to release the film directed by Antoine Fuqua during this year’s fall festival circuit, but sources inside the streaming company say that plan is now out the window.
While Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars is definitely a “prominent consideration,” the film was already suffering production problems that made it unlikely Fuqua would have it finished in time. Via Variety:
Multiple sources shared that Fuqua is still deep in post-production and may not be ready in time for a 2022 bow. The film suffered numerous delays due to moving the production from Georgia to Louisiana in protest of the state’s voting restrictions laws, the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida and the pause due to COVID cases in August 2021.
Apple also has a full schedule for later in the year that it plans to push for awards, and Smith’s performance in Emancipation is reportedly so good that the streamer wants to make sure it gets a fair shake. Prior to his Oscar win for King Richard, an insider who saw early footage of the Fuqua film told Variety, “Will’s going to win back-to-back.” Of course, that was before Smith slapped Rock on stage in front of millions of viewers and was banned from Academy events for the next 10 years, so the actor scoring another nom is probably firmly in the long-shot category right now.
While Stranger Things is set to return this month, actor Caleb McLaughlin is looking to remind the world that he’s multi-faceted with the new “Soul Travel” visual. The 20-year-old wrote, performed, and produced the upbeat love song, asking his lover to get away from the city with him as his life is moving too fast. Throughout the video, you’ll see McLaughlin riding in between women in the car or spending time with his friends. With such a demanding life, his desire to leave it all behind and focus on who he cares about the most is sensible.
This is just the second track that Caleb has ever released, following 2021’s “Neighborhood.” He told Complex that “Soul Travel,” despite being done before “Neighborhood,” is actually a continuation of that song’s story. “‘Neighborhood’ tells the story of a teenager meeting a girl and bringing her to my neighborhood, and then in ‘Soul Travel’ I am talking about going away while driving in the video.”
You can find Caleb playing Lucas Sinclair in Strangers Things’ penultimate season kicking off this month, before closing off for good in Season 5. The show has been running since 2016 and received favorable reviews from fans and critics alike.
Sam Richardson, the Detroiters star who has appeared in some of the funniest I Think You Should Leave sketches with his “best pal” (including “Baby of the Year”), told Variety that the writers are working on season three. “I’m not sure when they’ll start filming,” he said. “But there are funny sketches coming already, I can tell you that much.”
The future of I Think You Should Leave was in doubt after it was announced that Robinson and co-creator Zach Kanin were writing a comedy pilot for HBO Max. Computer School is described as being about a “recent high school grad and his uncle [who] attend the same computer class in suburban Michigan,” with Robinson playing the uncle. That sounds pretty great, but more I Think You Should Leave sounds even better.
“We’ve worked together for almost two decades, so we’d certainly break each other,” Richardson said about working with Robinson (even their last names are similar). “But we also know each other’s comedic moves and know how to respond to them. It’s so rare to find someone who understands and complements your comedic style and voice like that.”
Dave Chappelle would like to make one thing clear: Busta Rhymes was not the one who folded Isaiah Lee like a pretzel backstage after Lee tackled him during his show at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday. Reaching out to TMZ via his publicist Carla Sims, Dave insisted that his statements in the immediate aftermath of the attack were just jokes.
After shrugging off Lee’s initial tackle, Chappelle had returned to the stage — along with Jamie Foxx, and later, Chris Rock — to address the bizarre incident, saying, “I been doing this 35 years, I just stomped a n**** backstage,” joked. “I seen Busta Rhymes, he was like, ‘That’s how you do it, god.’” He claimed that Foxx and even fellow comedian Jon Stewart jumped in.
But perhaps worried that any legal counsel Lee pursued could use the statements as evidence in a civil case against the comedian and his security, he made sure to point out that none of the entertainers he mentioned had laid a finger on Lee. Considering his state as he was loaded into an ambulance later, they probably didn’t even need to.
Meanwhile, Chappelle has been joking about the situation ever since, as well as revealing Lee’s reason for accosting him in the first place (sorry, 50 Cent, it had nothing to do with Chappelle’s trans comments). As for Lee, he’s been charged with four misdemeanors, so hopefully, he feels it was worth both the pain — again, did you guys see his ARM!?!? — and potential jail time for the attention his attack got for his displaced grandmother and/or struggling rap career.
Investing in whiskey might sound like a joke to a lot of people, but it’s very real. It’s also a little less straightforward than, say, buying a gold bar. Though not by much. Whiskey is a commodity like any other — artwork, classic cars, crypto — that can appreciate or depreciate over the years, with a sale value that rises or declines based on the whims of the people who buy it. It’s a very real market with a lively trade.
Look, we get it, that’s a lot of intangible myth-making and throwing around of numbers for a product that was originally designed to just pour down your throat. But in reality, there’s a massive market for both bottles and barrels that are pretty much created for investment/collecting to turn a profit in the near or distant future. Certainly you can just drink this rare and expensive stuff too, but you might literally be pissing away a year’s college tuition in 2040.
To help us figure all of this out, I consulted a good friend of mine who’s also one of the foremost investment whisk(e)y experts in the entire world, Nate Gana. Gana and I judged at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition this year and have traded a bottle or two over the years. More importantly, Gana is on the cutting edge of who’s buying what, and which brands are making the spirits, barrels, and bottles that are actually going to be worth something two, five, 10, 20, or 50 years from now.
So let Gana and I guide you through getting into whiskey investing with a few, well eight, tips for the whiskey-investing curious.
“Dusties” Are Complicated
Zach Johnston
One of the first terms you are probably going to hear once you take your first step into this world is “dusties.” One part of that is that they’re talked about on all the whiskey podcasts and coveted by newbies. Another part of it is that shops like Justins’ House of Bourbon in Louisville and Lexington or online shops like The Whisky Exchange have done a great job curating collections of rare old bottles you can actually buy off the shelf right now.
But just because a cool old bottle is on The Whisky Exchange’s webstore or on the shelf at Justins’ doesn’t mean it’s a must-buy for an investor.
“Dusties are complicated,” Gana says. “Or at least they can be. Some dusties don’t necessarily appreciate too quickly in value.”
Gana offers an example, “Finding an old Glenmorangie oftentimes is more fun than valuable because the liquid is fantastic … but it’s not really one of those bottles that appreciates too quickly on the aftermarket.”
And there’s the rub. Fancy old bottles feel like a no-brainer but you have to be careful. One tactic I take, which I learned from Gana early, was to look for the bottles that are still open at high-end whiskey bars. If some bar in New York, Seattle, Louisville, or Glasgow are opening and pouring vintage whisk(e)y, that means there’s an ever diminishing stock of that vintage/bottle in the world. For instance, there are only so many Pappy Van Winkle’s left in existence that were made from barrels before the move to Buffalo Trace. They moved in 2002 and release 10, 12, 13, 15, 20, and 23-year-old expressions (and a 25 back in the day, but good luck there). Do that math. Finding a Pappy, in general, is one of those always sunny investments, but finding a pre-Buffalo Trace dusty is a play to make.
Naturally, there’s more to these dusties than just old Pappy. Gana has some tips, “There are some universal brands that are always hot like Macallan, Yamazaki, Hibiki, Pappy, Willett, Michter’s, Springbank, and Balvenie.”
You’re Going To Need To Stand In A Line (Maybe Overnight)
Michters
Standing in line overnight at a state-run liquor store is a right of passage for a lot of collectors and investors. State-run shops in places like Ohio and Virginia will put their allocations on the shelf at MSRP — or extremely near to — on a first-come, first-serve basis. Hell, I’ve heard of people who have distillery delivery truck times and routes in a spreadsheet from each of the main Kentucky distilleries mapped out so they know exactly when those bottles are hitting shelves.
That’s because lining up for a rare release is where you can make serious money down the road. But Gana warns that while it absolutely can be profitable, “it all depends on the release.” A good litmus is to look at how many bottles are being released, how often the release happens, and whether people are actually excited about it or not.
Another tactic Gana suggests are distillery-only releases. “A better bet nowadays is lining up for distillery exclusives at the distillery itself.”
He continues with a big tip, “Take the Bardstown Collection, for example, five unique releases within two days, at specific release times, to complete an incredibly rare set.”
Granted, to actually get that release you’d have to be in or near Bardstown with a lot of time to kill, but we may never see the Bardstown Collection again, or at least not that version. I know people who book rooms across the street from a distillery experience on Whiskey Row in Louisville to watch the bottle shop from their room’s window for when a line forms. That way they know when to run down and grab whatever special release is dropping. Why? Becasue it’ll be there at MSRP and not marked up.
Lastly, new Pappy releases (the line is released every year around October/November) usually don’t even make it to liquor store shelves. They’re released via a lottery to, well, avoid the chaos of people lining up for them. As for the lottery systems, Gana says this, “It’s always worth putting your name in the hat!”
Build Relationships At Local Liquor Stores
Nate Gana
So how do you even know when to go line up at your local liquor store for that special release? You’ll need to talk to the people who run those stores, sign up for loyalty programs so that you receive store news, and, most importantly, focus on locally owned and run stores.
Gana is emphatic about this last point. “If it is a mom and pop shop, it’s very important to build a close relationship. Extremely important. I can’t stress this enough. The flip side is there is little to no loyalty at your local big-box store.”
As with so much in life, it’s about the relationships you make. That’s especially true when it comes to finding rare bottles at fair prices.
Build A Community For Buying, Trading, and Selling Bottles
Zach Johnston
So you found a few bottles. Now what? This was something that always vexed me too. I would see some release and know that it was meant for investment but I had no contacts in that world. And there’s no stock exchange. There aren’t shops downtown I could just pop into like gold or silver exchanges. That means it is on you to research, reach out, and do a little digging.
Though it has become far easier than even five years ago, much less 10. “This part is becoming easier,” Gana says. “But it still is not common knowledge. Your best bet is to send bottles to the UK auction houses, or to Sotheby’s in NYC.”
Gana warns though that different brokerage houses will “charge different commissions on both ends for the buyer and seller.”
Beyond that, this really is about who you know, where you are, and what the market is looking for in relation to what you have. That said, I’ve bought and sold bottles to/from bars before, to private collectors, and just between friends. But that was after years in the industry and building those relationships.
Barrel Pick Vs. Buying A New Barrel
Zach Johnston
Beyond dusties and rare or limited releases, there are also barrels. This generally falls into two categories. A barrel pick means you’ll get 150 to 250 bottles from a barrel you pick that you then make some cash off via a charity or your business or selling via a whiskey club back home.
Then there’s buying a new-fill barrel that’ll be on the market in four, six, 10, 20, or 50 years from now. With both processes, each distillery will have its own team and rules for how they do both of these things.
These are two very different prospects though. For one, everyone is doing barrel picks these days. Bars, restaurants, every random whiskey club around the world, all the podcasters, influencers, stay-at-home dad clubs, music stars … everyone. Distilleries will roll out four to 10 barrels, you can go in with the team, do a pick, have lunch with the distiller after a tour, sign your barrel, and wait for delivery of your bottles. The thing is, those barrels will be barrels the distillery want to sell. And that’s fine because there’ll be at least one that you’ll fall in love with.
Still, Gana notes that there’s a “massive difference” between the two offerings. He breaks it down like this, “I don’t find a lot of value in buying barrels for today [barrel picks] unless you want to make $1,500-$2,000 after everything is sold. I’m not knocking that, but you would need to do several of those per year to make it worth the time. Aging [investing in new fill barrels] is always on your side, as we know that patience pays big time in this game!”
Investing in a new fill barrel is all about playing the long game. It’s also a little more of a gamble, we’re not going to deny that. The angel’s share is real, with anywhere from two to five or even six percent disappearing out of that barrel every year (depending on where it’s resting). Then you have to be savvy enough to know when it’s time to bottle it or risk having to blend it out with other barrels that you may not have. The good part is that you can spend the years while the whiskey is aging gaining all that knowledge to make sure you sell/bottle at the right time.
But the long game is about more than letting your new barrel of whiskey come to age, which leads us to…
Where Do You Even Find These Barrels?
Sazerac
This is another facet of whiskey investing that left me scratching my head at first. Surely you can’t just walk into Buffalo Trace and buy a barrel of Weller, right? Yes, you can. Moreover, how do you know what’s going to actually be a good financial investment in two or 20 years from now?
I’m going to let Gana answer this one!
“Most of the barrels that would make the most are ones that the general public cannot pick anymore. Brands like Michter’s, Macallan, or Springbank would generally never — or very rarely — let you buy a barrel, aged or new.” Gana continues, “Buffalo Trace has a lot of quick flip upside to barreling and selling for a bar program, restaurant, or even club. Four roses recently limited its buying program to a select few, which I think was a great move for the brand to make it even more coveted than it already is.”
The best way to find barrel picks or which distillers are letting you invest in bottles is, again, research. Sometimes that research is as easy as Googling “Jack Daniel’s Barrel Pick.” Sometimes it’s about creating a relationship with the brand team by following their brand ambassadors on IG (or just whiskey influencers), going to the distillery often, and following the news about them.
How do you spot a fake? Even Gana says that this is a hard question. Fakes are everywhere these days. Brands like Buffalo Trace, which makes Pappy, have been fighting it with tech. But even then, there’s still an inherent risk with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.
Gana’s advice is straightforward, “Usually, my private purchases are from people I trust the most who also have good reputations in the industry.” He continues, “I rarely buy from someone I don’t know. I have seen a ton of people get screwed before.”
I’ve been lucky enough to have heard this advice early and heed it with every transaction I make. Still, even the best of us get hoodwinked from time to time. So this once again goes back to building that community of people you know and more importantly truly trust. Damn, this is starting to sound like you need to build a whiskey mafia to invest in this stuff!
What’s Hot Now?
Zach Johnston
So where do you start? That’s always the biggest question, isn’t it? Well, you already have started if you’re reading this. The next step is to follow Gana on IG and start following other whiskey folks and brands too. But then you actually have to start investing at some point.
Is it worth paying $6,000 for a bottle of Pappy 23 on the aftermarket right now and waiting for it to hit 10k in a few years? Maybe. But what you really want to do is get a bottle of Pappy via a local state-run liquor store lottery at $299.99. That way you’ve made $5,700 when you walk out that door, which means a lot more in your account when it does hit $10,000 in a few years. That applies to any bottle in that range from Kentucky, Scotland, Japan, or wherever.
Still, there are sectors that Gana is excited about more than others. “Bourbon bottles are by far the most intriguing to me right now,” Gana says.
A big part of that is that bourbon has a long, long way to go to catch up with Scotch and Japanese whisky when it comes to investment ceilings. “Following that,” Gana continues, “it is American single malt barrels and private barrels of Scotch whisky from independent bottlers.”
While we’re not going to hold your hand, you just got a lot of great keywords to get yourself into this right now in that last sentence alone, much less all the ones above it. You have Google in your hand right now. Get started. And good luck!
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