The dry martini is one of the simplest cocktail recipes in existence. Of course, it now has endless variations — many of them quite good. But that essential recipe is very basic. It’s a mix of dry gin and dry vermouth with a touch of bitters, and a spritz of lemon oils, served deeply chilled.
That’s really it. But finding the right balance of these core ingredients is what makes or breaks a stellar dry martini. A little too much dry vermouth and you have an overly sweet martini. Not enough lemon oil and you’re left with a bland glass of cold gin. There is an art to it all.
To that end, I’m going all the way back to the first iteration of the recipe, from the early 19th century. There are two main tenets to the drink, as it was initially conceived. One, everything must be ice cold. That goes beyond the booze in the glass to literally pre-freezing all your bar tools and chilling the booze beforehand. Keeping things as cold as possible helps create a cleaner and more elevated experience that you get at a quality cocktail bar.
The other key aspect at play is the use of vermouth. Old-school recipes call for a small wash of vermouth that’s discarded before the gin and bitters go into the glass. The vermouth should be “just there” as a botanical and slightly sweet accent, not a full component. Think of it like an absinthe wash for a Sazerac.
When it comes to gin for a martini, you want a London dry (a juniper-focused gin) that you actually like, since the gin is the star of this show. I’m using Artingsall’s because it’s made specifically for mixing drinks like this where the gin shines. Booth’s London Dry, Bombay London Dry, or The Botanist Islay Dry work wonders too. There are a lot of good choices out there — find one that speaks to you.
For the dry vermouth, I opened a bottle of Noilly Prat. The French vermouth is a little subtler and leans more brightly botanical with a lower sweetness.
Lastly, let’s talk about the garnish. Old-school dry martinis did not come with swizzle sticks full of pickled onions, briny olives, or slices of lemon peel. They were a simple cocktail with a little lemon oil to help them pop. So, that’s the vibe we’re going for here.
That being said… put an olive in your martini if you want.
Zach Johnston
What You’ll Need:
Coupe, Nick and Nora, or cocktail glass
Cocktail jug
Barspoon
Jigger
Cocktail strainer
Fruit peeler
Zach Johnston
Method:
Prechill glass, jug, spoon, jigger, and strainer in the freezer overnight.
Prechill the vermouth and gin in a fridge overnight.
Remove the tools and glass from the freezer and the spirits from the fridge when ready to mix.
Use the fruit peeler to peel a thumb-sized section of lemon rind.
Add the vermouth to the glass and wash it out by swirling it around and then discard the vermouth in the sink.
Add the gin and bitters to the cocktail jug with a hand full of ice. Stir until the cocktail is ice cold — about 15 to 20 seconds.
Strain the cocktail into the waiting glass.
Express the lemon oils over the cocktail and discard peel.
Serve.
Bottom Line:
Zach Johnston
This is just so damn nice. The vermouth is just there but feels more like a partner with the Angostura in the background than a main agitator of the gin.
The ice-cold aspects of this drink last and help make this super refreshing. The lemon oils are what really tie this all together. They pop while also adding a real brightness to the woodier aspects of the botanical vibe of the gin.
Look, we get it. Prechilling all of your bar gear before making a cocktail seems like a lot. But that extra step is what takes this drink from “hum, I guess this is what a martini tastes like when I make it at home…” to “oh, wow, this is why the martini at my favorite cocktail bar is always so much better!” That, folks, is always worth it! Especially if you have a houseguest you want to make an impression on.
The return of autumn brings many things. The leaves change to bright hues of red, orange, and yellow before silently falling to the ground. A light jacket or sweater soon becomes part of the dress code. Days are shorter, nights colder. It’s a season of transition.
For beer drinkers, that shift means maltier, richer, more robust beers hitting shelves.
“Ah, the lovely days of autumn,” says Stephen Hale, founding brewer at Schlafly Beer in St. Louis. “They bring not only a blessed change in the weather, but also an exciting shift in the offerings of beers from summer’s lighter lagers and fruitier styles.”
Tim Matthews, VP of brewing at CANarchy in Longmont, Colorado sees both his food and beer choices change this time of year.
“I tend to change my eating habits and then my beer choice follows,” he says. “The perfect example is when rich soup and herb-seasoned, roasted poultry start showing up on our table in late October and early November. That’s when the Porters and Schwarzbiers start to accumulate in the fridge, since their roasted grain character pairs great with all the fatty, savory flavors going on.”
To mark the changing seasons, we asked some of our favorite brewers for their favorite beers this time of year. Check their answers below!
As fall rolls around, one of the beers I most look forward to is a fresh pour of Topcutter IPA. If I have a Topcutter in front of me, that means I’m at Bale Breaker, a little family-owned brewery in Washington’s Yakima Valley. Yakima is one of the hop-growing capitals of the world, and Bale Breaker is surrounded on three sides by acres and acres of hops. Every September, we send two teams of brewers out to Yakima for hop selection. To me, it’s the most important ingredient selection we do, and I just love walking the fields, talking to farmers, and watching the harvesters do their thing.
When we get into town, the first stop is always Bale Breaker. Even before we go to the hotel. It’s a perfect place to grab a beer, maybe run into some fellow brewers, and get into that hoppy state of mind.
I like to drink beers that are a bit stronger as the weather gets colder. Something with a slight warming character to it. I find myself buying La Chouffe, a blonde Belgian ale, frequently in the fall. It’s a beer that’s both extremely complex and approachable. Especially since I love baking during this time of year, the spicy phenols and fruity aromas pair perfectly with some homemade bread.
Marzen lagers are synonymous with fall for me, and while most people brew and serve this seasonal brew, Odell Brewing’ Oktoberfest is the one I always look forward to. The fall is a time for me to slow down, and take in the last warm days before winter sets in. Odell’s Oktoberfest has a brilliantly clear, almost dark orange or light amber hue which perfectly matches the colors of changing leaves on Aspens and Cottonwoods throughout the Tetons. The rich and malty base for this beer is inviting and balanced by subtle hop flavors and aromas. The aroma and flavor remind me of crisp fall mornings and the smell of dew in the air.
The flavors are perfect to pair with autumnal fare like soup, chili, or slow-roasted meat. It is a beer I sip and savor each and every year and for me is the perfect companion to welcome the fall in the intermountain west.
Spaten Oktoberfest
Spaten
Jason Salas, director of brewing operations at New Holland Brewing in Holland, Michigan
Spaten Oktoberfest is light, soft texture, malty, and highly crushable. I was born in September and therefore I came of age when this beer was released for Oktoberfest every year. Drinking this beer reminds me of old friends, places we’d gather, and the unforgettable moments we made.
The first beer I think of when fall settles and if I’m in Germany around that time is fresh Augustiner Oktoberfest Bier, preferably served from traditional wooden barrels. Here in the United States, there are many brewers who replicate this style well, and most brew a more full-bodied Märzen, a bit of a throwback to how it was made in Germany decades ago.
These beers are copper to amber in color, malt forward with low and harmonious hop bitterness. Rich flavors of toasted malt, light caramel lifted by the sparkle of fresh lager yeast creates a perfect pairing for cool fall weather in the beer garden. They are full of flavor yet incredibly drinkable.
I’d go with The Bruery Or Xata. I’m a big fan of The Bruery’s Or Xata with its warming notes of cinnamon and spice, which is ideal for fall temperatures and shorter days.
Rockwell Foeder Fest
Rockwell
Stephen Hale, founding brewer at Schlafly Beer in St. Louis
Narrowing this down to one beer is always a challenge, but since I often lean towards malty beers, and this is one of my favorite styles, it’s one I’ll try everywhere I go. Although you really can’t go wrong with your favorite, Rockwell Brewing Foeder Fest is a fine example of what makes this season so great. The solid, clean, harmony of the style is what captivates me. Although it’s not a big hoppy beer, hops are used perfectly to complement the toasted bread, biscuity, and medium-sweet maltiness, with a gorgeous clear amber reddish-brown color — all very much like a perfect autumn day. Prosit!
A beer you could actually drink most of the year, but really hits the mark for the fall as temperatures start to drop and leaves change color is Flying Fish’s Abbey Dubbel which Brewvana featured in their holiday box last year. Flavors of dark fruit, like dates, and sweet caramel are complemented by a slightly higher alcohol percentage, sometimes as high as 8 percent. The most important feature of this beer is the higher carbonation level in it which pushes those rich complex flavors off your palate after every sip so that you don’t find it too rich and can enjoy the whole thing.
It’s hard to brew a beer like this and get the right balance of those flavors with high alcohol and high carbonation so that it could stand side by side with the gold standard, which has been brewed by the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle since 1856.
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale
J.W. Lees
Todd DiMatteo, owner and head brewer of Good Word Brewing in Duluth, Georgia
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale beer is a time machine for me. It evokes where we have been, but I can also confidently say that it’s also where we are headed to. It holds a special place in my memory — as I was cutting my teeth in craft beer at Brick Store Pub in 2005, we had so many different years of the barleywine — it was like having a personal arsenal of flavors that lived within a single beer over different vintages at the ready. It was fun to share with lucky guests and friends. Sometimes these wooden pin casks would come in that had been aged for longer than I had been legally drinking. Some were aged in Scotch or calvados barrels. The Harvest Ale, in particular, is brewed only once a year and it is a special barleywine with a hefty and respectable 11.5% abv. reminiscent of a Werther’s Original candy in liquified form — a warm, caramel flavor.
This is a beer to sip slowly while my kids cut into pumpkins, and we enjoy a flickering fire. It begs for that rolled cigar smell, followed by a pour of a nice round whisky to follow it down.
Hoss Oktoberfest Lager by Great Divide Brewing Company is easily my favorite fall beer. I always loved it when it was a year-round beer, but a few years back they made it a fall release which really makes it fit the time of year perfectly. It’s got a deep malty aroma that is accentuated by the addition of rye into the mash, a beautiful malt-red color, and the ABV is in the traditional Oktoberfest range at 6.2 percent. It’s a great beer for cool nights around a campfire.
A German Märzen is a perfect beer to transition with the seasons, as the days are still warm but cool off in the evening. It features more of a toasted malt character and a small number of caramel flavors, with a medium body so you can have more than one without feeling full. Not too sweet, not too malty, nor too watery! When the color of the beer matches the leaves on the trees as they change you can’t go wrong.
Paulaner, Ayinger, and Hacker-Pschorr are my go-to choices.
Andechs Spezial Hell
Andechs
Jeff Joslin, director of brewing operations at Left Hand Brewing in Longmont, Colorado
The specific beer for fall for me would be Andechs Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest beers are so seasonal specific and each one is so different. Andechs is clean and well-made, lighter than a lot of American Oktoberfests, and I have fond memories of visiting the brewery.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Sierra Nevada
Christian Ettinger, founder, and brewmaster at Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, Oregon
Easy. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is a fantastic IPA with classic piney C Hop character, a nice medium malt body, and a long, bitter finish. It is complex, strong, and hearty, and quite possibly the perfect reward for a big effort in the woods or on the mountain.
This beer was an inspiration to me as a young brewer and continues to impress year after year.
Bamberg Rauchbier — particularly of the bock style, or, as the weather gets colder, doppelbock — is my pick. We make them occasionally at the R&D scale, but never frequently enough for my tastes, and none of them compare to the archetypes from Schlenkerla. For me, the style evokes thoughts of drinking in a tavern, with blustery cold snow flurries outside, and a crackling fire keeping things warm inside. The malty-sweet/toasty/smoky balance of a good bock-style rauchbier is perfect when the weather starts to cool, and while deliciously malty and rich on its own. It makes for an incredible pairing with many of the more robust dishes that one might expect from a fall menu.
Wiley Roots Brewing in Greeley is hitting on all cylinders. Their Pumpkin Spice Country Fair Cobbler captures all of what I like about fall in a most pleasant and drinkable format. Pumpkin beers are often too sweet and cloying. The bright blonde color is refreshing in comparison to the many darker pumpkin beers on the market. Pumpkin puree brings body and mouthfeel, which sour beers often lack, as well as authenticity. Cinnamon, vanilla, and graham cracker are the roots of any good cobbler, and the not too overpowering acidity keeps it all in check.
Bright, whimsical, and screaming of everything I like about fall.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
Everything that was once cool will at some point fall out of style. Then, in about 25 years, it’ll come back in again. One piece of home decor that’s rapidly falling out of fashion is word art.
You know, those wooden signs in people’s homes with down-home, kitschy sayings. These days, they’re easy to find at Target or Home Goods, but their days may be numbered.
“Word art is a trend that has been around for years — you won’t be stuck for wood motif options at home décor stores,” interior designer Zoe Warren told The Sun. “However, generic plaques reading ‘Home’ placed around your rooms lacks character and looks tacky. “
Millennials tend to be the biggest fans of word art and Gen Z has come after them by branding their particular taste as “cheugy.” The pejorative term has many different connotations, but fondness for word art is one thing that people who use the slang all agree on.
“If you’ve ever bought a wooden sign from Target that says ‘Gather,’ that’s cheugy,” Cnet says. Urban Dictionary defines the term as “another way to describe aesthetics/people/experiences that are basic.”
Makeup artist John Michael Baker decided to have some fun with his sister by posting a video showcasing the various pieces of word art in her home. The video is funny because word art has become so ubiquitous that pointing it out feels cathartic.
“Welcome to my basic white sister’s home,” Baker says as he throws one of her wreaths on his head.
The video was a huge hit earning over five million likes. So, two days later, he posted another dispatch from the mecca of word art.
Three days later, he posted another video revealing that there’s still more word art to be discovered in his sister’s home.
Just so nobody gets the wrong idea, Baker posted a video showing his love for his sister, reminding his followers that his videos are all in fun. “My sister is a bad b*tch,” Baker says, “I’m just a brother that likes to f**k with their siblings.”
In the end, Baker’s sister’s word art is all about making a positive statement about her home. It’s a fun place where people come together to live, laugh, and love. the artwork makes her family feel comfortable and visitors feel welcome, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
So if you’re like Baker’s sister and love word art, hang it wherever you like and don’t let anyone tell you you shouldn’t.
A number of people became famous during last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, not all of them for good reasons. Two of them were Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a pair of lawyers from St. Louis who waved guns at protesters who had entered their gated community. The two wound up getting off scot-free, even becoming right-wing heroes and speakers at the 2020 RNC. Mark is even running for Senate. But their actions may come back to haunt them after all.
According to NPR, the two may wind up losing their law licenses. A petition from Missouri’s chief disciplinary counsel, Alan D. Pratzel, argues that their actions showed “indifference to public safety” and showed “moral turpitude.” The couple both pleaded guilty to misdemeanors: he to fourth-degree assault misdemeanor, she to harassment. They were later pardoned by Missouri Governor Mike Parson.
But Pratzel argued that even if their slates were formally wiped clean, “the person’s guilt remains.” He cited their guilty pleas in his petition, while citing a number of other Missouri cases in which lawyers were disciplined for crimes they committed. Pratzel is asking the Supreme Court to indefinitely suspend their law licenses.
Mark McCloskey was unrepentant about his actions, which drew widespread outrage. “The prosecutor dropped every charge except for alleging that I purposely placed other people in imminent risk of physical injury; right, and I sure as heck did,” McCloskey said at one point. “That’s what the guns were there for and I’d do it again any time the mob approaches me, I’ll do what I can to place them in imminent threat of physical injury because that’s what kept them from destroying my house and my family.”
Pratzel included that quote in his petition to rob the McCloskeys of their law licenses.
Kanye West’s most recent real-estate-related antics might have daunted any agent looking to make a sale, given his penchant for pyrotechnics. But the incendiary producer won’t be burning down his latest purchase, a boxy beachfront mansion in Malibu — especially with the price tag he just paid: $60 million. The home, which Kanye just bought according to TMZ, was designed by a noted Japanese architect, Tadao Ando, and was on the market for $75 million. Kanye ultimately got a break on the price, finally paying “just” $57.3 million.
He likely got such a break because the house had been listed since May of 2020 because it was only attractive “to a very specific buyer.” At just 4,000 square feet and constructed of mostly concrete and reinforced steel, it’s easy to see why. However, it also has four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms with a patio that leads straight down to the beach, so there’s some charm — which Mr. West intuited. He also likely took into account its relative proximity to Kim Kardashian’s home in Hidden Hills, where his soon-to-be ex-wife and kids live. Kanye is also reportedly a big fan of the designer — much like how his album materials for prior albums like Graduation were inspired by Takashi Murakami.
You can see photos of the mansion in the Instagram below.
Finding old and rare bourbon whiskeys to buy could be a full-time job. Sure, you can nab some bottles in some online stores like Caskers, Drizly, and The Whisky Exchange. And, yes, you’ll see most of these rare unicorns on whiskey bar shelves (if you look way up to the rafters). But they’re not exactly the sorts of bottles you just randomly spot at the liquor store — even at the best liquor stores.
To get premium bottles in your collection you have to enter auctions and pay attention to launch dates and make friends with liquor store owners. Or you have to be willing to pay well above the market price.
But even if you have the means, starting a bourbon collection — with profit as an aim — takes work. There’s a lot to parse. Some bottles become highly valued thanks to the hype machine. These are your small allocations of Pappy, Weller, and Henry McKenna, to name a few. Then there are the limited releases that folks will line up for — sometimes for days — season after season (Four Roses, does a great job with these sorts of drops). Beyond that, there are the rare and old dusties that survived under your grandparents’ sink or have passed through auctions and vaults for decades.
Long story short, it’s not the sort of hobby you can simply dip a toe into. Unless that toe is very well-heeled.
Today, we’re looking at ten bottles — the sorts dubbed “unicorns” in the bourbon world — for the budding collector. These picks just scratch the surface of the bottles being bid on at auctions, resting on shelves like Justin’s House of Bourbon in Louisville, or being poured in high-end whiskey bars like The Ballard Cut in Seattle. Still, they’re all pretty extraordinary, likely to increase in value, and offer a great launch pad for anyone wanting to start collecting.*
This is a brand with a long story that stretches back to Julian Van Winkle, III, and the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery. The juice was originally leftover whiskey from that same warehouses that aged old-school Pappy until it ran out. Then Diageo got into the mix and started sourcing the juice from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (which makes Willett).
Today, the whiskey is craft-made in Kentucky but still relies heavily on sourced juice from some of the best stocks in Kentucky.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a subtle note of salted caramels on the nose with a hint of dried roses, oily vanilla pods, and a warm spicy mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove with a cherry Coke edge. The palate is like a rum-soaked Christmas cake with fatty almonds, candied fruits, dried fruits, and a lot of nutmeg, allspice, and clove with a light touch of silky softness. The finish leans into the fattiness of the nuts while the spice gets chewy with a tobacco edge as it very slowly fades away, leaving you with a note of dried fruit.
Collectability:
This is going to vary in price drastically, depending on what release you actually find. If you come across an old Stitzel-Weller version, it’ll probably be a lot at an auction and you will be outbid. The new stuff remains very collectible in that it’s a small release of bottles that rarely pop up outside of Kentucky or very bespoke liquor stores in major markets.
This expression spends a long 23 years resting in new American oak. That age means that there’s still some old juice from Pappy’s previous home, the Stitzel-Weller Distillery, in the mix. Not every barrel makes the final cut. Only the “honey barrels” — the best of the best — are selected for marrying, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This sip greets you with big notes of rich vanilla, dark cherry, old oak, spicy tobacco, and tart apples. When you add a little water, a dark dusting of cacao arrives to accent the base notes as the spices kick in, adding a real Christmas pudding vibe counterpointed by the musty oak, worn leather, and wisp of pipe tobacco smoke.
Collectability:
This is another bottle you’ll probably only see at a state lottery, auction, or a collector’s liquor shop (like Justin’s in Louisville). The thing is, though, is that high-end bars and average drinkers are opening these and pouring them into glasses. That means that even, say, a 2021 release is going to go up in price as those seals get broken.
This Old Fitzgerald is the OG bourbon that Julian Van Winkle, II (the one and only “Pappy”), built after WWII. The juice was made at Stitzel-Weller when Pappy still owned and operated the whole place (today, it’s owned by Diageo). When the brands and distillery were sold off, Old Fitz ended up as a Heaven Hill product, where it was revived into one of the most sought-after modern bottles (more on that later).
In short, this is classic bourbon that sort of set the flavor profile for a vast majority of bourbon being made today.
Tasting Notes:
These are still very drinkable. The nose on a 1964 release I tried recently is a mix of salted caramel next to light touches of orchard fruit, oily vanilla, light and soft wood, and spiced tobacco. The palate is pure silk with bursts of stonefruits, soft leather, a touch of vanilla cream, and burnt sugars. The mid-palate to finish is a slow fade into the silliest vanilla custard you can imagine that’s been spiced with fresh tobacco, a touch of mint, and boozy soaked red fruit.
Collectability:
This is another bottle that you still see getting poured at high-end whiskey bars, which means there will be a point when very, very few of these are left. The problem is, drinking this is fun. It really taps you into that beautiful bourbon taste and texture that every other distiller has been chasing since Pappy struck gold with this recipe.
It’s one of the most delicious bottles on the list and hard not to crack open simply for the palate education.
This wheated whiskey from 2008 eschews the more common rye and adds in North Dakota wheat. The juice is then barreled and stored in two warehouses where 73 percent of the whiskey is lost to the air and elements. The juice is then bottled untouched and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes:
There’s soft bourbon vanilla that leads towards almond-encrusted toffees inside a pine box with a dark chocolate bonbon hidden somewhere inside all that nutty toffee. The sip leans into a cherry and dark chocolate bespeckled ice cream with a solid vanilla bean base and a dusting of crushed-up walnuts and maybe even peanut. The end is slightly dry and leans more towards cedar and straw with spicy cherry tobacco buzz.
Collectability:
This could easily have been any bottle from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. I chose this one because I actually like to drink it. Moreover, there could be a few Weller releases here too — like the 12-year, Single Barrel, etc. The point is, Weller is one of those bottles that you’re going to either pay a hefty price tag for or find for a price at an auction thanks to so little of it actually hitting the open market.
Moreover, people still drink this stuff (this bourbon drinker being one of them), which is a good sign for A) steady demand and B) decreasing supply.
This year’s LE Small Batch is a blend of four bourbons. Four Roses is renowned for its ten distinct recipes with two mash bills and five yeast strains. This whiskey marries four of those recipes with two from Mash B (very high rye) and two from Mash Bill E (high rye). The yeasts at play are “delicate fruit,” “spice essence,” and “floral essence.” The barrels ranged from 12 to 16 years old, making this a fairly old bourbon, all things considered.
Tasting Notes:
The nose has a mix of honey next to buttery biscuits, rich vanilla, a touch of tart red berries, dry cedar, and a very faint hint of dry mint. The palate dives into a dark plum jam with a spicy edge of allspice and nutmeg. That fruit gives way to a spritz of orange oils next to a light touch of dark chocolate on the mid-palate that leads to a rich finish. That finish leaves you with warming spice, more of that orange/choco vibe, and another mild hint of green, dry mint.
Collectability:
A limited release of only 14,000 bottles via lottery from one of the most beloved distillers in the country? Yeah, these go up in price. Again, the juice in the bottle is actually pretty damn tasty, so people tend to drink these away too, which helps their price point rise pretty quickly.
This yearly release from Heaven Hill is, indeed, rare. The edition from 2013 was a personal mission for Parker Beam. He selected 100 barrels of high-rye bourbons that are at least ten years old for this expression. Those barrels were married and then proofed down to a very accessible 96 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Imagine a still-warm apple pie full of spices, brown sugar, buttery crust, walnuts, and maybe even a raisin or two topped with the richest vanilla ice cream scoop you’ve ever had and you’ll be on the right track. This smells and tastes like home on a summer day with that perfect apple pie vibe that mellows towards a stack of pancakes smothered in browned butter and maple syrup as a note of tobacco chew warms up the back of your throat. The end is very long and full of a sweet maple syrup tobacco buzz.
Collectability:
Parker’s Heritage is Heaven Hill’s yearly limited release that changes year-to-year with some seriously rare drops. This happens to be one that is really hard to find while also being pretty freakin’ delicious. If you do ever see one of these in the wild, expect to pay a hefty price tag but also know it’ll increase in value.
This year’s spring release is a marriage of eight-year-old whiskeys produced in the spring of 2013. That distilled juice rested in barrels spread throughout three warehouses on several different floors. In spring of this year, those barrels were vatted and whiskey was proofed down to 100 (per bottled-in-bond law). Then the whiskey was filled into Old Fitzgerald’s signature decanters and sent out into the world.
Tasting Notes:
This is gorgeous. The nose draws you in with warming eggnog spice, creamy vanilla pudding, rich toffee, mild fruit, and a hint of wet cedar and very muted citrus. To say this is “smooth” would be an understatement. The silky taste dances around oven-hot pans of pecan and maple-glazed sticky buns with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to caramelized orange peel vibes and lightness that’s almost hard to believe. The finish is long, effervescent, and leaves you with this soft sense of having just eaten the best oatmeal raisin cookie of your life with just the right amounts of oats, spice, raisins, brown sugar, and crumble.
Collectability:
Like Parker’s Heritage above, this Heaven Hill release is pretty tiny. But there are three releases per year, making it slightly less rare but barely. Beyond that, the decanter, unique age statement, and deliciousness of the juice in the bottle all make this very enticing. And while these tend to go up in price a little slower than, say, Weller or Old Forester Birthday bourbons, they do tend to go up a few hundred a year.
Plus, that bottle is obviously an incredible get and something that grabs the eye.
Elmer T. Lee is another hugely popular release that’s very limited (and sought after). Where this differs from the single barrel from Blanton’s is in the mash bill (this is a bit higher rye) and the placing of the barrel in the warehouse. It’s said that the barrels for Elmer T. Lee are stored where the master distiller himself used to store the barrels he kept for his own stash.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is like a decadent breakfast of pancakes smothered in cinnamon butter, dripping with the best maple syrup, and topped with a hand-made scoop of vanilla ice cream. The palate holds onto the vanilla and spice but settles into more a floral honeyed sweetness with touches of cedar, old library book leather, and a hint of tobacco buzz. The end lingers for a while and leaves you with a dry pear tobacco warmth next to cinnamon heat and maple bar sweetness.
Collectability:
This might be one of the easier bottles to source on this list. You can still grab these off the shelf at the distillery (and really high-end liquor stores) for a price. You also see this poured at the high-end whiskey bars with pretty good frequency. That means people are still drinking these at a good enough clip to help new and older releases increase in price.
This is the mountaintop of Michter’s line of bourbons. The juice is one of the longest-aged bourbons in the game and tapped from special barrels hand-selected by Michter’s Master Distiller Dan McKee and Master of Maturation Andrea Wilson.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a deep presence of Christmas cake bursting with nuts, candied and dried fruits, a lot of eggnog spice, brandy-soaked cherry, and a rich and creamy vanilla pudding. The palate delivers on those promises with a buttery chocolate sauce drizzled over salted molasses cookies cut with fresh and rich vanilla, mild and dry tobacco, and a hint of dry wicker. The end is pure velvet with a soft maple syrup sweetness and woodiness that leaves you with a touch of dried vanilla pods and dry cedar boxes full of dry tobacco leaves.
Collectability:
This is one of those bottles that you’re probably not going to find. There are just so few of them. The ripple here is that you’ll rarely see a bottle of this open. This is a “straight-to-the-vault” bottle that just goes up and up in price.
This Heaven Hill release is an orphan barrel from Old Fitzgerald’s nearly extinct stocks. The juice is a blend of 12 barrels (from the old Stitzel-Weller distillery) that Heaven Hill inherited when they bought Old Fitz. They aged the whiskey for 20 years, vatted the barrels, cut the juice down to proof, and then bottled it in a unique decanter. Only 3,000 bottles were made.
Tasting Notes:
There’s an almost sherry vibe to the sip, with stewed plums swimming in dark holiday spices next to a lightly salted caramel note with a creamy vanilla base. The taste leans into the dried fruit and eggnog spices as a touch of bitter dark chocolate arrives with a hint of almost smoked plums nestled in cedar boxes full of brittle, dried tobacco. The end is long yet very silky with a mild dry nuttiness and a slight return to the stewed plums and savory caramel.
Collectability:
This is a very rare release from Heaven Hill. This goes right back to Pappy, is a wheated bourbon, and remains one of those bottles that you might see out in the wild, but it won’t be cheap. That being said, if you are seeing this on shelves at bars and rare bottle liquor stores, that means some of those 3,000 bottles are still getting poured, meaning your sealed bottle can only go up in price.
*Uproxx is not offering investment advice and cannot be held accountable for fluctuations in the bourbon whiskey market.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast are still dealing with the after-effects of Hurricane Ida, which swept through the region and headed north in late August to disastrous effect. Cities as far away as Philadelphia and Boston saw storm damage, but New Orleans and Louisiana, in particular, have dealt with lost power, water and tree damage and just generally dealing with a state of emergency amid an already-deadly public health crisis. And as our friend Saz (pictured above) can attest, NOLA is still a bit of a stinky mess right now.
Compounding things in the city is a sanitation strike that’s seen an already-shorthanded city struggle with trash pickup in the weeks before and after the storm. Earlier in the year, workers walked out over being underpaid, leaving the city short on workers to pick up trash even before a debris-creating, power-obliterating mega-storm. With debris and trash overflowing under normal circumstances, the city is now essentially covered in uncollected garbage and created mounting frustrations for residents struggling in the aftermath of the storm, some of whom have actually taken to the streets to protest.
And apparently, one man tried to take things into his own hands to the detriment of his legal record. As the New York Post details, a man was arrested for threatening to kill the mayor over their inaction in the sanitation situation.
Daniel P. Jenkins, 59, called cops from a New York City telephone number Sunday evening and told the operator he planned to go to Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office on Monday and shoot her if his trash wasn’t picked up or got answers as to when it would, NOLA.com reported.
According to police, they paid a visit to Jenkins who then told them it was him who called the cops about his plans.
Jenkins admitted he was fed up with being charged by the city’s Sewerage & Water Board without being serviced, officers wrote in court documents obtained by the outlet.
Jenkins also confessed to telling a police operator he wanted to shoot someone, but didn’t specify his target during an interview with investigators, cops wrote in a sworn statement filed in criminal court.
It’s a disturbing situation, to say the least, but shows just how stressed out people are amid a pandemic and natural disaster. When your city is suffering through a Hey Arnold episode, it’s hard to expect everyone to keep it together. And Jenkins’ frustration, though not his arrest for “terrorizing,” is certainly shared among many residents there who are frustrated that the mayor reportedly waited weeks to seek emergency bids for trash pickup in the storm’s aftermath. As WDSU notes, the mayor’s office finally responded to backlash by having workers from other departments of the city government going out to collect waste.
Hopefully “Operation Mardi Gras” can ease tensions in the city a bit, and get the rest of it back to smelling a bit less like the French Quarter almost always does regardless of natural disasters.
Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) has been in the public eye as a model for a while now, but when she married pop star Justin Bieber, the spotlight got a lot hotter. Now, the couple have had to deal with a lot of drama when it comes to fans of his ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, bullying Hailey and comparing the two women. Bieber has been clear with his fans that he’s really happy in his new relationship, and that nothing is going on between him and his ex, but now fans have been scrutinizing his behavior with his wife, leveling accusations on social media that he doesn’t treat his new wife well.
For her part, Hailey thinks the rumors are annoying and dismisses them completely. In a recent appearance on Demi Lovato’s 4D podcast, she addressed the rumors that Justin “mistreats” her head on. Around the 18:05 minute mark, she decides to speak on the matter and put it to bed. “There’s one big fat narrative that goes around that’s like ‘Justin is not nice to her and he mistreats her,’” she said. “It’s so far from the truth and it’s the complete and utter opposite. I really am lucky to say I’m with someone who is extremely respectful of me, who makes me feel special each and every day. So when I see the opposite of that I’m just like… huh.”
Over the last few months, many disturbing details about Activision Blizzard, the developers of games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch, have come to light. These details include what the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has described as a “frat boy” culture where sexual harassment and poor working conditions ran rampant. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Activision Blizzard, including one by the California DFEH and another by its own employees for “unfair labor practices.”
Activision Blizzard is reportedly now also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the way the company has chosen to handle multiple sexual misconduct allegations within the company is one of the lead causes of the SEC investigation. According to the report, Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, and others at the company have been subpoenaed for the investigation.
Federal securities regulators have launched a wide-ranging investigation into Activision Blizzard Inc., including how the video game-publishing giant handled employees’ allegations of sexual misconduct and workplace discrimination, according to people familiar with the investigation and documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Activision, known for its Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush franchises, and several of its senior executives, including longtime Chief Executive Bobby Kotick, according to the people and documents.
The report goes on to state that one of the major focuses of the SEC investigation is going to be about how Activision Blizzard handled many of the sexual misconduct and gendered pay disparity allegations that led to the original California DFEH lawsuit.
A few days ago, the Internet flew into a panic when Britney Spears suddenly deactivated her favorite social-media platform: Instagram. Not to worry, though: the singer quickly took to her Twitter account to reassure fans that everything was okay. “Don’t worry folks … just taking a little break from social media to celebrate my engagement !!!!” she wrote, adding, “I’ll be back soon.” And sure enough, Spears kept her word. Today, the performer popped back up with a post explaining where she’d been, captioning that she’d taken a weekend getaway to celebrate her engagement to boyfriend Sam Asghari.
“Some shots from my weekend getaway to celebrate my engagement with my … holy shit … FIANCÉ … I still can’t believe it !!!!” Spears wrote. “I couldn’t stay away from the gram too long so I’m back already.”
As we noted last week, Spears and Asghari had been dating for four years after meeting in 2016 during the video shoot for the singer’s “Slumber” track. Asghari’s manager, Brandon Cohen, said that he’s “proud to celebrate and confirm the engagement,” in a statement to People. He added, “The couple made their long-standing relationship official today and are deeply touched by the support, dedication, and love expressed to them.”
The news also comes at a time when Spears publicly expressed her wish to get married and have children with Asghari, which she alleged in her June 23 court hearing her conservatorship prevented her from doing. That said, her father recently opted to file a petition to end the singer’s 13-year conservatorship. The next case hearing is currently scheduled for September 29.
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