WhokilledXIX’s glitchy new single “Spy?” is currently a TikTok favorite, reaching Spotify’s Viral 50 USA chart and sparking interest in the experimental duo, so it’s only natural that’s the song they’d play in their first UPROXX Sessions appearance. The track’s a rebellious anthem dedicated to suburban teenage angst, with defiant lines decrying poseurs and praising individuality over conformity.
WhokilledXIX is described as an experimental rap duo from Connecticut consisting of “lifelong best friends” Yung Skayda and Karm The Tool. Their music has become a favorite of TikTok’s influencers like Lele Pons and Charli D’Amelio, with their December 2020 EP 19 spawning “Spy?” and generating buzz for their April 2021 EP Fall Damage. Embracing an anti-establishment punk image and harnessing the antsy, contrarian energy of the more edgy corners of their online haven, the duo was able to parlay their viral success into a label deal with Masked Records.
Watch WhokilledXIX’s glitchy performance of ‘Spy?’ for UPROXX Sessions above.
UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross,UPROXX Sessionsis a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.
WhokilledXIX is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Tomorrow War, opening on Amazon Prime this week, is a big, dumb, beautiful blockbuster starring Chris Pratt as a time-traveling ex-soldier science teacher battling aliens who look like giant killer lice. I appreciate a film that takes big swings, and The Tomorrow War is the Babe Ruth of narrative conceits.
Pratt plays Dan Forester, an Iraq War veteran and current high school science teacher who learns, during a Bane-style interruption of a climactic moment of the soccer World Cup, that scientist/soldiers from 30 years into the future are locked in a losing battle with a species of pestilential, man-eating aliens known as “white spikes” (I prefer their older stuff).
In 2051, humanity is down to its last 500,000 people, but they’ve figured out how to open a “rudimentary wormhole” into the relatively recent past. They’re using this bridge, like two rafts on a running river (because “time only moves in one direction”) to draft the manpower future humanity needs to fight off the aliens from the most abundant source of it: the pre-alien invasion past. In other words, the future folk need present people to fight “The Tomorrow War.” Get it? You get it.
One day, while trying to convince a classroom full of defeatist high school kids that science is the key to their future (they’re rightly a little lukewarm on the idea of dutiful self-improvement knowing they’re all probably just going to get eaten by aliens in 30 years) Forester gets an amber alert on his phone demanding that he report to the draft board. A group of fresh-faced, curiously attractive doctors and soldiers from the future order Chris Pratt to take off his shirt for unclear reasons and affix him with a metal wrist cuff that will both facilitate his time jump and alert the authorities if he tries to desert.
So it is Forester is forced to leave behind his modest life and adorable family (which includes precocious daughter and beautiful wife played by a mostly-wasted-on-this-minor-role Betty Gilpin) to join a rag-tag crew of regular Joes about to be sacrificed to the future bugs. This crew includes characters played by Sam Richardson (Veep, Detroiters) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (It’s Always Sunny, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) part of a larger, weirdly-effective Tomorrow War strategy of casting comedic actors in not overtly-comedic roles.
Presumably, these are just actors director Chris McKay knows from his past comedic work, directing The Lego Batman Movie, Robot Chicken, and working in the animation department under Lord and Miller. While there isn’t anything overtly parodic about The Tomorrow War, which is mostly a straightforwardly earnest alien drama, you can tell McKay is having a blast making it, which helps make a lot of the silliness work. McKay and screenwriter Zach Dean are constantly finding the distinction between corny dialogue that makes you groan and corny dialogue that’s so perfectly on-the-nose that it’s kind of brilliant. “I’m just trying to save my daughter,” Forester explains to a fellow grunt, “And if I have to save the entire world to do it, so be it.”
That’s a corny line that could’ve been the tagline to dozens of movies, from most of the Seagal/Neeson/Willis ouvre to Ben Stiller’s “Scorcher” franchise from Tropic Thunder. Yet the Russian nesting doll of spoiler-y plot conceits that The Tomorrow War constructs to justify it are almost avant-garde. The Tomorrow War manages to combine the best bits of Edge Of Tomorrow, Arrival, Armageddon, Alien, Independence Day, and God knows what else in the kind of movie that Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich would’ve directed in their primes if they’d had more talent.
People who’ve speculated about Chris Pratt’s transformation from chubby comedy guy to ripped action hero, and his apparent religious awakening along with it (Pratt is or was a member of Hillsong, the same celebrity megachurch that baptized Justin Bieber) will find endless fodder in The Tomorrow War. Pratt plays a scientist-soldier-teacher who is essentially defined by his faith in a brighter future and his willingness to stick his neck out for others. He’s also a crack shot with a submachine gun, a supportive father, and an expert troop motivator. Did I mention the strong jaw and washboard abs? Image conscious Will Smith was known to only play heroes for a big chunk of his career, but Pratt’s babyface act in The Tomorrow War is so relentlessly ingratiating that it puts Will Smith to shame. His character is so thoroughly heroic that there are times when TheTomorrow War feels like a pro-Chris Pratt propaganda film produced by the Church of Scientology.
Clocking in at 140 minutes, a less-bold version of The Tomorrow War would feel overlong or padded, but The Tomorrow War doesn’t, partly owing to at least three distinct phases. There’s Forester the reluctant soldier, Forester the single-minded scientist, and Forester the unlikely leader of a band of Arctic explorers, which includes his estranged, doomsday prepping, Vietnam veteran father, played by JK Simmons (who I’m not sure is even old enough to be a Vietnam veteran?). Each phase individually would’ve had enough content to fill the entirety of lesser movie. But every time it seems to paint itself into a narrative corner, The Tomorrow World blows through a wall with high explosives or invents a just-plausible-enough interdimensional portal.
Most of the movie is so ridiculous that you figure no finale could possibly do it justice. Yet even after time travel, alien invasion, biological weaponry, and an arctic expedition, The Tomorrow War‘s finale manages to be plausibly “grand,” even compared to what came before it. Never before has a streaming release so capably evoked “Summer blockbuster.”
‘The Tomorrow War’ is streaming on Amazon Prime July 2nd.Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.
There have been a lot of developments in the Britney Spears conservatorship situation as of late. The singer recently requested that her father Jamie Spears be removed as her co-conservator, a request that it was reported yesterday was denied. It turns out there may actually be a change in who is handling those things, though: TMZ reports that Bessemer Trust, the financial institution that was set to become Britney’s co-conservator, has backed out of the arrangement.
Citing “sources with direct knowledge,” the publication notes that Bessemer has decided to stay away from the Spears conservatorship in light of recent controversies and has described the situation as a “hornet’s nest.” Furthermore, the company is apparently has issues with both Jamie and Britney’s lawyer Sam Ingham.
So, at least for the time being, Jamie will remain the sole conservator of his daughter’s estate.
As for Britney, she has been spending time on vacation in Hawaii recently, although paparazzi are spoiling the trip for her. In a recent Instagram post, she wrote, “So being here in Maui is pretty crazy now … the paps know where I am and it’s really not fun !!!! It’s pretty hard going anywhere cause these silly faces keep popping up to take my picture. […] It’s rude and it’s mean so paps kindly F*CK YOU AND F*CK OFF [lip emojis] !!!!”
In a new report on The Old Guard getting a sequel that will start filming early next year, Vin Diesel told Variety that he has writers working on a Fast & Furious spinoff for Charlize Theron‘s character, Cipher. While Theron’s character was the main villain in the eighth film in the franchise, The Fate of the Furious, she spent most of the latest installment, F9, inside a glass box doing hacker… stuff. A spinoff would give her character more ample use of screen time.
Whether or not the Cipher spinoff pans out, it does signify the Fast & Furious‘ franchise efforts to do better by its female characters. In a significant move to push the car series into having better gender representation, Michelle Rodriguez held out on returning for F9 until the studio agreed to hire a female writer. “You should evolve with the times, not just pander to certain demographics that are stuck,” she told Bloomberg back in 2019.
Rodriguez also pushed for her character, Letty, and Jordana Brewster’s Mia to finally have a meaningful onscreen conversation in F9. “Michelle was like, ‘Dude, we’ve never had a scene together. We’re always secondary with the guys. We don’t interact. We have a sisterhood. We need to explore this,’” Brewster told Insider. “Michelle’s always been very outspoken about not doing anything that isn’t true to character, and that means not placating the guys, that means not playing second fiddle to the guys.”
Okay, you’re making a movie. Or a television show. A movie or a television show. It doesn’t really matter which one for this hypothetical. The key is that you need someone to play some sort of disgruntled authority figure. Chief of Police, embattled CEO, mayor who has had enough of some loose cannon cop’s shenanigans, whatever. You know these guys. They’re usually glaring at an underling or saying lines like “You better be right” or grumbling the main character’s name under their breath. Sometimes at the end, they’ll say something like, “I don’t like your methods, but goddammit, you get results.” This is an important role. It has to be done right, big enough to convey the severity of things but not so big that it all becomes McGarnagle. There’s an art to this.
And so, you start running through the people who might be able to pull this off. Dennis Franz was a great option but he’s been retired for well over a decade. Paul Giamatti does some of it extremely well but there’s a kind of blustery exasperation in his performances that would need to be sanded down a bit, and why the hell would you cast Giamatti if you’re not going to let him give you the full Giamatti? Dennis Haysbert has the voice and gravitas but not the right level of crankiness. Glenn Close is great but there’s only one of her. JK Simmons is a world-class yeller but his dance card is pretty full these days. The Rolodex gets thin fast. But then, a light bulb. It was right in front of you the whole time. You pick up the phone and you call Lance Reddick, just like you should have done from the start.
Lance Reddick is the best. He’s been the best for a while, too, especially at these kinds of roles. He did it as Cedric Daniels on The Wire, the perpetually beleaguered Baltimore lieutenant who tried to find actual justice amidst a bureaucracy. He did it as the powerful CEO on Comedy Central’s Corporate, lending years of earned authority to a wickedly sharp satire. Hell, he even popped up for like two minutes in Godzilla vs. Kong earlier this year, wearing an incredible black coat and delivering bad news to Kyle Chandler, exactly as he should.
HBO
So, yes, again, the best. And I would have mentioned his role in the John Wick franchise here, too, as Charon, the exceedingly polite and helpful concierge at The Continental, if not for one small issue: Lance Reddick should be managing his own Continental somewhere, not working the front desk under Ian McShane. Imagine Lance Reddick grumbling “Dammit, Wick” in his regular voice. It’s perfect. I could talk about this for one hour, easily, with no interruption. But I won’t. Not now, at least. Because now is the time we discuss his role on Bosch.
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It’s honestly incredible. He plays the Los Angeles Chief of Police and his character’s name is, I swear this is true, Irvin Irving, and he is always so fed up with something someone has done or is doing, and that person is usually Bosch, the loose cannon detective who plays by his own rules but, you guessed it, gets results. The screencap up there is an all-timer. The man is sitting at a piano with a glass of wine just steaming about Bosch’s refusal to play by the rules. It’s beautiful. And it’s not even the best example of Lance Reddick being a disgruntled authority figure on the show. Because there’s also this…
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… which is delightful, both because of the “[quietly]” in the front that drives home how tired he is of all of this, and because it — a moment from the final season of the show — marks something like the seventh or eighth time a character has grumbled this exact profane phrase after Bosch pulls some classic Bosch antics. It’s not even the only time Lance Reddick has gotten to say it. There was also this one from a previous season that got the all-caps treatment in the captions.
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Look at how spot-on this whole image is. Let’s just hit the highlights:
Face: Open contempt, sneering, looks like smoke might start shooting out his ears or nose at any moment
Posture: Rigid as a flag pole, collar buttoned tight as a drum, dignified as all hell, the look of a man who wants things done The Right Way and has zero tolerance for foolishness
Voice: You can’t hear it just looking at a still picture, the deep rumble of disdain that comes out dripping with fury and contempt, but, like, you also kind of can hear it, right?
It has everything you could possibly ask for in a role like this, and yet, somehow, against odds so long you could wrap them around the planet three or four times, it’s still not even the best example of the stuff I’m talking about. For that, we will need motion. We will need action. We will need a GIF.
We will need this GIF, to be specific.
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Watch that a few times through to really let it sink in. Look at the timing on the slow blink and head turn. Look at his face — staring straight ahead now, as though the blink represented the last moment he would ever acknowledge that poor soul’s existence — as the tinted window glides up and the car pulls away. Imagine what you would do if Lance Reddick ever did this to you in real life. I’ve been thinking about multiple times a month ever since the scene aired a few years ago and I’ve come to two primary conclusions:
I would burst into a cloud of pathetic molecules and dissipate into the atmosphere
I would do this kind of thing a lot if I were Lance Reddick, in real life, just for fun, like at busy intersections or when I pull away from a drive-thru
And I am pleased to report that this all gets even better. Because after he did this, like years later, when the final season dropped a week ago, something truly breathtaking happened. I need you to collect yourself here.
Are you ready?
Are you really, honestly ready?
Please be sure.
Because guess what.
HE DID IT AGAIN.
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The greatest. Maybe the best that has ever done it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone do it better. I’ll go as far as “as good as,” I guess, only because I’ve seen Dennis Franz throw a tantrum about John McClane shooting up the airport in Die Hard 2, but not better. I don’t even see how you could do it better. There’s no area left to improve. It’s as close to a flawless performance as anyone has ever given. Lance Reddick does this one thing as well as anyone has ever done any aspect of their job. It’s remarkable. We should talk about it every day. We should give him an award for this exact thing. I am barely kidding.
So, yes, please, call up Lance Reddick. Ask him to play the disgruntled authority figure in your movie or television show. Do not give him any notes on the set. He knows what he’s doing. He was born to do it. This part of the production is now in good hands, strong hands, ones that might ball up into fists and slam a stack of papers on the desk upon hearing that the reckless protagonist has disobeyed a direct order, again.
Just make sure not to insult him with your offer. Make sure you don’t do that even a little. You do not want to be sitting across from an angry Lance Reddick. Because that’s when something like this might happen.
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Devastating. But, again, flawless. We are witnessing history here, people. We are watching greatness happen right in front of our faces in real-time. Please do not take it for granted.
The worlds of gaming and sneakers continue to collide, not only do we have famous Twitch streamers making shoes, but aftermarket sites like StockX have begun to expand their offerings to include hard-to-find game systems like the Playstation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Now things are getting official with the Nike SNKRS app set to drop an exclusive wireless Xbox Series X/S controller.
Launching as part of a bundle celebrating the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy, the controller will come bundled with a pair of low-top LeBron 18s that pay tribute to Looney Tunes favorites Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. LeBron is no stranger to wild sneaker designs, so it doesn’t surprise us that this Looney Tunes-inspired take on the LeBron 18 is insane (in a very cool way).
Nike
Featuring a mismatched colorway, the LeBron 18’s left shoe is dressed in desert-like earth tones with a swoosh wrapped in dynamite fuse to represent Wile E. Coyote, while the right shoe is dressed in tones of blue with yellow accents and a swoosh sporting dust clouds evoking the speed of Road Runner. The whole design culminates in the controller, which depicts the aftermath of Wile E. and the Road Runner’s encounter.
Nike and Xbox could’ve thrown any random Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner graphic on the controller and called it a day, but the fact that the design is intertwined with the shoe creates a cohesion we appreciate. Xbox continues the celebration by also launching Space Jam: A New Legacy — The Game, an arcade-style video game today on Xbox Game Pass.
The Space Jam bundle is set to drop on July 15th via the Nike SNKRS app, and Xbox will also be dropping three more controllers inspired by the movie on July 8th.
The Los Angeles Clippers saw their season come to an end on Wednesday night, although for one player, things ended a few minutes earlier than everyone else. During the fourth quarter of the Phoenix Suns’ conference finals-clinching Game 6 win over the Clippers, Patrick Beverley’s emotions got the best of him, as he shoved Chris Paul in the back and was promptly tossed from the game.
Beverley’s entire career revolves around his willingness to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but during Game 6, this got the best of him. And according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, that might end up costing Beverley a few games when the 2021-22 season tips off.
“Beverley will face a suspension to start next season for that dangerous behind-the-back push, sources told Yahoo Sports,” Haynes wrote.
To his credit, Beverley realized he messed up, and on Thursday afternoon, he took to Twitter to offer up an apology to Paul.
@CP3 emotions got the best of me last night gang. My bad wasn’t meant for you. Congrats on making it to the Finals. Best of Luck
It’s hardly a surprise that the league would want to reprimand Beverley for this, although one could make the case that getting eliminated from the playoffs is enough of a slap on the wrist. We’ll have to wait and see whether this means he’ll miss any substantial period of time, or if Beverley will also have to part ways with some cash for the shove.
In August, Sleater-Kinney will get to do something bands haven’t been able to pull off for a while: tour in support of a new album. They’ve gotten to perform some of their new Path Of Wellness songs ahead of then, though, like during their new Tiny Desk Concert that was shared today.
Performing at Halfling Studio in Portland — where they recorded the album — Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker busted through a four-song set that featured the title track, “High In The Grass,” “One Beat,” and “Worry With You.”
Notably, the band performed with the same backing band they used for their Late Show performance last month: Fabi Reyna (of the bands Sávila and Reyna Tropical), Galen Clark (of Outer Orbit and Trio Subtonic), Vincent LiRocchi, and Bill Athens. So, it seems possible, then, that Brownstein and Tucker have settled on this group as their touring/performing lineup.
The band previously said of Path Of Wellness, “We wrote it last spring and summer, holed up in Portland, and recorded it in late summer and early fall. This is the first S-K record we’ve produced ourselves. The entire process relied upon taking stock of who and what was nearby, upon generosity of time, spirit, and input, but mostly upon a mutual love, need, and gratitude for making music.”
Jim Beam’s American Stillhouse in Clermont, Kentucky is a cornerstone of Kentucky bourbon and American whiskey in general. The distillery is where the world’s best-selling bourbon is made, Jim Beam. But like the Buffalo Trace Distillery down the road, Jim Beam’s Clermont campus doesn’t only make Jim Beam. Nine brands are pulled from the stills and rickhouses in Clermont.
Today, we’re going to rank all nine brands and call out the one bottle from each brand that’s worth investing your time and money in. We’re not going into the wider world of the Beam Suntory multinational conglomerate just yet. That includes dozens and dozens of brands spread out all over the globe. We’re also not including Maker’s Mark on this list. Although the brand is owned by Beam, it’s still made at their own facility in Loretto, Kentucky. This is all about the Beam juice that’s made in Clermont.
If any of these bottles pique your interest, click on the prices to give them a try yourself. Okay, let’s dig in!
This is a classic bourbon that became part of Jim Beam about 30-odd years ago. Until then, it was famed for being the drink of choice of President Grant back in the 1870s, which gave it a lot to hang its hat on, as a brand. The juice in the bottle is a year younger than a typical Jim Beam bourbon but still holds up to any other bottle in this price range.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a bit of sweetness on the opening that’s very reminiscent of Beam while leaning into caramel and vanilla. An undercurrent of popcorn draws the sweetness back. The body of the sip is hot and not for the faint of heart while touching on caramel apples, more popcorn, and plenty of that vanilla.
The end is shortish, hot, and has a slight salted and buttered popcorn flourish.
Bottom Line:
The nickname for this bourbon is “rotgut.” Need we say more? (Okay, we will — it’s a mixer and a budget one at that.)
The juice is made with a mash bill of 27 percent rye, offering a very clear picture of what that grain can bring to bourbon. The whiskey is then aged for at least four years in a bonded warehouse and bottled at 50 percent, which lets a bit more of the aged juice shine in the bottle.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of green spice counterpointed by a creamy vanilla pudding with a touch of brown sugar and spices. There’s an orange blossom floral/fruity nature that sharpens to an orange oil cut with Christmas spices, which leads towards more of that vanilla pudding with a touch of oak. The finish leans into the vanilla, green pepper, dark spices, fruit, and oak as a final note of corn arrives to remind you this is bourbon and not rye.
Bottom Line:
This is the most nuanced Old Grand-Dad by far. Still, this is a mixer more than anything else. That being said, no one’s going to stop you from shooting this one with a beer back.
This rye hails from the Pennsylvania rye traditions of the early 1800s. The brand was moved to Kentucky almost 200 years later thanks to Beam. The juice in the bottle is a bit of an enigma since Beam doesn’t disclose the mash bill (a rarity for them). It is aged for four years and bottled at 100 proof per bottled-in-bond laws.
Tasting Notes:
This leans a bit more towards a high-rye bourbon than an out-and-out rye whiskey, with hints of vanilla, dry oak, and sweet corn. The taste really leans into the vanilla with a creamy pudding vibe leading towards salted caramel, more dry wood, roasted almonds, and a final spurt of heavy spice with a grassy edge. The finish stays dry and nutty as the spiciness stays more woody than peppery with a green edge to it.
Bottom Line:
This is a nice and fairly unique rye. The thing is, there’s not a lot of depth to any of this, and it really feels like a mixer more than anything else.
This bottle from Beam Suntory marries Kentucky Bourbon, California wine, and Japanese whisky blending in one bottle. Legent is classic Kentucky bourbon made by bourbon legend Fred Noe at Beam that’s finished in both French oak that held red wine and Spanish sherry casks. The juice is then blended by whisky blending legend Shinji Fukuyo.
Tasting Notes:
Plummy puddings with hints of nuts mingle with vinous berries, oaky spice, and a good dose of vanilla and toffee on the nose. The palate expands on the spice with more barky cinnamon and dusting of nutmeg while the oak becomes sweeter and the fruit becomes dried and sweet. The finish is jammy-yet-light with plenty of fruit, spice, and oak lingering on the senses.
Bottom Line:
This is where we break into true workhorse whiskey territory. This is a great cocktail base that also works perfectly well as an on the rocks sipper. It’s deeply flavored while also being soft and accessible to a passive whiskey drinker.
This is Beam’s high-end brand and their high-end rye within that brand. The barrels are the ones that made it to ten years and hit just the right marks of flavor and texture to be batched, proofed down to a very accessible 80 proof, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The result of the ten years of maturation is a softening of the spicy rye, giving this offering a much richer, more approachable flavor. Before you even take a sip, you’re met with aromas of peppery rye, subtle toasted oak, and lingering vanilla. The sip leads you into a symphony of sweet toffee, rich caramel, and warming rye spice. It’s all finished with a flourish of warming cinnamon and smoky dark chocolate.
Bottom Line:
Basil Hayden’s is a great line of whiskey. The one drawback is that all the bottles are only 80 proof or 40 percent ABV. That makes them very easy to drink, but sometimes they can feel a bit shallow.
This is a newish release from Beam’s high-end line. It’s also the first single barrel release from Baker’s, which intends to phase out its small-batch expressions in favor of this bottle. The juice comes from hand-selected barrels from specific spots in the Beam warehouses, with whiskey that’s at least seven years old. In this case, we’re talking an eight-year-and-seven-month-old barrel.
Tasting Notes:
This is so different than the last sip that it’s jarring — in a good way. There’s a big note of holiday spices with a rich and creamy vanilla backbone next to soft leather and a touch of old cellar beams. There’s a whisper of vanilla pound cake next to wet apple tobacco. The taste then veers towards savory herbs with a nod towards rosemary stems and … maybe tarragon and … dill.
Bottom Line:
This is pretty new so it’s hard to judge it against bourbons I’ve been drinking for decades. Still, this is such a funky and delightful departure from the whole Beam vibe that it’s hard not to dig it. This also benefits from being the first release and sparking a lot of anticipation for what’s coming next.
This bourbon is Jim Beam’s high watermark when it comes to Kentucky bourbon. The juice is aged in a bottled-in-bond facility for four years where it’s also bottled at 100 proof with no bullshit. This is the standard Beam bourbon mash bill (77 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and ten percent malted barley) but there’s just something extra happening that makes this expression shine.
Tasting Notes:
This bourbon beckons you in with notes of toasted oak, red cherry, and vanilla. That leads to fresh honey, sweet caramel corn, rich toffee, bold vanilla, crisp apple, more of that red cherry, peppery spice, and a note of fresh mint. With a little water, the dram edges towards bitter dark chocolate with a nice billow of pipe tobacco while holding onto the mint, toffee, and vanilla oakiness.
The end is long, meandering, and full of warmth, fruit, spice, and bourbon goodness.
Bottom Line:
I really wanted to rank this higher (yes, I toyed with number one). It’s absurd how well-rounded this whiskey is at this price point. I’ve tasted bourbons that cost three times as much that are far more muddled or one-note than this. But, the next two bottles really are stellar.
This limited release from 2016 was Booker’s first rye release from some of the last barrels laid down by Booker Noe back in 2003 before he passed away. Those barrels were racked in Booker’s favorite spot in his favorite warehouse. His son, Fred Noe, kept an eye on the barrels and pulled them in 2016 to be barreled without filtration or cutting with water.
Tasting Notes:
There’s softness on the nose that draws you towards mild doses of fine pepper, crusty rye bread, soft leather tobacco pouches, and a drop of salted caramel. The taste explodes with dark holiday spices, leaning heavily on allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and black licorice. A counterpoint of dried orange peels arrives with a touch of eggnog creaminess as the spices continue to build. As the sip starts to fade, you’re left with a chewed cinnamon stick in the back of your mouth and a spicy tobacco head buzz layered atop a full Kentucky hug of warmth.
Bottom Line:
This 2016 limited release is a bit of a unicorn now. Still, if you can find this one, buy it. It’s something from another time that hits every note true. This is the ultimate sipper where you take your time and just think about it, your life, and the universe itself more deeply with every sip.
This is classic Beam whiskey with a low-ish rye mash bill of 77 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and ten percent malted barley. The juice is then left alone in the Beam warehouses for 12 long years. The barrels are chosen according to a specific taste and married to create this higher-proof expression.
Tasting Notes:
You’re greeted with that classic Beam cherry that has dark chocolate and brandy candy depth alongside clear Christmas spices next to a hint of menthol tobacco. The spirit carries on those paths as it layers in buttery and sugary streusel over tart berries with plenty of that spice next to a nice dose of salted caramels covered in a bit of bitter dark chocolate. The finish is spicy and sweet and fades gradually.
Bottom Line:
This Knob Creek hits so many high marks. The most important one being that this is amazingly easy to drink while still having serious depth and nuance. Better still, you can easily get this pretty much anywhere for a reasonable price. There are ten-year-old bourbons out there that cost two or three times as much as this and aren’t quite as refined. That makes this today’s winner overall.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
If like so many of us you’ve fallen far, far down the TikTok rabbit hole, you’ll be pleased to know the amount of times you hear “like and follow for part 2” is about decrease significantly. Earlier today, TikTok announced the social media and video sharing app is rolling out the ability for all users to create three minute video, tripling it’s current limit. According to the official TikTok blog post announcing the update, the increase is meant to help with “paving the way for even richer storytelling and entertainment on TikTok.”
“Creators are already well-versed in weaving multi-part stories together on TikTok … but we often hear from creators that they’d love just a little more time to bring their cooking demos, elaborate beauty tutorials, educational lesson plans, and comedic sketches to life with TikTok’s creative tools. With longer videos, creators will have the canvas to create new or expanded types of content on TikTok, with the flexibility of a bit more space.”
The major update is one that’s been in the works since late last year, and it’s pretty likely you’ve already stumbled across a few lengthier vids while scrolling though videos by the apps top creators. In TikTok’s announcement, product manager Drew Kirchhoff shared a few of these already-viral TikTok’s that take advantage of the new three-minute time limit. Each video showcased how this increase in time can provide an increased opportunity to help educate viewers, whether it be through safety tips, history lessons, or cooking videos.
As of right now, TikTok didn’t say how longer runtimes will affect its recommendation algorithm. Fingers crossed the app creators don’t follow YouTube’s suit and favor longer videos and viewer retention above all else. If so, we might start to see less of the short, viral clips that made TikTok so special in the first place.
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