Category: News

With the rise of expensive sipping tequilas, new styles like cristalino (not technically a new style, but certainly a technique on the rise), and the trickle-down barrel-obsession descended from the whiskey boom, it seems that as tequila keeps increasing in popularity blanco expressions are growing more and more under-appreciated. That’s a shame. In part, because there are a lot of great blancos out there and also because a good blanco is trying to achieve something very particular, rather than compete with reposados or añejos. It’s its own vibe — vegetal, peppery, bright.

This is tequila at its most pure. Its flavor profile is a reflection of the Blue Agave piñas it’s made from. And not for nothing, but it’s the base of some of the best cocktails on the planet — from the margarita to the paloma. So put some respect on blanco’s name.

To help give blancos their propers, we put seven bottles to the blind taste test. Why blind? Because it’s easier to zero in on flavors without the reputation of a brand influencing your opinion. Think I’m joking? Just take a look at how many Patron reviews will mention honey or flowers — no doubt influenced by its honey-bee adorned label.

On to the taste test!

Part 1: The Taste

For this blind tasting I grabbed seven bottles of un-aged tequila that all fall within the $20-$50 range. Some of these are budget tequilas and some are award-winning expressions, but all of them are good-to-great, so I’m not sweating any rude surprises that will wreck my palate. Here is our class:

• Bribón Blanco

• Don Ramon Platinium Plata

• El Tesoro Blanco

• Espolon Blanco

• Hiatus Blanco

• Hornitos Plata

• Patrón Silver

Let’s get to tasting.

Taste 1

Tasting Notes

Fresh cut grass greets you on the nose with a harsh hit of kerosene, hitting the tongue with an initial burn that morphs into a pleasing burst of sweet citrus. Herbal notes of cool pine linger on the backend of this one, finishing off in a pleasing place that wasn’t suggested by its smell.

Honestly, a great start.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes

One whiff of this tickled the sinuses as a flood of zesty lime greeted me, leading to a surprisingly mellow taste with a highly silky mouthfeel. This didn’t quite manage the depth that the first taste provided, though the initial flavor was much smoother.

Aside from its great mouthfeel, I got the subtlest hint of melon — supplying a note of sweetness but little else.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes

Noticeably sweet on the nose with an inviting floral quality, this one hit me with an initial burn that gave way to tart and slightly bitter apple skin, softening into a warm honey kiss with a sweet peach finish. This one really took me on a journey, the flavors are constantly shifting and dancing on the palate.

Much more complex than the first two tastes.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes

Sickly sweet and highly chemical on the nose, my hopes for this one weren’t high. But as soon as it hit my palate it presented itself completely free of burn with a pleasing mouthfeel. Highly vegetal, I’m getting a bit of asparagus and lettuce with a warm body and a celery-like peppery bite that finishes with sweet pineapple notes.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes

Bright on the nose with some peppery zest, this tequila doesn’t taste… bad, exactly. It has some interesting notes of cantaloupe and hibiscus going for it, but it tastes like the flavors are struggling to get through. At the finish, this one just feels a little flat, it hints at a depth that just isn’t quite there.

I suspected I might have hit an exhausted palate and took a bit of a break here and went in for a second taste. It wasn’t my palate, this was just boring.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes

Vegetal and agave forward with strong hints of gasoline, this tequila burns the nose but is highly drinkable, despite its harsh introduction. Unlike Taste 5 the flavors are well translated here — a gentle kiss of vanilla leads to spiced pineapple and cooked agave with a smooth and pleasant mouthfeel that goes down way too smooth for something that smells this offensive.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes

Wow. This is far and above the best. On the nose, bright citrus and cactus pear mingle, giving this tequila a pronounced desert-like quality. It feels fit to drink in a Western. On the palate, it’s noticeably luxurious with a subtle burn that gives way to bright and grassy agave and sumptuous fire-roasted pineapple with a warm floral honey finish.

Part 2: The Ranking

Unfortunately, there were few surprises here. I entered this blind taste test hoping a cheaper bottle would hold its own against the pricier stuff. I wanted some cool reveal!

But as we inched closed to $50, the tequilas really started to shine. Still, within the cheaper bottles, we did have one pleasant surprise.

7. Hornitos Plata (Taste 5)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25

The Tequila:

Rolling up to a party with any of these bottles won’t make anyone feel like you secretly hate them and are passive-aggressively taking your hate out by bringing them bad tequila. But every ranking has a bottom and in this ranking, that position goes to Hornitos Plata.

That’s somewhat surprising. For $30 dollars a bottle, Hornitos really tries to position this bottle apart from the other mid-shelf brands as something slightly more special. Turns out… it’s not!

The Bottom Line:

Don’t be swayed by the slightly higher price tag, this tequila isn’t much better than the bottles priced a few bucks cheaper.

6. Espolon Blanco Tequila (Taste 6)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $26.99

The Tequila:

Produced in the legendary hills of Los Altos, Espolon’s Blanco is made using 100% blue weber agave and double distilled in column pots for an overall balanced expression. Aside from the silkier mouthfeel, Espolon’s Blanco presents itself harsher on the nose than Hornitos’ Plata, but its smooth qualities set it just over our bottom pick.

The Bottom Line

It’s good and cheap, but it doesn’t quite feel like a steal at this price. A bit harsh on the nose, but overall a smooth and drinkable tequila. Nothing special.

5. Bribón Blanco Tequila (Taste 2)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $21.99

The Tequila:

This one was by far the most surprising. At just $21.99 it’s a full-on budget bottle and the cheapest on this list, but it clearly punches above its weight. For Bribón’s Blanco, the label starts with hand-harvested fully matured agave cooked for 18 hours that is then shredded and juiced before being fermented in tanks and double distilled to a pure crystal clear state.

Overall, the bottles that hover between $20 and $30 don’t differ too too much, so in terms of bang for your buck grabbing this over Espolon or Hornitos will save you some cash and elevate your cocktails. Unfortunately, there is a world of difference between this bottle and everything ranked above it.

The Bottom Line:

If you don’t feel comfortable paying close to $50 for a bottle of Blanco tequila, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a bottle better than Bribón in both flavor and mouthfeel.

4. Don Ramon Platinium Plata (Taste 1)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $42

The Tequila:

Don Ramon’s Platinium Plata is the bottle that benefitted the most from the blind taste test. Having experience tasting the entire Platinium line — which includes cristalino, reposado, and añejo expressions — I know of the three the Plata is by far the weakest link. But in this blind tasting against other un-aged tequilas, it held up pretty nicely, ranking much higher than I initially expected.

Made from blue agave harvested from the highlands of Jalisco, this plata tequila is double-distilled and presents itself with an appetizingly shimmery clear color.

The Bottom Line:

This bottle has a lot going for it. A great agave forward expression with rich citrus undertones. Unfortunately, it has a strong kerosene quality on the nose that holds it back a bit. It’s a little too pure, we’re getting too much of the distillation process in the flavor.

3. Patrón Silver (Taste 4)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $49.99

The Tequila:

Everyone roots against Patrón because people are always insisting it’s top-shelf stuff. It’s priced high on restaurant menus and your liquor store probably keeps it locked up in a cage, which is ridiculous because there are way better tequila brands that stay on the shelves. My theory is that this is because Patrón is easier to say than Herradura or El Tesoro.

I’m not ashamed to say that I went into this rooting against Patron, too. I was hoping this bottle ranked close to the bottom and I could call out a spoiler. But hey, credit where credit is due: Patrón Blanco is incredibly drinkable.

If you’re someone who winces when tequila touches your palate, give Patrón a try — it produces almost no burn!

The Bottom Line:

Easily the most drinkable tequila on this list. Patrón goes down smooth and features an almost sweet aftertaste that lingers nicely whether taken as a shot or enjoyed in a complex cocktail.

2. El Tesoro Blanco (Taste 3)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $46

The Tequila:

Does it burn a lot more than Patrón? Yes. But El Tesoro’s Blanco tequila has so much character and depth of flavor, we’ll take a little pain to have a spirit this expressive. It’s no wonder this Blanco tequila snagged the gold medal at the International Spirits Challenge and scored highly at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge — it presents its flavors in distinct waves and just as you get a grasp on what you’re tasting it morphs into something else.

This draws you in and that’s what a good tequila should do.

The Bottom Line:

Floral and bright, El Tesoro’s Blanco is a journey for the palate and one of the most complex un-aged tequilas we’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. This will instantly elevate any tequila-based cocktail you’re mixing up.

1. Hiatus Blanco (Taste 7)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $49

The Tequila:

As I said in the tasting notes — wow. It’s almost hard to believe this is a Blanco tequila. While it’s got the clean and bright characteristic we’ve come to expect, Hiatus’s tequila is supremely smooth with a luxurious mouthfeel and a complex flavor that shifts between sweet tropical notes and grassy and highly vegetal qualities. Produced by master distiller Luis Trejo Rodriguez at La Cofradia distillery, this bottle deserves a permanent spot on your bar cart.

The Bottom Line:

Hiatus almost seems like it should be priced higher, thanks to its elegant flavors and silky smooth mouthfeel. This one reawoke my palate and really set itself apart from the rest in a noticeable way. Few tequilas in this price range are capable of inspiring a “wow” but Hiatus made it happen.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

While politicians weigh just how deeply they want to wade into the January 6 attack at the US Capitol at the behest of former president Donald Trump, those who took part in the MAGA riot continue to find themselves arrested for various crimes committed that day. For every easily-identified Q Anon Shaman there are dozens upon dozens of more anonymous people who were caught on film breaking into the Capitol Building, assaulting security officers and other offenses.

Some of those people, though, have apparently gone to great lengths to get themselves into trouble by capturing video of them inside, boasting about it on dating sites and telling family members about their escapades in Washington. And the latest case of this is pretty absurd: a man who boasted smoking a joint inside the Capitol and disobeying officers asking him to leave.

As Raw Story detailed, Daniel Warmus was arrested in Buffalo this week on charges of violent and unlawful entry, disrupting government business and disorderly conduct at the US Capitol. And the way the FBI tracked him down was unusual to say the least: he was overheard bragging about it all and showing a video of his criminal entry while at the dentist.

Warmus, from Alden NY, was heard by the tipster telling of how he smoked a marijuana cigarette inside the Capitol, the FBI criminal complaint states. The tipster said “that he/she overheard Warmus talking about his experience” which included having refused a police officer’s instructions to leave the building.”

The tipster said they could hear but not see a video Warmus was playing at the dentist’s office. Warmus was heard saying he went inside the Capitol building, according to the FBI. Agents added that the tipster wanted to remain anonymous and wouldn’t respond to questions but did provide the agents with Warmus’ home and work addresses.

You can read the full FBI criminal complaint here, which is full of fun details about the “f*ck antifa” flag he carried affixed to a tree branch and other details about the investigation that led to his arrest. There are a lot of ways to get arrested for a crime, but telling on yourself while holding incriminating evidence on your phone is certainly one of the more bizarre we’ve seen in 2021.

[via RawStory]

The talk of the baseball world for the past few days has been about Yermin Mercedes hitting an absolute moonshot off of Twins first baseman-turned-relief pitcher in blowouts Willians Astudillo on a 3-0 count. If you haven’t seen it, please enjoy, because it is hysterical.

I don’t think people who have been complaining about this fully recognize how hard it is to hit a baseball going that slow that far. Yermin had to create almost all of the ball speed here and absolutely destroyed one. This looks like a slowpitch softball home run. It absolutely ruled, full stop.

However, the Twins were upset about this — at least manager Rocco Baldelli was — and so was White Sox manager Tony La Russa, who says Mercedes looked off a take sign to launch this baseball 400-plus feet. In the next game, Twins reliever Tyler Duffey threw behind Mercedes and got tossed, which La Russa also said he thought was fine, which seemed like an insane thing for a manager to say about someone throwing at his player. Duffey and Baldelli have been suspended for that — Duffey for three games, Baldelli for one — and while all of Mercedes’ teammates have come to his defense, his manager has not.

That aspect of this story is what is making most people frustrated with La Russa, and on Thursday, CC Sabathia teed off on the Hall of Fame manager for being out of touch with the game on his R2C2 podcast with Ryan Ruocco.

Sabathia is right. One thing just about every baseball player who has chimed in on this has said is that any unwritten rules go out the window when you put a position player on the mound, as that is, in and of itself, an effort form the manager to steal some rest for his bullpen and gain an advantage on the other team for the rest of the series. As such, you can’t really be mad when that gets punished in the form of a team teeing off on position player pitching when it’s an active choice not to use up your arms in the bullpen.

As Sabathia says, anyone complaining about this is “out of touch with the game,” and it highlights the problem many had with La Russa being hired in the first place. He’s not going to be able to connect with this young generation of players, has very different views on the miserable “unwritten rules,” and to hang your guy out to dry who, as CC notes, has been carrying your team much of the start of the season, is just an awful look. For this to be the prevailing storyline about the team with the best record in baseball is truly wild and unfortunate, and highlights the apparent disconnect between a manager and his team of young, fun stars.

Important disclaimer before beginning this post: In the eyes of Charles Barkley, the greatest basketball player of all-time will forever be Michael Jordan. But on Thursday morning’s episode of Get Up!, Barkley brought up the place LeBron James could potentially occupy in this conversation should he lead the Los Angeles Lakers from the 7-seed to a championship at 36 years old, which Stephen A. Smith did not appreciate.

Smith originally thought that Barkley said that this would put James above Jordan, but Chuck was quick to clarify that it’d just lead to a conversation taking place. Still, this did not sit well with Stephen A.

“What we gotta talk for?” Smith asked, right before writing off the difficulty of winning on the road in half-empty arenas. “What we gotta talk for?”

Barkley and Smith sparred over this, with Smith needing a reminder once or twice that Barkley doesn’t ever plan on placing James atop his GOAT list. There was also the usual mention of how physical the game was when Jordan dominated compared to now — if you have ever heard this conversation, you know exactly how it played out, although it was fun hearing Barkley say “you can only knock down the people who are in front of you” in response to this instead of turning into a curmudgeon who hates the way basketball is played right now, like so many other retired players do.

Anyway, Barkley laid out his thesis once more to end, saying, “LeBron, if he’s able to win the championship, listen, I’m not gonna put anybody above Michael Jordan, but I tell you what, I can see how people would do it is my point, Stephen A.”

A special shout out here goes to Mike Greenberg, who very obviously found this all extremely funny.

The PGA Championship is at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island this week, one of golf’s sternest tests of a player’s skills and mental resolve. The wind that whips around the South Carolina coastal course makes life incredibly difficult on the golfers. Add in it being one of the longest courses on Tour at 7,800-plus yards and you have a recipe for some big numbers to come into play.

Being accurate off the tee is a must at Kiawah, where the fairways are wide but missing them puts you in sandy native areas with deep grass. That is unless you miss in the few spots where grandstands can be put up on the marshland, which provide a bit of a respite for the golfers by effectively creating bumpers down the sides of the fairways. One place this happens is on the 18th hole, a diabolically long par 4 that plays into the wind and players almost always have to go driver-long iron into at best.

For Sebastian Munoz, his efforts in launching a driver saw him tug it left into the grandstand where it somehow found its way into a trash can.

Munoz would get free relief from the trash can as he was not forced to play it as it lies, no matter what Happy Gilmore may have taught you, and managed to find the green after fishing his ball out of the garbage and taking his drop. He managed to make par on the hole, and while the rest of the day hasn’t gone as well for Sebastian, he will have one of the more memorable moments of the tournament.

Despite a huge showdown that saw Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson fully embrace the mantle of Captain America and show off his awesome new suit, complete with collapsible wings, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finale just didn’t have what it takes to stop reruns of NCIS on Netflix. Yup, you read that right.

According to the latest Nielsen ratings, the numbers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier actually dipped for its final episode after mopping up the week before. Turns out the draw of an all-new Captain America wasn’t enough to defeat the country’s love affair with crime procedurals.

Via Deadline:

After claiming the crown in its penultimate week, with 855 million minutes of total viewing, the show finished the week of April 19-25 with 796 million across its six episodes. That was good for second place in the rankings of overall shows. NCIS, a mainstay on Netflix, finished No. 1.

While being bested by NCIS reruns probably wasn’t what Disney+ had in mind when it entered the streaming wars, for the most part its flagship series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and The Mandalorian have been pop culture juggernauts, and the real test of Marvel’s massive investment in streaming series is still a ways off.

Within hours of the Falcon and Winter Soldier finale, Marvel announced a fourth Captain America movie that will star Mackie’s new Cap, and it will be the ultimate test of the Disney+ series if the show fuels ticket sales for the film. Or vice versa: The film funnels moviegoers to Disney+ to see the new Cap’s origin story.

We’re guessing Marvel is hoping for both.

(Via Deadline)

For the first time in Lego’s 72-year history, it’s releasing an official LGBTQIA+ pride set. The new set comes out just in time for Pride Month, starting June 1.

The new set is inspired by the classic rainbow pride flag and features 11 monochrome figurines that match the color in the flag. The set is called “Everyone is Awesome,” which was inspired by the song “Everything is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie” soundtrack.

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“I wanted to create a model that symbolizes inclusivity and celebrates everyone, no matter how they identify or who they love,” the set’s designer, Matthew Ashton, said in a statement Thursday.

via Lego

The Lego set has personal meaning for Ashton who is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“If I had been given this set by somebody after having come out, it would have been such a relief to know that somebody had my back,” Ashton said. “To know that you’ve got someone there, to say ‘I Love you, I believe in you. I’ll always be there for you.'”

Lego believes that the set is a way for people to show their love, support, and acceptance for young members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Historically, researchers have thought that children begin to self-identify as LGBTQIA+ in their teen years, however, new research says that it often happens as early as age nine.

Everyone is Awesome! We’re over the moon (rainbow?) about this set from @LEGO_Group celebrating diversity & inclus… https://t.co/gC5ZWOq35k

— Flynn De Marco & Richard Board (@TrickyBricks)
1621501200.0

A 2018 study found that 1% of 9 and 10-year old children surveyed self-identified as gay, bisexual or transgender. Nearly 7% of parents, when asked about the sexual identity of their children, reported their child might be gay and 1.2% reported that their child might be transgender.

A recent study published by Gallup found that 5.6% of American adults identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

It’s important for families to send a strong message of support for their LGBTQIA+ kids. Young LGBTQIA+ people have a much higher rate of suicide than cisgender kids, especially when they lack sufficient support from their families.

via Lego

Giving a child a Pride-themed Lego set may also be a way to initiate an important conversation about sexuality.

“Having LGBT-inclusive toys creates a space for families to let LGBT children know that they are loved and accepted,” Joe Nellist, from the U.K.’s LGBT Foundation, told CNN.

“Growing up in a world which often tells you there is something ‘wrong’ with you can lead to a person developing a deep sense of shame — something we know can have a long-lasting impact on both mental and physical health,” Nellist added.

But the set isn’t just for young people. There is a growing community of adults that love to build with Legos and this set is a great way for them to show their pride, too.

The Lego set includes the classic rainbow colors first introduced by Gilbert Baker in 1978 and includes the subsequent additions of black and brown for people of color as well as white, pink, and blue for transgender and queer people.

The 4-5 series in the Eastern Conference features a pair of up-and-coming squads, the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks, going head-to-head in what should be a fun, evenly-matched slugfest. But before things tip off, the NBA had a bit of business to tend to which will cost Hawks coach Nate McMillan a hefty chunk of change.

The league announced that McMillan, who took over the job in an interim role earlier this year following the firing of Lloyd Pierce, was fined $25,000, citing “detrimental public comments asserting bias by the NBA relating to the 2020-21 Playoffs.”

This is a pretty major assertion for the league to make, especially when the comments McMillan doled out weren’t particularly controversial. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic identified the comments that led to the fine, and in them, McMillan said more or less what everyone has said about the Knicks for years: There is a desire for them to be good because they are the New York Knicks.

This isn’t really saying there’s biased involved or anything, more that the league has a vested interest in teams in gigantic markets making the playoffs, which it should! He didn’t really indicate that games were officiated any differently, nor did he say that thumbs were on scales in any way, shape, or form. McMillan just said that the league is happy when the Knicks are good, which is a line that has been trotted out whenever they have been bad.

On May 21, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is coming to Hulu, and from the looks of it (and the look of that cast list, whew!) we’re in for a good time. However, while so many of Marvel’s most dastardly villains are pretty well known thanks to the MCU, MODOK remains one that — while vital in the comics — isn’t as much of a hot commodity. So, if you’re wondering just who MODOK is and uh, what’s up with his whole look, we’ve got you covered.

— MODOK, real name is George Tarleton (voiced by Patton Oswalt), is a former employee of Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M., a privately funded think tank you might recognize from Iron Man 3. In addition to appearing in the MCU, A.I.M. is a reoccurring evil-doing organization in the comics with ties to most of Marvel’s roster of heroes. You see, A.I.M.’s whole thing is the acquisition of power through science, and they execute this idea through creating and selling futuristic weaponry and conducting incredibly unethical and dangerous experiments. One such experiment is conducted on Tarleton, who undergoes a mutagenic medical procedure designed to increase his intelligence in order to be used by A.I.M. for advanced computing. Ultimately the project is successful, but as a result of his increased brain size is an alarmingly big noggin to hold it. In addition, his mental growth ends up impeding the growth of the rest of his body, leading to his smaller stature that cannot support the weight of his head. For these reasons, Tarleton becomes confined to the exoskeleton and accompanying hovercraft we see him in.

— After the procedure, Tarleton grows both ambitious and enraged, and soon decides to murder several of his fellow workers and take over A.I.M. He also adopts the name MODOK, which is an acronym for “Mental Organism Designed Only For Killing,” though the M has been said to mean both “Mobile” and “Mechanized” as well. In addition to a new name and brain size, the new and “improved” MODOK comes with impressive powers including enhanced intuition, perfect memory and recall, pattern solving, and the ability to outcomes that is so advanced and correct, it borders on precognition. To help hone MODOK’s powers, A.I.M. creates a headband for him that allows him to turn his mental power into pure energy beams in order to both contact and control people through his mind. A.I.M. also ensures that MODOK’s hovercraft is top of the line, and creates the “Doomsday Chair,” which is equipped with explosives, missiles, and lasers. In the comics, MODOK is a repeated threat for several superheroes, with Captain America and the Hulks being his primary foes.

However, in the upcoming Hulu series, it appears creators Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt are giving us a different — and very domestic — look at MODOK. In Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., Tarleton (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is comedically humanized as a man desperate to save his marriage, be a decent father, and keep his company afloat. The ten-episode series follows his relationship and power struggles, and it looks to be a violent and hilarious time.

— In addition to Oswalt, the series boasts a pretty incredible cast of voice actors, including Aimee Garcia, Ben Schwartz, Melissa Fumero, Wendy McLendon-Covey, Beck Bennett, Sam Richardson, Jon Hamm, Nathan Fillion, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Hader, and Kevin Michael Richardson. Whew. Oh, and for all the Adult Swim fans thinking that animation looks very familiar — Stoopid Buddy Stoodios of Robot Chicken fame is providing the show’s stop-motion animation.

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. hits Hulu May 21, however eager fans can catch the show early during a watch along with Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt on May 20 at 4 PM PT.

So much about our lives changed in the past year, and one of the most obvious areas was eating out. Suddenly we couldn’t just go out to eat anymore and the whole industry designed around it was thrown into turmoil. Top Chef is a show that revolves entirely around this industry, so it obviously couldn’t just go back to normal when the chefs it profiles and the restaurants they work at still haven’t.

Yet when you watch Top Chef these days, with its latest season set in Portland, it still feels mostly like Top Chef always has. And being able to immerse ourselves in a world where the quality of restaurant food is a matter of great importance is both a refreshing return to normalcy and a little bit escapist. Yet this is a show that was filmed last fall, when much of the country was still locked down and indoor dining wasn’t allowed.

To produce a show that still looked relatively normal in the midst of all this, clearly, must’ve required meticulous planning and some creative thinking. Piling 15 chefs into a house together and having them go from restaurant to restaurant cooking for judges flown in for the privilege simply wasn’t going to work. Instead, Top Chef‘s producers moved the thing to a hotel and created a big “bubble,” with a handful of past contestants and winners as judges, and everyone otherwise rigorously tested and kept separate from larger society whenever possible. I spoke to Top Chef producer Dan Murphy this week about what was different about this season and the work that went into keeping it consistent.

Can you tell me your official title and explain what your duties entail?

I’m Dan Murphy, I’m the COO of Magical Elves, and basically, I’ve been with the company for about 13 years, been the head of production for many years, before recently becoming COO this past year. I oversee physical production, from the budgeting and the planning, and the scheduling, and I oversee all of the safety protocols in terms of getting our shows back up and running during COVID.

Your last season got delayed, right?

The previous season we had actually filmed before the pandemic started, and we were in editorial during the pandemic, and we quickly pivoted to having editors and producers working from home, and communicating over Zoom, which was fine. We were basically able to continue post-production with very little downtime when the pandemic started, but it gave us a runway to figure out how and when we were going to be able to come back to filming. We prepped and loaded this season in September, shot in October and November. So we had a long lead time to figure out all of our protocols and work with the network. We took all of the CDC guidelines and the state and local laws and guidance, and we worked with NBC, and our own sort of high standards of safety kind of guided us through that process.

So then what did the “bubble” look like, and how did this season differ from past seasons?

Well, in terms of creating the bubble we kept everyone together in a hotel, we made sure everyone was wearing masks and PPEs, and social distanced. There were obviously a lot of things that we did differently behind the scenes that we hoped would not distract from what people saw on screen. We tried to make the show as seamless as possible from previous seasons, but did include some additional elements that you probably haven’t seen before; we had the All-Star panel [of past contestants judging], that we kept within our bubble, and we were able to showcase former Top Chef contestants in a way that we hadn’t necessarily done before.

So with the hotels — in the past, the competitors would have all been in the same house together. Did that create any new challenges from a content standpoint?

We knew that we had to change how that was going to work this season, and we kind of leaned into it. There were some challenges but we always have such a, I would say ‘a richness of content’ that in a lot of ways it may have made the editing process easier. Because we just didn’t have that element to have to incorporate. We always get such great content out of the cast houses, but there’s always so much that’s already there within the show itself and the competition, that it was not difficult to make that pivot.

In the past, the contestants would be going out and visiting restaurants and working in other restaurant kitchens. I know this was shot in the middle of a time when a lot of restaurants were closed. What were the challenges there, and what were the kinds of ways that you had to improvise?

The challenges were finding the right spaces, I think, and on a normal season of Top Chef we can shoot just about anywhere. But when we’re dealing with a large crew, and contestants, we had to be very mindful of how we could work within a space, when indoors, and keep everyone safe. So we had to find spaces that were large enough, and had large enough support spaces, etc.

So that was definitely different for us, and a bit of a challenge this season.

On the other hand, with restaurants not at full capacity, or not serving indoors, was it easier in any way? Like, was it an easier sell to get restaurants to let you film in their space?

I would say there was definitely more availability. Some restaurants had shut down. There were some spaces available to us that that may not have otherwise been.

Had you guys chosen Portland before all this happened?

I mean we had been wanting to go to Portland for many seasons. It’s a rich, celebrated culinary destination and we’ve been wanting to go there for a long time. We had gone to Seattle in one season, and then a couple seasons later we were still like “well, let’s go somewhere else,” but we were really glad to get the opportunity to come back to that region, and go to Portland specifically.

Chefs normally take, I forget what it is, six or eight weeks off to come film the show. Was it an easier sell for contestants in any way? Because maybe they were having to not work as much, or close down restaurants during the pandemic?

I would say it was probably more of the opposite. I think that most of our chefs were extremely busy as frontline workers in terms of keeping people fed, and a lot of the restaurants that our contestants were working with were very busy. So it was a bit of a challenge to get them to come out and quarantine prior to shooting. It was a lengthier time off of work for many of them.

Did you manage to get through the whole season without any positive tests?

Thankfully, we did. We did not have any cases on the show and it was, I think, all because everyone took it seriously. We had training in advance of the show that everyone had to participate in. We talked about how serious we were taking it as a company. And we gave everyone on the crew side ample opportunity to not participate if it was not something they felt that they could live up to.

Thankfully, everyone was excited about getting back to work.

I don’t hear this that much anymore, but every once in a while you hear people say that “the judging that goes on on Top Chef is all fake,” and that the contestants who go home, that’s all decided by producers behind the scenes. Can you shed any light on that process?

I would say from the time that I started at the company, at the end of season four, the producers have always had a hands-off approach when it comes to deciding who the winner is, and who the people are that are going home. That’s always been left up to our judges.

As a producer, are there ever contestants that you think are particularly entertaining, or just they’re good for entertainment value, and then you get disappointed when the judges send them home?

Well, I’m probably not the best person to speak to that, but I think everyone has their favorites, and it’s always difficult to see someone go before you think they should. But we trust in the process. The judges really deliberate on this stuff, and it’s not always clear-cut answers. You don’t always see the amount of deliberation that goes into the decisions that they make, but I’ve been on seasons, and I can remember a specific episode where they took hours and hours deliberating and disagreeing over decisions amongst themselves.

Do the judges ever surprise you with how seriously they take the judging?

I will say that I personally was surprised, again it was literally hours one night, probably three in the morning until four, five, six in the morning before they could finally agree on a decision. So yeah, they take it very seriously. They all have strong opinions about each of the contestants, and the meals, and I would say most people would probably be very surprised how much deliberation goes into the decisions that they make.

In terms of just time and budget, and sponsorships, was this season pretty comparable to past seasons, or was there anything different about it in that sense?

I’m not sure how much into detail I can go and send you this stuff. I mean there were definitely costs as a result of doing show during COVID that we don’t ordinarily incur, but I can’t give you a percentage or a dollar figure or anything like that. It’s definitely more expensive to produce, to put these protocols into place. We’ve spent a lot of time as a company, and a lot of people put in months of work sort of developing the guidance and the protocols, and revising them, and refining them, and we’re really proud of the show that resulted from it.