Category: News

Bourbon is a big business. And just like many big businesses, the scene has come to be dominated by a handful of giant companies. These include the likes of Sazerac (makers of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, George T. Stagg, Pappy, and many more), Heaven Hill (makers of Larceny, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Henry McKenna, and others), Beam Suntory (makers of Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Bookers, Maker’s Mark, and more), Campari Group (makers of Wild Turkey)… the list of titans goes on, but not too much further. And while many of the offerings are rightfully beloved, it’s clear that the industry is top-heavy.

Sometimes you have to give a little shine to the smaller guys. The upstarts. The underdogs.

This isn’t a chore, by any means. Some of the best bottles out there are currently coming from the independent whiskey brands. Today, we’re highlighting 14 of our favorites in the bourbon world. Check them all out below if you’re willing to take a break from your go-to bottle of Old Forester 100, Old Grand-Dad, or Four Roses Small Batch.

Laws Four Grain Straight Bourbon

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $46.99

The Story:

Denver’s Laws Whiskey House is made from four different grains, including wheat, barley, rye, and, of course, corn. It’s aged for three years in new, 53-gallon, charred, American oak casks. The distillers believe that the high elevation helps with the whiskey’s maturation and overall flavor.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll be met with hints of candied orange peels, charred oak, sweet vanilla, and just a hint of peppery spice. The palate is filled with dried orange peels, creamy caramel, spicy cinnamon, and sweet cream. The finish is long, warming, and ends with a final flourish of cracked black pepper.

Bottom Line:

This is a highly complex bourbon that should appeal to even the most ardent Kentucky bourbon fans and should be enjoyed slowly in a rocks glass, with a single ice cube.

Wilderness Trail Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $50

The Story:

Released in April 2019, this was the third whiskey ever released by Wilderness Trail. It’s a small-batch bourbon made from between 10 to 12 barrels and is made with corn, barley, and rye (instead of wheat). The result is a more complex, spicier bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose are hints of caramel apples, molasses, and cooking spices. The sip is filled with flavors of charred oak, spicy cinnamon, sweet vanilla, and a lingering nutty sweetness. The finish is long, dry, and ends with a final hint of subtle white pepper spice.

Bottom Line:

This is a reasonably new bourbon, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t stand up against some of its bottled in bond rivals.

Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon

ABV: 66.9%

Average Price: $214.99

The Story:

This award-winning whiskey prides itself on being a true Texas classic. It’s bold, uncut, unfiltered, and very high in alcohol. Specifically chosen barrels are set aside and take on extra maturation to make this highly-coveted turbo-charged bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll be treated to hints of nutty sweetness, espresso, rich vanilla, and clover honey. The first sip yields dried fruits, rich brown sugar, spicy cinnamon, toasted marshmallows, and butterscotch. The finish is long, very warming, and ends with an extra hit of milk chocolate and vanilla sweetness.

Bottom Line:

This is a big, bold bourbon. It should be enjoyed with a solitary ice cube and be allowed to open up while it’s sipped slowly, in order to allow you to enjoy all of the various flavors.

Hillrock Estate Solera Aged Bourbon

ABV: 46.3%

Average Price: $89.99

The Story:

This is the first-ever American whiskey to be aged using the Solera maturation method. This involves a pyramid of barrels in which lower-level whiskey is removed and more whiskey is added to the top layer. The result is a highly complex, nuanced liquid that is unlike any other bourbon on the market.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of dried cherries, sweet vanilla, and rich sherry. On the palate, you’ll find flavors of raisins, caramelized sugar, clover honey, toasted oak, and more Oloroso sherry. The finish is medium in length, subtle in heat, and ends with a nice, charred oak finish.

Bottom Line:

This complex, delicate bourbon was painstakingly crafted and should be given the respect it deserves. Sip it slowly and enjoy all the various flavors.

Kings County Peated Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $38.49

The Story:

When drinkers think of peat, they usually think about Scotch. Islay whiskies are known for their peated single malts. Kings County Peated Bourbon is for fans of those expressions as well as lovers of American whiskey. It was made using peat-smoked malted barley. The result is a sweet, smoky bourbon that unites drinkers on both sides of the pond.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of salted caramel, sweet vanilla, and a nice kiss of peat smoke. The palate is filled with brown sugar, creamy chocolate, rich vanilla, and more smoke. The finish is long, lingering, and ends with a final hint of woodsmoke.

Bottom Line:

When it comes to bourbon, there is no better expression for fans of smoky, peaty Scotch whisky. This should be enjoyed like a well-made Scotch, sipped from a Glencairn glass.

Leopold Bros. Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $60.99

The Story:

One of Leopold Bros. newest expressions, its unfiltered Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon, is a high corn whiskey that also has a mash bill that contains malted barley and rye. It’s pot distilled and matured for five years in new, charred American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

The aromas that greet your nose are filled with sweet cereal notes as well as caramel apples and sweet vanilla. The palate is loaded up with sticky toffee pudding, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a subtle hint of peppery spice. The finish is long, warm, and ends with a final kick of pepper.

Bottom Line:

This high barley bourbon is perfect for fans of unpeated Scotch whisky. In fact, it might be one of the best gateway bourbons for Highland Scotch fans.

Cedar Ridge Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $49.99

The Story:

This high corn bourbon is made at Cedar Ridge, a farm-to-glass distillery in Iowa. This 100-proof whiskey is matured for four years in bonded warehouses. It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s bringing attention to a state not normally associated with whiskey.

Tasting Notes:

Released to celebrate the distillery’s 10th anniversary, this bottled in bond bourbon has a nose of charred oak, sweet vanilla bean, and rich almonds. The palate is full of creamy caramel, nutty sweetness, spicy cinnamon, and toasted marshmallows. The finish is long, full of pleasing heat, and ends with a final hint of sweet, spicy cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

If you’re an Old Grand-Dad BIB drinker or lover of one of the other well-known brands, this is the perfect change of pace. It’s so good, you might never go back.

Balcones Texas Pot Still Bourbon

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $29.99

The Story:

Over the past few years, Texas has changed from the wild west of whiskey to the new frontier. Balcones has led the way with offerings like its Texas Pot Still Bourbon. It’s made from blue corn, wheat, rye, and barley, before aging for two years in charred, American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of butter cookies, charred oak, caramel apples, and cinnamon. The palate is bursting with rich almonds, sweet honey, brown sugar, and leather. The finish is long, warm, and ends with a final hint of rich caramel.

Bottom Line:

If you’re taking a break from the larger brands, you can’t do much better than Balcones. We suggest trying all of this Texas brand’s lineup.

Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $37.99

The Story:

The most unique thing about Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon is that all four grains (non-GMO corn, winter cereal rye, winter wheat, and two-row barley) are farmed and sourced from the on-site farm. This truly farm-to-bottle bourbon is born on the 2,000-acre farm in Nevada. It’s bold, aged for five years and non-chill filtered.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is filled with hints of candied orange peels, creamy vanilla, and brown butter. The palate is well-rounded with buttery vanilla cookies, sweet corn, cracked black pepper, and dried cherries. The finish is medium in length, warming, and ends with a final peppery flourish.

Bottom Line:

To truly celebrate this Nevada-born whiskey, it should be paired with a nice game of cards or a socially distant game of solitaire.

Breckenridge Bourbon

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $44.99

The Story:

This award-winning whiskey hails from Colorado, not a place commonly associated with bourbon (but no slacker in the whiskey world). This 86-proof blended bourbon has a mash bill of 56% corn, 38% rye, and 6% unmalted barley. While there’s no proof that it changes the flavor at all, the brand touts the water they use as being from “pure snowmelt” from the Rocky Mountains.

A pretty idea, at the very least.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll be treated to espresso, charred oak, and brown sugar. The first sip is filled with creamy vanilla, peppery rye, sticky toffee, and sweet corn. The finish is long, spicy, and ends with a final hit of toasted oak.

Bottom Line:

There’s no better bourbon to enjoy after a long day spent outside skiing or, at the very least, shoveling the snow in your driveway.

FEW Bourbon

ABV: 46.5%

Average Price: $47.99

The Story:

While FEW could have simply made a classic bourbon and called it a day. The Illinois-based distillery wanted to create something truly unique. That’s why forgoing traditional methods, it added a special, Saison yeast into the recipe.

This is a true game-changer.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find aromas of nutmeg, cinnamon, charred oak, and sweet vanilla beans. The palate is a symphony of buttery caramel, sweet cream, spicy cinnamon, and more oak. The finish is long, medium in heat, and ends with more caramelized sugar.

Bottom Line:

Since it was made using beer yeast, we suggest pairing this extraordinary whiskey with a pint of peppery, yeasty Saison beer.

Berkshire Bourbon

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $46.99

The Story:

Berkshire Mountain Distillers of Massachusetts is the first legal distillery in the area since prohibition. Its Berkshire Bourbon is made from locally sourced corn and aged in new, charred American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

A proper nosing will reveal hints of sweet corn, charred sugar, rich almonds, and just a touch of cinnamon. On the palate, drinkers are treated to the flavors of caramel apples, candied orange peels, butter cookies, and rich caramel. The finish is lingering, warm, and ends with a final kiss of spice.

Bottom Line:

This is a special whiskey. It’s just as well suited for slow sipping as it is mixing into your favorite whiskey-based cocktails.

Koval Single Barrel Bourbon

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $39.99

The Story:

This small-batch, single barrel bourbon is made from a unique mash bill of 51% corn and 49% millet. It’s aged in new, heavily charred American oak barrels sourced from nearby Minnesota.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find subtle charred oak, creamy vanilla, and spicy cinnamon. The first sip yields hints of treacle, more toasted oak, rich caramel, and a nice kick of peppery spice. The finish is medium in length, warming, and ends with a final crescendo of sweet cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

Find a nice easy chair or recliner, pour yourself a glass, and forget about all the strangeness that’s already seeped into 2021.

Woodinville Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $37.99

The Story:

This award-winning whiskey brand took our top spot in 2020 for “best bourbons.” That’s overall — including the big brands.

The company prides itself on being a small-batch bourbon. All of the corn, rye, and malted barley are grown at Omlin Family Farm in nearby Quincy, Washington. The whiskey is distilled and barreled at the Woodinville Distillery before being shipped over the Cascade Mountains to be matured in the brand’s barrel houses where the extreme weather conditions impact the whiskey’s flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of caramelized sugar, cinnamon, and toasted oak. The palate is filled with hints of creamy vanilla, buttery caramel, bitter, dark chocolate, and cooking spices. The finish is long, warming, and ends with a final hint of caramel.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the most reasonably priced bourbons on the list. Let’s not let the folks at Woodinville know that they could charge way more for this whiskey just yet.

Bourbon is a big business. And just like many big businesses, the scene has come to be dominated by a handful of giant companies. These include the likes of Sazerac (makers of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, George T. Stagg, Pappy, and many more), Heaven Hill (makers of Larceny, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Henry McKenna, and others), Beam Suntory (makers of Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Bookers, Maker’s Mark, and more), Campari Group (makers of Wild Turkey)… the list of titans goes on, but not too much further. And while many of the offerings are rightfully beloved, it’s clear that the industry is top-heavy.

Sometimes you have to give a little shine to the smaller guys. The upstarts. The underdogs.

This isn’t a chore, by any means. Some of the best bottles out there are currently coming from the independent whiskey brands. Today, we’re highlighting 14 of our favorites in the bourbon world. Check them all out below if you’re willing to take a break from your go-to bottle of Old Forester 100, Old Grand-Dad, or Four Roses Small Batch.

Laws Four Grain Straight Bourbon

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $46.99

The Story:

Denver’s Laws Whiskey House is made from four different grains, including wheat, barley, rye, and, of course, corn. It’s aged for three years in new, 53-gallon, charred, American oak casks. The distillers believe that the high elevation helps with the whiskey’s maturation and overall flavor.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll be met with hints of candied orange peels, charred oak, sweet vanilla, and just a hint of peppery spice. The palate is filled with dried orange peels, creamy caramel, spicy cinnamon, and sweet cream. The finish is long, warming, and ends with a final flourish of cracked black pepper.

Bottom Line:

This is a highly complex bourbon that should appeal to even the most ardent Kentucky bourbon fans and should be enjoyed slowly in a rocks glass, with a single ice cube.

Wilderness Trail Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $50

The Story:

Released in April 2019, this was the third whiskey ever released by Wilderness Trail. It’s a small-batch bourbon made from between 10 to 12 barrels and is made with corn, barley, and rye (instead of wheat). The result is a more complex, spicier bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose are hints of caramel apples, molasses, and cooking spices. The sip is filled with flavors of charred oak, spicy cinnamon, sweet vanilla, and a lingering nutty sweetness. The finish is long, dry, and ends with a final hint of subtle white pepper spice.

Bottom Line:

This is a reasonably new bourbon, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t stand up against some of its bottled in bond rivals.

Garrison Brothers Cowboy Bourbon

ABV: 66.9%

Average Price: $214.99

The Story:

This award-winning whiskey prides itself on being a true Texas classic. It’s bold, uncut, unfiltered, and very high in alcohol. Specifically chosen barrels are set aside and take on extra maturation to make this highly-coveted turbo-charged bourbon.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll be treated to hints of nutty sweetness, espresso, rich vanilla, and clover honey. The first sip yields dried fruits, rich brown sugar, spicy cinnamon, toasted marshmallows, and butterscotch. The finish is long, very warming, and ends with an extra hit of milk chocolate and vanilla sweetness.

Bottom Line:

This is a big, bold bourbon. It should be enjoyed with a solitary ice cube and be allowed to open up while it’s sipped slowly, in order to allow you to enjoy all of the various flavors.

Hillrock Estate Solera Aged Bourbon

ABV: 46.3%

Average Price: $89.99

The Story:

This is the first-ever American whiskey to be aged using the Solera maturation method. This involves a pyramid of barrels in which lower-level whiskey is removed and more whiskey is added to the top layer. The result is a highly complex, nuanced liquid that is unlike any other bourbon on the market.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of dried cherries, sweet vanilla, and rich sherry. On the palate, you’ll find flavors of raisins, caramelized sugar, clover honey, toasted oak, and more Oloroso sherry. The finish is medium in length, subtle in heat, and ends with a nice, charred oak finish.

Bottom Line:

This complex, delicate bourbon was painstakingly crafted and should be given the respect it deserves. Sip it slowly and enjoy all the various flavors.

Kings County Peated Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $38.49

The Story:

When drinkers think of peat, they usually think about Scotch. Islay whiskies are known for their peated single malts. Kings County Peated Bourbon is for fans of those expressions as well as lovers of American whiskey. It was made using peat-smoked malted barley. The result is a sweet, smoky bourbon that unites drinkers on both sides of the pond.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of salted caramel, sweet vanilla, and a nice kiss of peat smoke. The palate is filled with brown sugar, creamy chocolate, rich vanilla, and more smoke. The finish is long, lingering, and ends with a final hint of woodsmoke.

Bottom Line:

When it comes to bourbon, there is no better expression for fans of smoky, peaty Scotch whisky. This should be enjoyed like a well-made Scotch, sipped from a Glencairn glass.

Leopold Bros. Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $60.99

The Story:

One of Leopold Bros. newest expressions, its unfiltered Bottled in Bond Straight Bourbon, is a high corn whiskey that also has a mash bill that contains malted barley and rye. It’s pot distilled and matured for five years in new, charred American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

The aromas that greet your nose are filled with sweet cereal notes as well as caramel apples and sweet vanilla. The palate is loaded up with sticky toffee pudding, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a subtle hint of peppery spice. The finish is long, warm, and ends with a final kick of pepper.

Bottom Line:

This high barley bourbon is perfect for fans of unpeated Scotch whisky. In fact, it might be one of the best gateway bourbons for Highland Scotch fans.

Cedar Ridge Bottled in Bond

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $49.99

The Story:

This high corn bourbon is made at Cedar Ridge, a farm-to-glass distillery in Iowa. This 100-proof whiskey is matured for four years in bonded warehouses. It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s bringing attention to a state not normally associated with whiskey.

Tasting Notes:

Released to celebrate the distillery’s 10th anniversary, this bottled in bond bourbon has a nose of charred oak, sweet vanilla bean, and rich almonds. The palate is full of creamy caramel, nutty sweetness, spicy cinnamon, and toasted marshmallows. The finish is long, full of pleasing heat, and ends with a final hint of sweet, spicy cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

If you’re an Old Grand-Dad BIB drinker or lover of one of the other well-known brands, this is the perfect change of pace. It’s so good, you might never go back.

Balcones Texas Pot Still Bourbon

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $29.99

The Story:

Over the past few years, Texas has changed from the wild west of whiskey to the new frontier. Balcones has led the way with offerings like its Texas Pot Still Bourbon. It’s made from blue corn, wheat, rye, and barley, before aging for two years in charred, American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of butter cookies, charred oak, caramel apples, and cinnamon. The palate is bursting with rich almonds, sweet honey, brown sugar, and leather. The finish is long, warm, and ends with a final hint of rich caramel.

Bottom Line:

If you’re taking a break from the larger brands, you can’t do much better than Balcones. We suggest trying all of this Texas brand’s lineup.

Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $37.99

The Story:

The most unique thing about Frey Ranch Straight Bourbon is that all four grains (non-GMO corn, winter cereal rye, winter wheat, and two-row barley) are farmed and sourced from the on-site farm. This truly farm-to-bottle bourbon is born on the 2,000-acre farm in Nevada. It’s bold, aged for five years and non-chill filtered.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is filled with hints of candied orange peels, creamy vanilla, and brown butter. The palate is well-rounded with buttery vanilla cookies, sweet corn, cracked black pepper, and dried cherries. The finish is medium in length, warming, and ends with a final peppery flourish.

Bottom Line:

To truly celebrate this Nevada-born whiskey, it should be paired with a nice game of cards or a socially distant game of solitaire.

Breckenridge Bourbon

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $44.99

The Story:

This award-winning whiskey hails from Colorado, not a place commonly associated with bourbon (but no slacker in the whiskey world). This 86-proof blended bourbon has a mash bill of 56% corn, 38% rye, and 6% unmalted barley. While there’s no proof that it changes the flavor at all, the brand touts the water they use as being from “pure snowmelt” from the Rocky Mountains.

A pretty idea, at the very least.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll be treated to espresso, charred oak, and brown sugar. The first sip is filled with creamy vanilla, peppery rye, sticky toffee, and sweet corn. The finish is long, spicy, and ends with a final hit of toasted oak.

Bottom Line:

There’s no better bourbon to enjoy after a long day spent outside skiing or, at the very least, shoveling the snow in your driveway.

FEW Bourbon

ABV: 46.5%

Average Price: $47.99

The Story:

While FEW could have simply made a classic bourbon and called it a day. The Illinois-based distillery wanted to create something truly unique. That’s why forgoing traditional methods, it added a special, Saison yeast into the recipe.

This is a true game-changer.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find aromas of nutmeg, cinnamon, charred oak, and sweet vanilla beans. The palate is a symphony of buttery caramel, sweet cream, spicy cinnamon, and more oak. The finish is long, medium in heat, and ends with more caramelized sugar.

Bottom Line:

Since it was made using beer yeast, we suggest pairing this extraordinary whiskey with a pint of peppery, yeasty Saison beer.

Berkshire Bourbon

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $46.99

The Story:

Berkshire Mountain Distillers of Massachusetts is the first legal distillery in the area since prohibition. Its Berkshire Bourbon is made from locally sourced corn and aged in new, charred American oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

A proper nosing will reveal hints of sweet corn, charred sugar, rich almonds, and just a touch of cinnamon. On the palate, drinkers are treated to the flavors of caramel apples, candied orange peels, butter cookies, and rich caramel. The finish is lingering, warm, and ends with a final kiss of spice.

Bottom Line:

This is a special whiskey. It’s just as well suited for slow sipping as it is mixing into your favorite whiskey-based cocktails.

Koval Single Barrel Bourbon

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $39.99

The Story:

This small-batch, single barrel bourbon is made from a unique mash bill of 51% corn and 49% millet. It’s aged in new, heavily charred American oak barrels sourced from nearby Minnesota.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find subtle charred oak, creamy vanilla, and spicy cinnamon. The first sip yields hints of treacle, more toasted oak, rich caramel, and a nice kick of peppery spice. The finish is medium in length, warming, and ends with a final crescendo of sweet cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

Find a nice easy chair or recliner, pour yourself a glass, and forget about all the strangeness that’s already seeped into 2021.

Woodinville Bourbon

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $37.99

The Story:

This award-winning whiskey brand took our top spot in 2020 for “best bourbons.” That’s overall — including the big brands.

The company prides itself on being a small-batch bourbon. All of the corn, rye, and malted barley are grown at Omlin Family Farm in nearby Quincy, Washington. The whiskey is distilled and barreled at the Woodinville Distillery before being shipped over the Cascade Mountains to be matured in the brand’s barrel houses where the extreme weather conditions impact the whiskey’s flavor profile.

Tasting Notes:

On the nose, you’ll find hints of caramelized sugar, cinnamon, and toasted oak. The palate is filled with hints of creamy vanilla, buttery caramel, bitter, dark chocolate, and cooking spices. The finish is long, warming, and ends with a final hint of caramel.

Bottom Line:

This is one of the most reasonably priced bourbons on the list. Let’s not let the folks at Woodinville know that they could charge way more for this whiskey just yet.

For the past year or so, NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts have been a lot different than usual. Instead of taking to the NPR offices, artists have been performing remotely from their own venues of choice. A lot of them, keeping in the spirit of the series, have incorporated some sort of small desk into their performance setup in one way or another. Then there’s Mxmtoon.

For her performance, she took to an empty New York City office building and sat behind perhaps the largest desk in Tiny Desk history, a desk that swirled around the entire office space. Her five-song performance included “Fever Dream,” “Prom Dress,” “Feelings Are Fatal,” “Wallflower,” and “Bon Iver.”

Mxmtoon also explained the personal significance of the performance, sharing a story about how she and her grandfather used to enjoy the concert series together before he passed away. She wrote on Twitter, “After years of watching @NPR tiny desk performances, i am so happy to share i finally did my own. so crazy i got to do a tiny desk. a bit sad, but i lost my grandfather last year and we would watch tiny desks together and he’d say how excited he’d be to watch me do one eventually. music was a shared love, and although he isn’t here to celebrate with me, i know he’s proud [smiling emoji].”

Watch Mxmtoon’s Tiny Desk performance above.

Chicago rapper Lil Eazzyy made an impressive entry to the rap game in 2020 with his debut EP Underrated and its lead single, “Onna Come Up.” The 18-year-old was still in grade school during the first wave of Chicago drill music, but it clearly had an effect on him and he’s got a knack for expressing the numbed sentiments that originators Chief Keef, G Herbo, Lil Durk, and King Louie brought to the nascent genre. Maybe that’s why he was able to secure one of those artists, G Herbo, to appear on the song’s remix, keeping pace with his elder the entire time.

In the intervening years since the genre’s initial explosion out of the Windy City’s youth movement in the early 2010s, many of its original purveyors have recently rejuvenated their careers and attained even greater heights, with Herbo chief among them. His pair of collaborations with Atlanta producer Southside — Swervo and Still Swervin — raised his profile considerably so that when he returned to solo work in 2020 with PTSD, the album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and he appeared on Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list.

Unfortunately, Herbo’s resurgence could be derailed by his recent arrest for identity fraud but giving his blessing to the next generation may be the best way to keep his name buzzing in the Chicago scene for another big comeback down the line.

Listen to the “Onna Come Up” remix above.

Lil Eazzyy is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Periodically I go through these funks where I see a run of bad or just meh movies that makes watching movies for a living really feel like a job, and I start to worry I may never see a good movie again. It takes a great movie to snap me out of it, and this week, that movie was Some Kind Of Heaven, about as close as it gets to a perfect documentary. (Available now in select theaters and for VOD rental).

Directed by young South Floridian and Sundance fellow Lance Oppenheim, Some Kind Of Heaven is a portrait of The Villages retirement community outside of Orlando, a Disneyworld-like slice of augmented reality with a population of more than 130,000, set on a movie-backdrop paradise of golf courses, swimming pools, and margarita bars. Another South Florida documentarian, Billy Corben, who loves to try to explain Florida to outsiders, describes Florida as “a sunny place for shady people,” and once told me “The whole state started as a real estate scam and, in a way, it’s never really grown out of that. We are America’s perpetual rebellious teenager.”

Perhaps the pinnacle of that real estate scam is the Villages, a kind of Tomorrowland for older folks rebelling against the concept of growing old. Even as a viewer you can’t help but be taken in by Oppenheim’s portrait of The Villages, shot in such vivid technicolor that, after the drab white elephant awards movies and hastily shot schlock I’d been slogging through all week, made me feel like the kids in Pleasantville seeing color for the first time. It’s also perfectly fitting for the setting, a place that resembles a Glendale shopping mall draped in a conceptual Hawaiian shirt.

Of course, it’s the characters that make Some Kind Of Heaven so compelling, and they’re all attempting to live out a fantasy of some kind or another. It’s tempting to imagine “adulthood” as this mythical life stage in which one puts away childish things and faces reality, but the characters in Some Kind Of Heaven prove — well, mostly the men do, anyway — that it’s possible to inhabit your self-built delusion basically until the day you die. Provided you can force the women in your life to go along with it, that is.

As one character in Some Kind Of Heaven puts it, The Villages is sort of like college, a giant party school where people from all different places can come to reinvent themselves but never have to go to class. Or to paraphrase Billy Corben again, “L.A. is where you go when you want to be somebody, New York is where you go when you are somebody, and Florida is where you go when you want to be somebody else.”

The characters include Reggie and Anne, who have been married for 47 years. Anne is a seemingly down-to-Earth gal who loves playing pickleball and doing all the active things The Villages allows. Reggie, meanwhile, seems to have interpreted retirement as a stage when accountability no longer applies, and spends his days tripping balls on powerful hallucinogens. On the day of their anniversary, he tells his wife that he’s already dead and reincarnated, and is also God, which he proves by hitting himself in the head with a rock. “He was a much more conventional type of person when we got married,” Anne assures us in a rictus of feigned calm.

Incredibly, Reggie isn’t even necessarily the best character. There’s also Dennis, a self-described former handyman to the stars, who lives out of a van which he has parked in the Villages in the hopes of finding a nice-looking woman with lots of money to move in with and live out his days. Dennis trawls bars, churches, and nightclubs to find his future sugar mama, though he says that he’s found that the best place to meet “classical looking beauties” is at the swimming pool. He name drops his former clients Colonel Tom Parker and The Smothers Brothers (could ten screenwriters ever invent such perfect name drops?) in an attempt to impress one lounge goddess, who responds, in a deadpan, “I don’t care.”

Getting old can be both liberating and devastating like that. Suffer fools? At this age? Never. Likewise, it’s hard to know whether you want Dennis to succeed in his quest or fail. Is knowing that every oily bullshitter and big-talking fabulist you knew in your twenties could still be exactly the same person at 81 years old inspiring or pathetic? To some extent, it’s both. Old age is the prism through which the vivid color of Some Kind Of Heaven refracts.

Grounding the whole thing is Barbara, a widow from Boston who looks a bit like a melancholy Liza Minnelli and who in 12 years of living there hasn’t quite found the life that she was expecting. Trying valiantly to get over the loss of her husband, Barbara gamely keeps putting herself out there, and your hope for humanity lives and dies with her latest hobby — whether it’s acting, miniature golf, Jimmy Buffet, or the tambourine.

Some Kind Of Heaven is a surreal, visually sublime slice of life that offers escapism and subverts it in the same breath, an enduring portrait of a particular subculture the likes of which I haven’t seen probably since Wildwood, NJ. I spent virtually the entire 83 minutes laughing, slapping my forehead, or both.

‘Some Kind Of Heaven’ is available in select theaters and VOD January 15th. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.

Rising stars Snot and Iann Dior meet up at the raceway in the video for “Like Me” from Snot’s 2020 album Beautiful Havoc. Flanked by pretty flag wavers in skintight outfits, the two 21-year-old rappers flex their trendsetting ways as they put the pedal to the metal in a desert-based road race in a pair of tuned-up BMWs.

Both rappers are primed to blow in a big way with this year, as their efforts in 2020 secured impressive streaming numbers and legions of loyal fans who have been champing at the bit to see them live. While Snot generated a huge buzz in 2018 with “Gosha,” he dropped a mixtape and an album in 2020, spawning videos for “Revenge,” “Mean,” “Who Do I Trust,” and “Watch Out.” His buzz is growing by the day, especially since collaborating with fellow buzzing newcomers Flo Milli and Iann Dior.

Meanwhile, Corpus Christi, Texas rapper Iann Dior has been part of one of hip-hop’s biggest singles over the past year, 24kGoldn’s “Mood.” The hit single topped the Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks — an impressive showing for two brand-new artists. They’ve gone on to perform the song multiple times on television and it’s since been remixed by international superstars J Balvin and Justin Bieber.

Watch Snot’s “Like Me” video featuring Iann Dior above.

Beautiful Havoc is out now on 300 Entertainment. Get it here.

Snot is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Our resident pop culture gurus Naz Perez and AJ Lodge are jumpstarting the new year by breaking down some of the biggest news in the world of sports, entertainment, and more into 10-second bite-sized clips. They’re digging into everything from gaming to celebrity trends, upcoming blockbuster premieres, and AJ’s concerning lack of footwear. (Hey, he’s just happy to be having human interaction at this point!)

Speaking of, since new lockdown measures have put a crimp in everyone’s social life, it makes sense that gaming diehards and newbies alike are obsessing over Call of Duty right now. Everyone from Sam Jackson to Lil Uzi Vert is strapping up to play and it’s making AJ feel some kind of way about his own COD skills. The good news? Since NBA All-Star Weekend is officially canceled, he’ll have more time to perfect his game, and both hosts are considering jumping on the Dry January train that everyone keeps hyping up on the ‘Gram. A couple of new entertainment options have AJ and Naz stoked too — from Camila Cabello’s Cinderella movie to that buzzed-about Euphoria special.

Check out the latest episode of Culture Quick Bites above and watch the duo fire through the hottest pop culture headlines to see just how many they can tackle without taking a breath.

*No Culture Quick Bites hosts were harmed in the making of this video*

After detonating the words “2020” and finally getting the tongue lashing from Adam Driver he so desperately wanted in the Season 7 finale, John Oliver will return when Last Week Tonight comes back for its eighth season in February. To promote Oliver’s return, HBO tossed together a trailer for Season 8, which is mostly just clips from 2020 due to the topical nature of the show. However, many of the issues that America was facing last year are still very much in the forefront in 2021: The coronavirus, Trump refusing to concede, conspiracy theories. They’re all here!

When Oliver last signed off, he couldn’t believe that he was still talking about “this a**hole” Trump not accepting the results of the presidential election. As a “parting gift to the country, Trump is somehow managing to divide us even further while also hobbling his successor at the worse possible time,” Oliver said, and he was pretty spot on. The Last Week Tonight host made that prediction on November 16, and obviously, the situation did not improve. Trump’s continued rejection led to a full-on assault on the Capitol building, which resulted in him being impeached for a second time.

Considering Biden will be inaugurated next week, Trump’s refusal to accept the election should be down to a dull roar by the time Last Week Tonight returns, but the way 2021 is already going, we wouldn’t rule anything out.

Last Week Tonight kicks off its eighth season on February 14 on HBO.

(Via Last Week Tonight)

YFN Lucci was denied bond and his alleged role in the fatal shooting for which he stands charged with murder and gang activity was revealed in court today, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Lucci, whose real name is Rayshawn Bennett, is accused of driving three associates to a rival gang’s turf and firing on them.

One of the targets, a 32-year-old was struck in the abdomen but sought assistance at a fire station nearby and survived his injuries. However, Lucci’s alleged companion wasn’t so lucky. 28-year-old James Adams was hit in the head by return fire and police say he was “manually ejected” and left on the street, where police found him as they responded to the shooting report.

Lucci turned himself in on Wednesday after police announced they were seeking him in connection with the shooting. Around the same time as the announcement, Lucci released his music video for “Rolled On” featuring Mozzy, prompting some amusement from fans that he would be focused on promoting new music while supposedly on the run.

The rapper has been charged with murder, aggravated assault, participating in criminal street gang activity, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He appeared in court virtually from the Fulton County jail. His attorney Drew Findling maintained his innocence to the Journal-Constitution, saying, “Our review of the initial evidence made available to us indicates there is no basis for any criminal charges against Rayshawn Bennett. We will continue our own independent investigation on his behalf.”

You know that trope where a character has to spend a night in a creepy old mansion and if they’re still alive the next morning, they inherit or win something? Willy’s Wonderland is basically that, except with Nicolas Cage, a Chuck E. Cheese-style restaurant filled with evil animatronic robots, and a cool-ass car. House on Haunted Hill could never.

Willy’s Wonderland stars Cage as an energy drink-chugging janitor (I’m already in) whose car gets a flat tire in a nowhere town. “Unable to pay the repair shop to fix his Jeep, he agrees to work off his debt by spending the night cleaning Willy’s Wonderland, an abandoned theme park full of animatronic characters that were once a beacon of fun for children to play with,” according to the official plot description. “But Willy’s Wonderland carries a dark secret that The Janitor is about to discover.” If you guessed “smashing a robot ostrich with a broken mop,” congratulations, you are correct.

“He’s been lured into a deadly trap, or rather, a living nightmare, as the Wonderland’s animatronic characters come to life to destroy him. The Janitor is forced to fight his way from one monster to another, trying to survive until morning.”

I can’t believe it took this long for Nicolas Cage to play a janitor who has to battle murderous robots in a movie described as “Pale Rider vs. Killer Klowns from Outer Space.” It seems like something he should have done years ago.

Willy’s Wonderland, which also stars Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, Ric Reitz, and Chris Warner, hits digital and On Demand on February 12.