Category: News

The world’s best whisky for 2021 was named today. Okay, that’s a heady sentence in the wide world of whisk(e)y, but, we’re talking about the iconic and much-respected Jim Murray and his Whisky Bible 2021, which dropped this morning. So, what is the best whisky in the world, according to the master?

Drum roll… Alberta Premium Cask Strength! Yes, a Canadian rye was named the best whisky in the world. And, you know what, we can’t argue. We actually called out an Alberta Premium Rye bottle earlier this year as one of our favorites. The stuff it legit. Also, if you’ve drunk rye from an American blender — like WhistlePig — then you’ve drunk the good stuff from Alberta Distillers.

Alberta Premium Cask Strength has a mash bill of malted and unmalted rye, is aged in Alberta Distillery’s wintry warehouses, and then goes into the bottle uncut at a whopping 65.1 percent ABV. It’s gonna have some kick, making it a great cocktail base for those wintry Manhattans and nogs. Overall, Murray gave the juice a score of 97.5 out of 100.

Right now, the bottle is retailing in Canada for around $60 ($45 USD) a bottle. Expect that to change immediately. The last time Murray named a Canadian whisky his “world’s best” (Crown Royal’s Northern Harvest Rye) fights broke out in Canadian liquor stores over the last bottles.

Since Alberta Premium is a Beam Suntory shingle, expect to see these bottles to start popping up a little more regularly stateside soon. Just don’t expect it to be cheap.

With the premiere of Fargo season four, which is as “weird and menacing” as ever, less than two weeks away, star Chris Rock is making the publicity rounds. Which is good news, because Chris Rock stories tend to be good stories. For instance, in an interview with the New York Times, he talked about how he was supposed to play Jimmy Olsen to Nicolas Cage’s Man of Steel in Tim Burton’s never-made Superman movie, and how stoked he was to be “hanging out with the guy that made Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and he’s showing me the models of the sets for Superman.” Rock also discussed the time he, Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, and Prince got, well, c*ckblocked by Donald Trump.

“I remember Eddie, Arsenio, Prince, and me at a club one night,” he told the Hollywood Reporter, “and Donald Trump walks in and all these girls just start running to that side of the room because a f*cking 6-foot-whatever blond billionaire with his name on all the buildings walks in — like if that room was a seesaw, we’d be in the air.” This is like the sleazy, presumably New York City-set version of that One Night in Miami movie:

Years later, Rock would find himself in Brian Grazer’s office in Los Angeles, as Murphy pitched a heist flick — a kind of Black Ocean’s Eleven, starring him, Rock, Chappelle, Chris Tucker, and a few others — about a gang that robs Trump Tower. Murphy envisioned Trump as the movie’s villain. “Like Alan Rickman in Die Hard,” says Rock. What happened from there is another classic Hollywood story: The movie became Tower Heist, directed by Brett Ratner, starring Ben Stiller with Murphy and “a bunch of white people.”

In that same interview, Rock also teased two upcoming film projects: one that he described as “Bad Lieutenant, starring an insane actress,” and another that will pair him with Dave Chappelle and Adam Sandler. No word on Grown Ups 3.

Fargo premieres on September 27.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Way back in March, Jared Leto emerged from the desert (following a silent meditation retreat) and was stunned to learn about the pandemic. From there, it seems that he’s hit the weights and hasn’t stopped. He’s also been rock climbing and accepting the lead role in Tron 3, which is probably the least info-filled tidbit in this whole post. Disney’s been rolling that sequel around for awhile, and the casting news arrives three years after Leto was rumored to be playing a piece of sentient software (or something).

Well, there’s not too much clarity on the movie’s plan (Daft Punk might be doing the score), even from Variety, which reports that the threequel will “chart its own path” while not being a direct sequel. Hmm, nebulous. However, it’s clear that if Leto is truly playing sentient software, it’s going to arrive with a jacked physique.

Leto shared a mirror-selfie to that effect. His arms are already making gains, but his caption indicates that he’s “[s]tarting the Tron workout.” He added, “[J]oin me?””

If he’s only “starting” the movie-specific workout now, god only knows how ripped he plans to get for the role, but hey, Leto is not opposed to body tranformations. He lost a lot of weight for Dallas Buyers Club after gaining a lot to play John Lennon’s assassin in Chapter 27. In contrast, Tron 3 should be a much healthier process all around.

Travis Scott — one of the most popular rappers — and McDonald’s — one of the most popular restaurants — are in the midst of a collaborative promotion, and it’s going very well. In fact, McDonald’s is having a hard time keeping the Travis Scott Meal in stock. It’s so much of an issue that restaurants are running out of ingredients, and the company has deemed it necessary to change how customers have to order the meal.

USA Today obtained a memo “sent to employees, owners, and operators across the country,” and it notes that the promotion will continue as originally planned (through October 4), but beginning on September 22, the $6 meal will only be available to order through the McDonald’s app.

The memo reads in part, “We’ve created a program that’s so compelling to our customers that it’s stretching our world-class supply chain; and if demand continues at these levels, more restaurants will break supply.” In a statement provided to the publication, McDonald’s, confirming the details outlined in the memo, added, “In fact, it’s been so lit, some of our restaurants have temporarily sold out of some of the ingredients in the meal. We’re working closely with our suppliers, distributors and franchisees to resupply impacted restaurants as quickly as possible.”

The document also notes how creatively customers have been ordering the meal. Apart from saying that Cactus Jack “sent them,” as promotional materials have suggested, customers have also said things like, “It’s lit, Sicko Mode,” “The Fornite guy burger,” and, “You know why I am here,” oftentimes while they are playing Scott’s music.

McDonald’s also noted that “more surprises from Cactus Jack coming soon,” but it remains to be seen how they’ll top the giant McNugget pillow.

During a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Kissimmee, Florida on Tuesday night, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden busted out his phone and played “Despacito.” It was an extremely “how do you do, fellow kids?” moment, although to be fair, singer Luis Fonsi was the one who introduced Biden. After playing a short clip of the Hot 100 mega-hit, the former-vice president cracked, “I tell you what, if I had the talent of any one of these people, I’d be elected president by acclamation.”

The actual president, the one who blamed Biden for not instituting a mask mandate even though he has no power to do that because he’s not the president, never heard the “Despacito” clip. Or maybe he chose to willfully ignore it. But he did share a doctored video of his rival supposedly playing N.W.A’s classic “Fuck tha Police.” It was an obvious fake, but that’s never stopped Donald Trump from sharing it with his followers before.

Twitter slapped the “Manipulated Media” tag on the tweet; if you click on it, you’re shown the real story with the factual headline. Following the event, Fonsi tweeted, “It was a real honor for me to introduce vice president Joe Biden tonight. A great leader who has shown his support and admiration for the Latin community and Puerto Rico for many years. It’s time for us to have a president who treats us with the dignity we deserve.”

Meanwhile, instead of acknowledging Trump’s sliminess, former-N.W.A member Ice Cube is mostly tweeting about the Los Angeles Clippers blowing a 3-1 lead.

A better use of his time, honestly.

(Via Newsweek)

John Oliver’s reactions to good news (like Last Week Tonight‘s multi-year renewal) are often as notable than the news itself. So, it’s worth paying attention to his statement after the HBO show won a fifth consecutive writing award during Tuesday night’s Creative Arts Emmys. Obviously, it’s been a difficult year for every human with particularly challenging material for writers to tackle. Not only has there been you-know-what to deal with, along with clearing the air on police brutality protests, but of course, there’s been that ongoing feud with the Elmo-outraged (and always controversial) Tucker Carlson. In other words, Oliver’s writers at HBO have been getting it done, and he’s thrilled.

Last Week Tonight defeated CBS Late Show with Stephen Colbert, TBS’ Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers for this honor. While accepting the award, Oliver also wanted to recognize the Emmys for not making everyone show up in person (because obviously). After all, it’s not as though everyone could be placed in a bubble (like the NBA) two weeks ahead of the ceremony:

“I’d like to thank my writers, obviously, who work incredibly hard all year round and this year has been particularly challenging. I’d like to thank the Emmys for not holding the Emmys in person this year because of the, you know, thing. Thank you, we will cherish it forever.”

Congrats to Oliver and Friends on this reward for all their hard work. Meanwhile, the Emmys are going fully virtual for Sunday’s Jimmy Kimmel-hosted ceremony as well. Tune in for our coverage of the ABC ceremony starting at 8:00pm EST.

(Via Deadline)

Kanye West and his Twitter account have generated a number of headlines over the past couple days, whether he’s hinting at upcoming legal action or trying to organize a meet-up with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole. Last night and this morning, he continued on the legal thread, speaking further about the importance of artists owning the masters of their own music.

Last night, he declared, “In the streaming world master ownership is everything… that is the bulk of the income … in COVID artist need our masters … it’s more important than ever before. […] The artist deserve to own our masters … artist are starving without tours … Ima go get our masters … for all artist … pray for me.”

A few hours later, he continued, “When you sign a music deal you sign away your rights. Without the masters you can’t do anything with your own music. Someone else controls where it’s played and when it’s played. Artists have nothing accept the fame, touring and merch.” He then shared a video of game show contestants trying to climb up slippery stairs, comparing the situation to artists trying to own their masters.

Kanye continued the conversation this morning, writing, “We’ve gotten comfortable with not having what we deserve … they allow us to have a little money from touring get some gold chains some alcohol some girls and fake numbers that feed our egos … but we don’t own our masters. We our supporting other people’s kids … we could spend our whole life in the music industry but our kids gotta go work for another company when they grow up.”

He went on to say that it’s up to him to spread this message: “I am the only person who can speak on this because I made multi billions outside of music no musicians make billions inside of music. I’m going to change this. I know a lot of musicians are not allowed to say anything but I can’t be muted or cancelled so I’m going to say everything as always.”

Earlier this year, the band then known as Lady Antebellum removed the “Antebellum” from their name at the height of this summer’s Black Lives Matter movement, opting to go by Lady A in the future. Soon after, Seattle singer Anita White, who has performed under the name Lady A for over two decades, criticized the band for the name change. White and the band would meet to attempt to reach a compromise, but the meeting resulted in the band suing White to “affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years.” Now, according to Pitchfork, White has countersued the group for trademark infringement.

White claims that the band’s name change has resulted in “lost sales, diminished brand identity, and diminution in the value of and goodwill associated with the mark.” White’s countersuit comes a little over two months after the band sued her for rights to the name. At the time of their original lawsuit, he band claimed that were forced to sue the Seattle singer after “she and her team have demanded a $10 million payment,” a request White would explain in a lengthy statement:

“I asked for $5 million to compensate me for this loss, and to help me rebuild under a new name. I also asked that they donate $5 million to a charity so that we could work together to promote racial equality. […] I am hopeful that this fight for what is rightfully mine will help those damaged by this type of bullying and erasure in the past, and that it will prevent it from happening in the future. I will not allow Lady Antebellum to obliterate me and my career so they can look ‘woke’ to their fans.”

The full countersuit by White can be found here.

Oftentimes, drinkers base the value of a particular bottle of whisk(e)y on the age statement located on the label. The older the age, the more nuanced, complex, and thereby expensive the whiskey. But while we’d never tell you not to hold on to hope that one day you’ll get a chance to try Hibiki 30 or Glenlivet 25-Year-Old, there are myriad whiskeys on the market without an age statement at all that definitely deserve your attention.

Sure, blended Scotches like Johnnie Walker, Famous Grouse, and Chivas don’t carry age statements and people don’t seem to mind. But we’re not talking about blended whisky today. That’s too easy. We’re talking about brands that have other expressions that do have age statements.

To find the best options, we once again turn to the experts. We asked a handful of bartenders to tell us their favorite no age statement whisk(e)ys to drink this fall.

Auchentoshan American Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Marla White, lead bartender at Lona Cocina & Tequilera in For Lauderdale, Florida

Auchentoshan American Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky is matured and stored in American Bourbon Casks that give it a desirably different flavor profile than other whiskies. With notes of vanilla and coconut, this is the perfect whiskey to enjoy outside.

Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask Japanese

Frantjesko Laonora, lead bartender at Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort in Curaçao

Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask Japanese Whisky is one of the few NAS whiskeys named “World’s Best Whisky” and offers fruity notes, fragrant sandalwood, and sweet coconut. It’s certainly a whisky where you get lost in the smell.

Booker’s Little Book Bourbon

Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami

Booker’s Little Book has consistently been worth anticipating year by year when they release the new blend. Always a variation of tasting notes but subtly different with each bottling.

Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon

Molly Safuto, bartender at Mila Rooftop Bar in Glendale, California

Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon, the first of it’s kind with a unique bottle design to represent to Colonel Blanton’s pioneer history. Sweet and citrusy with an accumulation of spices make this Bourbon a favorite for myself and even my parents.

Kaiyo The Peated Mizunara Oak Japanese Whisky

Crystal Chasse, beverage director at Talk Story Rooftop in Brooklyn, New York

I was first exposed to Kaiyo “The Peated” Mizunara Oak Japanese Whisky about a year ago and I am still obsessed. Aged in Mizunara Oak and Madeira Casks it has the perfect amount of smoke mixed with honeyed coconut and apple.

Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon

Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis

Elijah Craig Small Batch may be the best whiskey on the market for the price. Lots of caramel and toffee throughout but assumes an unmistakable oak and butter on the finish. It’s the equivalent of eating a blondie in the whiskey world.

Glyph Molecular Whisky

Brendan Bartley, head bartender and beverage director at Bathtub Gin in New York City

A very controversial category in whiskey is molecular whiskey. One of my favorite “no age statement” whiskeys comes from that field. Glyph is the first molecular whiskey and I think they do an amazing job. I think it’s more the language that people have a hard time digesting the liquid. I’ve sold this whisky in the bar now for nearly two years. Every time I give someone a blind tasting, they love it. Once I reveal what it is, their faces drop.

Progress will change the way we view things and drink. What is a foreign idea to us now will be common in the years to come. It’s great whiskey and you should certainly give it a try — you might actually start loving science.

East London Single Malt Whisky

Max Stampa-Brown, beverage director at Borrachito in New York City

I was very fortunate to travel to London for a competition with the East London Liquor Company last year. Even more fortunate I got to try their London Single Malt Whisky ahead of its release to the masses. Tasted like hot cocoa and scones. Being the only American in the room I nervously said after my first sip, “is it too cliché for me to say this is quite biscuity.”

We had a really good night that night.

E.H. Taylor Straight Rye

Gavin Humes, bartender at Scratch | Bar & Restaurant in Encino, California

Go with the Colonel E.H. Taylor Straight Rye. It comes in at a hefty 100 proof but doesn’t read super-hot. In fact, it’s got some great vanilla, caramel, and even some peppery quality. The rye gives it a complexity that balances what is sometimes overly cloying in the case of some bourbons. Really a delicious product.

Writer’s Pick:

Lagavulin Distiller’s Edition Single Malt Scotch Whisky

While you’ll find many great whiskies from Lagavulin that do have age statements, Distiller’s Edition is so good, you won’t even wonder how long it’s been aged. It’s a great combination of sweet vanilla and caramel notes melding with herbal and smoky peat flavors.

The Portland Trail Blazers battled admirably to get into the NBA playoffs, but ultimately were unable to topple the Los Angeles Lakers and went home after the first round. Their stay in the Bubble did include a run-in with the other Los Angeles squad that did not exactly sit well with them, and as a result, two of Portland’s stars had a whole lot of fun at the Clippers’ expense as L.A. fell in Game 7 to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.

Damian Lillard and a pair of Clippers players — Paul George and Patrick Beverley — had a war of words during and after a game the two teams played. Despite this, Lillard was not the first member of the Blazers to get some jokes off as the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead to Denver. That, instead, was CJ McCollum, who started the posting with a bang.

Lillard laughed at the Cabo line, then looked back on his “bad shot” beef with George from last postseason. You see, George took a corner three down the stretch of Game 7 that looked like this…

…and unsurprisingly, Lillard got asked about it.

While this was going on, McCollum decided to get send out a whole lot of posts at the Clippers’ expense.

He did take a quick break in the middle of this to show some love to Denver’s dynamic duo of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, both of whom were outstanding during Game 7.

And then, CJ got back on the Clippers slandering train.

He was serious (kind of) for a moment, saying that he legitimately thought this L.A. side had what it took to win a championship.

But again, McCollum got back to cracking jokes and made it clear that he was, indeed, drinking wine before throwing some more praise Denver’s way.

Oh, look, Lillard got back into the posting game, inviting Beverley to join him down in Cancun. And you will never believe this, but McCollum got in on this fun, too.

McCollum kept going, which included some more Beverley jokes.

Eventually, McCollum wished everyone goodbye, and once that happened, Lillard came in with a few more tweets.

Throughout the evening, other players from other teams chimed in on the torrid posting by the Blazers’ duo.

I don’t know about you, but while I am super stoked to watch how the rest of the postseason plays out before four really fun basketball teams, I cannot wait for the first time the Blazers and the Clippers play one another during the 2020-21 season.