Category: Trending

The Great American Beer Festival had to go digital this year. Previous iterations of the event were attended by thousands of people from across the American craft beer industry to celebrate American craft beer. It was, traditionally, a big, buzzed convention. Clearly, that wasn’t happening in 2020.

Even with in-person festivities being postponed, GABF (as it’s commonly known) still soldiered on — announcing the best American beers and best American craft breweries over the weekend. There were 91 beer categories in play this year, with over 8,000 entries. That’s 91 distinct beer styles that received “gold,” “silver,” and “bronze” awards this year. Even mid-pandemic, the festival is nothing if not expansive.

We’re not going over all 91 GABF categories (you can review full results at your own leisure here). Instead, we went through and pulled the top ten most represented beer styles — basically, the most popular beer styles based on how many entries there were in each style’s category. That means the ten beers below represent the beer categories with the most entries, with the gold medal winner getting a shout out.

One huge caveat here, most of these beers are hyper-local (it’s a craft festival after all) and sometimes only available seasonably. You might be able to find a few of these outside their local areas. Most of them, you probably won’t. Still, today isn’t the day for celebrating ubiquity. Check out these brews and rest easy knowing that if you’re in the region of one of these award-winning craft breweries, you’ll be able to enjoy some truly exemplary beer.

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer (154 Entries) — Amburana Dream

Brewery: Denver Beer Co. – Olde Town Arvada, Arvada, CO
ABV: 9%

The Beer:

This beer is a bit of an enigma. It’s been winning awards for years now and the brewery still doesn’t bother to mention it on its own webpage (besides a press release saying it won an award once). We guess if you’re in Denver and visit the brewery, ask about it?

The judges at GABF definitely seem to think it’s a winner.

Tasting Notes (from RateBeer):

“Bomber poured a clear dark reddish-brown with a small lasting brown head. Aromas of bitter chocolate, cinnamon, light roastiness, and light woody notes. Palate was medium-bodied and smooth with a dry finish. Flavors of bitter chocolate, cinnamon, light roastiness and light woody notes with a smooth dry lingering cinnamon chocolate finish.”

American-Style Pale Ale (156 Entries) — Featherweight Pale Ale

Brewery: Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO
ABV: 5.5%

The Beer:

This is a year-round offering from Cannonball Creek out in Golden, Colorado. So you can actually try this one if you happen to be in the area. The beer looks tasty enough but Cannonball Creek also doesn’t offer any details besides that they sell the stuff on tap for $6 for a full pour.

Tasting Notes (from RateBeer):

“Draft at the brewery. Saving the best for last, I hope? Darkish golden pour, small soapy head. Mild hoppy aroma. Taste also favors the hops but lets the malts shine through. Mild for an APA, but highly drinkable.”

German-Style Kölsch (162 Entries) — Kölsch

Brewery: pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River, OR
ABV:

The Beer:

pFriem Family Brewers out in Oregon are masters at taking old-school European styles and giving them a Pacific Northwest feel. Their Kölsch uses Weyermann Pilsner, Rahr Red Wheat, and Acidulated Malt with Tettnang Tettnanger and Hallertau Perle hops.

The German belly of this beast is strong but leans into a much fruitier nature than a hoppy or malty one.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Brilliant light straw color topped with bright white foam. Crisp aromas of fresh pear, wildflowers, and green apple. Gentle flavors of ripening fruit, biscuit, and light grain. Alluring finish, light, dry, sparkly, and quaffable.”

Imperial India Pale Ale (166 Entries) — Hammerland DIPA

Brewery: El Segundo Brewing Co., El Segundo, CA
ABV: 8.6%

The Beer:

This year-round offering from El Segundo Brewing is another local favorite that you may be able to find at some specialty shops. It’s a double IPA, so the hops are paramount to this bottle of beer. They use Mosaic, Simcoe, Chinook, and Centennial hops — a very classic American IPA mix from the West Coast.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Bright, Dank, Colossal…exactly what you expect with a hop bill of Mosaic and Simcoe. Get your nose in the glass and the aromatics will overwhelm you like the double-overhead closeouts down at Hammerland.”

Fruited American-Style Sour Ale (180 Entries) — Guava Dreams

Brewery: Del Cielo Brewing Co., Martinez, CA
ABV: 4.5%

The Beer:

A funky sour spiked with Colombian guava does sounds very thirst-quenching. Though this one definitely has more of a summer vibe. This brew gets an extra shoutout since you can actually order it online for delivery pretty much nationwide!

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Inspired by the unique flavor of pink guava, ubiquitous in Cali, Colombia. Get lost in the middle of sensory experience, welcomed by the fresh guava aroma, followed by an explosion of tropical flavors and balanced sour notes.”

Juicy or Hazy Imperial India Pale Ale (192 Entries) — The Hopsplainer

Brewery: Burke-Gilman Brewing Co., Seattle, WA
ABV:

The Beer:

This is another tiny craft brewery that has little-to-no information about their award-winning beer, even on the brewer’s own webpage, social media, etc. Again, the judges at GABF seemed to love the hoppy beers from this brewery this year and awarded them two gold medals in the hop-heavy categories.

Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the Seattle area.

Tasting Notes (from RateBeer):

“On tap at the brewery. Very hazy blonde yellow with head and lace. Lovely aroma and flavors of flavorful malts and hops. Smooth, fairly bold, and tasty.”

Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout (199 Entries) — A Night to End All Dawns

Brewery: Kane Brewing Co., Ocean, NJ
ABV: 12.2%

The Beer:

This special barrel-aged beer spends some time in bourbon and rye barrels (some releases spend time in maple syrup barrels too). It’s also pretty much impossible to find unless you’re lurking in the secondary or even tertiary beer markets. Still, this beer will continue to age well in the bottle and you might see some popping up in the years to come. There will also surely be new releases each year, which you’ll need to go to New Jersey for.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“This beer carries notes of vanilla and coconut from the initial barrel-aging and hints of caramel and undertones of toffee from the next round of maple syrup barrel-aging.”

German-Style Pilsener (200 Entries) — Sprockets

Brewery: Gravely Brewing Co., Louisville, KY
ABV: 5.6%

The Beer:

This beer from Gravely Brewing is a slow-pour German Pils. Beyond that, Gravely doesn’t really tell us much about the beer. The seven-minute-long pour off the tap was the main thrust of their marketing, so hopefully, the judges got that experience when they judged this one.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Hoppy lager packed full of German noble hops.”

American-Style India Pale Ale (355 Entries) — IPA

Brewery: Perry Street Brewing, Spokane, WA
ABV: 6.3%

The Beer:

This is yet another tiny, local brewery that you’re not going to get to try unless you’re in Spokane. As for the beer, the brewery doesn’t really mention it beyond that it’s on their menu right now.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Lush and pungent with big pineapple notes.”

Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale (377 Entries) — Spellbinder

Brewery: Wren House Brewing Co., Phoenix, AZ
ABV: 6.5%

The Beer:

Wren House does some big beers out in Phoenix that often get a lot of attention. Their Spellbinder is brewed with oats and locally grown white wheat. The brew is then hopped with Cascade hops before a Mosaic and Citra dry-hopping. The juicy hops become the star of the show as you can see from that hazy glass above.

Tasting Notes (from the brewer):

“Super bright aroma of tangerine peel marmalade, overripe strawberry, and pungent dank pineapple.”

2020 hasn’t been a year of prolonged chart domination. For the most part, there has been a different song on top of the charts pretty much every week. Now, on the latest Billboard Hot 100 chart, there is yet another new leader. This time, it’s 24kGoldn’s Iann Dior-featuring hit “Mood,” which tops the October 24-dated chart. This is the first No. 1 song for both artists

24kGoldn shared a reaction to the news, writing on Twitter, “ain’t no higher than this. thank you to everyone who ever listened, this is just the start.” He also posted a reaction video on Instagram, in which he excitedly says, “I’m only 19 years old, I’m not even 20 years old and we’re on top of the world, No. 1 on the Billboard charts. I did not think this sh*t was gonna happen this fast, if I’m being 100 percent honest with y’all. But I’m grateful as f*ck. I knew we could do it, and it was just a matter of time, yo.”

Elsewhere on the chart, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” jumps back up to No. 4 from No. 6, which puts it back in the top 5 and extends its record for the most weeks spent in the top 5. In other chart news, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is back in the top 10 for the first time in a long time.

Legendary broadcaster Doc Emrick is officially hanging up the microphone. The longtime lead of NBC Sports’ hockey coverage is retiring after decades of calling play-by-play for multiple sports, including a 50-year career in hockey.

NBC Sports announced Emrick’s decision on Monday, sharing a video farewell from Emrick where he covered some of his favorite moments and noted that, though he’s done broadcasting for NBC, he may occasionally pen some video essays in his retirement. Uproxx Sports interviewed Emrick in September ahead of the Stanley Cup Final and the broadcaster, who covered the NHL’s Bubble remotely, talked about the difficulties of the broadcast and being away from the game.

In an interview with the New York Post, Emrick said he looks forward to spending time at his home north of Detroit and, eventually, traveling in retirement.

“I hope I can handle retirement OK,” he said Sunday night from his home in Michigan, “especially since I’ve never done it before. But I’ve just been extremely lucky for 50 years. And NBC has been so good to me, especially since the pandemic, when I was allowed to work from home in a studio NBC created.

“Now, into my golden years, this just seemed to be the time that was right.

“Plus, I’ve now accumulated enough frequent-flyer miles — to not go anywhere.”

Emrick, who spent decades expanding every hockey fan’s vocabulary considerably, will be missed on NBC to say the least. But at least it sounds like we’ll still hear his voice from time to time, which is the least you can ask for.

Our pop-culture devouring hosts (Naz Perez and AJ Lodge) are back to fill you in with ten-second bites on the things culture is buzzing about while bringing infectious chemistry and rapid-fire banter, even if that mostly involves Naz dunking on AJ for not knowing what Minecraft is. 200 million copies sold, come on dude! We don’t want to be too hard on him, though, like all of us he’s dealing with the news that we’re going to be Chalamet-less for the foreseeable future.

From that news (that Denis Villeneuve Dune remake is just one of the many movies originally set for 2020 that are seeing COVID-19 related delays) to reminders that NBA2K21 is going to look really real when it hits next-gen consoles (too real?), and Shawn Mendes’ new video is a must watch at least 15-20 times daily (don’t judge!) we’ve got you covered. We’re also shouting out Rihanna’s star-studded body-positive all-inclusive Savage x Fenty show that’s still lingering in our minds and the recognition J. Balvin and Bad Bunny are about to get when the Latin Grammys cure us all of our election hangover in November.

Check out the latest episode of Culture Quick Bites above to hear our crew break it down while barely breaking for breath.

Unlike Disney, which can make as many Star Wars movies as it wants after acquiring Lucasfilm for a cool $4 billion in 2012, Universal Pictures can’t churn out Back to the Future sequels. That’s because director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale, a.k.a. the Bobs, retain the rights to the franchise, and will continue to do so until they die. There won’t be a new Back to the Future movie, TV show, or theme park without their permission, and based on an interview Gale did with Collider, they’re not likely to give it.

“We told a complete story with the trilogy. If we went back and made another one, we’d have Michael J. Fox, who will be 60 next year, and he has Parkinson’s Disease. Do we want to see Marty McFly at age 60 with Parkinson’s Disease? Did we want to see him at age 50 with Parkinson’s Disease? I would say, ‘No, you don’t want to see that.’ And you don’t want to see Back to the Future without Michael J. Fox,” Gale explained. It’s been 30 years since the last (and weakest) Back to the Future, and with time comes impossible expectation; even a “good” movie would be considered a let down compared to the greatness of the first two films. We don’t need Biff’s World; we’re already living it.

“All you’re gonna do is beg comparisons to the originals, and you’re not going to match up. And we’ve seen this repeatedly with sequels that go back to the well after many, many years, and they go ‘Ah, well, The Phantom Menace, maybe my life would have been better if I hadn’t seen it.’ There are a lot of extra sequels like that.”

Mesa don’t agree with The Phantom Menace criticism, but mesa also understand what he means. Anyway, that’s the creative reasoning for why Zemeckis and Gale have no interest in Back to the Future 4; there’s also the financial explanation. “We’ve already made a whole lot of money with these movies, and we like them just the way they are,” he said. “And as proud parents, we’re not going to sell our kids into prostitution.”

You don’t need a sports almanac to get rich. You just need to create Back to the Future.

(Via Collider)

Mad Max: Fury Road is only five years old, but that’s long enough for urban legends about the film to take hold. One such myth is a persistent rumor that director George Miller didn’t have a script for the apocalyptic thriller and that he relied solely on storyboards to make the technically impressive action film starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. While the no script rumor had gone dormant, it recently resurfaced thanks to a series of tweets from Fury Road co-writer Brendan McCarthy, who claims it was actually Miller himself who started the rumor to add some “showman” flair to the film’s production. McCarthy says he still has the first draft of the script, which dates all the way back to the late ’90s.

However, in a statement to IndieWire, Miller denies starting the rumor, but he does confirm McCarthy’s claim that Fury Road always had a script, and that it’s make no sense to think otherwise:

“I’m not sure how the notion that Fury Road had no script came about. I suppose it’s because of the room lined with storyboards,” Miller said via email, referring to an image of 3,500 storyboards lining the walls of “the ‘Mad Max’ room” that’s been circulated online. “Of course there was a script! How else could we have presented the project to a studio, cast and crew to elicit their interest?”

In an odd twist, McCarthy deleted his tweets shortly after IndieWire published the statement from Miller, so make of that what you will. Obviously, the renewed interest in Mad Max: Fury Road stems from the recent announcement that Anya Taylor-Joy will be taking over the role of Furiosa in a prequel to the 2015 film written and directed by Miller.

(Via IndieWire)

After Dr. Anthony Fauci took the gloves off and admitted to being “really ticked off” at Trump, the president is responding by trashing the veteran immunologist. Tensions between the president and the NIAID director have obviously been running high all year, and things grew especially ugly a week ago when Trump took a nasty swing at Fauci’s competence. This happened after Fauci publicly requested that Trump remove a campaign ad that quotes him out of context — to make it look like Fauci praised Trump’s (botching of his) pandemic response.

That ad’s still running in certain swing states, so Fauci (who has been sidelined from public appearances by Trump) appeared on 60 Minutes, where he revealed to Jon LaPook that he’s had enough of Trump’s COVID shenanigans. Well, Trump wasn’t pleased. During a Monday morning campaign call obtained by CNN, Trump expressed his desire to fire the NIAID director (which he cannot actually do, at least directly) and complained that “people are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.”

Trump continued with his rant while piling on baseless claims about the coronavirus pandemic. The president also declared that he didn’t care if the press heard his tirade:

“Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths,” he said on the campaign call on Monday, before later saying it would be 700,000 or 800,000.

“If there’s a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn’t care less,” Trump said. CNN was given access to the call by a source.

Strangely, Trump also remarked that he thinks Fauci is “a nice guy… he’s been here for 500 years.” Make no mistake, though, Trump is angry about the 60 Minutes appearance. “Dr.Tony Fauci says we don’t allow him to do television,” Trump tweeted. “[A]nd yet I saw him last night on @60Minutes.” He made a Bob Hope reference for unknown reasons.

Yes, he’s mentioning that baseball pitch again. Previously, Trump took a swing at Fauci’s baseball arm while attacking his competence adding several made-up claims about how “Trump was right” about COVID.

For his part, Fauci stressed on 60 Minutes that he’d never publicly endorse a political candidate. He was angered that “they’re sticking me right in the middle of a campaign ad. Which I thought was outrageous.” Further, the Trump campaign has refused to remove Fauci’s out-of-context words from the ad, and now, Trump’s further dragging him for daring to speak in public again As Fauci told LaPook of the twisting of his words by the Trump campaign, it’s “stunning.”

(Via CNN)

Moneybagg Yo’s summertime single “Said Sum” has turned out to be something of a viral hit — not surprising, considering its use of a popular meme to flex on haters. The lead single from Moneybagg’s collaborative mixtape with Blac Youngsta, Code Red, the song has taken on a life of its own, finding the Memphis, Tennesee stalwart rapping alongside City Girls and DaBaby for a chest-thumping remix that received an eye-popping video today.

The video puts all three rappers in front of a giant LED screen flashing various graphics as they posture and pose during the choruses, then break off into separate settings for the verses. While JT and Yung Miami spit their verses on the same set, Moneybagg and DaBaby get some more high-concept locations. DaBaby’s Austin Powers-inspired performance piece pays homage to the film franchise villain Goldmember, surrounding the North Carolina rapper with gold-glad vixens in a gold room bedecked in gold furnishings, right down to DaBaby’s smoking jacket/lounge shorts ensemble. Meanwhile, the principal artist is green-screened into a vault stacked to the ceiling with cash.

While this is the official “Said Sum” remix, Chicago rapper Dreezy also tried her had at flexing over the beat to keep her fans sated until her next release. Meanwhile, Moneybagg himself is still riding high off the release of his January mixtape Time Served, raising his profile by the day.

Watch the video for Moneybagg Yo’s “Said Sum” remix featuring DaBaby and City Girls above.

One of the questions many Americans had when Trump became president was how he would handle LGBTQ rights. Public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted dramatically in the past decade and the Trump administration hasn’t publicly signaled a desire to change that. Trump even added an openly gay man to his cabinet, creating somewhat of an appearance of being LGBTQ-friendly.

However, his record with transgender rights betrays that appearance. Transgender people have become a favorite target of conservative politics, and actions taken by Trump himself have been considered discriminatory by LGBTQ advocates.

These actions were highlighted by a mother of a transgender child at Biden’s town hall event. Mieke Haeck introduced herself to the former vice president as “a proud mom of two girls, ages 8 and 10,” before adding, “My youngest daughter is transgender.”

“The Trump administration has attacked the rights of transgender people, banning them from military service, weakening non-discrimination protections and even removing the word ‘transgender’ from some government websites,” she said, then asked, “How will you as president reverse this dangerous and discriminatory agenda and ensure that the right and lives of LGBTQ people are protected under U.S. law?”

Biden took approximately 0.3 seconds to think about it, then answered, “I will flat out just change the law.”

“I’d eliminate those executive orders, number one,” he said. He told a story about seeing two men kiss when he was a kid and his dad said, “Joey, it’s simple. They love one another.” He said that kids don’t just randomly decide to be transgender, and he also pointed to the high incidences of transgender women of color being murdered.

“I promise you,” he said, ‘There is no reason to suggest that there should be any right denied your daughter…that your other daughter has a right to be and do. None. Zero.”

Biden was the one who pushed the Obama administration to come out and publicly endorse same-sex marriage after he did so himself in a Meet the Press interview in 2012—a moment that was unplanned by either the White House or Biden himself.

“When I get asked a direct question, I give a direct answer. I come out of civil rights movement, there’s not a way I could sit there and be asked about the civil rights issue of our day and not be silent,” BIden said about the interview, according to McClatchey D.C. Three days after that Meet the Press aired, President Obama announced that he supported legalizing same-sex marriage as well, and the rest is history.

However, as with all civil rights, who is in power can make or break whether such rights are upheld. For many LGBTQ families and people who care about everyone enjoying the same rights, hearing Joe Biden so swiftly and surely state that he would undo the discriminatory practices of the Trump administration was reassuring.

Americans came around to the idea of gay marriage largely thanks to the actions taken by Biden when he was in the White House before. Perhaps people will come to a more compassionate understanding of transgender issues if he gets his chance there again.

It’s not often that you hear a Beastie Boys song in advertisements, and there’s a good reason for that. In his will, the late Adam Yauch (aka MCA) declared, “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.” So, the group’s songs don’t pop up in commercials much, but it does happen every now and then. Viewers of Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns game may have noticed that “Sabotage” could be heard during an ad for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

The ad was thematically appropriate, too, as it was focused on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted live music venues. It features Joe Malcoun — owner of Ann Arbor, Michigan venue the Blind Pig — discussing how shutdowns have impacted his business.

A Biden campaign spokesperson noted the group has “never licensed music for an ad until now,” but they were cool with “Sabotage” playing in the Biden ad “because of the importance of the election.” That part about the group having “never licensed music for an ad until now” isn’t quite accurate: “Sabotage” has appeared in ads for both Star Trek Beyond and Destiny 2, for example.

Watch the ad above.