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While most novice drinkers are well acquainted with tequila, mezcal still remains a mystery to many. But even if you haven’t imbibed a liquor with the words “mezcal” on it, you’ve probably already drunk a fair share of mezcal. That’s because all tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. It’s one of those “all squares are rectangles” situations — the all-encompassing name for agave-based spirits is mezcal.

If a bottle is specifically labeled as a mezcal, that means it’s made in Mexico using any type of agave (tequila can only be produced with Blue Weber agave). While tequila is made in and around Jalisco, most mezcal is made in Oaxaca — with its smoky flavor making it a perfect fall sipper.

When it comes to drinking mezcal neat on a cool, fall evening, Marla White, lead bartender at Lona Cocina & Tequilera in Fort Lauderdale, Florida prefers Del Maguey.

“With a variety to choose from, you cannot go wrong with this mezcal,” she says. “Each comes with a unique recipe that adds a special touch.”

We wanted to find the best, smoky mezcals to drink this fall, so we connected with experts — asking bartenders to tell us their picks.

Ilegal Mezcal Joven

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

Ilegal Mezcal Joven is a staple. It’s so smooth on its own but crushes in a cocktail. Plus, when it comes to smoky mezcals, it fits the bill as a sipper.

Fidencio Pechuga

Evgeny Anisimov, bartender at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort, Golf Club & Spa in San Diego

When I first tried Fidencio Pechuga mezcal, I was mind blown by the complexity and how smooth it is. It is usually made with fruit and grains harvested in fall with a raw chicken breast hanging over the still during distillation. It produces one of the most delicate and delicious mezcals on the market.

Mezcal El Silencio

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

Mezcal El Silencio, from the artfully curated matte black body, to the smooth and smokey flavor- it’s my favorite thing to drink this fall.

Del Maguey Pechuga

Emmanuelle Massicot, assistant general manager of Kata Robata in Houston

Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal Pechuga. During the third distillation of this mezcal, the vapor passes through a chicken breast resulting in a savory quality that balances the sweetness from the seasonal wild mountain apples and plums that are added to the liquid. The end result is sweet, salty, savory and smoky – it’s complex yet delicate enough to sip on.

Mezcal Vago Ensamble de Barro

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

Mezcal Vago Ensamble de Barro Tio Rey is perfect for autumn evenings. It has notes of pine and cinnamon with a touch of nuttiness that pair perfectly with the smoke. Mezcal Vago celebrates smaller mezcaleros (here it’s Tio Rey) and partners with them to bring greater awareness to their beautiful Mezcals. Tio Rey distills in clay pots and, along with his transitional methods, makes this the perfect sipping Mezcal.

Bozal Ensemble

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

The Bozal Ensemble is a great contender. With enough smoke to meet your acquaintance, but not take over the subtle citrus and floral notes that open up as oxidation takes place. Neat or over a large ice cube is best, but it definitely makes a great cocktail.

Banhez Pechuga

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

This fall one of the best sipping mezcals I think is Banhez Pechuga. Seeing all the different agave styles coming out, I usually gravitate to a tobala, though the Pechuga by Bahnez is really taking my liking at the moment. Although it is laced with the smoky element associated with mezcal, it also has a coffee, chocolate, chili thing going on. Gives an autumn feel to it. Having it on the rocks is very, very satisfying.

La Venenosa Raicilla Costa De Jalisco

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

Normally I’d defer to my bar buddies at ATLA, but I think they’d approve of my choice here. La Venenosa Raicilla Costa De Jalisco. This is a chef-driven mezcal and it really shows. It’s like someone was making Mezcal with kimchi on the brain. Very herbaceous and tons of minerality.

Mezcal Vago Tobala

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

Mezcal Vago is my favorite by far. It’s perfect for almost any style of mezcal, since they have so many different versions. Their Tobala is wonderfully complex and delicious, and each of the labels has more than enough information for me to geek out on.

Ilegal Mezcal Anejo

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

I’ll go with the Ilegal Mezcal Anejo. It’s adored for its smoky, roasted agave and earthy flavor notes, especially its smooth and noticeable pepper finish. This mezcal is carefully distilled at Distileria Tlacolula distillery in Mexico.

Doña Vega

Ben Potts, owner and bar director of Beaker & Gray in Miami

Doña Vega mezcal is a delicious, balanced spirit that showcases the agave with just the right amount of smokiness, making it the ideal mezcal to sip on this fall.

Lil Nas X has been teasing his upcoming debut album for the last two months and today the “Old Town Road” artist returned with a new update for fans. Taking to Instagram, Nas X posted a mostly-scribbled-out tracklist for his upcoming album where he revealed four song titles to fans: “Call Me By Your Name,” which he previously teased on Twitter, “One Of Me,” “Don’t Want It,” and “Titanic.”

The tracklist preview also comes with a new update from Lil Nas X as he updated his Twitter bio to say his album is “98% DONE,” signaling that the album could arrive in the near future.

His latest album update comes two months after he revealed his album was “92% DONE.” With the July update, he also posted a video of himself listening to the album with a caption that read, “up at 4am listening to this almost finished album…” With a release possibly set for sometime in 2020, the upcoming album would be the successor to his 2019 EP, 7, which spawned multiple successful records including “Panini” and “Rodeo,” in addition to his record-smashing breakout hit, “Old Town Road.”

Outside of music, Lil Nas X was recently recruited along with ASAP Rocky to star in Rihanna’s recent Fenty Skin campaign and also earned a big win at the 2020 GLAAD Awards.

Cam Newton, as odd as it looks, is no longer wearing a Carolina Panthers uniform. The former MVP signed with the Patriots over the offseason and it didn’t take long for him to get back to what he does best. Scoring touchdowns.

Newton entered the 2020 NFL opener with 58 rushing touchdowns and in a first and goal situation, the Patriots knew exactly what to do with him. With an empty backfield the Patriots called a designed run to get Newton in space so he could rush into the end zone for his 59th career touchdown. Newton of course celebrated as he has traditionally done after touchdowns, but instead of his patented Super Cam celebration, he opted for Wakanda Forever.

Newton’s celebration is likely in honor of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman who tragically passed away at 43 due to a four year battle with colon cancer. When Boseman passed away it was a major shock to the entire world and much of the sports world has responded by honoring him when given the opportunity. Newton and other NFL stars have not yet had the opportunity as there were no pre-season games this year.

Boseman and Black Panther had a massive impact on many athletes across different sports, because of everything that Black Panther represented. It was iconic and we can expect players to make sure he is always remembered. This was Newton’s first of what is expected to be many touchdowns this season and he is likely the first of many NFL players honoring Boseman in some way throughout the season.

The NBA coaching carousel is already in full swing, with the Brooklyn Nets making the somewhat surprising decision to hire Steve Nash into their head coaching role and teams like the Pacers, Pelicans, and Sixers all having coaching vacancies at the moment.

You can now add the Houston Rockets to that list, as Mike D’Antoni’s contract with the team has expired with their exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Lakers, and on Sunday he reportedly informed the team he would not be looking to come back, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

D’Antoni would release a statement shortly after confirming the news.

All parties involved said the right things in recent days but this isn’t a major surprise. When the Pacers fired Nate McMillan, there were rumblings that D’Antoni was their top target. The former Suns, Knicks, Lakers, and Rockets coach will also reportedly be considered for the Sixers opening, per Woj, and given his pedigree he figures to have plenty of opportunity.

With Houston, D’Antoni built a perennial contender in the West, but one that always fell just short. He remains one of the league’s best offensive coaches and has adapted to the personnel given to him in a way few coaches ever have, with the Rockets small-ball experiment working in a way few imagined. The question is what kind of team he’s looking to go to next, as he may have his pick of the open jobs — personally, I’d love to see him go to Houston and play small-ball with Zion Williamson.

Houston also has a fascinating coaching decision to make, because they’ve made their bed with this small-ball group and have to find a coach that is willing to come in and work with that unit and try to make some tweaks to get them over the hump. Tyronn Lue, who has been named as a candidate for every job in the league thus far, is likewise considered among those who could end up in Houston.

The Rockets are a unique situation, but one with upside in the form of a perennial MVP candidate and a core of experienced veteran players. A coach like Lue might make sense if he’s willing to work with the personnel limitations the small-ball group creates.

The first full Sunday of the NFL season got off to a rollicking start with everything you love about pro football. You had ghastly turnovers courtesy of the Cleveland Browns, great plays by stars young and old, and even an absurd ejection in the first half of the Lions-Bears game.

Detroit linebacker Jamie Collins got sent to the locker room early after making the bizarre decision to demonstrate how he hit someone on a referee, very gently headbutting the ref in the chest — despite knowing that purposeful contact with an official, no matter how gentle, is grounds for ejection.

It’s simultaneously one of the dumbest and funniest things we’ll likely see on a football field all season. Collins clearly doesn’t mean any malice behind this, but we know the rules here and know that referees don’t take kindly to any player contact. The best part is the celebration of the Bears player realizing what happened, as while their may not be any fans in attendance, we haven’t lost any of the petty between divisional rivals.

The Lions will now have to go the remainder of the game without their star linebacker who has the next few hours to contemplate what the hell the plan was there that led to his ejection.

Friends, it’s that time of year again. The NFL is back, which means the Cleveland Browns are back, and no matter what you’ve been told or what you think has changed, the Cleveland Football Browns are still the same as they’ve ever been.

There may be no team better at killing early season optimism better than the Browns, who entered Sunday 0-14-1 in the last 15 years in Week 1. Against the Ravens, who were pretty heavily favored already, Cleveland managed to fall apart faster than even the most beleaguered and pessimistic of Browns fans could’ve imagined. It began on the first drive, where Baker Mayfield fired an interception at midfield that was dropped by one Raven, but caught by a second as Mayfield’s determination and drive to turn the football over cannot be stopped even by the clumsy hands of a dropping lineman.

The Browns would give up a touchdown drive to Lamar Jackson and company with haste to fall behind 7-0 and on the ensuing drive, new head coach Kevin Stefanski chose to roll the dice and have punter Jamie Gillian run a punter sweep on 4th down at their own 30. The result, as one would imagine, was extremely Browns.

Now, things turned around from there for Cleveland as the defense held Baltimore to a field goal and the offense marched for a touchdown (but would miss the extra point) on their next drive to make it 10-6. Have no fear though, the Browns are still the Browns, and in 2020 it’s nice to have something familiar you can count on.

Typically when I write Sunday’s weekly box-office report, I am able compose much of it on Saturday night with estimates provided by the studios on Saturday morning. I tweak the post on Sunday morning once final numbers are provided. Last weekend, however, there were no estimates provided for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. In fact, while studios typically release box-office numbers to rival studios by the hour, Warner Bros. made the odd decision to withhold an entire week’s worth of box-office receipts and provide everyone with only one number last Sunday, which accounted for all of the box office for Tenet in the United States for the Monday – Sunday period, plus a full 11 days (and two weekends) of receipts from Canada. When we reported that the film had made $20.2 million, that was for 11 days in two countries. Warner Bros. still hasn’t provided a daily breakdown, but it appears that it made around $9.5 million over the three-day weekend.

Obviously, $9.5 million for a $200 million film would not be anything to brag about during normal times, and the reason that Warner Bros. has probably been so cagey with its numbers is that the studio doesn’t want those of us who write box-office reports to call it a box-office bomb. The studio is concerned that we might not provide the proper context, but I think that the proper context is apparent to everyone. There’s a pandemic going on; theaters are at 30 percent capacity; moviegoers are still very concerned about going into theaters; and theaters aren’t even open in some of the largest markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

The truth is, no one is anxious to call Tenet a bomb, because we want it to succeed. Its success means that more movies will be released, and from a purely selfish perspective, it also means we will continue to have box-office reports to write (as opposed to trying to suss out VOD sales and Netflix views). We also understand that, during the pandemic, movies like Tenet will collect box-office receipts over months, instead of weeks, and that Warner Bros. is playing the long game.

However, even though Warner Bros. has not been providing daily breakdowns, we can probably surmise that the studio is at least somewhat disappointed/concerned with the box-office numbers of Tenet because the same studio has pushed back the release of Wonder Woman 2 from October until Christmas. That means that either they don’t have faith in moviegoing right now, or that it at least wants to give Tenet some more time to itself in the marketplace (no other major movie is scheduled until Black Widow in November).

It’s hard to say what any of this means about the state of moviegoing for the near and far term. Anthony Fauci said that it might not be completely safe to return to theaters for another year; studios are starting to do yet another round of delays; and it remains unclear if theaters themselves can survive through these very lean times. Now that production has resumed on a lot of projects (with Covid restrictions), will studios continue to delay, or at some point, will they start moving their eggs into the streaming and/or PVOD basket? Then again, no one really knows how well Mulan has done in PVOD, either, so we don’t know yet if that is a viable option for huge blockbusters.

It’s all still very much up in the air, and until a vaccine is available, the uncertainly is likely to remain. With the fall and winter approaching and more and more blockbusters being pushed until 2021, it will be interesting to see how Oscar season plays out. A lot of the Oscar contenders with smaller budgets currently being screened at film festivals could do very well with VOD and streaming releases while America is hunkered down during flu season, so while we may not see a new Marvel film for awhile, our television sets and laptops may get quite a workout in the coming months.

Now, as for the actual numbers? They were not great, which is probably less a reflection of the movie itself, and more of a reflection of the state of moviegoing in America right now:

The domestic total for Tenet now stands at $29 million (including Canada). It is doing better overseas, although its second weekend drop was precipitous in China for a Nolan film, falling 66 percent to $10.8 million. The good news is, worldwide now, Tenet has put up a decent $200 million.

There’s still an audience out there internationally, but domestically, studios may need to rely on digital rentals and sales to supplement lower numbers, so far. Its not just Tenant, either. New Mutants only earned $2 million in its third weekend, and now has a worldwide cume of only $29 million, which is probably less than the marketing budget for the film. Broken Hearts Gallery with Selena Gomez opened wide this weekend, too, and only earned $1.1 million in 2200 theaters.

In fact, the only modest success in America, so far, has been Unhinged, which has earned $13 million since it opened. Unhinged, however, has earned most of its money in drive-in theaters.

Source: Exhibitor Relations, Deadline

Alex Trebek is the Jeopardy! GOAT, but that’s not the only acronym the show is officially associated with thanks to the power of the Internet. The world is still finding new ways to make Cardi B’s “WAP” viral, though many of them involve conservatives getting mad about the song’s vulgarity and celebration of female sexual satisfaction.

The latest example of this is much less about outrage than it is tonal satisfaction because, as it turns out, “WAP” fits perfectly over the Final Jeopardy! song. That’s how music works, of course, songs have the same rhythm and organization and that’s what makes mashups possible. But this is a unique pairing to say the least, and it’s satisfying how well it all works together.

On Sunday Claire McNear, who is writing a book about Jeopardy!, shared a video of an old Final Jeopardy! question that might be outdated in 2020. But it’s the audio that really matters, and that audio is a mashup of Cardi B’s “WAP” and the traditional Final Jeopardy! theme song.

It doesn’t necessarily slap, so to speak, but it’s the opposite of dissonant, musically speaking. The final beats of the Jeopardy! theme getting matched up with Cardi saying “wet” and “ass” and so on at the end really put it over the top. We’ve heard Trebek rap before, and hearing him say “bitchin” is something everyone should enjoy. But it’s another thing entirely to see Jeopardy! in the lens of one of the most culturally important songs of the year. All we now need is Trebek himself saying the lyrics. Hopefully in the form of a question.

Chris Evans was the star of the Internet on Saturday after he accidentally leaked, well, a very private photo on Instagram. It’s entirely unclear whose private photo it was, but it certainly was shared by the actor who played Captain America. That was enough to draw an incredible reaction from people on social media, with memes and a lot of very flattering jokes for Evans, all things considered.

Still, it’s not fun to reveal too much online even if everyone is being nice about it. Which is why Evans could have used a pick-me-up from another Marvel superhero who knows a thing or two about suddenly being considerably more exposed. Mark Ruffalo, who plays The Hulk, fired off a tweet on Saturday that gave Evans a “silver lining” to his indecent exposure.

“Bro, while Trump is in office there is NOTHING you could possibly do to embarrass yourself,” Ruffalo tweeted Saturday, tagging Evans directly in a tweet that quickly went viral in it’s own light. “See… silver lining.”

Ruffalo is trying to help, and it’s a funny way to make light of what’s certainly been an embarrassing episode for Evans. And it serves a dual purpose for Ruffalo, a climate advocate who has been active in criticizing the president before. The good news for Evans is that there is certainly a lot of other, more pressing things going on these days. So people will eventually move on to other, bigger news. Eventually.

Miley Cyrus was set to release her seventh album at the end of 2019, but vocal cord surgery forced the singer to delay its release as she recovered from the procedure. Almost a year removed from that surgery, Miley is back in action preparing to finally release the album, entitled She Is Miley Cyrus, to her fans. In a recent interview with French radio station NRJ, the singer revealed that her own musical interests served as the inspiration for the music on the album.

“In my sets, I cover Britney Spears to Metallica, so my record will be reflective of who I am,” she said in the interview. “Which is just kind of all different pieces of inspiration and influence.” The mention of Metallica falls in line with what Miley said about the album in a March interview with the Australian radio station Nova FM where she said it “is sounding super rock and roll.”

In the interview on the French radio station, Miley also spoke on her recent single, “Midnight Sky,” and how it fits perfectly with the kind of music she loves and the direction she wants to take on the upcoming album.

“I think the first single comes with a lot of pressure because it does kind of show everyone where you’re going,” she said. After its release in August, Miley performed the new single at the MTV VMAs where she replaced her wrecking ball for a mirror ball in her dance-heavy performance.

(via Consequence Of Sound)