Category: Viral

A Belgian ale is often the beer that folks cite when asked ‘which beer made them fall in love with beer.’ There isn’t a “single” Belgian ale. But the overall idea of the Trappist ales, the farmhouse ales, the new(ish) Belgian IPAs, a Flanders red ale, and many more feel like beers that belong together. They enliven a sense of place and a deep purpose in their rendering through funky fermentations and the judicious use of hops. Is there a best Belgian ale out there? We don’t know but we sure as hell would like to find out.

To help us in this endeavor, we reached out to some bona fide beer experts, many with a focus on Belgian and its beer culture. They helped us create a list of Belgian beers that are not only crushable examples from around the small country but iconic in the beer scene. Some of these beers are trailblazers. Some of them are classics. All of them are worth seeking out and drinking ASAP.

Let’s dive in!

Chimay Dorée (Blond(e) / Goud) — Cristal Peck, Brewmaster and Malt Specialist at Boortmalt Innovation Center, Antwerp

Style: Trappist Single (Enkel / Patersbier)
Brewery: Bières de Chimay, Abbaye de Scourmont, Chimay Peres Trappistes
ABV: 4.8%

The Beer:

A Trappist beer in a sessionable form? Believe it or not, such a glorious delicacy actually exists! Well, that’s if you can dig deep enough into the earth’s crust to source it — or if you happen to be lucky enough to live in Belgium, which I thankfully do!

You’re probably familiar with the preeminent form of Belgium Ale, the authentic ‘Trappist Beer.’ These are the beers whose creation is done or overseen by the Trappist monks of the monastery with the objective to supply sustenance to the Order coupled with altruistically-channeled profit. It’s a special category of beer, that is for sure. It’s also usually pretty hefty on the ABV (they hover around 7-9 percent with one extreme example, the Rochefort 10, coming in at 11.3 percent)!

This Trappist Single is a lower alcohol beer brewed in the monastery, originally for consumption by the monks themselves. Each of the Trappist Breweries brews their own equivalent. It is usually pale, lively on the tongue, hoppy, and bitter but dry and well attenuated. All of this is underscored by a characteristic Belgium yeast profile, and more importantly, high drinkability!

Tasting Notes:

An aroma bursting with bright and fresh esters reminiscent of ripe pears and bubblegum join a marriage of black pepper and spice with floral notes all softened against subdued light malt.

Exploding effervescence impacts the tongue massively, and just as suddenly … gone! Left in its wake is a formidable bitterness. With nuances of delicate phenolic character, extremely high attenuation scrubs the tongue dry to provide a thirst-quenching, highly drinkable, highly complex ale. It has all the Belgium beer character you could ever want with the ABV of a session beer.

Classic Belgian bottle conditioning results in a thin yeast layer, which, when decanted, provides bitterness bite and bready yeast complexity. If you’re not in the mood for high-level gratification, but rather just wanna smash a delicious beer to quench a thirst, pour this gently for predictably clean and smooth enjoyment.

De Ranke XX Bitter — Joe Stange, co-author CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide To Belgium and managing editor Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine

Style: Belgian IPA
Brewery: Brouwerij Brasserie De Ranke, Dottignies
ABV: 6%

The Beer:

All of the beers from De Ranke are worth hunting, but I want to single out XX Bitter both as a personal favorite and one of the most influential Belgian ales of the past 30 years. It helped to inspire a move away from sweet and spicy ales toward more hop-forward, drier, and refreshing Belgian specialty beers, such as those from Brasserie de la Senne. And XX Bitter has only gotten better over the years, squeezing the most flavor they can out of hops grown about 20 miles from the brewery.

Tasting Notes:

The beer is bitter. But it’s a smooth and pleasant bitterness, not sticky or resinous. It’s backed by loads of spicy-herbal hop flavor and a complementary yeast profile. It’s the antithesis and antidote to the cloying citrus-tropical hop flavors that have lately taken over the IPA world. XX Bitter can be hard to find fresh; your best bet is to look for it on draft, or else start planning your next trip to Belgium.

Zinnebir — Eoghan Walsh, award-winning beer writer and beer sommelier

Style: Belgian Pale Ale
Brewery: Brasserie de la Senne, Brussels
ABV: 6%

The Beer:

The breadth of styles brewed in Belgium makes it hard to choose a favorite amongst the other world-beaters on this list. But living in Brussels for over a decade, of course, I’m going to make a hometown pick and go for something from Brasserie de la Senne. I toyed with choosing their dry Irish stout, Stouterik, for its Irish-Belgian mash-up and dry-roasted excellence. But in the end, there was only one contender, Zinnebir, which is lovingly called their “Brussels People Ale”. Ostensibly a Belgian Pale Ale, Zinnebir is the beer that launched a brewery, Brasserie de la Senne, and a brewing renaissance in Brussels. It’s the perfect beer for all seasons, refreshingly citrus and bright in the summer, and warming and redolent of summer days in the winter.

Tasting Notes:

Zinnebir is a beautifully balanced pale ale, best served from the bottle with a stiff head of foam. Golden-yellow and with grassy, herbal notes matched with some spiciness from the house de la Senne yeast and a touch of malt sweetness in the aroma. Balanced between floral-herbal bitterness, and rich Belgian fruitiness, Zinnebir has a brisk dry and bitter finish characteristic of Brussels pale ales.

Avec Les Bons Voeux — Bart Neirynck, owner Herman Belgian Bar, Berlin

Style: Farmhouse Ale (Saison)
Brewery: Brasserie Dupont, Tourpes
ABV: 9.5%

The Beer:

„Avec Les bons Vœux“ in French means with “best wishes.” Originally, this strong blond ale by the legendary Brasserie Dupont was brewed as a New Year’s gift for the brewery‘s best and most loyal clients. But then some beer writers got a hold of it and praised the hell out of it, and ever since it’s been produced on a commercial basis. This “Saison on Steroids” contains all the ingredients a regular Saison has: water, malts, hops (dry hopping), sugar, and yeast. But it comes with a lot more alcohol (9,5 percent ABV instead of 6,5 percent ABV) and depth. That finish!

Tasting Notes:

Once you pop the 0,375l bottle‘s cork, the smell of hop (almost cannabis-like) takes over any room or bar. It has a steady full foam. Extremely hoppy nose. Deep blond color. The taste is smooth and fruity and a bit peppery with a long dry bitter finish. In its simplicity, it’s utterly complex. This fine beer pairs well with grilled fish, preferably white and fat. Paté of any type will do the job as well.

Duvel — Latiesha Cook, certified Cicerone and president of Beer Kulture

Style: Strong Ale
Brewery: Brouwerij Duvel Moortgat, Breendonk-Puurs
ABV: 8.5%

The Beer:

We can’t talk Belgian ales without mentioning Duvel! I can remember my first time trying a Duvel strong ale like it was yesterday.

Tasting Notes:

Fruity on the nose with all the malty smells that I love, both yeasty and bready. On the sip, you get slight fruity notes, and then the bitterness hits. It’s not boozy at all. The ABV is high but balanced very well. The after taste lingers for a bit with a dry and crisp finish. This ale is definitely THEE standard for me.

Duchesse de Bourgogne — Matt Waugh, Brewmaster at Deep Dark Wood Brewing, Whitehorse, Yukon

Style: Flanders Red
Brewery: Brouwerij Verhaeghe, Vichte
ABV: 6.2%

The Beer:

Picking a favorite Belgian beer was tough (Orval and Taras Boulba deserve mention). But I’ve got a soft spot for this beer, as it was my gateway to “sours”, and kind of sent me on my life’s path. It’s comprised of a blend of eight and 18-month-old beer, matured in oak. I love that it’s approachable, yet complex. And you can usually just find it on the shelf (no secret handshakes necessary — looking at you, Cantillon).

Tasting Notes:

It pours reddish-brown. It’s tart but balanced by some caramel sweetness (from the malt, and it’s back sweetened a bit). There are notes of cherry, a little fig, maybe some apricot, other dark fruits, red wine, balsamic vinegar. It really brings to mind tawny port. There’s moderate carbonation. It’s suitable for sipping, but actually pretty refreshing too.

Arabier — Matthew Curtis, founder/editor in chief of Pellicle Magazine

Style: Strong Ale
Brewery: Brouwerij De Dolle Brouwers, Esen
ABV: 8%

The Beer:

I imagine being asked to pick a favorite Belgian beer is akin to being asked to pick a favorite child. Thankfully, being childless myself means I can take a remorseless approach to such an endeavor. Gone are the monastic Trappist ales, both pale and dark. Strong golden ales are consigned to my own personal dustbin of history along with lambic and geuze. I’m sorry Taras Boulba, XX Bitter, and Saison Dupont, it’s the chop for you, too.

Ok, this is harder than I thought, but hear me out. Few Belgian beers are deserving of such praise as those created by De Dolle Brouwers, in the village of Esen to the far west of Flanders. They brew the massively delicious Oerbier and the Christmas juggernaut that is Stille Nacht. My favorite, however, is Ababier.

Tasting Notes:

It starts with a heaven-sent combo of Belgian malt, whole-flower Nugget hops, and that yeasty funk you just can’t quite put your finger on. It drinks easy for 8 percent, too easy. Nights on this beer while in Belgium have often left me in ruin, albeit rapturously so.

Westmalle Tripel — Breandán Kearney, founder & Editor-in-Chief of Belgian Smaak

Style: Tripel
Brewery: Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle, Malle
ABV: 9.5%

The Beer:

Westmalle Tripel was called “Superbier” when it was created in 1934. It eventually took its current name in 1954 from the Belgian Trappist abbey where it is brewed. Belgian author Jef Van Den Steen describes it in his books as “The Mother of all Tripels”, and locals refer to it as the “Champagne of the Kempen.” It makes up 70 percent of what is brewed at Westmalle and is produced using European hop flowers, French grains malted in Belgium, and a signature yeast.

Tasting Notes:

Westmalle Tripel pours a cloudy golden yellow with a white foamy ice-cream head and leaves a prominent lacing along its chalice glass. The aroma is dominated by the fruity esters of its characterful yeast. That’s mostly banana and apricot, but there’s also some candied sugar, dried fruit notes, spicy pepper, and flowery hop notes. All of those aromas are there in the taste too, along with a biscuity maltiness, a full, almost creamy mouthfeel, and spritzy carbonic bite. In the end, there’s a pronounced bitterness, alcohol warmth, and a pleasant long-lasting dry finish.

Moinette Blonde — Mark Dredge, award-winning author of A Brief History of Lager

Style: Strong Ale
Brewery: Brasserie Dupont, Tourpes
ABV: 8.5%

The Beer:

Brasserie Dupont’s best-known beer is their Saison. But in their hometown, the locals mostly drink Moinette. That’s because the locals are smart. Sure, Saison Dupont is a style-defining classic, but Moinette Blonde deserves way more attention. I love it for how it’s both comforting and exciting, with the kind of complexity that makes it taste like I’m rediscovering it every time I open a bottle. They also make Moinette Ambrée and Brune, and all three are exceptional.

Tasting Notes:

Moinette Blonde pours bright gold and the brewery’s distinctive yeast gives it some peach, pear, apple, floral honey, banana, and some cracked pepper notes. It has Dupont’s characteristic caramelized depth to it (thanks to being brewed in a vessel heated with direct fire), with a little honeyed sweetness and chewy richness of malt flavor. The hops leave a deep bitterness to balance the malt, and the carbonation is racy and uplifting.

Chimay Grande Réserve Barrel Aged — Miguel Rivas, host of the “Every Beer Has a Story. Every Story Has a Beer” storytelling series on IG Live

Style: Strong Ale
Brewery: Bières de Chimay, Abbaye de Scourmont, Chimay Peres Trappistes
ABV: 9%

The Beer:

Belgian Ales were the ones that got me seriously interested and curious about beer some 18 years ago, specifically Trappist Beers. I remember it vividly. I had just moved to New York City and visited my younger brother at the French brasserie he used to work in Manhattan. He had been telling me all these stories about these beers that were made by monks in Belgium. After trying my first Trappist beer it was like an awakening and I never looked back after that. I made it a point to continue exploring all the Belgian beers I could come across.

One of the pinnacles of my beer journey came two years ago on my second visit to Belgium (it was to celebrate the five year anniversary of my project, so I wanted to come back to where it all started). I was invited to tour the Scourmont Abbey, the Trappist monastery where Chimay is produced. Being able to try the beers and have a conversation with Monsieur Marcel Gobeaux — the man who had been producing them for the last 43 years — was simply amazing.

Tasting Notes:

Chimay Grande Réserve Barrel Aged in 40 percent French oak and 60 percent American oak. It pours a dark brown/mahogany color, has a frothy tan head, good retention, and spotty lacing. It opens with aromas of caramel malts, brown sugar, dark fruits, raisins, figs, hints of vanilla, spices. The taste goes hand in hand with the nose of rich, complex flavors. It’s elegant with some hints of the Cognac oak, without the burn of the alcohol. It’s very drinkable considering the high ABV. As the beer warms up, it continues to open up and reveal more fruity notes. The mouthfeel is sublime, smooth, creamy, medium to full body. This was the first Trappist beer aged in barrels that I have ever tried and is just a work of art. Definitely one of those “special occasion” beers to be shared with friends.

Saison D’Epeautre — Brewmaster Josh Waldman and brewer Ben Davidson at Elysian Brewing

Style: Farmhouse Ale (Saison)
Brewery: Brasserie de Blaugies, Dour
ABV: 5.4%

The Beer:

Belgian beers are special because they provide a great platform for brewers to take risks. The yeast or bacteria are well-known factors in their uniqueness, but so too are the cereals or spices and fruit they use. This is the best example. Belgian beer is so varied that others may be more exciting or exotic, but this one is a workhorse. It has an expected complexity, yet remains extremely crushable.

Tasting Notes:

Saison D’Epeautre pours very slightly hazy with a brilliant white cap of foam, wheat-y yellow with a touch of amber. It is unique in that it’s grist features spelt. The spelt comes through here as slightly citrusy and acidic, a bit of earthy/honey sweetness, ending dry and crackery. There’s no real bitterness to speak of, although there is a minerality that works well with the touch of barnyard funk. It has a very light body and high carbonation. It’s too easy to polish off a 750ml bottle of this any time of the year.​

Rodenbach Grand Cru — Bella (One Hoppy Lady), certified Cicerone

Style: Sour Flanders Red Ale
Brewery: Brouwerij Rodenbach, Roeselare
ABV: 6%

The Beer:

Rodenbach Grand Cru is a blend of 1/3 young ale and 2/3 aged ale. The aged beer sits in oak vats for two years and is highly attenuated, while the young beer added in reduces the acidity of the blend. This Flemish red ale has a six percent ABV and uses a mixed fermentation process.

Tasting Notes:

The aroma is heavy with dark fruits like cherries and figs, while laced with sweet caramel malt notes and a light tartness. Oak makes its presence known with hints of vanilla. A clear acetic sourness hits the tongue first, quickly followed by a fruity sweetness of cherry, blackberry, and fig. Both the sweet and sour are tempered by a medium malty body and a drying mouthfeel which cordially invites you to take the next sip. It’s wonderfully balanced and elegant.

Writer’s Pick: Orval — Zach Johnston, Deputy Editor UPROXX Life, podcaster One More Road For The Beer

Style: Belgian Pale Ale
Brewery: Brasserie d’Orval, Abbaye Notre-Dame d’Orval
ABV: 6.9%

The Beer:

This beer is the embodiment of how complex yet accessible a Belgian ale can be. The idea of Orval is based on using the best water, grains, yeasts, and hops with an emphasis on vibrant, more southern German hops being dry-hopped into the ale. It’s also fermented with the brasserie’s own yeast, wild yeasts, and then bottle fermented while it ages. But all of that is beside the point when the beer tastes this good and it this damn quaffable.

Tasting Notes:

Those yeasts bring about a fruitiness upfront that feels like a fruit orchard hanging heavily with apples, pears, peaches, and plums while bales of straw dry out beneath the trees. There’s a fresh-baked farmhouse breadiness to the malts that are counterpointed florals, citrus, and funky fruit. The sip has a dryness to it not unlike a Champagne yeast but still wallows in the brightness of the hops and the overall earthiness.

On Monday, the world learned that legendary Georgetown head coach John Thompson Jr. passed away at the age of 78. In the hours following the news of his death, many in the basketball universe reflected on Thompson’s wide-ranging influence, ranging from former Georgetown players like Allen Iverson and Patrick Ewing to high-profile voices like Michael Jordan, Jay Bilas, Bradley Beal and Kevin Love. Later in the evening, TNT’s Inside The NBA crew opened a pre-game broadcast with a tribute to Thompson, voiced by Ernie Johnson Jr.

Johnson rightly asserted that Thompson’s influence “will be felt for generations,” saying he is a “hall of famer in every sense.” From there, the studio quartet donned Thompson’s famous white towel over the shoulder as a salute.

Charles Barkley also spoke about Thompson, sharing memories of his impact, as did Kenny Smith and Shaq, evidencing just how revered Thompson was in the basketball world even for those that never went to Georgetown.

“John Thompson wanted to create great black men,” Barkley said. “And I’ll always respect and admire him for that.”

In a week that also featured the deaths of former NBA star Clifford Robinson and former Arizona head coach Lute Olson, the basketball world is truly in a place of mourning. As for Thompson, his off-court influence is even larger than his on-court work, even while acknowledging that he was able to win a national championship in 1984.

On Monday, Iverson famously thanked Thompson for “saving (his) life” and that kind of leadership should not go unnoticed. Furthermore, Thompson’s memory should be lauded for his efforts in the social justice arena, using his powerful voice for good and touching the lives of many. He will be sorely missed.

The players of the WNBA may have followed in the NBA’s footsteps on Wednesday in deciding not to play to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, but they continued to blaze a new path of organized messaging around social justice. In terms of the games themselves, this week saw the Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces and Los Angeles Sparks make their dominance official, Arike Ogunbowale announce herself again in case you’ve forgotten about the Dallas Wings and the potential end of the Chicago Sky’s title hopes — don’t cry, Sky fans. 2020 is rough for everyone.

Here’s what we learned from week five in the WNBA:

1. The players are leading the way on social justice, once again

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks took a stand by choosing not to play in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Orlando Magic following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin. What followed was a ripple effect, with players in every other major U.S. professional sports league opting to do the same to protest continued police violence against Black people.

In the WNBA, though, the collective actions taken by the players were extraordinarily well-organized and powerful. Together, the Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun decided to sit out their game Wednesday and instead all the teams that were scheduled to play that night knelt together on national television while Atlanta Dream center Elizabeth Williams read a statement from the players. The WNBA has historically been one of the most outspoken and thoughtful leagues in terms of fighting for social justice, from the Minnesota Lynx’s press conference in July 2016 following the separate police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile to the players’ recent calls to remove Kelly Loeffler as co-owner of the Dream.

The league dedicated the entire 2020 season to furthering the Black Lives Movement and #SayHerName campaign, and the players have not allowed those issues to fall by the wayside during the season’s run in the wubble. Last week was not about players striking during a basketball game — it was a moment for everyone in the U.S. and around the world to pay attention; to take a day to reflect, to inform themselves and to prepare for action.

2. The Chicago Sky’s chance at the 2020 title might be over

The Chicago Sky are not having a bad season. In fact, the team is in 5th place with a 10-6 overall record and is poised to make the playoffs for the second year in a row. But while the players arrived in Bradenton, Florida with title ambitions, it now looks like they might have aimed too high.

With Azura Stevens out for the season due to injury, Diamond DeShields leaving the wubble and not having played well this year along with the gargantuan performances of the Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces and Los Angeles Sparks, I think it’s safe to say this is not Chicago’s year. But there are still positive signs to take away from this year’s Sky team; Courtney Vandersloot is making her case as the league’s best point guard every single time she steps on the court, Allie Quigley is still a lights-out shooter and rookie Ruthy Hebard’s growth has been promising.

Being a top-five team just two years after a particularly terrible stint for the franchise is an accomplishment, and head coach James Wade should feel encouraged, not disappointed by this year’s performances. Anything can happen in the playoffs, but right now Chicago is far from the favorite.

3. Does home court matter in the wubble? The evidence says yes.

Though this season is taking place entirely at IMG Academy, the notion of home court advantage might not have entirely dissipated on the journey to the Sunshine State, as noted by FiveThirtyEight’s Howard Megdal.

Through 16 games for almost every team, WNBA “home” teams are now 55-38 this season. Seattle, which has dominated everyone and everything so far, leads the way with a perfect 8-0 home record followed by Las Vegas (8-1), Los Angeles (7-0) and Minnesota (6-2). Meanwhile, New York is 0-8 at home as their only two wins have come “on the road”, so I’m not sure what’s happening there. With no traveling, no fans and a different court, the league has had to come up with other ways to construct a home court environment for teams. As reported by The Athletic, that means bringing in a DJ to play home team-curated music in the arena during warm-ups and throughout games along with keeping the tradition of allowing home teams to choose which bench they’d like.

Whether these things have helped keep the idea of home court advantage alive is not clear, but something seems to be working for these “home” teams. Food for thought.

4. Arike Ogunbowale is blooming in front of our eyes

Arike Ogunbowale may be in her second year in the WNBA, but she’s showing no signs of sophomore slumping. This season, she’s averaging a league-high 22 points, 3.4 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game while keeping a young Dallas Wings team in the playoff hunt — they currently occupy the eighth seed and Ogunbowale has the highest usage rate in the league. She has also slightly improved her shooting this season, going 42% from the field compared to last year’s 39%. She’s come up with some big performances this season, including a 30-point explosion against the Indiana Fever in a win that could have important implications in the playoff hunt and a 33-point game that helped bring down the Phoenix Mercury. In Saturday’s game against the Fever, the 5’8 guard rolled her ankle and had to come out of the game in the first half before returning and scoring 19 points in the second half.

The former Notre Dame guard is already a big name in this league, and if she keeps stuffing the stat sheet each night, Ogunbowale will continue to be one for a long time.

5. The Storm, Aces and Sparks Sparks are officially in the playoffs

As we’ve seen through the first half of the season, the Storm, Aces and Sparks are on another level this year, leading the charge for the 2020 WNBA Championship. And on Sunday, the Sparks officially joined the Storm and Aces in the playoffs with an 84-79 win over the Dream. It is very likely that at least one of these teams will appear in the Finals this year, and we’ll just have to wait and see if that Breanna Stewart and Co., the star-studded team from LA or the hungry Las Vegas team led by potential MVP A’ja Wilson.

This also means that there are just five spots left in the playoff hunt with two weeks left in the regular season. Minnesota looks steady in that fourth spot, and Chicago is dealing with the losses of DeShields and Stevens, but still looks like a playoff team. The race for the seventh and eighth seeds could get spicy with Dallas, Indiana and Washington all nipping at the Connecticut Sun’s heels.

Alabama football players planned a march with other athletes for Monday from the football facility across campus to the Foster Auditorium in protest of social injustices and systemic racism amid a moment in which the sports world continues to speak out on the issues facing the Black community, particularly following another police shooting in which Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back in Wisconsin.

When the march began on Monday, head coach Nick Saban was at the front walking with his team, showing solidarity with his players at this moment in America.

After the march, Saban spoke about the obligation he and others have to impact social change with their platforms and how much he’s learned from his players, via AL.com.

“Sports has always created a platform for social change,” Saban said. “For each of us involved in sports, I think we have a responsibility and obligation to do that in a responsible way and use our platform in a positive way to try to create social change in positive ways.

“Through this process, I’ve learned a lot from our players. I don’t get to see the world through the same lens that a lot of our players do. I think I respect and appreciate the lens they see the world in and they live the world in. We had various speakers that I think contributed that education as well, whether it was Condoleezza Rice, Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith, Joey Galloway, Tony Dungy. All those people had an interesting way that we could all make positive change.

“So this is what helped me grow in my role as a leader: to listen to the players, to learn from the players and to give them the opportunity to do things that could impact social change today.”

Star running back Najee Harris likewise spoke, explaining that this isn’t something that can end with the players march, calling for change in various forms.

“This call for change cannot end here today,” Harris said. “We walk to this schoolhouse door intentionally because, while much has changed in the last 57 years, too many things have not. So in the present moment, we as student-athletes need to play our part in bringing out positive change. … We need change in our system of law enforcement, we need change in our communities and we need change in our hearts.”

That Saban took a leading role in the march is certainly not a minor story, given his prominence as a person of influence in the state of Alabama, well beyond just the football field. There is, of course, a skeptical view that Saban, always recruiting, can’t choose to stay on the periphery in this moment and taking a stand with his players is just good business. At the same time, it’s worth noting that this has not always been the case with football coaches and even if there’s certainly some recruiting points to be gained, his presence only helps to amplify the message and spark conversation with a greater audience.

Looking at a photo of Kyle Rittenhouse, it’s hard for many of us not to see every horrible American stereotype personified. The 17-year-old who illegally crossed state lines with a semi-automatic rifle to “protect businesses” in Kenosha, Wisconsin, ended up shooting three people, killing two of them.

And for these actions, he’s been celebrated by some as a hero.

The vastly different ways people view this teen is emblematic of the division in the U.S. when it comes to racial justice. Where some people see a patriot, others see a terrorist. How anyone could look at a 17-year-old illegally carrying a gun, illegally taking it across state lines, prepared to illegally shoot people to protect property that isn’t his as anything other than radicalized is beyond me. Yet here we are.

Poet Leslé Honoré shared a poem on Facebook that sums up the haunting feeling the Kyle Rittenhouse killings conjure for many Americans—particularly for those who have been on the receiving end of racism and gun violence from people who present themselves as “pro-America.”

Honoré’s first book of poetry, Fist and Fire, can be found here. She also has a new book, Letters and Lagniappe, coming out this fall.

The poem reads:

America come get your children
The ones you are so proud of
The ones wearing Stars and Stripes
Buying guns like candy
The ones dripping with
White privilege
That you created with
Red blood from brown skin
America come get your children
Come get your kids
The ones flying flags of defeat
Of history long dead
Of a life they wish they had
Of superiority they believe they have
The lies you whispered in their ears
As you rocked them to sleep
“Look away look away look away Dixie land”
America come get your children
The ones terrorizing this country
The ones terrorizing the world
The ones never called a terrorist
Come get
Your rapist
Your misogynistic
Your appropriating
Hating
Bigoted
Offspring
You know…
the apples that didn’t fall far from the tree
America come get your children
The ones running the country
The ones too cowardly to speak up
The ones that shoot into protests
Churches
Light torches
Run cars into peace
Come get your diseased infants
Entitled children in men’s bodies
Jealous girls screaming in women’s voices
Come get this disgusting basket of
Deplorables
That you nurtured on
Manifest destiny
The pale pink faces
In utter disbelief
That even though you put your knee
On every Brown and Black neck you saw
We have fought back and risen
Casting shadows on your children
And they rage when they learn
That being a white mediocre man
Is no longer enough

America come get your children
Before they burn this stolen land down
And you with it

– Leslé Honoré

But what’s remarkable is that despite how relevant the poem is to this moment, it wasn’t written specifically for this moment. Honoré wrote it in 2017 after the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Honoré tells Upworthy that she has a couple of gun violence poems that she reshares whenever the moment fits—which unfortunately is far too frequently. “It’s very sad and heavy that I don’t even have to write a new poem,” she ways. “I can just change the hashtag because nothing has changed. Nothing changed from Sandy Hook, nothing changed from Columbine, nothing changed from Florida, nothing changed from Vegas. It was a continuation of this very sad and heavy state that we’ve been having in this country when it comes to gun violence.”

She how this poem struck a nerve for “reminding people that this is exactly who we are, and until we address this honestly, we’re not going to have any change.”

“This is very much our legacy,” she says. “It’s what the country was built on. It was built on enslaving people for free labor, stealing land, oppression, a legacy of Jim Crow laws, and segregation, and black belts, and the Great Migration and the Civil Rights Movement. All of these things are very much linked.”

Honoré says some of her favorite responses to the poem are from people new to her work who express either gratitude for expressing what they don’t know how to, in addition to people who feel pushed by it in a good way. “Always, for me, it’s when I get white readers who thank me for challenging them and who say that they’re seeing things differently by reading my poetry,” she says. “That just makes my knees buckle and gives me goosebumps. And it helps me swallow the other not very nice things that I get in my inbox or on the comments on the poem.”

“To use a country phrase,” she adds, “I’ve been called everything but a child of God.”

Indeed, the comments on her poem are a mix that reflect the unrest we’re seeing across the country. “If you ever want to see what the underbelly of America really looks like, grab a glass of your favorite liquor and look in the comments of this poem,” she says, “because it’s hideous.” The worst comments, though, go straight to her inbox because people aren’t brave enough to put them up for everyone to see. “Typically I get ‘You’re a fat, ugly, stupid c*nt,'” she says, then laughs. “Like, do the white nationalists copy and paste that to me?”

Honoré says she’s developed a thick skin and doesn’t let the hate bother her. In addition to writing poetry, she works for a non-profit subsidiary of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) that trains more than 30,000 home care workers who work with the elderly, people with disabilities, and children—work that is done primarily by Black and brown women. The advocacy work she does helps inform her writing, she says. She has seen these essential workers make huge sacrifices during the pandemic and racial unrest, with some walking for hours to get to their clients who need them when public transportation in Chicago got shut down. “That’s the commitment of the people who we represent,” she says, “so I could give two shits about some stranger calling me a c*nt in my inbox. I’ve got really important work to do.”

Honoré has had poems go viral before, but this one is different. “Typically the pieces that go big are some of my feel-good pieces where we can see ourselves and see our humanity. This one struck a nerve in a very unique way, and it was like a dog whistle for…phew, I mean, anything that anybody who calls themselves an activist is fighting against. It’s all there in black and white.”

Facebook took down the poem briefly, with Honoré receiving a notice that it had been flagged for violating community standards on hate speech (undoubtedly because some white folks who got big mad about it reported it). The same thing happened on Instagram, but both platforms restored the poem after it was reviewed.

Despite what angry commenters may think, Honoré is clear that the reality expressed in her poem does not reflect a hatred for the U.S. “I love being American,” she says. “I’m the daughter of a Mexican immigrant. My father was an African-American from New Orleans. The plantation where my family was enslaved is still standing in New Orleans…I’m American as it gets, both by birth right and blood right. So I feel I have the liberty to criticize her to be better.”

President Trump made a fiery, divisive Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore where he railed against “new far-left fascism.” Trump’s choice for the background was questionable, considering he’s asked about having his face carved into the monument.

During the speech, he announced an executive order to create a National Garden of American Heroes, a park featuring statues of historical figures who’ve contributed to the nation’s history.

Trump may include a bust of himself in the park because he’s received “multiple nominations” for the garden. But at least one Republican governor has sent him a list of very different, truly American, heroes.

Although Trump would love the adoration that comes with having a statue of himself in the garden, historians stand firmly against the idea of a memorial being put up of a living person.

Jim Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, said “it would be a mistake” to honor Trump or any living person. For public monuments, “that’s a nonpartisan rule that pertains to anybody, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum. And I would defend that up and down all day.”

The administration sent out requests to state and local governments for suggestions of who should be included in the garden. Suggestions are supposed to be in by September 1, but most governors, including all Democrats, have refused the request.

“We would encourage the White House to spend their time on the response to the coronavirus,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s spokeswoman Lyndsay Kensinger.

“I haven’t given it a moment’s thought,” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly told The Associated Press. “I have other things to do.”

In the executive order, Trump says the following people should be included in the first round of statues: John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, and Orville and Wilbur Wright.

The list is comprised of only white and black Americans and most political figures are right-wing.

Trump suggests Ronald Reagan, but not Franklin Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy?

via Doria Sears / Twitter

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt shook up the president’s narrow list by suggesting four people with Native American roots and two Black people.

Among the suggestions are:

Wilma Mankiller, an activist, social worker, community developer, and the first woman to be elected to to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Will Rogers, a fellow member of the Cherokee Nation, who was one of the most prominent humorists and social commentators of the early 1900s.

Jim Thorpe, a Sac and Fox/Pottawatomie citizen, who was one of the most versatile athletes in American sports history and the first Native American to win a gold medal.

He also suggested John Hope Franklin, a Black historian best known for his book “From Slavery to Freedom.” Franklin was the grandson of a freed Chickasaw Nation slave. And Ada Louis Sipuel Fisher, who fought to become the first Black student at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

“The Oklahomans on this list embody the history, spirit, resiliency and strength of our state and people,” Stitt said. “They each left a legacy that has far extended past state lines and impacted our world for the better.”

The suggestions were praised by Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr.

“They’re Cherokee citizens, but in many ways they belong to the world in terms of the efforts they’ve put forth in their careers,” Hoskin said of Mankiller and Rogers. “The fact that they’re Cherokee, of course, is very important to me, and it reflects an effort to add some diversity to those sort of public monuments. I think that’s a wonderful thing.”

The president wants the statue garden opened before the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026. He launched a new task for to create the park, the Interagency Task Force for Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes.

The task force comprises the chairs of the the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, both agencies the White House has aimed to drastically cut funding for in precious budgets.

Kanye West has been spending much of his time at his family’s multi-mullion dollar ranch in Wyoming in recent months. From Justin Bieber to Dave Chappelle, the rapper has invited a handful of celebrities and musicians to join him at the ranch to pursue creative endeavors. 2 Chainz is one of the few who has been able to lock down some time with Kanye, recently linking up with the rapper for a studio session. To commemorate the successful session and celebrate 2 Chainz’s upcoming birthday, Kanye gave the rapper an enormous gift.

Kanye gifted 2 Chainz one of his Yeezy Sherp ATVs, a tank-like machine that boasts giant wheels and a matte black exterior. “Woke up to a really dope present – Virgo season is upon us,” 2 Chainz wrote in a social media post, thanking Kanye for the present on Instagram. Kanye also added a more personal touch to the giant ATV, engraving a Bible passage on a gold plaque and attaching it to the vehicle.

The large ATVs were first spotted earlier this year in Chicago. Back in February, Kanye sent a fleet of Sherps to roam the city streets and pass out free pairs of his Yeezy Quantum Adidas just ahead of their official release. Upon hearing news of the free sneakers, fans began chasing down the vehicles and braving the chilling one-degree weather in order to scoop up a coveted pair.

Ubisoft apologized Monday and pledged to remove a video from its Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad mobile game after internal and external outrage for it connecting Black Lives Matter imagery to an in-game terrorist organization.

In the mobile game, you take on a terrorist organization that uses a symbol very similar if not an exact copy of the raised black fist image that has become synonymous with the Black Lives Matter movement. The “faceless organization” Umbra is characterized in the video as an organization that incites riots and protest through social media. Many felt the imagery and description of the organization was familiar enough to a cynical view of the current landscape of Black Lives Matter protests and calls for racial and social justice to call it out on social media.

Over the weekend many fans showed disdain for the video and called it offensive. Eventually, Ubisoft took it down, but not before many employees also made their thoughts on the video clear. The employee outrage was so fierce that, according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the director of the game apologized.

This incident is another unforced error for a company that seems to have too many of these kinds of incidents. According to Schreier, the continued frustrations with Ubisoft’s higher ups has led to employees showing open frustration with the company.

Earlier this year multiple Ubisoft execs resigned following sexual misconduct allegations alongside reports from employees that Ubisoft had mishandled reports of sexual harassment in the workplace. Ubisoft promised “sweeping changes” after this, but how those sweeping changes are being implemented we have yet to see. Ubisoft released a statement before its Ubisoft Forward event in July, but did not address the allegations or its promised changes during the event itself.

Actress Niecy Nash publicly came out over the weekend in just about as joyful a way as possible: by tweeting a wedding photo, in which she proclaimed her relationship with and marriage to musician Jessica Betts. The Claws and Reno 911 actress shared the image that appears to have been captured after her wedding ceremony, revealing to the public her relationship and marriage in a surprise announcement. It’s also a rare bit of good news in 2020.

According to Out.com, Betts confirmed the marriage by saying (on Instagram), “I got a whole wife.” Nash, who had been married to Jay Tucker and Don Nash in the past, had played a role as a lesbian doctor on The Mindy Project in 2014, but before revealing her marriage on Monday she hadn’t officially come out.

She tweeted a photo of her in a wedding dress with Betts, declaring herself “Mrs. Carol Denise Betts” and tagging Betts on the picture.

As Out reported, the two had mentioned one another on social media in the past, but not indicated they were in a relationship. Betts worked on Claws together, with the singer getting a role in an episode.

Betts had performed a song on Instagram with Nash in, coincidently, a wedding dress in 2018. It’s silly and very cute, especially now with the added context that they are now married.

Joe Rogan’s podcast went on a brief hiatus while he prepared for a few changes: (1) The Joe Rogan Experience moving to Spotify; (2) The host himself moving to Texas from California. All of this is happening now, and Rogan’s podcast resumes officially on Tuesday, September 1. He’s dropping the episode a few hours early (7:00 pm Texas time on Monday, since that will officially be September 1 in Australia). To celebrate, he wore this outfit, and everything (well, the size of the podcast) is bigger in Texas.

My goodness. Rogan’s already known for his three-hour podcasts (which must be key to pulling out entertaining bits from guests), but he went for five hours. I guess there’s a lot to discuss after last week, and he promised that “copious amounts of controlled substances were involved,” so that’s certainly something to look forward to hearing. And one has to begrudgingly respect his new wardrobe selections, which might be only temporary, but one never knows.

As far as content goes, It’s difficult to guess how Rogan’s show will differ from the Lone Star State. Will he fly guests in to speak with him? Will he go local, gasp, and invite Alex Jones onto the show? That last bit might be obligatory if Rogan can stomach Jones’ bloviating. Whatever the case, Texas appears to be working out for Rogan so far. He’s reportedly scored a $100 million deal with Spotify, and his viral lesson on “Satanic” Instagram filters recently popped up in a Texas Tech lecture. So, the reward for Texas is a five-hour intro, which sounds like a fair deal.