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It’s been a solid two months now that you’ve been stuck (mostly) at home. By this point, boredom is starting to set in big time — accented by about a half-dozen very valid fears with a hint of general malaise. You can only watch so much TV, play so many hours of video games, and stare blankly at your smart phone’s screen for so long before you get bored. And when you get bored… you snack.
Oh, relax. We’re all coming out of quarantine grizzled, wisened, and prematurely gray. What’s wrong with a few extra Pringles pounds? But if you’re going to overeat, you should probably pair those salty, savory snacks with whiskey. (Yes, this is our solution to many of life’s problems.)
The big question is which whiskeys should you sip while grazing? To answer that, we went to the pros. Here are the expressions some of our favorite bartenders told us to try with our snack foods.
Peter Ruppert, beverage director at Short Stories in New York City
As far as just having something to accompany snack food, Red Breast Irish Whiskey is a complex but still down to earth whiskey that just sort of fits itself into any occasion.
Piero Procida, bartender at The London West Hollywood in Los Angeles
I’ll try not to do anything too over-complicated here. In other words, if you are being simple then stay simple — go with something like a blended Scotch, not only because it’s typically cheaper but also because there’s such a wide array of flavors in these whiskies. My personal favorite is Johnnie Walker Black. It’s not too expensive and it’s still a good quality scotch to enjoy with something like snacks. Blended scotches are slowly making a comeback and this one is incredibly versatile.
James Arensault, director of food and beverage at Harbor View Hotel on Martha’s Vineyard
If I’m eating snacks, I want them paired with Eagle Rare bourbon. It’s one of the easiest drinking bourbon/whiskeys I can think of and it can almost be universally paired, so a snack of any variety would complement.
Everson Rawlings, mixologist at Scrub Island Resort Spa and Marina in the British Virgin Islands
I’m pairing my snacks with Jim Beam Apple. With Jim Beam Apple we soak the apple and dehydrate it to make apple chips. Jim Beam Apple goes well with nuts, pretzels, onion rings, apple chips, and homemade fried potatoes.
Zac Johnson, general manager at JJ’s Wine, Spirits, and Cigars in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Knob Creek Cask Strength Rye goes great with a meat and cheese tray. I’m a fan of spice so I like to pair a spicy summer sausage with pepper jack cheese and two ounces of Knob Creek Barrel Strength Rye.
Sebastien Derbomez, brand advocacy manager of William Grant & Sons
I like to pair Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt Whisky with any snacks — try it neat, on the rocks, with your mum, on date, from a plate, it still tastes great.
Jon Joseph, bartender at JL Bar Ranch, Resort & Spa in Sonora, Texas
Most snack foods have a salty taste to them. This is to keep people eating these snacks and always coming back for more. We like to pair a whiskey that has a certain amount of sweetness to it. Staying with our Texas roots, we love to serve Balcones Rumble. Is this technically a whiskey? Well, it is in that undefined area… This Rumble is made from Texas Wildflower Honey, Turbinado sugar, and Mission Fig Spirit. Rumble has a taste of ginger snaps, sugar plums, toffee, and lemon candies. It still finishes like a bourbon though, with an oaky spice. Most people have not tried it and it’s a great conversation piece around the bar.
Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami, Florida
Something with a slightly more aggressive nose like Rittenhouse Rye is great to overpower the salty (or sweet!) midnight snacks the corner store has talked me into. Being rye and bottled in bond, the spice and heat can really cleanse the palette… or prep me for chip flavor number two.
Nicole Quist, beverage Director at Bartaco in Aventura, Florida
Four Roses Yellow Label is such a great blending bourbon for cocktails. It’s my happy hour go to with some fresh lemon + orange, bitters + vermouth of your choice. Right now, thyme is starting to come up all over my garden, so pretty sure I’ll have the makings of a Bartaco Old Thymer cocktail. Either in a cocktail or on its own, it pairs perfectly with salty snacks.
The close to the 10th and final episode of The Last Dance explored the 1998 NBA Finals run and the end of the Bulls dynasty. At the very end, they handed Michael Jordan a tablet and let him watch Jerry Reinsdorf explain why he broke the team up , which Jordan noted he was very interested to hear because they’d never discussed it.
“It would’ve been suicidal at that point in their careers to bring back Pippen, Steve Kerr, Rodman, Ron Harper. their market value individually was going to be too high,” Reinsdorf said. “They weren’t going to be worth the money they were going to get in the market. So we hen we realized we were going to have to go into a rebuild, I went to Phil and said, offered him the opportunity to come back the next year, but he said I don’t want to go through a rebuild, I don’t want to coach a bad team. That was the end. It just came to an end on its own. Had Michael been healthy and wanted to come back, I don’t doubt that Krause could’ve rebuilt another championship team in a few years, but you know it wasn’t going to happen instantly.”
Jordan responded by noting he wasn’t fully buying that — offering a knowing smirk — calling back to how Krause made it clear from the jump that ’98 was going to be their last year together.
“In ’98, Krause already said at the beginning of the season Phil could go 82-0 and he was never going to be the coach,” Jordan said. “When Phil said it was the last dance, it was the last dance. we knew they weren’t going to keep the team. Now, they could’ve nixed all of it at the beginning of ’98. Why say that statement at the beginning of ’98? If you asked all the guys who won in ’98, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, blah blah blah, we give you a one-year contract to try for seven, do you think they would’ve signed? Yes they would’ve signed. Would I have signed for one year? Yes I would’ve signed for one year. I’ve been signing one year contracts up to that. Would Phil have done it? Yes. Now Pip, you would’ve had to have some convincing, but if Phil was gonna be there, if Dennis was gonna be there, if MJ was gonna be there to win our seventh? Pip wasn’t going to miss out on that.”
Jordan was then asked if he was glad he went out on top and said no.
“It’s maddening, because I felt like we could’ve won seven,” Jordan said. “I really believe that. We may not have, but not to be able to try it, that’s something that I can’t accept. For whatever reason, I can’t accept.”
Now, Jordan suffered a finger injury that offseason that all but assured he wouldn’t come back, but it’s a fascinating “What If?” scenario imagining them trying to run it back in 1999 with the same group.
The 10th and final episode of The Last Dance went into a story that we all know and love, but never ceases to be captivating: Dennis Rodman missing practice the day after Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals to go to Michigan for a taping of WCW Nitro with Hulk Hogan.
As Carmen Electra explained, Rodman “took a detour” to go cut a promo on Karl Malone with Hulk Hogan and beat up Diamond Dallas Page with steel chairs.
Dennis Rodman would miss practice to appear on WCW Nitro!
Get the story on @dennisrodman‘s time with WCW on @WWENetwork!#WWEUntold: Rodzilla Runs Wild streaming anytime on-demand:https://t.co/212pg6NiUO pic.twitter.com/xjEPLYsEu4
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) May 18, 2020
Rodman’s explanation was also pretty perfect, as he said he was just doing “Dennis sh*t,” which encapsulates the entire essence of Rodman’s career. Maybe the best part of all of it was video from the next day’s practice when Rodman returned and Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan simply cracked jokes about it and Jordan broke the huddle by yelling “Rodzilllaaaaaa” — which is what Hogan referred to him as the night before.
Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan talk about “Rodzilla” at Bulls practice
pic.twitter.com/5fmqsNCdMt
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) May 18, 2020
Rodman would then escape out a back entrance with the media chasing him up the stairs out of the United Center to no avail. It’s a truly incredible series of events that is almost impossible to imagine happening now, a player taking a day off without permission to go do some wrasslin’ and then coming back and, aside from a fine, everyone just being like, “alright, cool.” That was how it was with Rodman and, as Jackson said to the media, the only people distracted were people outside of the Bulls facility.
