Lynelle Cantwell is in 12th grade at Holy Trinity High School in Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador (that’s Canada). On Monday, she found out that she had been featured on another student’s anonymous online poll entitled “Ugly Girls in Grade 12,” along with several other classmates.
Cantwell responded via Facebook with her own message, which has already been shared more than 2,000 times and counting.
Take a look:
Lynelle Cantwell/Facebook
Since posting her brave response on Facebook, more people have come out to show support than people who voted in the first place.
Check out some of the responses:
Facebook
The School District of Newfoundland and Labrador has announced that it will be looking into the incident further. For Cantwell, the positive outpouring of love and support vastly outweighs the initial cyberbullying and is raising her confidence in new ways.
Just four months after being hired as the janitor at Farmington Elementary School in Germantown, Tennessee, Robert Reed, 60, made such an impact the school repaid him with an incredible act of kindness.
Reed is incredibly hard-working, always has a smile on his face, and even seeks out additional jobs at the school when he’s finished his janitorial tasks.
“No job is too big or too small,” Reed told WREG. “I wanna make a safe, clean, sanitized environment for the students, the guests.”
It’s hard work, but he’s grateful for the opportunity to work at the school. “This building was built in 1975, so it takes a lot of work, but it’s a blessing to do the job,” Reed said. “I love these people up here. I love them. I couldn’t have made it without them. Yes, it’s a joy to work here. Joy. Pure joy.”
Coworkers Raise Money to Surprise School Janitor Who Takes Buses, Walks Miles to Get to Work
What’s even more incredible is that he still had the energy after a four-hour commute. Reed had no car so he was forced to take three busses and walk about two miles to and from work.
“Let’s say I get off at 3:00, I would get home about 7 because I stay in Millbranch and Winchester,” Reed said.
Can you imagine doing that long of a commute and then having to do a physically demanding job?
When faculty learned that Reed had such a long commute they helped him out by driving him to the bus stop on some days and by lending him a few dollars when he was short. But they soon decided to take the next step by giving him the surprise of a lifetime.
They started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to get him a truck. The campaign was so successful it raised $7,000 in just 21 hours, enough to get him transportation.
They surprised him at a school event and he was so blown away by the generosity that he fell to his knees. When he got back up on his feet his eyes were filled with tears of joy as he hugged the campaign’s organizer, first-grade teacher Elizabeth Malone.
HEARTWARMING: 60-year-old school janitor, Robert Reed, dropped to his knees when he learned staff & parents at Farm… https://t.co/KC2zXEsnDl
By the time the GoFundMe campaign had ended it raised over $49,000 for Reed. Reed hopes that with the new truck, he can start a side business doing landscaping.
The fundraiser has made an incredible impact on Reed’s life but it also teaches the students at Farmington two big lessons. Hard work pays off and when you see someone in need, help them out. “His work ethic is unbelievable, and we want our kids to pick up on that,” Malone said. “We just want to model to our kids that when you see a need you should reach out and help them,” Malone said.
In every relationship we’ll ever have, there’s going to be a final conversation. Before the digital age, these interactions were usually face-to-face or over the telephone and could only be recorded in our memories. But now, just about every relationship leaves a paper trail of text messages, social media interactions, and voice messages. Sometimes the final communication is a heated breakup, and other times, it’s a casual interaction shortly before a person’s death.
Now, there’s a blog that collects these haunting final messages. The Last Message Received contains submissions of the last messages people received from ex-friends or ex-significant others as well as from deceased friends and relatives. Here are some of the blog’s most haunting posts.
“My good friend’s dad died around Thanksgiving. Two weeks later he drank himself to death.”
via Imgur
“This is the last text I got from my mom before she died of Stage IV brain cancer at the age of 53. It left her completely paralyzed on the left side of her body, hence the typos in the texts. What she was saying was, ‘You’re missing music therapy.’ Almost as good as Good Friday church giggles.’ A few years prior to this, we went to the Good Friday service at our church. The choir was absolutely horrendous and couldn’t sing whatsoever. She and I sat there, in the most serious, somber church service of all, laughing hysterically, unable to stop for the life of us. She sent me this text while she was in hospice and I was at school.”
via Imgur
“This happened a few months back. He was my best friend and my boyfriend of 7 years. He stuck with me when I fell pregnant at 16 after I was raped. He became an actual dad to my son. He was my everything. A few months before this message, things started to change, we drifted apart and he was telling my 5 year old son to lie to me about his whereabouts. One night he beat me, I ended up in hospital for a few days. He begged for forgiveness, I stayed. It happened again a few days later, he was at work when I text him. I took my son and left. This is the last text I received from him. I heard last week that he’s just been sent to prison for crimes involving violence and drugs. I hope he gets the help he needs.”
via Imgur
“My dad died 6 weeks later flying the plane in this picture.”
via Imgur
“The last text he sent me. The next day I got a call from his daughter that he was still very much with his wife and I wasn’t the only one he was cheating on her with.”
via Imgur
“She had sent me a message earlier asking me not to contact her anymore. I woke up to one last message. We’d dated for 3.5 years and when I came out as trans, the relationship fell apart. I still think about and miss her every day.”
via Imgur
“I sent this to my grandpa on thanksgiving. Two days later he unexpectedly had a heart attack and passed. He was my favorite person in the world and nothing has been the same since. I refuse to delete this message.”
via Imgur
“I would have fallen in love with her if distance and timing hadn’t gotten in the way. I’m ignoring her because I need to let her move on.”
You think the Ted Lasso discourse is bad? The “Marvel Scorsese” discourse is worse.
“I don’t see them,” Martin Scorsese said in a 2019 interview about Marvel movies. “I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” People (Marvel stans) got mad at him; he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times about why he said what he said (“For anyone who dreams of making movies or who is just starting out, the situation at this moment is brutal and inhospitable to art”), and people (more Marvel stans) got mad at him again.
The lyrics: Take away your things and go / You can’t take back what you said, I know / I’ve heard it all before, at least a million times.” In case anyone was wondering which side she’s on, Francesca Scorsese later added on Instagram, “Lol y’all idk how many times I’ve said I agree with my dad about #Marvel.”
For what it’s worth, Scorsese doesn’t dislike every Marvel movie.
the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies are the only superhero movies Martin Scorsese has openly said he likes. the man’s taste is impeccable pic.twitter.com/ARViLzDe1D
As we digest this week’s heavy news, it’s vital that we all balance our media consumption with uplifting and inspiring content. Doom-scrolling is a quick way to slip into despair, so we’re here to offer some joy-scrolling to lift your spirit.
Here are 10 things that can help bring a smile to your face as you wrap up your week:
1. A photographer captured the innocent joy of an Afghan girl skipping across the tarmac after landing safely in Belgium
It’s hard to find uplifting news surrounding the tragic events in Afghanistan, but this Reuters image of an Afghan girl skipping across the tarmac with her family after being evacuated to Belgium offers a glimpse of hope and a reminder of what freedom means to those who are fleeing Taliban rule. A little beam of light in the darkness.
A girl skips across the tarmac as people evacuated from Afghanistan arrive at Melsbroek Military airport in Belgium. https://t.co/wrW0CRpiC0
2. This martial arts instructor took forgiveness to a whole new level after kids broke his studio window.
“To the kids that threw the rock at my window & shattered it, I was a wild kid too, and I forgive you,” they wrote in a note. “If you want to learn how to channel your anger, I will train you for FREE. I will help you.” Signed, Warrior Poet.
Warrior Poet indeed. What a beautiful example of the best of humanity.
3. Elementary teacher perfectly illustrates fairness in a simple lesson using Band-aids.
Good teachers are treasures, and Ms. Aimee here proves herself priceless as she explains how she teaches her third-grade students about what fairness really means. Fairness doesn’t mean everyone gets the same thing, but rather everyone gets what they need to be successful. Simply brilliant. Read the full story here.
4. Speaking of great teachers, Mr. Monroe and his therapy dog, Nala, are lighting up TikTok with empathy demonstrations.
Josh Monroe is winning hearts all over the internet with his TikTok videos showing how he empathizes with students who are struggling. He also shares how he utilizes Nala, his therapy dog, in the classroom. This guy will restore your faith in humanity in an instant. Read the full story here.
5. Isaac Kearney might just be the best lip synch artist you’ve ever seen.
I have no idea if this kiddo can actually sing or not, but his lip-synch performances are off the hook. So much passion and emotion in such a tiny package. I could watch him all day.
6. This bird actually can sing and pianist Kevon Carter adding some accompaniment to it is just sheer delight.
It’s the little head shake with the eyes closed for me. “Yeeeeahhhh….Yeeeeahhhhh” Unreal, but so fun.
7. 11-year-old drummer Nandi Bushell finally got to perform live with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters.
Nandi Bushell is a drum prodigy (for real) and she became internet famous during the pandemic for her drum challenges with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. That story is amazing on its own, but seeing Bushell’s dream come true in front of a whole stadium is something else. Look at this joy (and talent—holy moly).
11-year-old prodigy @Nandi_Bushell finally got to meet and jam with the @foofighters last night at The Forum… https://t.co/KzmFwVUgF2
— Wu-Tang Is For The Children (@WUTangKids) 1630076403.0
8. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson surprised a tour group in his neighborhood and I’m not sure who got more joy out of it.
The Rock is beloved for being one of those celebrities who genuinely seems like a good guy. Watching him casually roll up next to a tour bus and give fans the surprise of their lives is just some good, wholesome fun. Read the full story here.
9. Speaking of wholesome fun, this great aunt giving Australian football a go is definitely smile-worthy.
We all have that cool older relative who’s up for anything. Great Aunty Judy’s laughter is contagious, and her slipper flying off during her kick attempt is just the icing on the cake.
10. Want to see sheer, unadulterated joy? Watch Walter the Golden Lab book it down to the ocean in Sicily.
It’s me. I am Walter. This is pretty much exactly what I would do if someone let me loose on a beautiful Mediterranean island, ears flapping and all. Wait for the unhesitant leap and plunge at the end.
Walter, a Labrador in Sicily, loves the water.. https://t.co/gGelnPlOMg
BONUS: You want the SOUND UP on this one, I promise.
I shared this video in last week’s round-up, but I figured it’s worth sharing again because I’ve watched it approximately 85 more times since then. Can’t stop, won’t stop. Not even sorry.
Keep seeking joy and finding reasons to smile, everyone.
Vacation Friends (Hulu film) — If you can’t get enough of John Cena’s entry into mainstream movies, then this will be a raw, raunchy treat for you. The WWE star portrays a party guy who shows up uninvited at a wedding of former “vacation friends,” who happen to be a mild-mannered couple portrayed by Lil Rel Howery and Yvonne Orji. Enjoy the chaos, and let’s all be thankful that romantic-esque, Frat Pack-esque comedies still exist for us to enjoy for a much needed break from reality. This film’s directed by Silicon Valley‘s Clay Tarver, who also co-writes here.
See: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Apple TV+’s See helped launch the tech giant’s streaming service less than two years ago, and the show was so wild and wooly that it worked. Jason Momoa’s back in fur coats and in warrior mode as Baba Voss. This season, he’s antagonized by Dave Bautista, which should add enough drama to keep the (somewhat silly) story alive, in a world where no one can see, but everyone is beautiful to look at from an audience standpoint. One of those sighted miracle-twins needs rescuing, so that propels much of the action early this season, but mostly, it’s all about a brotherly beef, clashing egos, and warring beards.
Here’s some regularly scheduled programming.
DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (Sunday, CW 8:00pm) — Constantine’s obsessed with the Fountain of Imperium, and Astra and Spooner end up in Texas.
UFO (Sunday, Showtime 9:00pm) — J.J. Abrams continues this four-part docuseries that examines the cultural touchpoints of alien sightings and promises to examine possible motives on those parties who might be “shielding the truth,” and yep, this is coming from Abrams of Cloverfield and Super 8, so enjoy, Fox Mulder.
NYC EPICENTERS 9/11➔2021½/ (Sunday, HBO 9:00pm) — Spike Lee’s four-part documentary brings things full circle for the 20th anniversary of the day that the Twin Towers fell at the hands of terrorists. Expect his quintessential New York voice to weave a vibrant tapestry from over 200 interviews from residents, first respondents, journalists, and politicians. The end result is a provocative series — now freshly edited to remove those conspiracy theories — that not only takes the ongoing pandemic into account but also the Black Lives Matter movement, all to chronicle loss, life, and resilience.
The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00pm) — This zombie-apocalypse universe’s flagship series returns for one final rodeo with two spinoffs still in motion, so it’s time to wrap this puppy up before the various shows’ timelines begin to intersect. This week, Maggie finds herself challenged by both lurking walkers and Negan, while Yumiko is looking for some answers.
Heels (Sunday, Starz 9:00pm) — Ricky Rabies, a wrestling veteran, helps out Jack, which ends up resulting in a comeback match, which is great news (financially) for Ace.
Here’s some more streaming goodness for the weekend.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (Netflix film) — To tide us over until The Witcher‘s second season arrives with more grumpy Geralt of Rivia, please set your calendars accordingly for this prequel anime film. The picture will go back in time to explore the early monster-hunting years of Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir, who appears to be enjoying himself a lot more than his successor. Theo James voices the character, who will be live-action portrayed by Kim Bodnia further down the line. And although the iconic Witcher baths only recently become canon, they’ve always been there, at least retroactively.
Reservation Dogs: (FX on Hulu series) — Taika Waititi’s FX on Hulu followup to What We Do in the Shadowsbrings us a comedy series that’s co-written by Native American filmmaker Sterlin Harjo. Yes, the lead quartet in this show rocks suits that look strikingly similar to the characters of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, yet they’re four Indigenous teens who want to commit crime and simply can’t pull it off. The show was shot in and near Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and these teens hope to make it all the way to California. The cast and crew come from indigenous communities, from where Harjo and Waititi are aiming their storytelling styles as well.
Nine Perfect Strangers: Nicole Kidman’s one of several A-listers who’ve made themselves at home on the so-called “small screen” in recent years, and after a few Emmys and a Golden Globe for Big Little Lies and a Globe nomination for The Undoing, she’s not done yet. She portrays a wellness guru that might remind you of certain celebrities who shill bizarre products and claim that they’ll change your life with a dash of snake oil. Yes, the Paddington villain is here to shake up your little world again.
Ted Lasso: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — First thing’s first: Everyone who’s caught a glimpse of this Bill Lawrence co-created and developed series loves it. That’s a notable feat, considering that star Jason Sudeikis first portrayed the title character way back in 2013 for NBC Sports’ promos for Premier League coverage. Fast forward to the fresh hell that was 2020, and the show surfaced as one of the year’s lone bright spots. Ted Lasso is somehow both relentlessly and charmingly cheery, although there’s always the spectre of Led Tasso to consider.
Clickbait (Netflix series) — Adrian Grenier plays a loving family man who mysteriously disappears, only to surface in a viral internet video that accuses him of being a domestic abuser who will be killed after a certain number of views. No one’s sure whether this is a confession or a threat, and yikes. This promises to be (according to the synopsis) a “high stakes thriller that explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media,” but it sounds awfully stressful.
The Other Two: Season 1 (HBO Max series) — Lorne Michaels of SNL fame executive produces this series that’s created, written, and also executive produced by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider (formerly co-head writers of SNL). The cast includes Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke, Case Walker, Ken Marino, and Molly Shannon, and the plot follows a showbiz family, in which a 14-year-old pop star decides that it’s time to officially retire. Meanwhile, the family’s 53-year-old matriarch (Shannon) is enjoying ubiquity of her own, so “The Other Two” will do everything they can to shine as well.
After wrapping up the Star Wars sequel trilogy, it really seemed like Mark Hamill‘s time in the Star Wars universe would come to an end with 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Heck, he even said as much. But there’s probably no other Star Wars actor that’s more keyed into the fans than Hamill, which means he knows that secrecy is of the utmost importance. As fans slowly learned, Hamill did not walk away from the franchise after The Rise of Skywalker, but instead, he became a very willing participant in the filming of The Mandalorian where the actor quietly voiced small roles that weren’t revealed until after the fact.
However, all of that changed in the Season 2 finale when The Mandalorian pulled off the stunning feat of bringing Luke Skywalker into the story. But not just any Luke Skywalker: the show went to exceptional lengths to bring a Return of the Jedi-era Luke to life with Hamill’s help. The out-of-this-world technical process that went into making the cameo was recently showcased on the latest episode of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian where Hamill revealed that the executive producer showed him reaction videos of fans watching Luke’s big return. It blew the actor away. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
“Jon [Favreau] sent me links to reaction videos, which were just — I don’t get to see these things in the audience,” Hamil said on the Disney Gallery episode. “To see grown men cry and people screaming their heads off. It was really, really thrilling for me to see them enjoying it so much.”
There you have it, folks. Your tears are Jedi Knight Mark Hamill’s food. It’s gotta be every Star Wars fans’ dream to know that their salty emotions power one of the galaxy’s most epic heroes. You can only hope that’s the case, but to hear it from Hamill himself? Perfection.
Birdman reunites the Rich Gang with his “Blue Emerald” video, which features Young Thug. The video marks one of their first collaborations since their hit “Lifestyle,” which shot Young Thug to stardom. The video sees the two cruising in a Rolls-Royce while beautiful women fan themselves with cash in the backseat. Chris Brown, who collaborated with Young Thug in 2020 with the joint mixtape Slime & B, also makes a cameo appearance.
Aside from the fact that he might be colorblind (emeralds are green, dude), Birdman excited fans with the announcement that Rich Gang is returning, teasing the new project, Rich Gang 2, in 2019. This year, he recruited Lil Wayne and Roddy Ricch for the return single “Stunnaman,” marking the first time Birdman and Lil Wayne worked together since 2019’s “Ride Dat” featuring Juvenile.
The daiquiri has a bit of an image problem. The name “daiquiri” conjures up neon-hued, frozen, teeth-achingly sweet party drinks. But the actual daiquiri isn’t frozen at all. It’s a simple, fresh, subtly sweet, and tart cocktail featuring the simple ingredients of white rum, lime juice, and sugar. That’s just about it. The ingredients all work together so harmoniously that you don’t need it to be frozen or filled with strawberries or other fruits to be enjoyable.
Since there are still a few weeks left in summer to enjoy a daiquiri, I figured the time was right to mix white rums into daiquiris and do another blind taste test. For this round, I used fellow Uproxx writer Zach Johnston’s simple, perfect daiquiri recipe.
Ingredients:
2-oz. white rum
1-oz. fresh lime juice
0.5-oz. sugar cane syrup
Lime peel
Ice
Part 1: The Taste
Sure, we could blindly taste white rums and it would be pretty exciting and interesting — all well and good if you’re planning to drink them neat. But if you want to mix them, you need to sample them mixed into a cocktail. That’s exactly what I did.
I picked eight reasonably-priced, well-known bottles for the base. Then I nosed and tasted each one mixed into its own daiquiri to determine which is actually the best for this classic mixed drink.
The lineup:
Probitas Rum
Bacardi Superior White Rum
Don Q Cristal Rum
Banks 5 Island Rum
Captain Morgan White Rum
Diplomatico Planas Rum
Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum
Privateer Silver Rum
Here we go!
Taste 1:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
The nose has a slight alcohol kick that’s actually fairly pleasing and warming. This is followed by caramel, vanilla beans, sugarcane, and nice dried fruits. Taking a sip brought me more sugary sweetness, light tropical fruits, and vanilla. This is a simple, light rum that allows the flavors of the daiquiri to shine.
Taste 2:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of caramelized sugar, toasted marshmallows, maple syrup, lime zest, and sweet, tropical fruits are prevalent on the nose. On the palate, I found notes of molasses as well as lime, lemon zest, and tangerine flavors that add an extra zing to the cocktail.
Taste 3:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
If you told me this daiquiri was made with vodka, I’d believe you. The aromas are sweet, but I couldn’t discern any particular flavors at all. Sipping the drink, on top of lime juice and sugary sweetness, revealed slight coconut, brown sugar, and maybe a little cinnamon.
It barely tasted like rum at all.
Taste 4:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Like many of the expressions sampled today, the nose is fairly high in alcohol scents. But it quickly goes into notes of cinnamon, cloves, citrus zest, and butterscotch. The palate is highlighted by a slight, pleasing smoky flavor as well as vanilla, caramel, and a funky fruity flavor that pairs well with lime juice.
Taste 5:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
A lot was going on with this cocktail’s nose. But the biggest scent was of alcohol itself. You can tell from one sniff that this is a potent, high-proof rum. It was dominated by molasses, a nutty sweetness, and a light funk as well as the notable lime. Sipping this one proved me right — the citrus sweetness opened up to brown sugar, tree nuts, and a long, lingering warming sensation that was actually a little stronger than I enjoy.
Taste 6:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
The rum in this daiquiri has light aromas of ripe pineapple and sugarcane juice that melds well with the citrus element. Sadly, that was all I smelled. The palate is slightly funky with more sugary sweetness and caramel, but not much else.
Overall, this is a fairly bland base for a daiquiri.
Taste 7:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Nosing this cocktail reveals earthy, slightly funky, fruity aromas that pair well with the other ingredients. Sipping it brought forth hints of vanilla beans, caramelized pineapple, and slight clove. All the flavors work in unison with the sugar and lime juice.
Taste 8:
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
This rum gives the daiquiri a really funky, earthy smell with hints of brown sugar, molasses, and a slight fruitiness. The palate is more of the same with more fruitiness that pairs well with the sugar and citrus as well as a nice hint of vanilla and sugarcane juice.
Overall, a decent mixer with complementary flavors.
Part 2: The Ranking
I love a good blind taste test. Usually, I sample a whiskey, rum, vodka, or other spirits neat. But there’s something extra intriguing about a blind taste test with the spirit already mixed into a cocktail. There’s guaranteed to be surprises galore. Keep reading to see how they stacked up.
I added this rum as kind of a wild card. It’s a completely ridiculous 126 proof. But it’s the best-selling high-proof white rum in the world for a reason. Even with its high ABV, it’s still flavorful and stands up as the base of a cocktail (especially a daiquiri) without getting lost in the shuffle.
Bottom Line:
This rum is potent, to say the least. I felt like, if I wanted to actually enjoy my drink, I should have added half as much rum. It was dominated by high alcohol heat.
There are few rums more well-known than Captain Morgan. Even if you’ve never tried it, you’ve seen commercials and advertisements featuring the iconic captain lifting his leg. The brand’s flagship white rum was distilled five times using molasses made from sugarcane. It’s known for its smooth, mixable flavor.
Bottom Line:
This is the lowest level of rum flavor while still being a rum. It’s clear this expression was created solely to be mixed with in order to hide the fact that there is little to no flavor whatsoever.
Probitas was created to be used as a base for cocktails. It’s a collaboration between two Caribbean distilleries (Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados and Hampden Estate in Jamaica) to produce a blended white rum. It’s distilled, aged, and bottled in the islands and is sweet, mixable, and well-suited as the base of a classic daiquiri.
Bottom Line:
While not a terrible rum by any means, there just wasn’t anything exciting and flavorful about this expression. It’s not something I plan to mix with in the future.
Banks 5 Island Rum is exactly what you expect it to be. It’s a blend of rums from five different distilleries located in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. They are touted to be aged between three and twelves years before being filtered in order to remove color and make it a highly flavorful white rum.
Bottom Line:
While this is definitely a good daiquiri base with multiple flavors that compliment the other ingredients, it would rank higher if they were a little more pronounced.
You might not think of New England when you think of rum, but after one sip of Privateer New England White Rum, maybe you will. Made with 100% single-origin molasses from Guatemala, it’s not only a highly flavorful rum but the distillery is committed to sustainability and environmental policies.
Bottom Line:
This is an exceptional mixing rum. It’s not complicated at all, but the flavors of vanilla and various fruits are great companions to the citrus tang of the daiquiri’s other ingredients.
Bacardi means rum. And this expression has earned the title of “Superior” because it’s been in production since 1862. That’s an awfully long time to guarantee a well-made, white rum perfect for mixing into your favorite cocktails. It works well in mojitos but shines in daiquiris.
Bottom Line:
There’s a fine line between being light and bland. This rum straddles that line perfectly. It has enough flavor to work well in a cocktail, but not enough to take away from the drink.
Diplomatico has made a name for itself in the rum world in the last decade. The Venezuela-based distillery’s Planas is a white rum that’s been aged up to six years. It’s known for its mellow, fruity, creamy flavor that works just as well as a sipper as a mixer.
Bottom Line:
Fans of the citrus element of the daiquiri will be delighted by the lemon rind and citrus zest flavors that this rum adds to the cocktail. It makes a total citrus bomb of a daiquiri.
If you don’t know a lot about white rums, you might assume they are added directly into the bottle without any aging. But Don Q Cristal was aged from 1.5 to 5 years in American oak barrels in an effort to mellow out the flavors and make it a great sipping or mixing rum.
Bottom Line:
Overall, this is a dry, flavorful, slightly funky, and fruity rum that ticks all the boxes of a great mixer. It’ll be hard to beat.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
Las Vegas festival Life Is Beautiful was forced to cancel its 2020 edition (of course), but it’s coming back strong in 2021 with an impressive lineup. Even if you can’t make it to the actual festival (which takes place from September 17 to 19), though, some additional “Life Is Beautiful Presents” performances will still pack quite the punch.
The festival announced the series of shows, at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, today: Jacob Collier will perform on September 15, Brittany Howard (with Ant Clemons) on the 16th, San Holo on the 17th, and Ludacris (with Childish Major) on the 18th.
Those artists are also on the festival lineup, which is led by Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, ASAP Rocky, Green Day, Haim, Young Thug, St. Vincent, 6lack, Modest Mouse, Don Toliver, Lany, Earthgang, Purity Ring, Ashnikko, Shaed, Trevor Daniel, Still Woozy, Noah Cyrus, Yaeji, Remi Wolf, and Jamila Woods.
When announcing that lineup, organizers noted, “When curating the lineup for Life Is Beautiful this year, we challenged ourselves to stay grounded in the realities of the year that we just lived. The way we discover artists changed, the places we listened to music evolved, and the meaning of music deepened as we listened in new ways. This year’s lineup isn’t our 2019 lineup in 2021. It’s our 2021 lineup, and celebrates the artists, both established and emerging, who were the shining lights during our darkest days.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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