There’s no disputing the fact that people long for a good, stiff drink while stuck at home in lockdown. But while beer and liquor sales are up, in general, smaller breweries and distilleries are still struggling. Even in cases where these companies are cranking out more bottles of hazy IPA or artisanal spirits, they’re losing important business in other areas (tasting room traffic, etc).
That’s why it’s so important to support the little guys. If we don’t, many of them might not still be here when all of this is over.
Today, we turn our attention to bourbon. While many drinkers are loyal to the likes of Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and Wild Turkey, small brands are gasping for breath. That’s why we gave some of our favorite bartenders the chance to tell us their favorite bourbon expressions from smaller distilleries.
J Henry & Sons Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Hayden Miller, head bartender at Bodega Taqueria y Tequila in Miami
I’m going with J Henry & Sons Straight Bourbon Whiskey 5 year. Produced using ingredients grown on their farm in Wisconsin, this bourbon is delightfully smooth and complex while appealing to both wheat and rye drinkers. Great people, great ingredients, great juice.
Frey Ranch Bourbon
Juyoung Kang, lead bartender at The Dorsey in Las Vegas
Frey Ranch Bourbon from Nevada. They are a farm-to-bottle distillery, meaning they grow their own grains and turn it into whiskey. They also make their own honey. They’re a real renaissance distillery.
Balcones Texas Pot Still Bourbon
Matt Shields, bartender at The Bay Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
Every now and then a random state makes a solid whiskey. Utah made High West, and Texas made Balcones. Balcones is such a great whiskey for how young the distillery is. They seem to have a passionate approach to their craft which cannot be ignored. High West is a close second.
Woodinville Bourbon
Jessi Lorraine, bartender at Elda in San Francisco
I love Woodinville Bourbon when it comes to smaller bourbon brands. It has a loose nuttiness and warming sweetest that goes great with the charcuterie board or trail mix you’re enjoying during quarantine.
Michter’s US-1 Kentucky Straight Bourbon
Blake Jones, bartender and director of beverage at The Kennedy in Pensacola, Florida
Super subjective. If I had to pick, I’d say probably Michter’s. Although their operation isn’t tiny, it’s smaller than most in Kentucky. They really understand the science behind it, and it’s really awesome to see their process.
Oppidan Smoke & Sea Bourbon
Danielle Becker, bartender at the Aspen Meadows Resort in Aspen, Colorado
Oppidan Spirits, Smoke & Sea Bourbon. Their bourbon aged in Scotch barrels. It’s such a fun blend of sweet bourbon, peaty scotch, and brininess. It’s so smooth and easy to sip.
Rowan’s Creek Bourbon
Freddy Concepcion Ucan Tuz, bartender at JW Marriott in Cancun, Mexico
Rowan’s Creek Bourbon is my go-to. Rowan’s Creek Bourbon is from a small distillery with a lot of history that goes back into 1684. This Bourbon has a vanilla, herbal, caramel, and floral notes which express a sense of oak and spiciness once tasted. A fantastic way to enjoy an after-dinner drink at the lobby lounge.
Blanton’s Bourbon
Wesley MacDonald, owner of Caña Bar and Kitchen in Curaçao
For me, Blanton’sStraight from the Barrel is one of the best bourbons I can get my hand on. A cask strength beast bottled at around 130 proof. Very hot and lively, yet smooth and easily palatable. In my opinion, it’s the best expression of the Blanton’s series. Obviously, it’s not made at the smallest distillery but Buffalo Trace still isn’t on the same size level as Beam or Wild Turkey. Count it?
Hudson Baby Bourbon
David Powell, brand ambassador for Hudson Whiskey
It has to be Baby, baby. Baby Bourbon started New York state’s distilling renaissance, and Ralph’s lobbying in Albany became a legislative model for accelerating craft distilling in so many other states. They’re about as close to a single grain whiskey as you can get (90-95% Corn in every bottle), and the flavor profile is made to stand out rather than blend in. What else could you want in a bottle of whiskey?
Writer’s Pick:
FEW Bourbon
You might not think of bourbon when you think of a place like Evanston, Illinois (although you also might not think of Evanston, Illinois very often). But, by now, you probably should. That’s because Paul Hletko and the folks at FEW have been crafting one of the best bourbons in the country since the distillery opened its doors in 2011. It’s well-rounded with subtle corn sweetness as well as vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves. Perfect for sipping neat or in your favorite cocktail.
Just like with testing, the UK government is weeks behind and scrambling to catch up.
As fights over lockdowns reach a fever pitch, public health experts say loosening restrictions will lead to more deaths by summer.
Previously on the Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown: WWE continued to fart around and put out the most basic product imaginable to maintain the terms of their agreement with Fox while running sad, empty arena shows during a global pandemic. This week: something different, we hope!
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Here’s the Best and Worst of WWE Friday Night Smackdown for May 8, 2020.
This Week On The Show I Can’t Believe Some Of Us Are Still Watching
Best:
Up first this week, Fire takes on Desire in the most tumultuous tag team break up since Vicious had to wrestle Delicious.
I appreciate the intensity Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville brought to this. You can tell they don’t have a lot to work with, but are sincerely doing their best to make something of it. Sonya would be wonderfully threatening if she hadn’t been saddled with a “you’re just jealous (actually I’M the one who’s jealous, don’t tell!)” character beat. You can see in their body language and chemistry that Sonya and Mandy are intimately familiar with each other (not like that) and have probably practiced together enough that they’ve got a real natural flow to their fighting. I thought the finish with the double counter from Deville was really well done, too. Oh, and bonus points! Deville won the match without Dolph Ziggler showing up and causing a distraction on the ring apron. I would’ve bet the farm on that. Way to subvert my expectations, five minutes of one Smackdown!
Worsts:
For a Mandy Rose-adjacent follow-up, Otis is too much man for rung support:
Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. I know you’re “blue collar solid” and all, Otis, but ask someone to pull the Big Show Money in the Bank 2010 ladder out of storage. That thing weighs 350 pounds and can hold up to a ton.
Although honestly Otis is only billed at 330 pounds. A normal ladder should be able to hold him. Kane’s billed at 323 and he could climb a regular ladder fine. Comparatively bodied Mark Henry was just over 400 and a normal ladder could support him with 200 pounds of Evan Bourne on his back. I dunno, maybe just don’t step so hard?
What’s the best way to use your billion dollar, prime-time, network television show to promote your weekend’s pay-per-view? How about King Corbin and Tamina Snuka standing tall?
“Tamina has pinned the Smackdown Women’s Champion” was this week’s easiest bet. It’s a tag team match for “momentum” with the champion and challenger on opposite sides. Not to mention they did “champion pins the challenger” on last week’s Raw when Apollo Crews pinned Andrade, and again on last week’s Smackdown when the Forgotten Sons pinned the New Day, and again on this week’s raw when the Viking Raiders pinned the Street Profits. In case that’s not a clear enough paragraph, that’s four consecutive “main roster” shows in a row using the same bullshit booking trope in place of actual effort and storytelling. They hate us, man. They think we’re the dumbest motherfuckers that ever lived. And here I am wasting the remaining years of the prime of my writing talent trying to tell people on the Internet about the 19th bad Smackdown of the calendar year, so maybe they’re right.
Anyway, Tamina pins the Smackdown Women’s Champion on the go-home show for Money in the Bank, which at least means she won’t pin her at Money in the Bank. Imagine a world where Tamina Snuka is your best option in the year of our Lord 2020, and you’re using her push to say how Bayley and Sasha Banks suck but Lacey Evans is great. It’s the darkest timeline, folks, deal with it. Mandy and Sonya have to fight each other about jealousy.
King Corbin wins this year’s Money in the Bank go-home segment, which is like every other Money in the Bank go-home segment they’ve ever done. I’m sure they’ve switched it up at some point over the past 10 years, but it’s the segment your brain writes when you think about it. People who are supposed to be in the ladder match fight with the ladders WWE’s used to decorate the set, and someone ends it by climbing up, pulling down the symbolic briefcase and posing with it. On the list of WWE moments you should expect, it makes “the locker rooms empty out and fill up the ring for a big impromptu battle royal only DAYS before the Royal Rumble” look like the Montreal Screwjob.
The only positive I can find here is that Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro managed to win a match under King Corbin’s wing, which is something they could rarely do under the supervision of the vanishing socialist Intercontinental Champion. Shout-out to Daniel Bryan traveling around with a guy to take pins for him, I guess.
The worst segment of the night for me was this Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman “face-to-face confrontation.” To say that nothing happened is an insult to nothingness. Paint drying at least has a fundamental action powering it.
Nothing new is established here. Bray Wyatt thinks he created Braun Strowman, which he kayfabe completely did, and he wants the Universal Championship again. Shouldn’t have lost it to Grandpa Tackles in the first place, Bray. Strowman’s title run so far has been him holding a belt on his shoulder and gruffly soliloquing into a microphone about nothing in particular. Bray gave Braun back his black sheep mask via a mid-interview Christmas present, but Braun didn’t put it on. So this week he offers it to him again, this time with a P2P hand-off, but Braun doesn’t put it on. And then some puppets gave him a pep talk. AND THAT’S THE SEGMENT FOR YOUR SHOW’S WORLD TITLE MATCH ON THE PAY-PER-VIEW. I HOPE NOTHING ALSO HAPPENS AT MONEY IN THE BANK.
Also On This Episode
The stuff in the middle is the hardest to talk about. For example, there’s a fatal four-way for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship on Sunday, so there was a 100% chance of the go-home Smackdown would have an eight-man tag with teh four tag teams. The most positive thing I can say is that Miz and Morrison won by pinning the Lucha House Party instead of the Tag Team Champions.
Jeff Hardy returned after weeks of promotional video packages and kicks Sheamus’ ass for taking an interest in him. The sad state of WWE creative is that the only thing you can really do here is have Sheamus beat up Hardy or Hardy beat up Sheamus. Sheamus’ motivation here is “snuffing out weak flames,” but Jeff’s already survived a pyro explosion and a fall from the top of a giant flaming cross in his weird brother’s backyard, so maybe Sheamus should reconsider his choice of elemental metaphor.
The only other things to mention from the episode are the Mysterious Hacker getting us ready for WWE Payback — it’s definitely CM Punk and AJ Lee and not just Chad Gable wearing a toddler’s basketball outfit with clip art of a computer on the chest — and Dana Brooke booking another main-event quality match between her Ohio accent and the paragraph they want her to read.
Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Night
AddMayne
go home show? More like Stay Home Show!
Baron Von Raschke
We made a bot watch five years of WWE programs last week. Here is the script that it wrote for tonight’s SmackDown!
AshBlue
I started to say that there should be a Senior WWE (like the Senior PGA), but then I remembered that’s what WrestleMania is.
Dave M J
If Bayley manages to get even a semi-watchable match out of Tamina on Sunday, build a statue of her outside of Titan Towers.
DaveyBoy1991
Starting next Friday, Greg Hamilton better be prepared to announce King Corbin, First of his Name, Mr. Money in the Bank, Baron of His Local T.G.I.Fridays
Mac&CheeseMainEvent
Bryan: “Hey Vince, so since Gulak and I go way back into the indy scene; Ring Of Honor and Chikara and all that I was thinking our partner could fall into that category.”
Gulak: “Like Brian Kendrick or—”
Vince: “THE BIG SHOW!”
*Vince walks off*
Bryan: “Do you think he was even listening?”
Gulak: “I don’t even think he knows who I am.”
Birdman
This is why banks shouldn’t be bailed out
LUNI_TUNZ
I don’t understand, how can I tell that these two are in a heated blood feud if this match didn’t start with a collar-and-elbow tie-up?
Jae-Su
Fox should make a show where Gordon Ramsey goes around fixing different Indies. Then Paramount can copy the concept and have Jon Taffer fix other Indies but get stabbed by Joey Janela.
Mr. Bliss
This is still going on? Please send out Vince to tell them it’s boring and turn off the lights.
Here’s an exclusive first look at the next five episodes of Smackdown.
That’s it for this week’s Best and Worst of Smackdown. One of these days the show will be good again, and maybe Raw will be the worse show again, and we’ll look back like, “wow, remember how depressing it was that they kept doing worse and worse episodes in an empty gym?” Maybe the cinematic office building fight is the creative turning point, I dunno.
Anyway, thanks as always for your Internet patronage. Your comments, shares, and readership are appreciated tremendously, and we hope you’ll be here this weekend for our complete coverage of In Your House: Elevator Action. Stick with that paint video, by the way. It starts getting good after the first hour.