With Coachella 2024 officially in the history books, music festival season is well underway across the US. But abroad, things are still heating up. Over in Malaysia, that means the return of Good Vibes Festival. Between July 20 and 21, musicians J Balvin, Peggy Gou, Joji, BIBI, and more are set to serves as headliners at the Resorts World Awana in Genting Highlands.
However, following last year’s emergency cancellation (now referred to as kill switch) due to The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy and bassist Ross MacDonald’s kiss (to protest the government’s anti-LGBTQ laws), ticket holders are uncertain about the event. On May 8, organizer, Future Sound Asia’s Director of Entertainment Wan Alman set out to assure the public things are “back to normal” during a conversation with NME.
Read his remarks below.
We’re not going to let this one bad incident ruin everything that we’ve worked for. We’ve worked too hard for this. That’s when we decided that we’re going to go ahead with Good Vibes 2024 but at that point, we didn’t know in what form. We were still going through various iterations of what we could make work. So in the end, we decided on this two-day festival in Genting Highlands.
Alman later claimed to have the backing of local law enforcement, despite last year’s onstage protest.
Despite what happened last year, the government has actually been quite supportive. They want to work with us hand-in-hand to make sure that that sort of thing doesn’t happen again and that the live music industry and the festival industry isn’t adversely affected by what happened. We have been working with government authorities in workshops with PUSPAL (Central Committee for Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes) to come up with SOPs [standing operating procedures] to deal with incidents such as what happened last year, and also to refine and improve PUSPAL guidelines. The good thing is that Good Vibes Festival is not banned, so we’re doing it again this year.
The Sandman has been a beloved saga for decades of Neil Gaiman readers. This is a rare comic book creation that tends to find people when they need it (just ask Mark Maron) and hit hard, and as a result, many things could have gone wrong (in the eyes of both Gaiman and fans) on the way to the screen. Heck, these terrible things already came too close to existence. Gaiman famously shut down a film adaptation by purposefully leaking “the worst script that I’ve ever read.” That was only the beginning of “30 years” of Gaiman fending off bad takes on his most renowned creation, but fortunately, that defensive status came to an end not too long ago.
First, The Sandman received a deserving three-part Audible treatment (during the pandemic) that continued to help Gaiman’s fans endure the punches delivered by life. Then the Netflix series arrived in August 2022 with resounding praise, especially for Death’s episode, “The Sound Of Her Wings.” The reception was so positive, in fact, that Netflix unveiled a bonus episode while the streaming service considered whether to renew the popular but expensive series. That (positive) decision finally came, so let’s talk it out.
Plot
The Sandman is an enormous creation, both as a printed work and in the TV medium, as well as a labor of love in non-linear storytelling. For that reason, it’s impossible to predict precisely which stories will be adapted in this show and when they will happen, but we have received clues, and also, expect this second season to feel personal to the viewer. That’s always the overwhelming response from Gaiman readers, and the Netflix series keeps that spirit alive.
We do know that in addition to seeing much more of Tom Sturridge’s Dream/Morpheus, we will some new siblings from The Endless, particularly Delirium. Also a strong possibility? Destruction and Destiny.
And from the looks of these episode titles reported thus far (via Redanian Intelligence), you would think that there’s much more of Gwendoline Christie’s Lucifer on the way, too:
– “The Song of Orpheus”
– “More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold”
– “Brief Lives”
– “Family Blood”
– “The Ruler of Hell”
– “Season of Mists”
That assumption would be correct. Gaiman has explained to Varietythat Lucifer’s revenge should figure prominently into what people shall see:
“I take too much fu*king pleasure in saying to people who do not know anything about what’s coming up in ‘Sandman,’ ‘If we do Season 2, we’re going to be having the rematch and Morpheus is going to be going back to hell. And Lucifer has some surprises in store that Morpheus is not expecting.’ And they are all like, ‘Ahh!’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, and I know how that’s going to work, and you don’t. And everybody who’s ever read ‘Season of Mists’ knows how that’s going to work and you don’t. But that’s good because not everybody will have read ‘Season of Mists’ and this is going to be so much fun.”
Additionally, there will be more of Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s performance as Death than the first season gave us. That’s in line with the comic books and the Audible performances, where Kat Dennings also threw herself into the role. However, that’s also a response to Death’s first-season episode being a smash hit with viewers. Death — the TV version is very different than the comic-book and Audible versions but Howell-Baptiste’s version is tremendous — recently made an appearance in Netflix’s recent Dead Boy Detectives (an offshoot of The Sandman), and Howell-Baptiste did tell Collider that Neil intends to give viewers what they asked for in this season.
Will there be any more offshoots, perhaps even spin offs? Here’s what Gaiman told Variety about Johanna Constantine and Death possibilities:
“We also have the ‘Death’ books. It might be great to go off and do one of those as a sideline, in addition to which, anybody who has seen ‘Sandman’ Episode 3 has sidled over to us at some point or other in the last six months and said, ‘Do you think there’s any possibility that we could do a Johanna Constantine show with Jenna Coleman?’ And, oh my God, she’s a star and you just want to see her going through battling demons and destroying other people’s lives. So that’s in there, too. We can keep going on this for a long time to come.”
Cast
A key piece of the puzzle that has yet to be revealed is the casting of Delirium, who has been confirmed to appear in the second season. In all likelihood, we will soon see Destruction and Destiny as well.
Otherwise, casting has already been pitch perfect. Nobody could replace Tom Sturridge as Dream/Morpheus, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, Patton Oswalt as Matthew the Raven, Kyo Ra as Rose Walker, or Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine. And as viewers damn well realize, that’s only the surface of what we’ve seen thus far.
Release Date
2025 will likely be when we will see more of Dream and his siblings together (and apart) again. That seems like a too-long wait, but Neil Gaiman and his fans already waited decades for this show in the first place. Also, that’s not an enormous turnaround considering that the show resumed post-strike filming in November 2023 and has extensive VFX work on its plate. If this season is as successful as the show’s debut, the wait will truly be worth it.
Trailer
We aren’t lucky enough to see Season 2 footage yet, but Dead Boy Detectives‘ first season takes a spin off from The Sandman comics with a few key cameos from the Netflix show. Yes, The Sandman universe is in process! Additionally, here’s a first-season deleted scene involving a conversation between Death and Dream/Morpheus.
Since November 2023, Diddy has been drowning in a sea of lawsuits. While Cassie’s bombshell case with the tipping point, unfortunately for the former head of Revolt it wasn’t the last (see more here). Now, the “Act Bad” rapper and his legal team are working their way through each case in court.
According to TMZ, yesterday (May 10), Diddy’s attorneys reportedly filed have the sexual assault allegations submitted by a Jane Doe dismissed. This marks the second attempt by Diddy to have the courts toss out an alleged victims’ claims. Similar to his first dismissal filing (in a separate case), in documents Diddy’s attorneys argue that the statute of limitations basis for Doe’s lawsuit has lapsed. The representatives also argue that Doe “didn’t include many pertinent details outside of her alleged assault.” Lastly, they maintain Diddy did not do what Doe alleged.
Read the full statement take from within the paperwork below.
The sparse amendments to the original Complaint cannot remedy the falsehoods and incurable defects in the new pleading. Like the original Complaint, it fails to state any viable claim and must be dismissed.
Plaintiff cannot allege what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, yet purports to miraculously recall the most prurient details with specificity. Accordingly, this case should be dismissed now, with prejudice, to protect the Combs Defendants from further reputational injury and before more party and judicial resources are squandered.
In Doe’s original filing she claimed to have met Bad Boy Records president Harve Pierre in Detroit back in 2003 when she was 17 years old. After that interaction, Doe stated she was flown to New York City and taken to Diddy’s studio. Once there Doe alleged she was supplied with drugs and alcohol then gang raped. Doe included photos from the alleged night in her lawsuit.
Nothing hits quite like a spy thriller series, and the streaming services stock up in plentiful supply. If you add in several elements of the John Wick setup, even better. Remember when word came out that that Keanu Reeves-starring film was originally supposed to revolve around a 75-year-old ex-assassin pulled back into the ass-kicking life? Well, Jeff Bridges is 74 years old, people, and he does plenty of his stunts in his FX show that streams on Hulu. Behold.
Yes, there’s a lot of Wick in this show and plenty of Taken, too, but those comparisons shouldn’t distract from Bridges completely doing his own thing in this role. Let’s talk about what to expect from The Old Man‘s second season.
Plot
FX knew that they had a hit as soon as this show arrived in summer 2022, and they renewed accordingly, and it’s no wonder why because the show’s vibe appeals to fans of Amazon’s Reacher and Slow Horses. We’ve got a reluctant “one last job” theme for a former government operative who went rogue and has been off the grid, but outside forces pulled Bridges’ character, Dan Chase, back into the life. As it turned out, this “old man” has still got It, and those who shake the bear are doomed to great that decision.
As viewers will recall, Dan Chase is a Vietnam veteran and ex-CIA operative who is the focus of Thomas Perry’s 2017 novel, which comes to life in action-movie-on-tv mode. John Lithgow is Dan’s former colleague, FBI agent Harold Harper, who could never imagine himself surviving in Dan’s way of life, but in the second season, Harold had better get used to that life, or he won’t survive.
The show has already transformed into a whirling dervish of intertwined drama as Dan went on the run again after decades of successfully evading Faraz Hamzad, an Afghanistan warlord. Harold was also attempting to keep track of Dan with the added emotional distance (and, paradoxically, closeness) instilled by their shared past. Dan’s new, unlucky landlord, Zoe (Amy Brenneman), got pulled into the mess, and as if the stakes weren’t high enough, Dan’s daughter, Emily (Alia Shawkat), had also been circling under an alias/false identity (Angela) while working under Harper.
Cue the cat/mouse games on several levels, and Angela/Emily found herself kidnapped by Hamzad’s team with some stark untruths coming her way. In the second season, we shall learn which beast — her captor, her father, or both (and that’s an intentionally messy part of the series) — that she will feed. Questions have also been swirling about Angela’s true goals in joining the FBI and what, exactly, Hamzad intended to do by pulling Dan out of hiding.
In short, nobody’s motives are completely clear in this story yet, and both motives and identities began to meld to the point where they have turned inward against each other. That sets up some hellaciously intriguing prospects coming viewers’ way. As in, will Harold be able to life “the life” again now that he’s back together with his old colleague, Dan, and on the run?
Cast
Jeff Bridges will continue to be phenomenal as Dan Chase with the younger days of the character being embodied by Bill Heck. Naturally, John Lithgow will return as Harold Harper. The rest of the cast includes Alia Shawkat, Amy Brenneman, Jessica Harper, Pej Vahdat, Joel Grey, Kenneth Mitchel, Rowena King, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Hiam Abbass, and Navid Negahban.
Release Date
The followup season should be arriving in late 2024, and then we will see more of the Bridges and Lithgow chemistry again. As for specifics, FX has kept that information under lock and key, but there’s such an appetite for both Dad TV and spy thrillers that this season cannot come too soon.
Trailer
Without an official trailer yet, it feels like a good time to rewatch this clip of Harold Harper letting Dan Chase know that he has about three minutes left before certain hell breaks loose.
As we’ve mentioned in the past, there are no wrong months to imbibe beer. Every season has its various styles and flavors. And while it’s great to sip on a warming, high-ABV beer in the depths of dreary winter, there’s something really special about warm-weather beer. That’s why May is one of our favorite months for beer.
The weather is mild as we head towards summer and IPAs, pilsners, wheat beers, Mexican-style lagers, and any manner of light, crushable beer are in season. What’s better than sipping on a crisp, thirst-quenching, hoppy beer after an afternoon spent mowing the lawn, finally cleaning the over-filled gutters, or just sitting outside in a gravity chair enjoying the sun? We can’t think of much.
The only downfall of May beer drinking (and it’s not the worst thing) is that there are almost too many beer styles to choose from. Fear not, we’re here to help. We picked eight of the best beers to track down this May. Some are seasonal favorites and others are new releases. All are worthy of this warm, sunny summer gateway month. Keep scrolling to see them all.
Genesee Mango Peach Kolsch
Genesee Mango Peach Kolsch
ABV: 4.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
Following the popularity of Genesee’s perennial favorite Grapefruit Kolsch and last year’s standout Pineapple Kolsch, the popular brewery is releasing a Mango Peach Kolsch this month. Available from April through August, it’s known for its crisp, refreshing, ripe peach, and tropical mango flavor.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find a bouquet of bready malts, ripe peach, mango, citrus peels, honey, and floral, earthy hops. The palate is very refreshing and crisp with notes of sweet malts, juicy peach, mango, guava, citrus zest, other tropical fruits, and floral hops. It’s sweet, crushable, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
If you’re a fan of fresh tropical fruit flavors, this is the Kolsch for you. It’s sweet, but surprisingly crushable on a hot day.
When it comes to fresh spring beers, it’s tough to beat the appeal of a well-made pale ale. Brewed with American ale yeast, Rahr pale malt, Gambrinus pilsner malt, and Carapils malt, it gets its snappy, floral hop element from using Calista, Chinook, and Simcoe hops.
Tasting Notes:
Before your first sip, you’ll be met with a nose of ripe peach, passionfruit, citrus peels, hay, melons, and floral hops. The palate is loaded with ripe berries, pineapple, grapefruit, and dank, earthy pine. The finish is crisp, refreshing, and gently bitter.
Bottom Line:
Some pale ales lean heavily into the bitter pine flavor, pFriem has that but it’s tempered with a nice tropical fruit backbone.
When made well, a Mexican-style lager is a nice mixture of malt sweetness and refreshment. Burgeon Beer’s Invita is a good example of the style. Brewed with German malts, maize, and Perle and Tettnanger hops, this award-winning beer is crisp, loaded with corn sweetness, and totally crushable.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mixture of sweet corn, cereal grains, wet grass, honey, cracked black pepper, and floral, piney, earthy hops. There’s more of the same on the palate with a ton of corn sweetness up front as well as bready malts, orchard fruits, honey, fresh-cut grass, and floral, herbal hops. The finish is a nice mix of sweetness and floral hops.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to no-frills, sweet, refreshing Mexican-style lagers, you can do much worse than Burgeon Beer Invita. It’s a really solid beer.
Who doesn’t love a good wheat beer on a spring day, right? Well, Widmer Brothers makes a handful of memorable wheat beers. Our favorite of the bunch is its Imperial Hefe. This 8% ABV brew is made with 2-row malt and wheat as well as Citra and Idaho-7 hops. The result is an easy-drinking, tropical fruit and wheat-filled beer.
Tasting Notes:
A complex nose of ripe grapefruit, mango, tangerine, sweet wheat, bready malts, yeast, and light spices greets you before your first sip. Sipping it reveals notes of tangerine, lemon zest, grapefruit, mango, sweet malts, wheat, and light wintry spices. The finish is a nice mix of yeast, sweetness, and spice.
Bottom Line:
If you enjoy a nice hefeweizen on a hot spring day why not crack open the imperial version on a chilly spring night? We know we will.
This 8.5% ABV double IPA is one of Troegs’ spring releases for 2024. Brewed with Simcoe hops and flavored with mango, it’s a classic IPA with a tropical fruit twist. If you love juicy, fruity beers, and hoppy, floral, piney double IPAs, this is a can’t-miss beer this spring.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mix of grapefruit, sweet honey, hay, mango, caramelized pineapple, and floral, piney hops. The palate continues this trend with a ton of ripe mango, guava, pineapple, honey, fresh-cut grass, hay, and dank, piney hops. The finish is a great mix of tropical sweetness and gentle hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a must-try double IPA. It would be great just as a classic IPA, but it’s propelled to a whole new level with the addition of mango.
Redhook Big Juicy Ballard
ABV: 9.5%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
Releasing this month, Redhook Big Juicy Ballard is the newest release in the Big Ballard Series. Other releases include the Original, Hazy, and Tropical. This 9.5% ABV hazy IPA is juicy and loaded with citrus, tropical fruit flavor, and piney hops. It was created to pay homage to the bold, imperial IPAs that came before it.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this IPA nose. There are notes of tangerine, ripe orange, grapefruit, and other citrus aromas. There’s also a ton of tropical fruit and gentle pine. For a “juicy” IPA, it’s surprisingly crisp and refreshing with a good kick of orange peel, grapefruit, lemon, sweet malt, and more tropical fruit flavors. The finish is dry, hoppy, and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
This is a very unique IPA. It’s juicy and filled with citrus and tropical fruit flavors, but it’s also crisp, dry, and refreshing.
Adorned with the image of the vibrant, multi-colored pinata, this Mexican-style lager is a great choice for May (or any warm month of the year). This easy-drinking, no-frills, year-round lager has won multiple awards over the years. It’s known for its sweet, crushable body with just a hint of lime.
Tasting Notes:
You’ll find classic Mexican-style lager aromas when you nose this beer. There are notes of sweet corn, cereal grains, pale malts, honey, citrus peels, and floral hops. Drinking it brings forth notes of sweet corn, pale malts, cereal sweetness, orange peels, honey, hay, and grassy, floral hops. It’s gently sweet, crisp, and very refreshing,
Bottom Line:
There’s a reason Sun King Pachanga has won so many awards. It’s a simple, easy-drinking Mexican-style lager, but it’s surprisingly balanced.
When it comes to IPAs (especially hazy, New England-style IPAs), you can’t go wrong with the folks at Colorado’s Weldwerks. Its Juicy Bits is one of the most highly regarded hazy beers ever made. But, if you want a change of pace, opt for its DDH It’s a Unicorn Things. This double dry-hopped hazy imperial IPA is brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Lotus hops.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of sweet malts, tangerine, ripe peach, pineapple, pink grapefruit, mango, honeydew melon, and dank, piney hops are prevalent on the nose. The palate is loaded with notes of caramelized pineapple, sweet malts, honeydew melon, tangerine, lemon peel, mango, passionfruit, juicy peach, and prickly, lightly bitter, piney hops. The finish is sweet, sticky, and dry.
Bottom Line:
This is the kind of beer that takes multiple samples to unlock all the aromas and flavors. This is a juicy, flavor explosion of a beer.
The word “IPA” has been known to conjure up some negative images for drinkers who dislike the style. They imagine face-puckering, aggressively bitter, piney monstrosities they’d like to avoid at all costs. But while there’s a market for the dankest of dank, resinous, hop bombs that make you feel like you’ve fallen headfirst into a Christmas tree farm, there’s more to the IPA than the West Coast style.
Specifically, New England-style IPAs with their juicy, tropical fruit, and barely any bitterness.
For those unaware, the New England-style IPA is all about hop aroma and flavor without the expected bitterness. The hops (and other ingredients) used (as well as dry-hopping) give the beer a hazy, cloudy appearance and aromas and flavors like caramelized pineapple, guava, mango, ripe peach, tangerine, and other citrus flavors. It’s known to be juicy, flavorful, and much lower in bitterness than its IPA counterparts.
The best part? Many exceptional, highly-rated New England-style IPAs are available at most grocery stores and beer stores. To help you on your hazy IPA journey, we picked eight of the best and ranked them below.
With a name like Hazy Wonder, you better believe this is a juicy, hazy New England-style banger. It’s brewed with more hops than seems humanly possible. This includes Comet, Citra, Cashmere, Centennial, Chinook, Sabro, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops. To say this beer is loaded with hop aroma and flavor is an absolute understatement.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of ripe pineapple, guava, mango, passionfruit, and citrus peels. The palate has the same caramelized pineapple, mango, guava, and other tropic flavors but there are also hints of grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, grass, and light pine. The finish is sweet, fruit, and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
If you enjoy hazy IPAs, but can’t make up your mind about what hops you prefer. This is your beer. It pretty much has all of them.
Brewed with American hefeweizen yeast as well as pale malt, C-80 malts, wheat, and oats, it gets its hop aroma and flavor from the liberal use of Nugget, Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, and Citra hops. The result is a hazy, juicy beer known for its flavors of tropical fruits and zesty citrus peels.
Tasting Notes:
Before your first sip, you’ll be met with notes of grapefruit, pineapple, guava, mango, and tangerine. The palate is a mix of passionfruit, mango, pineapple, tangerine, lime, and just a hint of resinous pine. The finish is a nice mix of tropical fruits and spicy hops. There’s a gentle bitterness at the very end.
Bottom Line:
New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze is exactly as the name would make it appear. It’s a classic, juicy, tropical fruit-filled New England-style IPA.
Normally, you’d want to avoid a squall. But not when it’s a hazy squall from Dogfish Head. As is the tradition at the Delaware-based brewery, this beer is continuously hopped with Cascade hops before being dry-hopped with a secret blend of hops. The result is a pineapple, tangerine, tropical fruit, and hop-filled explosion with little to no bitterness.
Tasting Notes:
Big aromas of lime peels, tangerine, mandarin, grapefruit, mango, pineapple, and ripe peach greet you before your first taste. Drinking it reveals notes of caramelized pineapple, ripe oranges, lemons, grapefruit, mango, passionfruit, and just a hint of hoppy, piney bitterness. It’s tempered perfectly by the overall sweetness.
Bottom Line:
As hazy IPAs go, this stormy squall is all about the citrus and tropical fruit flavors. It has very little bitterness and that’s a good thing.
Oskar Blues is a big name in the American beer world with such hits as Dale’s Pale Ale and Mama’s Little Yella Pils. Back in 2022, it launched a New England-style IPA called Hazy Blues. This readily available, year-round offering is dry-hopped with Strata, Galaxy, and Citra hops. The result is a beer bursting at the seams with tropical fruit aromas and flavors.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mix of ripe berries, pineapple, tangerine, apricot, passionfruit, oats, pine needles, and mango. The palate is swirling with notes of candied orange peels, lime, honeydew melon, strawberry, mango, peach, pineapple, caramel malts, and grassy, lightly piney hops. The finish is sweet, and fruity, and has just a hint of hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is another hit from Colorado’s Oskar Blues. It’s a classic, balanced hazy IPA for true fans of the style.
We’re not sure what a “batsquatch” is. We can only assume it’s some mythical creature that’s half bat and half sasquatch. Either way, it has a beer made in its name featuring 2-row base malt, malted wheat, oat, and flaked wheat as well as imperial juice yeast, Mosaic, El Dorado, and Belma hops.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of strawberries, raspberries, tangerines, peaches, limes, honeydew melons, pineapple, caramel malts, mango, and pine needles are prevalent on the nose. Sipping it brings forth notes of grapefruit, pineapple, bready malts, apricots, raspberries, tangerines, and pine needles. The finish is sweet, juicy, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
While some hazy IPAs lean into one type of fruit, Batsquatch seems to have it all. Tropical fruits, citrus, melons, and even ripe berries.
Sixpoint describes this New England-style IPA as an after-shift beer that is best enjoyed on an airy stoop. Known for its cloudy, hazy, creamy mouthfeel, it’s brewed with Galaxy and Citra hops. This results in an IPA loaded with tropical fruit, citrus, and bright pine flavors and aromas.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of bready malts, tangerines, grapefruit, pineapple, nectarine, mango, guava, honeydew melon, and light pine needles. There’s more of the same on the palate with a nice caramel malt backbone and juicy apricot, pineapple, grapefruit, mandarin orange, mango, and grassy, piney hops. The finish is a nice mix of juicy fruit and light, piney bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This is a sweet, hazy, juicy, crushable beer that is aptly named as it’s a great choice after a long day of work.
When it comes to grocery store New England-style IPAs, there are few as well-known as Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing. It’s cloudy, borderline unfiltered, fruity, and lightly bitterly hopped. It gets these aromas, flavors, and attributes because it’s brewed with ale yeast, Munich malt, two-row pale malt, oats, and wheat. It’s “aggressively” dry-hopped with El Dorado, Citra, Mosaic, Magnum, and Simcoe hops.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. Ripe pineapple, grapefruit, peach, tangerine, caramel malt, passionfruit, berries, and pine are very noticeable. Drinking it reveals notes of peach, passionfruit, caramelized pineapple, bready malts, grapefruit, tangerine, mango, melons, and gently bitter hops. There’s a nice mix of astringency, fruit, and hop bitterness at the finish.
Bottom Line:
There’s something for every palate with this beer. Juicy fruit, astringency, and hop bitterness. It has it all.
Firestone Walker’s Mind Haze is so popular that it spawned a handful of offshoots. Still, there’s no beating the original. It’s brewed with two-row malt, Munich malt, wheat, torrified wheat, Blonde RoastOat malt, and oats. It’s hopped with Mandarina, Cascade, Azacca, El Dorado, Mosaic, Chinook, Cashmere, Callista, and Idaho 7 hops.
Tasting Notes:
Gentle aromas of tangerine, grapefruit, mango, peach, lemongrass, berries, passionfruit, pineapple, and pine start everything off on the right foot. The palate is loaded with caramel malts, juicy pineapple, grapefruit, apricot, passionfruit, guava, mango, orange peels, lemon, lime, grass, and pine needles. The finish is prickly, gently bitter, and filled with tropical fruit sweetness.
Bottom Line:
If you only purchase one grocery store New England-style IPA, make it Firestone Walker Mind Haze. It’s balanced, flavorful, and exceptionally drinkable any time of year.
Four Pillars/Tanqueray/Drumsanbo/Californias/istock/Uproxx
Gin is already one of the most flavorful spirits. While its base is a neutral spirit made from wheat, barley, corn, or another grain, it’s infused with juniper berries, orris roots, coriander, licorice, and various other herbs and botanicals. And though gins vary based on style and the flavors distillers choose to add to them, you can guarantee when you open a bottle of gin, you’ll be greeted with a spirit loaded with pine and other floral and herbal aromas and flavors.
But even though most (if not all) gins are already exceptionally aromatic and flavorful on their own, some distilleries choose to add other flavors as well. We’re talking about ingredients like berries, elderflowers, jalapeno peppers, cherries, and of course citrus fruits. While we love all the other flavored gins, it’s the latter we’re most interested in today.
There are a bunch of noteworthy citrus-flavored gins on the market. Many are perfect for mixing into a gin & tonic, gimlet, or even a negroni. We found eight of the best, balanced, citrus gins and ranked them on overall flavor and mixability. Keep scrolling to see them all.
When it comes to Southern style, there are few things as timeless as a seersucker suit. This gin gets its name from that iconic material. And while it makes a variety of gins, one of our favorites is its Southern Style Grapefruit Gin. This gin is flavored with juniper, cardamom, coriander, and rosemary, and gets its citrus element from zesty, tart grapefruit juice.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is a mix of classic piney juniper, coriander, aromatic rosemary, citrus peels, and other gentle, wintry spices. The palate begins with a nice kick of pine-forward juniper berries before making way for rosemary, cinnamon, cardamom, and a nice grapefruit flavor throughout. It has a nice mix of spice and tart, refreshing grapefruit.
Bottom Line:
This is not your average gin. It relies on a few flavors to get its point across but does it surprisingly well. If you enjoy gentle spices and a lot of grapefruit flavor, this is your gin.
7.) Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin with California Orange Citrus
Distilled in medieval copper pot stills, this gin is a blend of 8 pot still and 4 vapor-infused botanicals. It’s flavored with some classic gin ingredients as well as Oriental lemon, Oriental lime, fresh grapefruit, and Gunpowder tea. But this particular gin gets its unique, citrus profile from the use of California oranges.
Tasting Notes:
Before your first sip, you’ll be met with scents of herbal tea, pine, bright orange zest, and other citrus aromas. Drinking it reveals notes of juniper berries, spicy tea, candied orange peel, lemongrass, and gentle spices. It’s sweet, citrusy, and lightly spicy in the best way possible.
Bottom Line:
If your idea of a great start to a day is a tall glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, this is the gin for you. It’s herbal, spicy, and perfectly flavored with California oranges.
On top of the expected juniper-forward herbs and botanicals, Malfy Con Limone is flavored with Italian “sun-ripened” lemons and Amalfi lemon peel. The result is a lemon-centered gin perfect for mixing into your favorite cocktails.
Tasting Notes:
While there are noticeable aromas of piney juniper, this gin is definitely lemon and orange. The nose is loaded with citrus in the most welcoming way. There’s more of the same on the palate with a juniper backbone, anise, coriander, and a ton of lemon flavor.
Bottom Line:
This is one for the true lemon fans. While it’s balanced with juniper and other botanicals, the real star is the fragrant and flavorful lemon.
If you didn’t know it already, yuzu is a citrus fruit grown in various parts of the world, but with its origin in Asia. Instead of the usual grapefruit, lemon, or lime, the distillers at Four Pillars decided to flavor this gin with the aromatic, flavorful yuzu.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find aromas of piney juniper, light herbal spices, grass, and lemon peel. The palate is loaded with a mix of grapefruit, Mandarin orange, juniper berries, and a nice kick of lemon zest. The finish is sweet, warm, and filled with lemon goodness.
Bottom Line:
This is the gin was fans of Lemon Head candy. It’s sweet, lemony, and well-suited for mixing into Spanish gin tonics and other gin-based drinks.
In recent years, Sipsmith has become one of the more popular gin brands in the world. While it makes a handful of flavored gins, we believe the best is Sipsmith Lemon Drizzle. This citrus explosion is made with sundried lemon peels, lemon verbena, and vapor-infused fresh lemons.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of pine needles, coriander, orange peels, and lemon zest start this gin off on a perfect foot. The palate has hints of juniper, pine, vanilla beans, tangerine, lemon peels, and gentle spices. The finish is a nice mix of warming spice and sweet and tart lemon.
Bottom Line:
This subtle lemon-centered gin deserves a permanent spot on your home bar. It’s the kind of bottle you’ll always want on hand for mixing.
You probably already have a bottle of Tanqueray London Dry Gin in your bar cart. But if you don’t have a bottle of Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla Gin, you’re missing out. The key is in its simplicity. It’s flavored with juniper, coriander, angelica, licorice, Sevilla oranges, and orange blossoms.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find pine, orange blossoms, cracked black pepper, licorice, and orange zest. Sipping it reveals notes of juniper, pepper, licorice, and juicy tangerine. Spicy, citrus-filled, and highly memorable.
Bottom Line:
This is a simple, delicious, surprisingly complex gin that’s well-suited for mixing into a gimlet or another gin cocktail.
This African gin is flavored with some of the most unique ingredients you’re likely to find in the gin world. It gets its unique flavor from the addition of the Marula fruit, baobab fruit, burnt orange peel, cinnamon, coriander, and sea salt (on top of classic juniper and other herbs and botanicals).
Tasting Notes:
Breathing in the nose, you’ll find hints of pine needles, coriander, cinnamon, and bright orange zest. Sipping it brings forth notes of juniper, cinnamon, coriander, ripe orange, and a nice kick of saline at the finish. Sweet, salty, and very mixable.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a unique gin to mix into a gin & tonic, try this spiced, citrus-filled, and lightly salty gin.
Las Californias makes its gins with herbs and botanicals sourced from both the US and Mexico. Its Citrico gin is flavored with California juniper berries, citrus leaves and peels, lemongrass, almond, grapevine leaves, fig, and even apricot.
Tasting Notes:
A lot is going on with this gin’s nose. There are hints of herbal tea, licorice, grapefruit, orange peels, and light floral aromas. The palate is a mix of juniper berries, fennel, mint, cracked black pepper, grapefruit, and a bold hint of orange zest.
Bottom Line:
If you only buy one gin on this list, make it this one. It’s a complex, aromatic, flavorful gin that might be centered on citrus but has a ton of other memorable flavors.
The sun is out, the sky is clear. We’re leaving jackets in the closet, and our sleeves are getting shorter. It’s iced coffee season babe! Yes, I just “babe’d” you. Sorry. Don’t screenshot me.
Anyway, iced coffee — it’s delicious, cheap, and for a reason no one can explain, it tastes even better before work. We all have that coworker who rolls in 15-20 minutes late with an iced coffee in hand, you might be that person, and if you are, you know that the move is completely justified.
Whether you’re a Starbucks or Dunkin’ person, there is great iced coffee to be had just about anywhere a drive-thru can be found, hell, even McDonald’s could hold its own in a blind taste test of iced coffees. No judgment on which drive-thru you like to frequent, but if you’ve ever found yourself crawling through an around-the-block line minutes before your shift starts, you might’ve wondered, “Is there another option out there that is just as good if not better than my fav?”
To help expand your options, we’re naming the best iced coffee in all of fast food and ranking them from good to great. For this ranking, we’ve defaulted to vanilla iced coffee. Why vanilla? Because it’s the one flavor that every brand has in common, so while it isn’t always my preference, this was the simplest way to keep the criteria consistent. Let’s dive in.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Food Rankings From The Last Month
Every time that I’ve tried the BK Café Vanilla Iced Coffee, it’s been incredibly bitter and acidic. That leads me to believe the brand is over-roasting the beans. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough vanilla flavoring in the world to cover that up.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this drink isn’t sweet, it is. But while a lot of fast food iced coffees are designed to indulge your sweet tooth in the best way, there is a stomach-turning quality with this one that I can’t get behind.
The Bottom Line:
Like a lot of Burger King’s menu, the BK Café needs a massive revamp.
9. Taco Bell — Iced Cinnabon Delight
Taco Bell
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Taco Bell’s Iced Cinnabon Delight gets to be on our list on a technicality. Yes, this is “Cinnabon flavored” (sort of), but it’s also sweetened with vanilla creamer. So technically, it’s a vanilla iced coffee. Unfortunately, twisting ourselves into a pretzel to include this on our list wasn’t even worth it at the end of the day.
I wanted this to be good, I like Taco Bell and I love Cinnabon, but the coffee base is straight-up awful. It’s sour, highly acidic, and has an off-putting aftertaste that stains the tongue. The drink is sweet, but there is nothing really resembling Cinnabon in its flavor profile. I definitely taste the vanilla though, so the inclusion on this list is justified.
The Bottom Line:
Absolutely no redeeming qualities here.
8. Wendy’s — Vanilla Frosty-ccino
Burger King
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
On paper, the Frosty-ccino sounds interesting. It’s cold-brewed coffee sweetened with vanilla and creamer made from the famous Frosty base. Conceptually, I love it. In execution? It misses the mark. The coffee here is incredibly watered down, it tastes more like dirty water than a proper brew. Only on the aftertaste do you get any coffee flavor, and what is there is unwelcomingly bitter.
With 28 grams of sugar, I was expecting more of a vanilla prominence in the flavor profile but unfortunately, this one fails to deliver.
The Bottom Line:
Conceptually it’s a winner, but you’re better off just getting a Frosty. It’s not like you’re going to taste much of the coffee anyway.
7. Jack in the Box — Vanilla Sweet Cream
Jack in the Box
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
I’m a bit lukewarm on this one. On the one hand, I like the mix of cream and vanilla that gives this drink its sweetness. It’s delicate, slightly floral, and pleasing to the tastebuds. But the coffee itself tastes a bit burnt and over-roasted.
The coffee has a blunt taste to it with a lingering sour aftertaste that stains the breath.
The Bottom Line:
Jack in the Box is close to a decent iced coffee here, but they’ll have to up the quality of their coffee if they want to rank any higher than this.
6. Sonic — French Vanilla Cold Brew Iced Coffee
Sonic
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Lately, Sonic has been placing pretty highly in our food rankings, so if you’ve written this chain off, you might want to give it a fair shot. This coffee is smooth with a delicate and creamy sweetness that finishes with a soothing earthy-bitter bite.
The coffee is very good with a sort of mocha-quality and subtle notes of cherry hovering over a sweet roasted flavor. If anything, the only thing holding this coffee back is the artificial French vanilla flavoring.
The Bottom Line:
The coffee is good, so skip the vanilla and just go for the base flavor with some sweet cream.
5. Dunkin’ — French Vanilla Swirl
Dunkin
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Wow is this stuff sweet! The French Vanilla Swirl has this delicious, buttery, homemade cookie vibe that is decadent and indulgent in the best way. Unfortunately, what you don’t taste is the coffee itself. The roasted, nutty, and bitter notes of coffee are impossible to decipher under the punishing sweetness.
Sometimes, that’s the vibe you’re looking for, but we’re going to have to rank this one lower because of its lack of balance.
The Bottom Line:
If what you’re really after is sugar, this one delivers. It’s so sweet you can’t even taste the coffee.
4. McDonald’s — Iced French Vanilla Coffee
McDonald
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
By now I’m going to assume it’s common knowledge that McDonald’s iced coffee, and everything else on the McCafe menu, is pretty good. But I think there is something else at play here. The expectation is so low on McDonald’s coffee, that people tend to overrate the stuff. Yes it’s good, but better than Starbucks? Not a chance.
The coffee is smooth and refreshing with a nutty roasted quality while the vanilla is a bit flat and one-dimensional. It’s sweet, sweeter than it needs to be and while I think it’s pretty good overall, it lacks dimension and nuance.
The Bottom Line:
McDonald’s Iced French Vanilla Coffee will exceed expectations — but don’t mistake that thinking this is better than it is. It’s merely a pretty good iced coffee.
3. Starbucks — Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew
Starbucks
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Starbucks probably can’t compete with your local independent coffee shop but compared to the competition in the fast food space this stuff tastes straight-up elevated. Over a soft and smooth coffee base with some bitter dark chocolate notes and rich cherry, sits a syrupy sweet vanilla that manages to actually capture some of the floral notes of a vanilla bean.
It’s not mind-blowingly delicious, and the aftertaste is a bit too sour for my liking, but it has an emphasis on the coffee that a lot of the other drinks on this list lack.
The Bottom Line:
Very good, but just shy of great.
2. Panera — Madagascar Vanilla Cream Cold Brew
Panera
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Believe me when I say people are sleeping on Panera’s coffee. Using a cold brew base, the drink has a great toasty depth to it with subtle notes of sweet cherry. The vanilla syrup is sweet, but not to the point of tasting like candy, instead, it’s natural, floral, and deep.
One big change with this drink compared to others on this list is the use of half and half in place of skim milk. It gives the drink a creamier body.
The Bottom Line:
Rich and complex with a coffee prominence that is a pleasure to taste.
1. Chick-fil-A — Vanilla Iced Coffee
Chick fil A
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
Chick-fil-A’s greatest secret weapon is its drinks menu. Soda aside, there isn’t a single drink, be it iced tea, lemonade, or the various seasonal juices on the Chick-fil-A menu, that hasn’t eclipsed everything else in the fast food universe. And that extends to the brand’s iced coffee as well.
The coffee is freshly brewed, you can taste it. The coffee has a rich and light butterscotch flavor with a smooth toasted body that is peppered with citrus top notes. All of that flavor, before the vanilla!
The vanilla syrup is sweet but most importantly, it complements the base coffee flavor, giving the drink a wonderful finish that erases any trace of bitterness.
The Bottom Line:
Rich, complex, sweet, and creamy, it’s everything a great iced coffee should be.
Welcome to SNX DLX, your weekly roundup of the best sneakers to hit the internet. Drake just can’t catch a break can he? Not only is he fighting a rap beef on multiple fronts — including being humiliated by Kendrick, over, and over again — but even in the world of sneakers, he has Bad Bunny to compete with.
This week’s big match-up is the NOCTA Hot Step 2 vs the Adidas Bad Bunny Last Campus. And as much as the NOCTA Hot Step 2 has grown on us, we’ve got to give this one to Bad Bunny. Benito has the cooler shoe.
Aside from those two sneakers, we’ve also got the welcome return of the Nike Cortez, in its classic red, white, and blue colorway, as well as the latest LeBron IV, a new women’s exclusive Vomero and a stealthy Jordan 1 Shadow. It’s a light drop week but everything here is really strong.
The LA classic is back! After sitting in the Nike vault for some time now — only coming out for special releases — it looks like the Cortez is back in the roster, and what better way to reintroduce the shoe than with its most classic colorway.
The sneaker features an all-leather upper with a warp-resistant build that is wider at the toe with firm side panels designed to weather abuse. You’re going to need a tough exterior so these sneakers last a long time, because who knows when Nike brings this colorway back from the vaults.
The Nike Cortez Varsity Red, White & Blue is out now for a retail price of $110. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
We get an abundance of drops bearing LeBron’s name, but rarely do we get treated to one of the earlier models. Considering the ‘00s are in vogue right now, it makes sense that Nike would reach for the LeBron IV, which was first dropped in 2006 and features some of the retro-futuristic design details of the era.
The sneaker features a molded Foamposite upper with thick adjustable balances and an upper dressed in Black and Varsity Purple over a translucent outsole. We’re digging the metallic sheen on the upper, which gives the sneaker an alien-esque vibe.
The Nike Zoom LeBron IV Black and Varsity Purple is out now for a retail price of $250. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.
The ongoing Kendrick-Drake beef is so hot that we feel some secondhand embarrassment for Drake. While his bars haven’t been up to par, the same can’t be said for his footwear game.
The NOCTA HOT STEP 2 is dope. It features a synthetic leather upper with reflective details throughout and an all-over white colorway.
It’s elegant, minimal, and ultra-clean. Everything a good sneaker should be. The only bad thing about picking up this sneaker is that everyone will know
you’re a Drake fan, so random people are probably going to go up to you and ask for your take on the battle.
The Nike NOCTA Hot Step 2 White is set to drop on May 9th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $200. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
Released as part of the “Designed by Japan,” series, Nike is dropping its best Vomero 5 colorway of the year. What makes this iteration of the sneaker special is the elevated construction. In place of the synthetic upper with plastic detailing we have a full-grain leather build with suede panels and an oversized swoosh.
It’s a simple change up but it gives the sneaker a different look and vibe. This just might be the greatest Vomero 5 ever released!
The Nike Women’s Vomero 5 Premium Designed by Japan is set to drop on May 10th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $180. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app.
Benito’s latest with Adidas looks to his Most Wanted Tour and new album for its design cues. Inspired by cowboy and western motifs, this Campus sports a suede upper in dark brown with white and pink accents, a double tongue and heel, and textile lining.
Breaking up the design is an overwrapped midsole that makes the shape of a gentle wave. It’s a strong design — as usual — from Adidas and their greatest collaborator right now, Bad Bunny.
The Adidas Bad Bunny Last Campus Dark Brown is set to drop on May 11th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $160. Pick up a pair via the Adidas CONFIRMED app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.
A stealthy low-top Jordan 1? Say less. Picking up this sneaker is a no-brainer, and if you’ve never owned a Jordan 1 but always wanted one, let this be your first.
The sneaker is designed to original specs and sports a premium leather upper with a stealthy color block black and grey colorway. This is one of the all-time greatest Jordan colorways, so it’s not a surprise that it’s the most hyped release of the week.
The Air Jordan 1 Low OG Shadow is set to drop on May 11th at 7:00 AM PST for a retail price of $140. Pick up a pair via the Nike SNKRS app or aftermarket sites like GOAT and Flight Club.
NikeNike
Disclaimer: While all of the products recommended here were chosen independently by our editorial staff, Uproxx may receive payment to direct readers to certain retail vendors who are offering these products for purchase.
When Caitlin Clark signed her massive sneaker contract with Nike earlier this year, which included the announcement of a signature shoe, many wondered if the rookie sensation had jumped some other top stars in line for their own sneaker.
The biggest name among them was A’ja Wilson, as the Aces star has a strong argument for being the best women’s basketball player on the planet, leading Vegas to back-to-back titles. There was some backlash that Clark was getting a shoe before Wilson, but that appears to have simply been a matter of announcement timing.
On Saturday, Nike and Wilson announced the 2025 release of the A’One, and dropped some images of Wilson working with Nike’s design team over the last year on the sneaker (helping show this wasn’t simply a response to the outcry but in the works long before Clark signed her pro deal).
We will have to wait a bit for full details and images on Wilson’s sneaker, but one would expect it to be another low top model. How they differentiate it from the other signatures will be interesting, but given A’ja’s unique style there should be plenty of ways for them to create something that stands out. The importance of Wilson getting a shoe is significant, as she will be the first Black WNBA player with a signature shoe since 2010.
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