Being in the service industry can be hard. People have to spend long hours on their feet, deal with repetitive movements that can create pain and sometimes interact with not so nice customers. When you rely on tips for survival on top of everything else, it can feel like a bit of a gut punch when someone decides not to leave you one despite how good your service was.
One customer must’ve realized the disappointment that can occur after not receiving a tip when serving tables because he went out of his way to give one. In a post shared on Reddit, a customer revealed in a letter that he realized he took the wrong receipt after leaving. Instead of taking the blank one, he took the merchant’s copy which holds the tip amount and his signature.
The error was discovered when he was checking his bank account and saw the amount taken off of his card was not the amount he expected. That’s when he decided to check the receipt from that day and saw the error.
Instead of just brushing it off and moving on, the man wrote out a note explaining what happened with a sincere apology along with a $20 cash tip and delivered it to the restaurant.
The note read, “When I checked my bank statement Tuesday (1/2) I noticed that the pending withdrawal tied to my and my wife’s lunches did not appear to be correct. Relying on memory (never a good thing) I had in mind that the scheduled withdrawal should have been larger. I pulled my receipts and discovered that I had inadvertently retained the signed merchant’s copy of my VISA receipts when I left your restaurant Saturday (12/30) afternoon. As a result, while the food was fully paid, the tip which I had intended to leave for our server, Hope C, was not relayed back to VISA. I can only trust that Hope will forgive my blunder. Please find the enclosed her tip in cash. That was no way for either of us to end 2023. Here’s to a fresh start.”
Ted, the forgetful patron ended the note with an apology to the manager and the server. After the photo went viral on the social media platform, commenters told their own stories of people going out of their way to make things right.
One commenter writes, “Been about 30 years or so but my grandfather would take me on trips in the summer to visit relatives. We were driving to Florida and we stopped to get gas. We leave and drive 50 or 60 miles. My grandpa pulls over and says I never paid for the gas. We turned around and drove all the way back to pay for the gas.”
Another says, “I once forgot to pay for my dry cleaning when I picked it up. I went back the next day to give them the cash and they said ‘You came back!’ the second I walked in. I was very surprised that this wouldn’t be the default behavior of everyone.”
The Reddit thread shows that there are still good people in the world that will go out of their way to correct a mistake or make someone’s day.
Tony Trapani and his wife were married for 50 years despite the heartache of being unable to have children. “She wanted children,” Trapani told Fox 17. “She couldn’t have any. She tried and tried.” Even though they endured the pain of infertility, Tony’s love for his wife never wavered and he cherished every moment they spent together.
After his wife passed away when Tony was 81 years old, he undertook the heartbreaking task of sorting out all of her belongings. That’s when he stumbled upon a carefully concealed letter in a filing cabinet hidden for over half a century.
The letter was addressed to Tony and dated March 1959, but this was the first time he had seen it. His wife must have opened it, read it and hid it from him. The letter came from Shirley Childress, a woman Tony had once been close with before his marriage. She reached out, reminiscing about their past and revealing a secret that would change Tony’s world forever.
“Dear Tony, I bet you are surprised to hear from me after so many years. I was just thinking about you tonight like so many other nights. But I thought I would write you and find out how you are,” the letter reads. “Tony, please don’t be angry or surprised to hear this. I have a little boy. He is five-years- old now – grey eyes and beautiful black hair. What I am trying to say Tony is he is your son.”
“Please, Tony if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, please come and see him,” Shirley wrote in the letter. “Every day he asks me where is his daddy and believe me Tony I can’t even answer him anymore. If would be forever grateful to you if you would just see him. … I’ll close now hoping and praying you will answer. P.S. His name is Samuel Duane.”
Now, Tony faced the fact that he had a son that would be around 60 years old and he set out to find him. For over a year, Trapani’s sister tried to track down the mysterious Samuel Duane Childress, until she finally contacted his wife, Donna.
Tony and Samuel met in January 2015 and he felt like a new dad. After meeting his father, Samuel said his mother told him she sent the letter, but Tony never responded. “Why my wife didn’t tell me,” said Trapani. “I don’t know. She wanted children. She couldn’t have any. She tried and tried.”
“I always asked my mom, I said, ‘Well what does he look like?” Samuel said. “She said, ‘Well, go look in the mirror.”
Tony Trapani, 81, meets his son for the first time after finding a hidden letter from 1959. https://t.co/iNSKVMjnjv
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The two met and caught up on a lifetime of memories with the understanding that they could never change the past. “Just to know him now is so important to me. It’s going to fill that void,” Samuel said. But just to be sure, Tony took a paternity test to ensure they were father and son.
The test came back negative, revealing that Tony was not the father. The news upset Tony and Samuel, but they still had a unique bond. They shared a relationship with Samuel’s mother and both have been on an incredibly wild ride after Tony found the mysterious letter.
“They’re keeping that bond,” Donna said. “That paper doesn’t mean anything to him. That bond has been made—and we’re going to move on from here.”
Cole Bennett continues to make good on his promise to drop a video for every song on the Lyrical Lemonade compilation album, All Is Yellow. Today (February 22), the prolific video director has shared the video for the album’s opening track, “Fly Away,” which features Sheck Wes, Ski Mask The Slump God, and JID.
In the song’s accompanying video, Ski Mask emerges from Lyrical Lemonade’s signature yellow curtain, sitting upon a yellow throne as he delivers his scorching verse.
The video then cuts to JID, who shines bright in a dark room, putting his lyrical ability and his star power on full display. The rappers are all seen in black suits and yellow ties throughout the visual.
In an interview with Paste, Bennett shared that for the All Is Yellow album, he wanted to tie the videos together using the yellow curtains and accessories.
“It’s gotten to the point where the audience’s eye has now been trained to see a black suit and a yellow tie, without any context beyond that, and know exactly what it means,” said Bennett. “And that’s super exciting to me, to be able to drive home a theme that far.”
The NBA regular season resumed on Thursday after a week-long hiatus built around All-Star Weekend. While the majority of the league’s personnel had several days off, Kevin Durant was busy for at least part of the break, representing the Phoenix Suns as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team in Indianapolis. Following what was hopefully at least a small respite for Durant and other All-Stars, the Suns took on the Dallas Mavericks in a highly intriguing road game in front of a national television audience on the first night of the second half.
Before tip-off actually happened, however, Durant was involved in a notable interaction with a pair of Mavericks fans in Dallas. In short, one of the fans called Durant a “b*tch,” and the 35-year-old former MVP did not take kindly to that.
Mavs fan calls Kevin Durant “a b*tch” and KD pauses to have words.
Security about to kick the fans out when KD comes back to tell them not to kick them out. pic.twitter.com/CTqPnM4T16
As you can see in the pair of videos, Durant was at least relatively cordial with the fans and ultimately stopped security personnel from removing them from the premises. It was also remarkable to see the change in tone from the couple as soon as Durant turned around to acknowledge what was said in the first place.
In particular, the fan saying “I host a podcast about sports,” as if that was going to mean anything here, is ridiculous. Alas, Durant is more than willing to mix it up with fans during the game and, this time, he didn’t have to wait until the game was actually happening because a fan was completely out of line before the opening tip.
Selena Gomez has another bop on her hands. Today (February 22), she shared her steamy new single, “Love On.”
Over a groovy, bouncy beat, Gomez teases a lover, letting him know that while things are heating up, there’s more to come, as she is about to turn her love on. The song itself feels like a luxury, as she details the fantasies of all the places they can get wild.
“Why are we conversing over this steak tartare / When we could be somewhere other than here / Making out in the back of a car / Or in the back of a bar / Or we could make a memoir,” she sings on one of the song’s verses.
The song’s accompanying video matches the audio’s opulent energy, as Gomez is seen enjoying dinner at a hotel in Paris, surrounded by couples embracing and making out.
“Love On” is expected to appear on Gomez’s upcoming fourth studio album (which will be her third under Interscope). Additionally, Gomez is hard at work filming the fourth season of Only Murders In The Building, and recently signed on to a reboot of her breakthrough series, Wizards Of Waverly Place.
It’s been an incredible month for SZA. At this year’s Grammys, the “Snooze” hitmaker took home three awards, delivered a killer performance of two of her SOS fan favorites, and launched an environmentally conscious partnership with Mastercard. As part of the launch, she premiered a new commercial, which contained a preview of a new song, “Saturn,” from her upcoming SOS reissue, LANA.
Today (February 22), SZA finally released “Saturn” on streaming platforms.
On “Saturn,” SZA finds herself questioning the meaning of life, and wondering if the condition of the world around her is currently as good as it’s going to get.
“Sick of this head of mine / Intrusive thoughts, they paralyze / Thе fun is not as advertised / Therе’s got to be more, been here before,” SZA sings on the song’s hook.
According to a press release which accompanied the initial launch of SZA’s Mastercard campaign, “Saturn” will appear on LANA, however, she has not shared an official release date for the project. The audio bundle for “Saturn” comes with the standard version of the song, a live version which was featured in the Mastercard campaign, an instrumental, a sped-up version, and an acapella version.
You can listen to “Saturn” above and stream the audio bundle here.
We’ve long known that baleen whales sing underwater and that males sing in tropical waters to attract females for mating. What we haven’t known is how they’re able to do it.
When humans make sound underwater, we expel air over through our vocal chords and the air we release rises to the surface as bubbles. But baleen whales don’t have vocal chords, and they don’t create bubbles when they vocalize. Toothed whales, such as sperm whales, beaked whales, dolphins and porpoises, have an organ in their nasal passages that allows them to vocalize, but baleen whales such as humpback, gray and blue whales don’t.
Whales are notoriously difficult to study because of their size and the environment they require, which is why the mechanism behind whale song has remained a mystery for so long. It’s not like scientists can just pluck a whale out of the ocean and stick it in an x-ray machine while it’s singing to see what’s happening inside its body to create the sound. Scientists had theories, but no one really knew how baleen whales sing.
To figure it out, a research team blew air through larynxes that had been removed from three juvenile whales that had died after being stranded—one humpback, one minke and one sei whale. They discovered that the design of these “voice boxes” and the mechanism they use to create sound is unique among mammals.
The study, published in the journal Nature, describes a u-shaped structure with a cushion of fat and muscle that allows air to be recycled and prevents water from being inhaled. When air is pushed through it, part of the fatty cushion vibrates and creates the low frequency sound we call whale song.
“We’ve never seen this in any other animal,” lead author Coen Elemans told AFP. “This is a completely novel adaptation, and we think this allowed these large whales to make sound in the water while basically holding their breath.”
The low frequency of their singing also sheds light on how human shipping activity can impact these whales’ ability to communicate. Whale singing tops out at a frequency of 300 hertz, and whales have to be near the ocean’s surface to sing. Since boat sounds range from 30 to 300 hertz and are at the surface of the water, our activity can interfere with whales’ communication and reproductive behaviors in ways whales aren’t able to adapt to.
“They cannot simply choose to, for example, sing higher to avoid the noise we make in the ocean,” Elemans explained to BBC News, adding additional context for why it matters. “[These are some] of the most enigmatic animals that ever lived on the planet. They are amongst the biggest animals, they’re smart and they’re highly social.”
Whale populations have seen a positive turnaround since most countries put an end to commercial whaling, but now the threat is less direct. Since whales live in a mostly acoustic world under the waves, the noise created by boats and shipping vessels can affect their behavior. Since whales can’t “outsing” our boat noises, we need to alter our own behavior prevent negatively impacting theirs.
In February 2024, the U.S. Coast Guard launched a “cetacean desk” that alerts regional ferries and commercial vessels in Washington State’s Salish Sea to whale sightings in an attempt to prevent collisions and reduce noise when whales are known to be present. The alert system utilizes apps where mariners and civilians can report whale sightings, which are then passed on to captains.
Whale vocalizations are incredibly diverse and wide-ranging, and there’s a lot we still don’t know about how they communicate. We know that they vocalize to find one another in the murky depths and that males sing to attract females, but more research is needed to learn about the intricacies of their vocal repertoire.
But at least now scientists have a better picture of the “how,” which is one step closer to better understanding these massive, magnificent creatures.
Gem & Jam Festival celebrated its 16th annual edition earlier this month and it was nothing short of spectacular. The three-day music, art, performance, and gem festival welcomed 4,500 attendees to the scenic desert landscapes of Tucson, Arizona’s Pima County Fairgrounds for an independently-curated music experience illuminated by the sun-kissed Saguaro cacti.
Priding itself on offering a genre-blending music lineup, the weekend saw an impressive lineup of artists and special live collaborations including LP Giobbi, Andy Frasco & The U.N., lespecial, The Disco Biscuits, Maddy O’Neal, Of The Trees, Boogie T, Daily Bread, Lettuce, Spafford, Gone Gone Beyond, and more. When not on the dancefloor, attendees were able to choose their own desert adventure with holistic and educational workshops, locally-curated culinary experiences, a vendor bazaar, and a mineral and gems shop.
Along with the music, the festival also completed its third partnership with environmental festival organization Green Disco. The partnership sold 100% hemp Eco-Bands directly supporting the Million Trees Project and local organization Tucson Clean & Beautiful, resulting in over 150 trees planted to shade an entire local neighborhood. Relive the sparkling experience of Gem & Jam Festival with this stunning photo gallery and make your plans to attend this music-fueled desert destination in 2025.
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When it comes to the bulk of Scotch whisky on the shelf, the proof is almost always low. Scotch — blended or single malt — usually comes in at 40%, 43%, or 46% ABV (80 proof, 86 proof, and 92 proof). While traditional, that’s a pretty low-proof point for whiskey in the 21st century. The thing is, there are much higher-proof Scotch whiskies hiding on the very same shelf — often, you only need to tilt your head up or check behind the glass.
Below, I’m naming 15 cask-strength Scotch whiskies that all deserve your attention. These should be relatively easy to track down at good whiskey shops, online (The Whisky Exchange in the UK delivers to the US!), or at great whiskey bars. I did rank these whiskies as there’s a lot of variation and some of them are simply wildly better than others. Still, they’re all good.
Lastly, I didn’t go too crazy with the prices. There are some very rare and pricey whiskies below, but I keep out of the bottles that cost tens of thousands of dollars or more. These are all gettable bottles from the last year that you’ll see around. You won’t have to go to an auction or join some elite whisky group overseas to find these. That’s not to say that there aren’t some pricey whiskies below. But even then, they’re 100% worth those price tags.
Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
The 14.1 Edition of Ocotmore is made with 100% Scottish-grown Concerto barley that was heavily peated during the malting process. The barley was fermented and distilled in 2017 and left in the barrel to age — in ex-bourbon casks — next to the sea on Islay until 2023 when it was batched and bottled 100% as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a bold sense of fresh rubber bicycle tires that are hard to get past. Eventually, the sip reveals coconut cake, rich vanilla, soft buttery toffee, roasted almonds, and salted caramel all smoked next to a seaweed-fed fire as whispers of slow-smoked pork butt.
Palate: Smoked lemons preserved in salt open the palate toward vanilla buttercream cut with toffee and stewed pear, cinnamon bark, and clove before soft smoldering charcoal and burnt honeycombs veer the palate toward dark chocolate-covered espresso beans, floral honey, and eggnog spice.
Finish: That creamy eggnog spiciness mounts on the finish with saltwater-soaked applewood charcoal, nasturtiums, and a deep sense of old earthy peat that’s part black soil, part dry smoldering seaweed, and part smoked fatty pork meat with a light sense of red berries lurking underneath.
Bottom Line:
No list of cask-strength Scotch whisky is complete without an Octomore. The latest releases were bombastic peated malts that are not for the faint of heart. These whiskies almost dare you to hate them, and people love that. The fact that they’re not for everyone is the point. You’ve been warned.
14. The Singleton Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 14 Years “The Silken Gown” Special Release 2023
The Singleton is a great gateway unpeated malt. It’s purposefully built to be subtle and welcoming and that’s especially true of their 2023 Special Edition. This release takes the malt and finishes it in Chardonnay de Bourgogne French Oak casks until they’re just right. Once small batched, the whisky is bottled 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is buttery and lush with a sense of fresh sweet apples and overripe pears next to salted toffee rolled in almonds and just kissed with cinnamon and nutmeg before this whisper of yellow melon skins arrives.
Palate: The butteriness takes on a fresh and almost sour note (in a great way) before soft oak arrives with more subtle winter spices, soft sultanas soaked in pear brandy, and a touch of caramel cut with candied citrus.
Finish: The end softens toward more toffee and butter as the wood leans sweet and softly spiced with hints of plums, apricots, and stewed pears with a whisp of saffron.
Bottom Line:
On the completely other end of the spectrum, this is probably the most crowd-pleasing whisky on the list — at least the most accessible. This is soft and lush with a deep warmth that accents creamy toffee and vibrant fruits. It’s a dream to sip.
13. The Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This version of The Glenlivet is aged for years in first-fill Oloroso sherry oak. Those casks are vatted and rested and then the whisky goes into the bottle at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Mince meat pies, sticky toffee pudding, and dark caramel drive the nose toward apricot jam and marmalade next to buttery scones cut with cinnamon and a whisper of real black licorice.
Palate: The palate is luscious with a sense of creamed honey leading to whipped butter, dark and sharp marmalade, and a thick layer of salted dark chocolate cut with lavender and cinnamon.
Finish: That cinnamon takes on sharpness with anise and allspice on the finish next to soft creamy vanilla, chocolate, and orange cream as warmth builds toward buzzing on the back of your senses.
Bottom Line:
This whisky packs a small punch that plays well with the darker chocolate and spice notes next to equally dark fruits. This is a very easy sipper if you’re already acclimated to warmer bourbons.
12. Roseisle Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 12 Years “The Origami Kite” Special Release 2023
Diageo adds a unique release to its Special Release lineup every year and 2023’s honor went to Roseisle. The distillery and malt house are very new, it opened in 2010. The whisky in this new release is a 12-year-old single malt that was aged in first-fill ex-bourbon and re-fill ex-bourbon casks for all 12 of those years. Once batched, the whisky was bottled 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Rich and silky bourbon vanilla pops on the nose with a clear sense of stewed apples and pears with plenty of winter spice, buttery caramel, and almost tart red berries just starting to dry out and sweeten.
Palate: That vanilla really amps up on the palate as the red fruit sweetens and darkens toward raspberry crumble and brandy-soaked cherry before this lush sense of macadamia nut cookies arrives with a burnt sugar vibe (think of fresh cookies from the oven).
Finish: Finally, the old oak arrives with a deep winter spice bark vibe over hints of white chocolate mocha lattes that are verging on eggnog territory with a whisper of (very mild) peppermint and nutmeg working in tandem.
Bottom Line:
This whisky works because it is cask strength. The profile is balanced and well-accented by the warmth of the proof. A lot is going on with this one, so take your time, enjoy the journey, and then make a killer cocktail with it.
This new 2023 Benromach release was 10 years in the making. The batch is made from a mix of first-fill ex-bourbon barrels (that means that this whisky was the first thing to go into the barrel after the bourbon was dumped) and ex-sherry casks. Those casks were vatted and then the whisky was bottled 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Stewed plums and mulled wine-soaked cinnamon sticks mingle with dark salted chocolate-covered espresso beans, vanilla husks, and creamy toffee rolled in roasted almond.
Palate: Sticky toffee pudding with a hint of black tea and plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon drives the palate toward a moment of burnt orange that’s just kissed with smoldering cacao nibs.
Finish: Smoked plums and black-tea-soaked dates lead to old winter spice barks and more musty orange on the finish with a hint of buttercream.
Bottom Line:
This is a great bridge between Kentucky bourbon and bold Scottish single malt. There’s a lot of connective tissue that’ll feel comforting and nostalgic while delivering a balanced and warming unpeated malty profile.
10. Ardbeg BizarreBQ Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This new release from Ardbeg is their first-ever barbecue-inspired release. Ardbeg’s Master Distiller Dr. Bill Lumsden teamed up with DJ BBQ (Christain Stevenson) to build a three-cask whisky. The casks, in this case, were double charred oak, Pedro Ximénez sherry, and “BBQ” casks. The blend was then vatted and bottled as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a creamy essence to the nose kind of like the fat on a smoked brisket that leads to an espresso and winter spice rub deep in a charred fattiness with marmalade hints and whispers of smudging sage and singed provencal herbs with this light sense of smoldering hickory ash underneath.
Palate: The taste is creamy as well with a sense of fatty pulled pork smothered in a chili-spiked gingery BBQ sauce with creamy honey and plenty of winter spice layered with grilled steak fat flaked with salt and dusted with white pepper as a fainter twinge of black licorice and that smoldering hickory draw a line from the nose to the back of the palate.
Finish: The end leaves you with fatty smoked meats, soft spices tied to burnt orange, and a sense of chili creamed with espresso pudding next to the ashes from a 24-hour smoker smoke session.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect bottle to break out this coming BBQ season. It’ll pair perfectly with your smoky brouhahas until next winter hits.
9. Laphroaig Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Càirdeas 2023 White Port & Madeira Casks
The new Càirdeas from Lahroaig has arrived. This whisky was aged right by the sea in Islay in White Port and Madeira casks until just right. Then the whisky was vatted and bottled at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Fresh ginger coins and green apple pulp dance on the nose with caramelized pear cut with orange zest and ground cinnamon that’s all countered by a sense of old campfire coal that’s still just smoldering and spitting tiny drops of rain.
Palate: Honey malt cakes dipped in orange syrup draw the palate toward heavy oak dipped in Nutella and caramel before the peat kicks in with massive amounts of bandages, seawater, and smoldering orchard barks.
Finish: The smoldering bark gets ashy on the finish with a real sense of the inside of a cold smoker that’s smoked everything from pears to salmon to brisket before a lightly sea-salted dried pear comes in with a hint of brandy.
Bottom Line:
This is another whisky that’s not going to be for the faint of heart. A lot is going on here and almost all of it is deep in “acquired taste” territory. Still, this is one of those whiskies that can part the clouds for some folks and then they’re ride or die for peated Islay malt for life.
8. Highland Park Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This yearly drop is part of a new line from the Orkney Islands distillery. The whisky is a blend of single malts that are aged exclusively in old American oak that previously held sherry. The barrels are married and bottled as is, to assure you’re getting all the nuance and flavor of their malts meeting that oak.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a light sense of wildflowers on the nose with a rich vanilla husk that leads towards a touch of peat.
Palate: The taste is surprisingly silken (for a cask strength) with rich and buttery toffee next to honeysuckle, eggnog spices and creaminess, and a small dose of orange zest as a counterpoint.
Finish: The end holds onto the creaminess and spices as the peat just edges in with a whisper of resinous pine smoke.
Bottom Line:
This is another great bridge between Kentucky and Scotland. This time that bridge is clouded in a smoky pall of peatiness. That makes this a good option to dip your toes into heavily peated whisky if you’re coming from an American whiskey background. It’s vibrantly smoky but full of familiar and comforting barrel notes that’ll feel like going home again.
7. Mortlach Single Malt Scotch Whisky “The Katana’s Edge” Special Release 2023
Mortlach is a whisky lover’s whisky. This year’s Special Reslease classic Mortlach that’s been finished in a combination of ex-Kanosuke Japanese whisky casks (a small distiller) and ex-Pinot Noir casks. Once batched, the whisky went into the bottle at cask-strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Honeydew melon candy and stewed pear lead on the nose with a sense of sweet cinnamon and clove next to old oak that’s not musty but definitely spent time in a cellar.
Palate: Soft honey draws you in on the palate with a sense of those spices tied to the oak before salted dried pear chips mingle with dried lychee and maybe even a little salted dried mango with a hint of cream soda.
Finish: The end amps up the savory and the dried fruits before diving into a soft winter spice cake topped with marmalade, apricot jam, and stewed tropical melons over old yet soft oakiness with a fleeting sense of floral honey lurking deep in the background.
Bottom Line:
This is a devilishly delicious whisky. It’s so fruity and dark with a serious depth that just keeps delivering new flavor notes every time you go back in. Take your time with this slow sipper and let it slowly reveal all of its secrets to you.
The annual Fèis Ìle release from Islay’s Bunnahabhain was fire this year. The whisky is an unpeated single malt aged exclusively in rare Canasta sherry casks. Those casks were vatted and bottled as-is for this annual release.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Old-school creamy sherry comes through on the nose with caramel-soaked pears and peach next to roasted almond, plenty of cinnamon stick, and a hint of mushroomy earthiness.
Palate: Those caramelized pears lead to stewed figs and orange-laced dark chocolate on the palate as vanilla cream and maple syrup add some serious sweetness and lusciousness.
Finish: The end is sweet with a sense of maple syrup, candied orange, sweet apple candy, and vanilla buttercream with a light touch of winter spice and roasted chestnut.
Bottom Line:
This has a wonderful depth that feels a little like Alice falling down the (Islay) rabbit hole. There’s an earthiness lurking beneath the beautifully fruity and lush profile that’s so enticing. Spend time with this whisky, it’ll reward you again and again.
5. The GlenDronach Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Cask Strength Batch no. 12
Last year’s batch from Dr. Rachel Barrie at The GlenDronach is all about long aging. The whisky is left to mellow in Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks from Andalucía, Spain. The age statement is on the bottle, but the blends tend to lean over a decade. The final mix is then bottled at cask strength to really highlight that Spanish oak.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Scoops of decadent dark chocolate powder draw you in with a hint of espresso cream, burnt orange, and marzipan with a moist sticky toffee pudding vibe next to a faint whisper of dried rose.
Palate: The palate is lush with a roasted and rich espresso bean vibe with salted dark chocolate, chinotto orange, and more rich and moist marzipan with a dash of ginger candy dipped in clove and allspice tea.
Finish: There’s a rich vanilla underbelly that smooths everything out on the end with a sense of rum raisin and faint bourbon cherry tobacco layered with soft cedar and mocha lattes.
Bottom Line:
This is the ultimate wintry bold malt. It feels like Christmas in a glass — kind of like walking through a Christmas tree lot with a spiced nutcake in one hand and a spiked hot cocoa in the other. This is warming and lovely from top to bottom.
4. Caol Ila Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 13 Years Fèis Ìle 2023
This year’s Fèis Ìle special release combines Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry butts that were left next to the sea in Islay for 13 years. Once the barrels hit the right mark, they were vatted and then bottled 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Dark smoked cherries tossed in smoked sea salt drive the nose toward fresh green peppercorns, rips of cinnamon bark, and stewed stonefruits with a twinge of moist pipe tobacco and cedar bark.
Palate: The fruit sweetens and takes on more winter spice as the smoked salt and smoked chili pepper move the palate toward a subtle dryness with. a hint of rock beach stones and nori sheets.
Finish: The end leans into the minerality, nori, and spice barks as stewed plums and smoked cherries merge with the malted tobacco on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a divine pour of malt. It’s so unique and darkly mesmerizing.
Admittedly, this is going to be the hardest bottle to find on this list. Only a few made it to the U.S. and those are mostly going to be stored at very good whiskey bars.
3. Aberlour A’bunadh Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
A’bunadh (ah-boon-arh) means “the original” in Gaelic and the whisky in this Speyside bottle represents that idea for Aberlour. The whisky is matured in old Oloroso sherry casks exclusively. The whisky then goes into the bottle at cask strength, unfussed with.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: That sherry plumminess is evident right up top, with hints of bright orange oils, clumps of dark chocolate, honey, and nuts, and a hint of oak.
Palate: The taste shines with notes of dark, ripe cherries, prunes, more bright orange zest, dark chocolate, and a good measure of svelte vanilla.
Finish: The slow finish leaves you with a creamy mouthfeel next to bitter chocolate next to sweet cherries and plums, all of which lead towards a warming spice on the tongue at the end.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect “swap your bourbon for scotch” in cocktails whisky. It has everything a bold bourbon has plus a deep and balanced unpeated maltiness that’s like a holiday celebration in the glass.
2. Oban Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 11 Years “The Soul of Calypso” Special Release 2023
Oban is another tiny distillery that’s doing some of the best work in peated malts right now. Their 2023 Special Release is made with classic Oban that’s finished in Caribbean Pot Still rum casks until just right. Once those barrels are batched, the whisky is bottled 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is like sitting on an old dock next to an inky dark sea as someone makes fresh saltwater taffy in the distance and someone else brews up mulled pear cider (perry) with plenty of winter spice and a touch of butter depth cut with candied orange and lemon before this whisper of a fruit basket wrapped in golden cellophane arrives.
Palate: The palate opens with a luxurious sense of brandy-soaked mangos and grilled pineapple before hitting on the creaminess of the saltwater taffy (like the bright neon yellow stuff) next to old oak staves layered with mildly spiced tobacco.
Finish: The end lets that oak tobacco spice peak before smoothing out with more salted tropical fruit chewiness that’s just kissed with smoldering orchard barks that have been soaked in seawater with a twinge of old leather in there somewhere.
Bottom Line:
This is another delectable pour. There’s so much going on and it all works towards this grand finale of salted fruits, creaminess, and smoldering orchard barks with this whisper of seaside that’s just wonderful.
1. Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 30 Years
Talisker’s seaside vibes are on full display in this beautiful bottle. The 2023 limited release (the 30-year is on a random release schedule) was around 3,000 bottles, making this a very rare expression from the Isle of Skye distillery. Those bottles were pulled from both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and masterfully blended right next to the sea at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is shockingly subtle and soft with velvety notes of smoldering dried nori next to matchsticks that have been dipped in a buttery and rich dark chocolate with sea salt gently sprinkled all over.
Palate: The palate leans into the dialed-back peat by bringing about a smoked cream with fire-seared peaches next to a hint of wet cedar, very old tobacco leaves, and a touch of almond or oat milk flecked with salt.
Finish: That salt drives the mid-palate towards a finish that’s like getting kissed by merfolk on a beach next to a campfire that’s heating a cauldron full of spicy stewed peaches in more of that cream.
Bottom Line:
Gun to head, this is my favorite pour of whisky overall (right now anyway). It’s succinct, delicious, and bold in all the right ways. Few mainstream whiskies are this balanced and deep (yes, this is a mainstream yearly release even though the price is very steep).
D23 is bigger than ever in 2024. The in-person celebration of all things Disney, officially renamed to D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, is a multi-day preview of the company’s upcoming projects. Attendees can expect to hear the latest updates on Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar, and more.
There will be exhibits, panels, and presentations, and theme park and video game news, too. Here’s what you need to know:
When:
The D23 kickoff at the Disneyland Resort is on August 8, followed by the actual event from August 9 – 11. D23 members can also celebrate D23 Day at Angels Stadium on August 4 when the Los Angeles Angels play the New York Mets. As a Mets fan, I feel confident the home team will win.
Where:
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event is held at the Anaheim Convention Center during the day and the Honda Center — the home of the NHL team Anaheim Ducks — for “marquee shows” at night.
How To Attend:
Tickets go on sale on March 26th (the time has not been announced yet). For more information, head to D23’s website.
Here’s more on D23:
The name “D23” pays homage to the exciting journey that began in 1923 when Walt Disney opened his first studio in Hollywood. D23 is the first official club for fans in Disney’s over 100-year history. It gives its members a greater connection to the entire world of Disney by placing them in the middle of the magic year-round through special experiences; member-exclusive offers and discounts; its quarterly publication, Disney twenty-three; the D23 Inside Disney podcast; and the latest news on D23.com.
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