Though we’re all part of the same species living on the same planet, our experience as humans walking through this world can differ widely. Children see things through a different lens than adults. Women and men have different perspectives on certain issues. And because racism has long been an active element in our society, people with varying amounts of melanin in their skin face specific challenges that others don’t.
As a white American, I don’t instinctively know what it’s like to walk in a black person’s shoes. I can tell you about the legacy of white supremacy laced throughout our country’s history. I can explain the far-reaching effects of slavery, lynch mobs, Jim Crow laws, redlining, mass incarceration, and more. I can intellectually break down the psychological and sociological impact of centuries of race-based oppression.
But I can’t tell you what it feels like to walk through this world, right now, as a black person—which is why it’s so important to listen to the voices of people who can.
David Summers shared a story on Facebook that reflects the experience of many black Americans—one that can help us non-black folks see through a lens we simply do not and cannot have. Perhaps that’s why it’s been shared more than 20,000 times. From the fear that any object he carries might be mistaken as a gun to figuring out how to smile at a stranger just right so he won’t be considered a threat, the “black thoughts” Summers describes during his walk through a beautiful, white neighborhood—presumably a neighborhood most of us would consider “safe”—are heartbreaking.
He wrote:
“I took a black walk this morning. I took a black walk through a white neighborhood. When I take black walks, I think black thoughts. I am conscious of where I’ve placed my gun, my gun, and my gun. I mean, my phone, my wallet, and my keys. Because Peace Officers have a hard time telling the difference. I rehearse what I’ll say if a concerned resident, or a law enforcement employee has questions about why my black body is walking through their white space. And I remind myself to make sure the law enforcement employee has his body camera recording. Sometimes it helps if there is video evidence to accompany the hashtag.
There is no way to be stealthy when you take a black walk. White neighborhoods are blanketed by a sophisticated security system comprised of nosy neighbors, Ring doorbell cameras, and white women walking their dogs. So, I’ve learned to notice the white world through my periphery. To be aware of the dangers without acknowledging them. There is an art to making white people feel safe. To say ‘Good Morning’ and flash a smile that shows confidence and deference at the same time. To being polite because your life depends on it.
I felt the squad car behind me before I saw it.
It moved deliberately. Not like the other cars mindlessly whizzing past. Its tires inched. Crept. Stalked their way toward me.
I kept walking.
“Don’t take your hands out of your pockets,” I thought. Or wait, maybe I should? Maybe it’s better if my hands are clearly empty. But it’s cold outside…maybe it’s nothing. Keep walking.
The car rolled past me and made a slow right turn. I glanced quickly but didn’t stare. The air is still. My ears tuned out everything but the slight scuff of my sneakers on the sidewalk and the fading sound of those stalking tires.
Almost there.
Suddenly the squad car re-emerged. It was a block ahead of me. It made a quick right turn, continued to the end of the street, and then waited. No more stalking. This was a show of force. This was a roar. This was a reminder that I was trespassing.
I kept walking.
“Don’t take your hands out of your pockets,” I thought. Or wait, maybe I should? Maybe it’s better if my hands are clearly empty. But it’s cold outside…maybe it’s nothing. Keep walking.
The car rolled past me and made a slow right turn. I glanced quickly but didn’t stare. The air is still. My ears tuned out everything but the slight scuff of my sneakers on the sidewalk and the fading sound of those stalking tires.
Almost there.
Suddenly the squad car re-emerged. It was a block ahead of me. It made a quick right turn, continued to the end of the street, and then waited. No more stalking. This was a show of force. This was a roar. This was a reminder that I was trespassing.
I kept walking.
As I approached the corner, the front window began to roll down. The occupant didn’t speak. Didn’t smile. Just stared. I was being warned.
I crossed the street and the lion trotted off. He had effectively marked his territory. The brave protector had done his job.
I however, couldn’t help but wonder what I’d missed during my black walk. It’s hard to hear the birds chirping, or to smile at the squirrels playfully darting along the branches when you’re on a black walk. It’s easy to miss the promise of a light blue sky, or appreciate the audacity of the red, yellow, and purple daisies declaring their independence from the green grass when your mind is preoccupied with black thoughts.
I took a walk through a beautiful neighborhood this morning. But I missed the whole thing.”
Thank you, Mr. Summers, for sharing your “black walk” experience. Hopefully, it will prompt us all to ask ourselves whether our words and actions serve to reinforce or remedy what you’ve described.
Back in my day, the most lavish that a kid’s party got was a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Things have certainly…evolved since then. Nowadays some parents spend exorbitant amounts of time and money trying to make the event rival a pop-up amusement park.
And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to go all out (some people really do get creative fulfillment from event planning, after all), there is something to be said about an underlying competitiveness behind the trend. If parents are only throwing big blowout parties out of some kind of societal pressure, or to project some kind of prestige…then they might be losing focus on what really matters. Which, presumably, is making sure the kids have a good time.
And if the kid’s enjoyment really is the priority here, then maybe there’s something to be said about keeping things simple.
That’s the discovery Amber Cimiottibiz recently had after throwing her 3-year-old a birthday party strictly consisting of “cake, pizza, family, and close friends.”
“I didn’t rent anything, I didn’t rent a bounce house, performers, face paint, I didn’t have a big balloon wall, I did all of my own decorations. I ordered one balloon bouquet from Party City,” she said in a video posted to her TikTok.
Cimiottibiz kept to this “simple” and “traditional” model for a number of reasons. Number one being that both she and her husband shared “fond memories” of bare bones celebrations during their childhood.
“My husband and I both grew up where our parents didn’t have a lot of money, but we always had great birthdays…They didn’t have all of this extra fluff, they just had family and running around with your friends, and presents and cake and the traditional stuff,” she said.
Cimiottibiz also opted out a big bash due to burnout from lavish parties she’s thrown in the past, saying “I’ve done a lot of stuff for my kids in the past for the birthday, and the birthdays have always been so exhausting to me and a little bit stressful, if I’m going to be honest. I just wanted to bring the birthdays down to earth a little bit.”
That’s not to say she won’t ever choose big birthdays again, by the way. She just might reserve those for milestone birthdays, like when her daughter turns 16.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Cimiottibiz learned that her kids appreciated the simplicity just as much…if not more.
“For us, it’s just been little surprises,” her video concluded. “We blew up a bunch of balloon for him to wake up to this morning. We surprised him with decorating the house while he was sleeping. We got super-fun donuts. Things that don’t cost a lot of money but make him so happy. And I have felt like five percent of the stress that I’ve felt on previous birthdays and my kid is just as happy.”
Judging by the amount of positive comments to her video, Cimiottibiz doesn’t seem alone in her stance. Many were in favor of this “cake and pizza” approach to parties.
“This!! We now have 2 February babies and this year we were like nope we don’t need to put a ton into the themed food, the matching decorations, paying to rent a space,” one person wrote.
Others shared how they wished they had opted for this less expensive approach. One mom wrote “we did our first bit party for our daughter’s 7th bday last week. We had an Elsa come and had a party room in a kids museum. I don’t think we will do that again So Much stress and money.”
Even an event planner chimed in to say, “my kids birthdays were over the top, live monkeys in one party — 12k on another. They remember none of it — now I tell moms…just do simple 💕 and plan trips instead.”
One person wrote, “ I grew up kind of poor, with not enough money to do anything on birthdays. I do it up BIG, every year for my kid’s bday. Heals my inner child.”
Another added, “I didn’t have birthday parties growing up, so I always did the jumper, cake piñata, goodie bags, party games for my kids. I don’t regret it.”
Moral of the story: it’s your kid’s party, and you can spend if you want to. But you honestly never have to. That is part of the magic of children—they can find big joy in small things. Maybe leaving shame and pressure out of the equation can help parents take in some of the joy as well.
We’ve seen some moving America’s Got Talent stories before, but a recent viral audition absolutely requires a tissue warning. I tried to steel myself in preparation when I saw the “Admit it, we were *all* in tears after this” caption on the Facebook share of it, but I failed.
In a video that’s been shared more than 95,000 times, the “Britain’s Got Talent” audition shows two tiny little girls onstage with their grandmother. They introduce themselves as “Cally” (age 4) and “Savannah” (age 3) and “Nanny” (their “daddy’s mummy”) then the girls share that they are there to surprise their dad.
Dad—also known as Nick Edwards—is sitting in the audience. He thought the family was there to watch the audition on a fun outing; he had no idea that they had arranged a surprise audition for him, so when his girls and mom showed up on stage, he wondered what was going on.
A “Britain’s Got Talent” spokesperson explained to the Daily Mail how they got Edwards mic’d up without giving away the surprise.
“When Nick entered the Palladium auditorium during ‘BGT’ auditions, he was approached to be part of our ‘gogglebox’ audience and told he would be mic’d up so we could capture his reactions throughout the day as he sat in the audience,” they said. “He was totally unsuspecting. We did this so we could mic him up without him suspecting a thing.”
As Edwards tried to figure out what his mom and daughters were doing on stage, Edwards’ mother explained to the judges and the audience that he sings a special song to his girls. She said they wanted him to come up and sing it. Naturally, not being prepared for an audition, Edwards was stunned. But the judges sent him backstage to “grab a glass of water” so he could compose himself and get ready.
“They gave me some time to warm up—about 45 minutes in total,” Edwards told This Morning. “They gave me my guitar my family brought down on the day, they [producers] said this is the song we want you to sing because we’d seen it on your Instagram.”
The song is an emotional doozy, especially if you’re a parent. “It’s a song I’ve felt quite attached to so I sing it a lot around the house,” Edwards told the judges before he started to sing. Once you hear it, you’ll see why he joked about trying to keep from crying while he sang it.
Lovely voice. Beautiful song. Adorable little girls. Not a dry eye in the house.
Tissue, seriously. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The fact that Edwards was able to pull off that audition with less than an hour of preparation was quite impressive. He told This Morning what he was thinking during that prep time.
“If I go out I’ve got two options here, I either go out and try to own it or I come out and it all crumbles…” he said. “The whole thing just went so quickly. I do remember playing and in a way my fingers started to get a bit jelly, I remember thinking ‘this is going to be a big moment for you.’ I don’t want to stuff it up.”
Stuff it up he did not. What a lovely performance, and what lucky little girls to have a daddy who shares his love for them in such a beautiful and creative way.
Raheem Morris is set to return to Atlanta, this time as the head coach of the Falcons. According to Adam Schefter and Tom Pelissero, the team — which has done the most thorough coaching search of any team in the league, interviewing 14 candidates — is set on bringing their former defensive coordinator and interim head coach back to Atlanta.
Falcons plan to hire Rams’ defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their head coach, per sources. pic.twitter.com/qlz3PbgEtJ
Morris will look to get the Falcons back to the postseason for the first time since 2017, and will return to the team he served as interim head coach for in 2020 before getting passed over for Arthur Smith. Many felt Morris was deserving of the job then, and after some time with the Rams he’ll get his chance to guide the Falcons as the full-time head coach.
The move comes as a bit of a surprise as the Falcons were considered the favorites to hire Bill Belichick. After meeting with Arthur Blank 1-on-1, Belichick had a second interview in Atlanta with the entire Falcons brass and many felt Atlanta would end up with the legendary coach on their sidelines.
However, the Falcons continued their search, meeting with just about every top candidate in the league, and have landed on an old friend in Morris who will now get the chance to fully install his vision for the Falcons that he didn’t get to three years ago.
Netflix’s political drama The Diplomat quietly became a fan-favorite last year thanks to the irresistible and familiar charm of Keri Russell on dangerous political missions. The series topped the Netflix TV Top 10 for four weeks after debuting in April 2023 and was renewed for a second season shortly after, which will hopefully be hitting screens soon.
Showrunner Debora Cahn, who previously worked on Grey’s Anatomy and The West Wing,told Elle that she intends for the series to continue for a long time. “I look for stories that can go on for a long time because, for me, the excitement of being able to go in really deep with characters you already know and you have a relationship with is fantastic. … You plan for the best version and hope for the best version and we’ll see what happens.” Considering how Grey’s Anatomyis still going after two decades, we can expect more seasons of The Diplomat for years to come. Possibly too many years.
Here is everything we know so far about The Diplomat season two.
Plot
Season one followed Russell as Kate Wyler, the new US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. She is tasked with diffusing international crises while also struggling to be in the spotlight with her marriage to a fellow diplomat.
The finale of season one ended in an explosive (literally) cliffhanger after it was revealed that the Prime Minister was behind a deadly attack. With the fates of various characters left uncertain, season two will pick up right where season one left off. Cahn told Tudum that she was very purposeful with ending the show that way. “I wanted it to make people want more. I wanted to bring together all of the different dynamics of the political relationships and the personal relationships in one event that splits apart all at the same time,” she explained.
Cast
Keri Russell, who received both a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination for her role, is set to return as the titular diplomat Kate Wyler. The West Wing’s Allison Janey was recently added to the cast, alongside returning cast members David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, and Ato Essandoh.
Release Date
Season one of The Diplomat dropped in April 2023, and the second season was ordered shortly after. Even though the strikes last year put virtually every production on hold, Netflix still has season two of The Diplomat on the schedule for 2024, so hopefully we will know more soon. We can assume that sometime in the next year, we will see Wyler return.
Trailer
No trailer has been released yet, but you can watch season one now streaming on Netflix, and hopefully, we will get a first look at season two soon.
New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was arrested on Thursday in Baton Rouge on charges of computer fraud and illegal gambling while under 21 years of age by Louisiana State Police. In the release announcing the arrest, the police indicated that Boutte placed more than 8,900 wagers over the course of just over a year’s time from 2022-2023 prior to turning 21 while a member of the LSU football team.
A handful of those were on college football including six bets on LSU football. According to arrest documents obtained by The Advocate’s Wilson Alexander and Elyse Carmosino, he bet on himself in at least one game, placing an Over bet on his yardage (82.5) and to score a touchdown in LSU’s season opener against Florida State on Sept. 4, 2022. Boutte’s final stat line that day was two catches for 20 yards and no touchdowns, meaning his parlay lost of his own doing.
Not only did he fail to hit on a parlay involving himself, but Boutte created the account by using a credit card with his mother’s name on it and used the username “Kayshonboutte01.” FanDuel caught on to what happened when Boutte opened a legal account in Massachusetts with the same credit card once he turned 21, tracing payments from that card to this other account — as well as another card that had Boutte as the payer. Boutte also made a number of his bets from the LSU facility.
It’s safe to say this was not a particularly well thought out plan, and now Boutte faces criminal charges and, one would expect, to have his NFL career come to a rather quick end.
Travis Scott’s music is defined by its unconventional, oftentimes extremely warped aesthetic sensibilities. So, when Travis announced his new indie filmAggro Dr1ft, it made perfect sense that the film was directed by Harmony Korine, whose transgressive, experimental style is a fitting match. While the film was screened for critics at a few film festivals, it’ll soon come to a thea– ummm, strip club near you. Today, they offered the first look at the film for the public via a trailer showing off its eye-popping, borderline headache-inducing visuals.
The film, produced by Korine’s own EDGLRD studios (I wish I was making that up), follow’s the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest assassin” and is shot entirely in false-color infrared. The result is a bit like watching someone play a Call Of Duty game through one of those helmets from the Predator films. In other words, it’s perfect for a Travis Scott film directed by the guy who made Gummo and Spring Breakers. The film is their second collaboration after Circus Maximus, which accompanied the rollout for Travis’ new album Utopia.
If that sounds like your cup of tea, I’ve got good news and bad news, depending on a few factors. The film will basically only screen at Los Angeles strip club Crazy Girls on February 7 and 8, along with an accompanying DJ performance by Korine himself and sample wiz producer AraabMuzik. You can get tickets here or here.
Our pursuit to find you the best bourbon to add to your bar cart continues unabated. It’s a new year and new bourbons are already on the shelf. The end of 2023 and the first month of 2024 have seen some really interesting and great-tasting bourbons arrive across the whole bourbon spectrum. There are beautiful special barrel finishes, brand-new age-statement drops from classic brands, new barrel-proof bombs, special one-off single barrel releases, and unique new labels all over shelves right now.
So where do you start? That’s where a blind taste test from your friends at Uproxx comes into play. I’m taking 12 new and new-ish bourbons and finding a great smooth bourbon for you to try. Now when I say “smooth” I’m talking about the approachability of the flavor profile overall.
Smooth” simply relates to the fact that there is little to no burn, no rough edges, and no imperfections that distract from enjoying the deeper flavor profile built into the pour. Smooth can be a good thing wherein a whiskey has a great mouthfeel that allows you to enjoy the profile. But it can also be a fault wherein the smoothness doesn’t reveal any nuance besides “easy to down.”As with all things in our life, it can be two things. Life is grey and context-driven, not black and white.
So while I chose today’s lineup of bourbons because they’re all pretty much new releases (having dropped at the tail end of 2023 or the last couple of weeks), I’m judging them by how easy they go down while delivering a great profile overall.
Our lineup includes the following bourbons today:
Redwood Empire Devils Tower High Rye Bourbon Whiskey
Almost Old Bones Bourbon 9 Years Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey
New Riff High Note Series: Bohemian Wheat Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 8-Year-Old
OOLA Waitsburg Whiskey Bourbon
Conecuh Ridge Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Mizunara Reserve Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Mizunara Barrels
After the blind tasting, I ranked each bourbon based on both how smooth the whiskey was and how beautiful the flavor profile was. And let me tell you, there are some stone-cold winners in the mix so let’s dive right in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
Nose: The nose opens with a delicate blend of stewed red fruits with a deep and woody spice mix completed by soft leather, cedar bark, and soft pipe tobacco with a hint of cherry syrup.
Palate: The taste leans into the cherry with a deep clove, allspice, and cinnamon vibe before hitting a touch of grassy rye and buttery grits all rolled into an old leather tobacco pouch and placed in an old humidor that’s scented with brandied cherries.
Finish: The end has a subtle and well-rounded sense of classic bourbon with a warming touch of woody spice, dark and stewed red fruit, and deep vanilla creaminess with a hint of nutshell and tobacco.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a very good bourbon. It’s so soft yet runs deep. I want more of this.
Taste 2
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This feels warm on the nose with a sense of cinnamon toast, pecan waffles covered in maple syrup, and buttery vanilla paste with a hint of prune and maybe some dates swimming in mulled wine with a whisper of dark fruity brandy.
Palate: Rummy syrup with a deep sense of Nutella spread over a toasted brioche drives the palate toward fig jam, sticky toffee pudding, and a dark caramel cut with burnt orange and salt flakes on the mid-palate.
Finish: That caramel gets so dark that it turns into cinnamon-laced dark chocolate with a touch of allspice and clove before a dry sense of old oak staves wrapped in tobacco round out the hot and dry end.
Initial Thoughts:
This is very good but, wow, that heat builds on the finish. The spice peaks and the chocolate adds a lovely creamy bitter layer that works. I’d argue that this opens smoothly and then grows some serious fangs as you creep toward that finish.
Taste 3
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Wet brown sugar cut with cinnamon and fresh butter layers over toasted buttermilk biscuits before nutmeg-heavy eggnog creates a lush feeling on the nose next to hints of overripe peaches, apricots, and pears with a hint of salted caramel.
Palate: The palate opens with a vibrant sense of fresh peaches swimming in vanilla-laced heavy cream before hitting on the salted caramel with a layer of winter spice that starts to lean peppery and grassy on the mid-palate.
Finish: Those sharp spices drive the luxurious finish toward brandy-soaked pears and stewed peaches with plenty of winter spice, butter, and molasses before a whisper of old oak and tobacco sneak in late.
Initial Thoughts:
This is f*cking great bourbon. It’s smooth but then dives so deep into a varied and delicious bourbon profile that takes you on a journey. This is going to be hard to beat.
Taste 4
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this is a wonderful medley of winter spices — clove, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon — rolled into a leathery tobacco pouch with a deep sense of green tea leaves marmalade, and buttery salted toffee.
Palate: The taste leans into stewed apple and pear candy while the spice really starts to kick up with a deep heat of the ABVs buzzing on all of your senses as old leather, oak, and tobacco sneak in under the heat.
Finish: Dried peach and apricot tie to the tobacco and oak as the spice starts to burn and numb your tongue on the finish with a dark sense of old marmalade tobacco and winter spice barks.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a good whiskey but it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s hot. That said, pour this over a big rock and we could be having a completely different conversation.
Taste 5
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Freshly fried cinnamon doughnuts, soft chocolate shavings, and buttery salted caramel drive the nose toward dry nutshells, a hint of apple fritter, and dark brandy cherries dipped in creamy dark chocolate.
Palate: That chocolate is just kissed with Graham Cracker and marshmallow on the palate with a good dose of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice leading toward a dark brandy cherry tobacco on the mid-palate.
Finish: The dark cherry tobacco and S’mores drive the finish with a sense of dark stewed red fruit, stone fruit, and pear/apple before the oak arrives with a sense of an old cellar on a warm day.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a soft and supple bourbon with a great profile that’s pretty unique — albeit sweet — overall.
Taste 6
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a deep burnt caramel sweetness that gives way to five-spice powder over fatty smoked pork next to dark cherry cola and rich and clear tobacco.
Palate: That tobacco is fresh and vibrant on the palate as the fatty smoked pork drives the taste toward rich dark chocolate sauce, winter spice medleys, and campfire toasted marshmallows.
Finish: Mulled wine and apple cider spices drive the finish to some wet brown sugar, more dark cherry cola, and a hint of a buttermilk biscuit with marmalade just kissed with that five-spice powder before the heat really kicks in a mutes everything with a loud numbing mouthfeel.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a fun whiskey! That said, the heat of the ABVs really takes your senses out of the equation in the end with a numbing heat.
Taste 7
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This has a nice nose full of dark red fruits, soft winter spices, and plenty of oak and tobacco with a nice sense of “Classic” bourbon.
Palate: Dark sugars, vanilla, and chocolate drive the palate toward a touch of espresso cream and leathery tobacco pouches with a touch more of that old oak sneaking in on the mid-palate.
Finish: A hint of almond and vanilla peek in on the finish with a sense of stewed plums and cherries tied to tobacco and oak
Initial Thoughts:
This is a perfectly good bourbon with a smooth vibe — there are zero edges to this one. It doesn’t really go beyond “Classic” (regular) in the flavor department though.
Taste 8
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is pure classic Kentucky bourbon with a deep vanilla presence layered with soft orchard fruits, stewed and spiced cherry, and old barrelhouse earthiness.
Palate: The palate leans into the sweet/spicy vibes with dark cherries dipped in cinnamon syrup and served with vanilla sauce and shaved dark chocolate cut with a hint of oily tobacco and cedar bark.
Finish: The end leans into the tobacco and cedar with a deep oakiness that highlights woody winter spices, stewed fruits, and soft vanilla.
Initial Thoughts:
This is another perfectly nice bourbon. The nose is great. The palate is exactly what you want from a bourbon but it doesn’t really go beyond that.
Taste 9
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose feels like walking into an old bread bakery in Central Europe early in the morning before hitting this note of freshly fried apple fritters and old-fashioned doughnuts, a touch of prune, plum, and date, and a good dose of soft winter spice.
Palate: The palate is dry but full of sourdough bread crusts, Graham Crackers, and Fig Newtons with a touch of huckleberry jam, dry sweetgrass braided with smudging sage, and a touch of straw bale before the woody spice kicks in with a cinnamon bark focus.
Finish: The end leans into the woody spices with a touch of clove, allspice, and nutmeg before sweetgrass and bread crusts take over with a hint of buttery cream.
Initial Thoughts:
This goes beyond the ordinary and delivers a delightfully fun and nuanced bourbon. It’s also very accessible. There’s a touch of warmth but it never distracts from the overall vibe of the whiskey.
Taste 10
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Classic notes of vanilla, caramel, and cherry dominate the nose with a thin vibe overall.
Palate: More caramel leads the way on the palate with a hint of oakiness next to buttery toast, a touch of toffee, and plenty of sweet cherries with a whisper of tobacco.
Finish: The end thins out a bit, leaving you with caramel, vanilla, and cherry.
Initial Thoughts:
This is fine but it’s clearly a rail whiskey for basic bourbon needs.
Taste 11
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice dark and almost tart cherry on the nose with a sense of rich toffee rolled in almonds and dipped in chocolate with a whisper of rummy molasses and mulled wine spices.
Palate: The palate is classic in all the right ways with a deep and rich caramel and vanilla creaminess touched by dark cherry, orange zest, almond paste, and mulled winter spices.
Finish: The end is long and creamy with deep caramel, soft cherry tobacco, and a fleeting sense of an old barrel house full of aging oak.
Initial Thoughts:
This is another nice bourbon. It’s easygoing and delivers every classic bourbon note you’ll want. And… that’s it.
Taste 12
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a soft sense of black tea leaves on the nose next to broken-up Snickerdoodles, vanilla malted ice cream, cinnamon sticky buns iced with powdered sugar icing, and a whisper of old dry grass fields with a hint of smudging sage and cedar.
Palate: Those cinnamon cookies drive the palate toward more dry tea leaves with a deep sense of vanilla custard, toffee syrup, biting marmalade, and soft apricot jam over a soft buttermilk biscuit with a whisper of acacia sneaking in late next to old oakiness.
Finish: The end has this silky sense of apricot-laced tobacco with a deep orange essence over cinnamon cakes and gingerbread with a dry edge next to black-tea-laced tobacco just kissed with sweetgrass and dry prairie sage.
Initial Thoughts:
This is ultra silky — yes, smooth — with a deep and fascinatingly delicate flavor profile. This is a winner, folks!
This whiskey from Seattle, Washington, is a local grain-to-glass operation with a focus on organic Washington white winter wheat. The whiskey is aged for six to eight years before batching and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is good standard bourbon. Yes, it’s easy to drink but there’s not much else there.
11. Almost Old Bones Bourbon 9 Years Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 8
Old Bones is known for their 10-year-old bourbon releases but changed it up a bit for this late 2023 drop. The whiskey is a sourced Kentucky bourbon from Bardstown with a 75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% malted barley mash bill. The whiskey barrels were left alone for nine years before batching and bottling with a light kiss of water.
Bottom Line:
This is a nice bourbon overall. It’s easygoing and delivers a classic bourbon profile. That’s about it.
10. 291 Bad Guy Colorado Bourbon Whiskey 10th Anniversary — Taste 4
This Colorado whiskey is made from a mix of local corn, malted wheat, malted rye, and beech-smoked malted barley. As per 291’s classic aging methods, the whiskey is aged for about two years with aspen wood staves in the barrel to accelerate the aging process. Finally, this is batched and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
There’s a great bourbon here, you’ll just need a rock or two (or some serious water) to get to it. That sort of knocks it down a few places if you’re looking for a smooth sipper out of the bottle.
9. Lost Lantern Single Distillery Series Brooklyn Bakery Kings County Distillery Straight Bourbon Whiskey — Taste 6
This single cask bottling from Lost Lantern is a one-of-a-kind Kentucky barrel from New Riff Distilling (across the river from Cincinnati). The whiskey in the barrel was a low-corn bourbon (65% corn, 30% rye, and 5% malted barley) aged for four years. The barrel was bottled at cask strength and yielded around 120 bottles.
Bottom Line:
This is another very good whiskey that you need to pour over a rock to get the most out of. There’s a lot of great stuff going on the profile, it’s just really hot when you try it neat.
This special release from Wheel Horse was only 3,000 bottles at the tail end of last year. The whiskey in those bottles is a blend of four- to five-year-old Kentucky bourbons finished in Armagnac, Sherry, and Port casks. The whiskey spends around six to eight months mellowing in those finishing casks before batching and bottling.
Bottom Line:
I liked this whiskey. It’s very classically rendered and goes a little deeper than average. That said, it does have some warmth that’ll detract anyone looking for that silky smooth experience. Still, you can make a hell of a cocktail with this and solve that issue immediately.
This new whiskey is a highlight for Alabama’s Clyde May’s new Conecuh Ridge Distillery in Troy, Alabama. The whiskey in the bottle is sourced from Indiana and is a blend of five-year-old barrels. The blend is meant as an example of the whiskey that’ll be produced at the new Troy distillery.
Bottom Line:
This is another really good classic bourbon. I’d use it to mix up a good whiskey-forward cocktail.
The first Larceny Barrel Proof release of 2024 is a classic. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of six- to eight-year-old bourbons from the wheated bourbon barrels at Heaven Hill. Those barrels were batched and then went into the bottle 100% as-is.
Bottom Line:
This is another great sipper that needs a rock. But, this might not need that rock if you’re already accustomed to warming Kentucky bourbons. This one has a nice mouthfeel that’s pure vanilla cream … that gets very warm on the end. Hence, this is kind of the middle of the road in what we’re looking for in the blind tasting — it’s smooth but still might need a bit of ice to calm down those ABVs.
5. New Riff High Note Series: Bohemian Wheat Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 8-Year-Old — Taste 9
This late 2023 release from New Riff is all about the wheat. The whiskey is made with 65% non-GMO corn, 18% Bohemian floor-malted wheat, 10% unmalted wheat, and 7% dark wheat. The whiskey was then small batched and bottled 100% as-is to highlight the work that the wood and wheated bourbon underwent over years of resting on the Ohio River.
Bottom Line:
This is where we get into the good stuff that hits the parameters of this blind tasting perfectly. The profile hits great classic bourbon notes while taking it that little bit further to help this whiskey feel special. I’d add a small drop of water or two to really let this one bloom in the glass and get ultra silky, or mix it into a great whiskey-forward cocktail.
This brand-new release from Old Forester is new in more ways than one. The whiskey is their first age-statement whiskey at 10 years old. It’s also a new mash bill for the heritage brand with a recipe of 79% corn, 11$ rye, and 10% malted barley. The whiskey aged in the Brown-Forman warehouse until just right for batching, proofing, and bottling.
Bottom Line:
That classic cherry bomb Old Forester essence wasn’t here on this one, which is a nice change of pace. Overall this is a super easy sipper with a nice balance of dark fruit and spice. It’s just really good. The only reason that it’s a little lower on this list is that it wasn’t necessarily exciting. But sometimes “really good” is more than enough to buy and drink a bottle, folks.
This new release from Redwood Empire out in California is a very small batch — only 25 barrels — of good straight bourbon. The mash is super unique with only 51% corn supported by 45% rye, 2% malted barley, and 2% wheat. Those barrels rested until just right for batching, proofing, and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This whiskey went beyond the “classic” bourbon notes and delivered something fun and vibrant while holding onto a lush and velvety mouthfeel — i.e. smooth. This is a quality whiskey that’s worth checking out as a sipper or cocktail base for your favorite concoction.
2. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond 8-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Fall 2023 — Taste 3
The last limited edition Old Fitz release of 2023 was a fairly young entry to the ongoing Decanter series. This edition was built from Heaven Hill wheated bourbon barrels filled in the fall of 205. Those barrels were carefully selected and batched before proofing and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This is damn near perfect Kentucky bourbon for this blind tasting. It’s so freaking creamy smooth while delivering a deep and nuanced bourbon profile that hit every note you want it to and more. It was only narrowly beat out by the next entry.
1. Starlight Distillery Carl T. Huber’s Mizunara Reserve Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Mizunara Barrels — Taste 12
This late release from Indiana’s farm-raised Starlight Distillery is their classic 80% corn bourbon that was left to rest for seven long years. That whiskey was then re-barreled into fresh Japanese Mizunara casks for a final mellowing before batching and bottling.
Bottom Line:
This had everything you want from a great whiskey — iconic bourbon flavor notes, new delicate nuances that take your palate in unexpected directions, and a silky texture that is pure silky smooth. This is one of those whiskeys that I wish I’d tried before my end-of-the-year list of 2023’s best bourbons.
Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, including the formation of a task force in 2018 to crack down on illegal downloads, piracy continues to be a massive thorn in the side of streamers. According to a new report, Disney+, Paramount+, and Peacock are particularly feeling the effects as the burgeoning platforms have been hit by an estimated $30 billion loss in profits due to rampant pirating of TV shows and movies.
While the advent of streaming has led to increased customer convenience thanks to a plethora of content being available at the push of a button, it’s also been a boon for pirate sites who can quickly rip whole series and movies in a matter of seconds and rake in insanely high profit margins from advertising and subscriptions. One lucrative pirate was pulling in millions before finally being snatched up by the Feds.
Last year, Philadelphian Bill Omar Carrasquillo—who broadcast his lavish lifestyle to about 800,000 followers on YouTube and who the FBI said ran one of the most “brazen and successful” TV piracy schemes ever prosecuted by federal officials—was ordered to forfeit $30 million in assets including a dozen properties, a Lamborghini and $6 million in cash. At its peak, the illicit streaming business GearsTV had 100,000 subscribers and brought in about $1.5 million in monthly sales. In March 2023, Carrasquillo was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
Despite the best efforts of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the FBI, piracy continues to run rampant thanks to the involvement of “Russian crime rings” who have allegedly paid patrons to sneak camcorders into movie screenings in addition to ripping streaming sites.
“The people who are stealing our movies and our television shows and operating piracy sites are not mom and pop operations,” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin told Bloomberg. “This is organized crime.”
Dua Lipa has been on fire lately: Her 2023 Barbie single “Dance The Night” was a top-10 hit, and towards the end of that year, she released another successful tune, “Houdini.” The latter song was the first taste of Lipa’s upcoming album, and soon, we’ll have another look. Well, technically, we have a preview right now: Today (January 25), Lipa shared a snippet of her next single, “Training Season,” which is set to release in full on February 15.
“I had been on a string of bad dates, and the last one was the final straw. The next morning I arrived to the studio to Caroline [Polachek] and Tobias [Jesso Jr.] asking me how it all went and I immediately declared ‘TRAINING SEASON IS OVER,’ and like the best ‘day after’ debriefs with your mates, we had a lot of laughs and it all quickly came together from there.
And while it is obviously about that feeling when you are just absolutely done telling people…men specifically in this case, how to date you right; it is also about my training season being over and me growing with every experience. I have never felt more confident, clear or empowered. And while it may be that training season is never over for any of us, you start to see the beauty in finding that person to experience it with. You stop looking for the trainees and become more interested in having someone where you are and someone to grow with.”
In light of that explanation, it’s perhaps not a coincidence that the song comes out the day after Valentine’s Day. As for the new album, that doesn’t yet have an announced title or release date.
Check out the “Training Season” teaser above.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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