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Vodka is an interesting spirit. For many drinkers who only use it as a mixer or avoid it completely, it’s a flavorless, boring, clear spirit at best. At worst, it’s a harsh, ethanol-flavored liquid that seems like it would better at starting a lawn mower than adding flavor to a cocktail. Regardless of how you personally feel about vodka, you should know that for every awful, bottom-shelf vodka out there, there are numerous underrated, flavorful, well-made vodkas.

Even if you only use it as the base for your favorite cocktail, you still wouldn’t want to buy a harsh, bottom-shelf, plastic-handled bargain vodka. Not only might it have a horrible flavor profile, but it also might leave you with an epic hangover the next day from the lackluster distilling process.

This is where high-quality, underrated vodkas come into play. You don’t need to spend a month’s rent to buy a great, well-made, flavorful bottle of vodka. You do need a little help from the pros though. That’s why we asked a few well-known spirits experts and distillers to tell us the best, underrated vodkas you can buy today. Keep reading to see them all.

Finlandia Vodka

Eric “ET” Tecosky, bartender and founder of Dirty Sue in Los Angeles

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $20 for a liter bottle

Why This Vodka?

When I started bartending in the early ’90 s, there was a bottle of Finlandia in every bar I worked. And it wasn’t just ’there,’ it was called for by name. And then one day it was much harder to find. I still don’t really know why. I do know that I brought a bottle home recently and it still tastes great. Clean, crisp, and well-balanced. If a great-tasting, reasonably-priced vodka isn’t enough to entice you here are some fun facts: it’s made from pure, glacial spring water. And if you like the earth, they are a zero-waste facility and really into sustainability. And if you still need more – the grapefruit-flavored Finlandia is also delicious.

Breckenridge Vodka

Frank Caiafa, author of “The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book” and global beverage and hospitality consulting for Handle Bars NYC in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $21.99

Why This Vodka?

What I generally look for in a vodka is a spirit with a touch of identity, let’s say to stand up to a couple of ice cubes, but enough of a welcoming canvas that it doesn’t clash with modifying ingredients when mixed. Two tough criteria that Beckenridge Vodka fits to a T.

E11VEN Vodka

Gabriel Urrutia, USBG member and bartender at Gramps in Miami

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $21.99

Why This Vodka?

E11VEN Vodka is made in Miami, locally sourced, distilled, and bottled in Miami, and is also women-owned using 100% Florida-grown corn. It’s clean, and dry, and works just as well as a light sipper with a few ice cubes (if you enjoy vodka like that) and as the base for a vodka soda or your favorite vodka-based cocktail.

Square One Organic Vodka

Dr. Nicola Nice, founder and CEO of Pomp & Whimsy in Los Angeles

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $28

Why This Vodka?

I don’t drink a lot of vodka, but when I do it’s usually Square One Organic Vodka. Square One was the first women-owned, fully organic craft vodka launched by Alison Evanow in 2006. While often overlooked by the younger, flashier start-ups it remains the best in its class. The Square One Cucumber mixes perfectly with Pomp & Whimsy Gin Liqueur in a gimlet, which is one of my favorite cocktails. The Cucumber is green, luscious, crisp, and full-bodied, with notes of mint and black pepper that come from using all parts of the cucumber.

The Community Spirit Vodka

Christine Wiseman, beverage director at Bar Lab in Miami

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $29.99

Why This Vodka?

I love the undertone notes of corn and the creaminess of The Community Spirit Vodka. A lot of people say vodka is tasteless but when it’s done right, you can find great texture and flavorful undertones. So the liquid is amazing, but the purpose of The Community Spirit Vodka is what takes it to the next level. The brand is all about bringing people together and celebrating and showcasing organizations and individuals working to do that. As they say, people over everything.

Penn 1681 Rye Vodka

Melissa Katrincic, founder of Conniption Gin in Durham, North Carolina

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $28.50

Why This Vodka?

Asking a gin distiller about their favorite vodka? I had to really think about this one. The only time I drink vodka is in a Vesper so my bias is right in the open. But for a U.S. vodka that deserves a look – seek out Philadelphia Distilling’s Penn 1681 Rye Vodka. The important history of rye in the U.S. is often overlooked. A rye vodka has a unique character giving it more depth. It doesn’t go unnoticed in cocktails – and that’s the fun of it.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka

Josh Miller, co-founder of Owen’s Craft Mixers in New York City

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $28 for one-liter

Why This Vodka?

There’s only one Vodka in my opinion, and that’s Tito’s. This corn-based, slightly sweet vodka has subtle notes of sweet corn, vanilla, and slightly spicy cracked black pepper. Even with its popularity, it’s still highly underrated. Great as the base for a bloody Mary or any other vodka cocktail. It’s a must-have for home bartenders.

St. George Green Chile Vodka

Nora Ganley-Roper, co-founder of Lost Lantern in Weybridge, Vermont

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $29.99

Why This Vodka?

St. George Green Chile Vodka. We aren’t huge vodka drinkers, but this is the exception: we always have at least one bottle of this on hand. Unlike the vast majority of flavored vodkas, this is not made with flavorings but with actual, real ingredients – in this case, hot peppers, cilantro, and lime. We’ve actually been to St. George when they’re processing the jalapenos that go into this vodka, and it gave the entire distillery an amazingly pungent spicy aroma. This is the real stuff: bright, refreshing, and quite spicy. It’s the only vodka we ever use for bloody Marys, and its herbal, vegetal notes make it amazing for lots of other cocktails as well (and it can be a great substitute for tequila too).

Painted Stave Off The Hoof Vodka

Jason Barrett, founder and distiller at Black Button Distilling in Rochester, New York

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25

Why This Vodka?

Painted Stave Off The Hoof Vodka. Possibly the only Scrapple-flavored vodka, they truly capture the essence of this mid-Atlantic staple. What flavors make it great? Everything that is great about barbecue and pork and beef can be found in this elixir. It sounds strange, but it has to be tasted to be believed. It’s also a great base for a bloody Mary.

Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka

Patrick Pistoles, mixologist at NIO Cocktails in Milan, Italy

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $25.99

Why This Vodka?

The strength of today’s gin and the contemporary palate has created more delicate vodkas as well as experiments and simplifications in terms of tasting profiles. For example, many flavored Vodkas now cater to new generations of connoisseurs and drinkers and certainly more commercial palates. In that vein, if I had to pick one underrated vodka, it would be Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka. Infused with Bison grass, this Polish vodka is earthy, slightly spicy, and has hints of ripe fruit and vanilla.

A lot has been made about critics being “harsher” to, for lack of a better word, nerd stuff than audiences. That dichotomy was the basis of a “fans matter most” tweet from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who thanked Rotten Tomatoes users for giving Black Adam a 90 percent “audience score,” compared to 39 percent among critics. But sometimes, the audience and critics see eye to eye, like everyone agreeing that the final season of Game of Thrones stinks. Even one of the show’s stars seems to think so.

Maisie Williams, who played Arya Stark on Game of Thrones, revealed on Twitch that she recently rewatched the HBO series, and had to admit that it “definitely fell off at the end.” She continued, “It kinda popped off. For the longest time… I could never see it from the outside. So I could never say that and actually understand it. For the first time, it feels good to be proud of it. It was 10 years of my life.”

In the (hopefully unlikely) event that House of the Dragon falls off, at least it will only be three or four seasons of everyone’s lives.

Williams previously admitted that as a teenager, she “resented” Arya “because I couldn’t express who I was becoming. And then I also resented my body, because it wasn’t aligned with the piece of me that the world celebrated.” She doesn’t miss being on the biggest show in the world, but “I loved it. I look at it so fondly, and I look at it with such pride. But why would I want to make myself feel sad about the greatest thing that ever happened to me? I don’t want to associate that with feelings of pain.”

(Via Variety)

Tucker Carlson has reportedly threatened a Republican congressman over a quote about his son, Buckley Carlson, being a nepotism hire. The situation started with a Daily Beast article that broke down the contentious leadership battles happening behind the scenes of the Republican Party. One such battle involves Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer and Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, who are both vying for House Republican whip, placing them at No. 3 in the party ranks.

In the course of the reporting, an anonymous “GOP strategist” threw a barb at Banks for hiring Buckley. “Deep down, he dies to be liked by the Establishment. He hires Tucker Carlson’s son, a 24-year-old kid, to be his communications director.”

According to Axios, Carlson was not thrilled about the quote and called up to issue Emmer an ultimatum that basically boils down to reveal which staffer said it, or I’m going to light you up on my show:

According to four sources briefed on their Friday morning phone call, Carlson told Emmer he needed to name the staffer who brought up Buckley Carlson — or Carlson would have no other choice but to blame Emmer himself.

Emmer repeatedly asserted to Carlson that his office had nothing to do with the background quote about Carlson’s son. Carlson was unpersuaded. He made clear to Emmer that he now had a personal problem with him.

Of course, nothing defuses an argument that your son is a nepotism hire like calling up a United States congressman and (allegedly) making a threat about nepotism. Well played?

(Via Axios)

Stage crashers are beginning to become a “thing” and to be honest, it’s getting more and more unnerving every time. While stars like Thundercat, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lil Uzi Vert have taken the intrusions in stride, the recent incident at Dave Chappelle’s Hollywood Bowl show should highlight exactly why this should be more of a concern — and why security guards at shows for Future, Lil Baby, and Roddy Ricch have become increasingly more aggressive in their removal strategies.

The latest artist to experience an overzealous fan inviting themselves onstage during his set is Pusha T, who took to Twitter with a warning for other fans who might be planning similar stunts. “Pls guys… don’t sneak on the stage,” he wrote. “My team doesn’t think it’s funny and u won’t either after they are finished with you.”

In May, when Dave Chappelle was attacked onstage during his set by an attendee brandishing a replica handgun with a knife in it, the incident ended without any serious injuries after the attacker was tackled. And while Chappelle returned to the stage to joke that he and his entourage “stomped” the attacker backstage, the possibility of a different outcome shouldn’t be too far from anyone’s mind. And look, Dave may have been joking, but it’s probably worth it to consider the consequences the next time you think about inserting yourself with the wrong artist on the wrong night.

Two of Brazil’s top drag pop stars have joined forces. On Friday (October 21), Pabllo Vittar and Gloria Groove teamed up for their new single “Ameianoite.”

Vittar is breaking down boundaries for drag queen singers. In April, Vittar made history as the first drag queen to perform on the Coachella mainstage. Last year, Lady Gaga enlisted Vittar to remix and feature on a new version of “Fun Tonight.” Earlier this year, Rina Sawayama featured on Vittar’s hit single “Follow Me.”

Groove is following in Vittar’s footsteps as a Brazilian pop drag superstar. On Instagram, Vittar and Groove are the most-followed drag queens. Groove moved into second place earlier this year when she surpassed RuPaul among the most-followed drag queens. Vittar and Groove previously featured on Aretuza Lovi’s 2018 song “Joga Bunda.”

Vittar and Groove have reunited for “Ameianoite.” Backed by frenetic baile funk beats, the two drag queens trade verses about transforming into bewitching baddies at midnight. Vittar and Groove come through with a spellbinding club banger that’s perfect for Halloween season.

Vittar and Groove also sang “Ameianoite” for the first time live together over the weekend. Towards the end of the performance, they shared a kiss that had the crowd going wild. A spooky lyric video for their collaboration was also released.

Bad Bunny’s World’s Hottest Tour is now visiting cities throughout Latin America. For his concert in the Dominican Republic on Saturday night (October 22), the Puerto Rican superstar brought out Tokischa as a surprise guest.

Bad Bunny wrapped the US leg of the World’s Hottest Tour on October 1 at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. He had a few weeks off before the restarting the tour in the Dominican Republic on October 21. As Bad Bunny travels through Latin America, it appears that he will be bringing out the top local acts from each country that he visits. During night two in the Dominican Republic, he invited Tokischa to join him.

Bad Bunny brought Tokischa to the stage and she sang “Tití Me Preguntó” with him. She performed a new verse on the track, which means that a remix could possibly be on the way soon. Tokischa also twerked alongside Bad Bunny while singing her own hits like “Perra,” “Estilazo,” and “Delincuente.” Bad Bunny later brought out Dominican singer Toño Rosario as another surprise guest.

Since breaking through last year, Tokischa has helped globalize Dominican dembow music. Spanish pop star Rosalía worked with her on the songs “Linda” and “La Combi Versace” from the Motomami album. Last month, Madonna enlisted Tokischa for a dembow-infused remix of “Hung Up.”

Bad Bunny’s World Hottest Tour visits Chile next on October 28. His blockbuster album Un Verano Sin Ti is currently at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Earlier this year, Kanye West’s rise to fame was documented in the Netflix film Jeen-Yuhs, which was shot by his longtime friends Coodie & Chike. However, because he remains a fascinating subject and demand for more of his story was high even after the insight provided by Jeen-Yuhs, another documentary about the controversial rapper was recently completed by MRC Entertainment. However, according to Billboard, MRC — known for such hits as House Of Cards, Ozark, and Ted, as well as an upcoming documentary about Milli Vanilli — has put the kibosh on the project, eating the loss rather than platforming anymore of West’s recent antisemitic bile.

In a joint statement, CEOs Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu and COO Scott Tenley wrote, “This morning, after discussion with our filmmakers and distribution partners, we made the decision not to proceed with any distribution for our recently completed documentary about Kanye West. Kanye is a producer and sampler of music. Last week he sampled and remixed a classic tune that has charted for over 3,000 years — the lie that Jews are evil and conspire to control the world for their own gain… Kanye has now helped mainstream it in the modern era.”

West has been increasingly vocal in sharing antisemitic views over the past few weeks, characterizing Jews as a shadowy cabal secretly controlling industry and entertainment behind-the-scenes and threatening to go “Death Con 3” (a malaprop of DEFCON 3, which refers to the US defensive readiness condition) on adherents to the faith. Highlighting how dangerous and virulent this invective can be, a hate group hung a banner referencing his comments over an LA freeway today.

In response, Kanye has been dropped by his agency, while other agents such as Ari Emmanuel and the UTA leadership have called for a boycott to keep him from spreading his dangerous rhetoric. While the best time was probably in 2018, in the middle of all his “MAGA” shenanigans, the next best time is now.

Scott Mescudi isn’t done with “the Kid Cudi stuff” just yet: Today, Cudi announced that a Man On The Moon trilogy vinyl box set and accompanying merch are available now. It’s all designed by KAWS, made obvious by the artist’s signature Companion character dressed in astronaut gear.

Cudi captured the zeitgeist with his 2009 debut studio album Man On The Moon: The End Of Day, followed by 2010’s Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager. The third and final installment, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen, didn’t arrive until December 2020. Most recently, Cudi released Entergalactic, the title for his eighth studio album and animated Netflix series. The latter was co-created alongside Kenya Barris and co-stars 070 Shake, Timothée Chalamet, Ty Dolla Sign, and Jessica Williams.

Around the Entergalactic promotion cycle, Cudi revealed he’s working on a memoir and separately foreshadowed his future with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.

“The Kid Cudi stuff, I think kind of I wanna put it on the back burner, and I think I kind of wanna be done with it,” the 38-year-old said. When Lowe asked whether he meant done for now or done forever, Cudi doubled down: “Done with it. I think, closing the chapter on Kid Cudi. I’ve just made a lot of music, man. I’ve said a lot. I have other desires. I have other things I wanna do. I do not see me never making music. […] But as far as getting in the studio and working on an album and then going and touring it? I just don’t have it in me. I don’t have the desire.”

The Man On The Moon trilogy box set will run you $199.98. Crewnecks are similarly pricey at $150, while graphic tees only cost $50. At this point, Cudi fans probably view any tangible Kid Cudi relics as priceless. See the full collection here.

As the first season of House of the Dragon comes to a close, the stars of the series have been reflecting on the spinoff that has effectively become its own hit show, regardless of the source material. While the show will return for a second season sometime in the next few years, one member of the cast is pretty relieved to get a little time off.

Olivia Cooke portrayed Alicent Hightower, the conniving former childhood best friend of Rhaenyra. While preparing for the role, Cooke says she never could have guessed just how massive (and intense) the fan feedback would be. In a new interview with Deadline, Cooke explained that she is ready for some much-needed time off after the first season frenzy:

“I don’t think anything could have prepared anyone for this. It’s mad. I think I’ve had a bit of willful ignorance about how it would change my life. I think maybe in like three months time, it’ll probably die down. But when I’m on the tube, I definitely feel people’s eyes and … there’s the odd comments. then you do kind of start to feel monitored and I’m like, ‘Oh God, what am I wearing today?’ They take pictures and suddenly, you’re in a cloud of paranoia. I’ll just be happy for it to be over. It has been strange.”

Even though she was not ready for the amount of commentary, Cooke says that she will be more prepared for next time after the break between seasons. The second season is expected to begin filming next summer, and things will hopefully slow down by then. “I think maybe next time it comes out I’ll be a bit more prepared for it. But it’s a prolonged period of anxiety, this 10 weeks of an episode coming out and another episode coming out.”

As for Alicent, Cooke says that she was never really the villain of the show, despite what everyone on the internet seems to think. “I never played her as a villain. I know she makes morally questionable decisions and her reactions can be quite uncouth, to say the least. But I have to believe in what she does in order to play her with absolute honesty and truth,” Cooke added.

Cooke continued, “I think sometimes the internet discourse can be a bit too black and white. I read a tweet that I think summed it up really well: It’s not who’s good and evil, it’s who’s your favorite war criminal.” While that does sum it up really well, it’s probably for the best for Cooke and the rest of the cast to lay off Twitter during the new season. It has a tough track record.

(Via Deadline)

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album is a new book from your favorite author. Midnights arrived as new books often do — with a front cover interesting enough to catch a reader’s eye and a description of its contents compelling enough for them to commit to spending time with it. With no singles and a multitude of front and back covers, the latter of which assemble to form a clock, Swift captured her audience’s attention with an underlying wonder: “What keeps you up at night?”

Swift posed the question in a statement shared after the album’s release. “It’s a momentary glimmer of distraction,” she wrote. “The tiniest notion of reminiscent thought that wanders off into wondering, the spark that lights a tinderbox of fixation. And now it is irreversible. The flame has caught. You’re wide awake.” Introspection, by nature, is deeply personal and consequently requires an expansive familiarity with the subject matter and what came before it. You have to spend time thinking deeply about the past to know which parts of it you’re still stuck on. Midnights encourages this in more ways than one. Using musical reference points as a device for reflection, the album builds an eerie, dreamlike sense on first listen that you’ve heard it before. And in a way, you have.

Swift as an artist, particularly in recent years, has increasingly orchestrated how her music is consumed, to ensure that it’s in the way that she wants it to be heard with the references she wants connections drawn to. With Evermore, her ninth album, clear instructions ordered its pairing with Folklore, its sister album released just under five months prior. On Midnights, the directive is slightly more convoluted. Across the 13-track album — which the singer expanded with seven additional songs shared three hours after its release as Midnights (3am Edition) — Swift draws sonic and lyrical allusions to her entire post-Red discography, which contains seven releases including the Taylor’s Version rerecordings of Fearless and Red.

The common thread binding most of the projects together, beyond Swift’s familiar narrative voice, is her collaborative partnership with Jack Antonoff, who built most of the synth-pop worlds on both 1989 and Lover in addition to riding through the odd detour of Reputation and assisting in a masterful revival on Folklore and Evermore. On Midnights, the self-referential call-backs are poignant. “Question…?” interpolates 1989 single “Out Of The Woods” while “Snow On The Beach,” which (barely) features Lana Del Rey, is uncannily similar to Folklore’s “Illicit Affairs.” Meanwhile, “Maroon” picks up melodic influences from Reputation’s “King Of My Heart” and “Lavender Haze,” which opens the album, blends seamlessly into Lover’s “I Think He Knows.” Antonoff, who co-wrote and co-produced the entirety of Midnights barring three of the bonus tracks, is credited on all but one of the aforementioned references.

Swift’s album drops have a tendency to feel like the world’s most public-facing private event — inescapable, but not necessarily easily accessible, like pop music’s own personal MET Gala. Midnights, especially, mirrors the nature of this. Small pieces of information about the album were shared on a rolling basis in the lead up to its arrival in place of unveiling any grand details in any one moment, each crumb becoming its own universe to be prodded and dissected for clues towards the singer’s next musical scheme. For those who managed to keep up, pressing play on the album opened up the universes within her universes — as though cracking the spine on a novel written by an author whose past releases sit on the shelf, tattered and worn down from excessive reading and rereading.

When looking at its connection to Swift’s other capital “P” pop records, Midnights feels like the cleanup after the party — more subdued and aware, like walking out into the night and being shocked back into your body by the cool air, but not completely shaken of its love drunk haze (“Sweet Nothing” and “Maroon”). Then comes the sudden remembrances that question the what-ifs of the past (“Question…?” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”) and the comebacks cooked up long after the argument had come to an end, repackaged as not-so-final sendoffs to her enemies (“Karma” and “Vigilante Shit”). When she looks inward, watching a sizzle reel of the small interactions that added up to self-defining moments, it’s through a critical lens that reveals hard truths (“Anti-Hero” and “You’re On Your Own, Kid”).

There are instances throughout almost the entirety of Midnights in which the songs are authored in a way that makes it difficult to decipher whether they’re autobiographical, or part of Swift’s elaborate fictional world-building. There’s no “based on a true story” page ahead of the preface. The epilogue of additional tracks — which the singer likened to the “From The Vault” songs that appear on her rerecordings — only creates more mystery. Has she really not moved on from these experiences, or is she imagining what it would have been like and who she would have become if she hadn’t? Which were her own to begin with, and which were observed from afar?

There are old and new characters with familiar traits, the most prominent being the hopeless romantic and the young girl turned grown woman still figuring out how to be okay with making mistakes. There are parties and cities that we’ve visited in her musical world before and a canvas blank enough for someone else to fill in the missing details. And it seems as though she prefers it this way, leaving room for wonder and speculation knowing she has no intention of providing straightforward answers. More often than not, at this point in her career, the consumption model of Swift’s music leaves the listener to instead question: “How can I make this about me?”

They look inward, too. Wasn’t that the goal in asking what keeps them up at night? To get them to dig through the crevices of their own past while listening to a version of her own? The creator-consumer relationship, in this instance, relies on both parties maintaining a sense of trust between one another in order to move towards an honest answer. It’s the only way that Swift can write everyone else’s story in tandem with her own, but it requires a bit of studying. These records are not sequels, but they aren’t standalone novels, either.

When Midnights references back to Swift’s past albums, it surfaces the memories of hearing those songs for the first time and establishes a point of comparison to the feeling of hearing them in these newly repackaged forms. Similar, but different. Older, though not necessarily wiser. It’s the same way that five different songs from five different Swift records can be used in fandom edits of the same film and television scenes album cycle after album cycle. The soundtrack is different, but the story remains the same.

Midnights isn’t necessarily a redefining release within Swift’s own discography, or even within the current arena of pop that is crowded with Antonoff’s other collaborators (Del Rey, Lorde, and most recently The 1975) as much as it is with the rising generation of Swifties-turned-singer/songwriters pulling pages from her past books. But it is a more explicitly functional record that is profound for those who need it to be. It’s a poetic choose your own adventure novel colliding with a guide to self-help written with a slick pen and distributed to the masses — though not without an important caveat. “Never take advice from someone who’s falling apart,” Swift insists on “Dear Reader,” the closing track on Midnights (3am Edition), adding: “You should find another guiding light, guiding light / But I shine so bright.”

Midnights is out now via Republic. Get it here.