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Yes, the Rob Roy is just a Manhattan with Scotch whisky. But, wow, it’s a different beast. The drink is a 19th-century classic that deserves a lot more love than it gets. These days, most people order these as “Scotch Manhattans” or (even worse) a “Manhattan but with Scotch.” As a former high-end bartender, I can assure you that we know what a Rob Roy is without the explanation. Yes, this is literally a Manhattan variation with Scotch whisky, but that different base makes all the difference in the world.

So please…. just order it as a Rob Roy, okay? That name sounds cooler. (Rant over).

What we’re looking at here is a very classic cocktail that was devised at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan in 1894 to celebrate and operetta called, you guessed it, Rob Roy. The drink and the operetta are all about Scottish folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor. You can read up on the exploits of MacGregor and his Highland posse on your own time. For now, let’s focus on the Scotch cocktail at hand.

Manhattans and their variations tend to be late-fall and winter cocktails thanks to the mix of woody botanicals, sweetness, spicy bourbon or rye whiskey, and orange that basically screams “the holidays!” The Rob Roy is much lighter than those full-bodied and often spicy old-school Manhattans made with American whiskey. The reason is that you need to use sweet or unpeated blended Scotch whisky. Those tend to be more orchard fruit-forward — apple and pear especially — with a nice honeyed base. Apples, pears, and honey are much more fall-adjacent. That’s just a fact, folks.

With all of that in mind, let’s jump into this recipe and stir up the perfect fall cocktail!

Also Read: The Top Five Cocktail Recipes of the Last Six Months

• Our ‘Perfect Whisky And Coke’ Recipe Uses The Last Brand You’d Expect
• The Hemingway Daiquiri Is A Deeply Refreshing Summer Cocktail — Here’s The (Very Simple) Real Recipe
• The Godfather Is A Simple Scotch Cocktail To Power You Through Winter
• Recipe: The Amaretto Sour Is The Ideal Cocktail To Close Out January
• The Tom Collins Is A Classic Cocktail That’s Perfect For The Hotter Days Ahead

Rob Roy

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. blended Scotch whisky
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• Orange peel
• Luxardo Cherry
• Ice

I’m using an unpeated blended Scotch whisky, and you should too! You can absolutely make this with a peated blended malt, Johnnie Walker Green is a great choice for that. But this isn’t about peat, it’s about Highland whisky. For that vibe, I’m using Dewar’s 19, which has a wonderful base of honey, heather, and orchard fruits that really make this cocktail shine. It’s only $80 and makes a mean cocktail (yes, that’s cheap for a nearly 20-year-old scotch).

Remember, folks, the better the base spirit you use in your cocktail, the better that cocktail will taste.

What You’ll Need:

• Whisky glass (lowball), Nick and Nora, or cocktail glass
• Mixing jar
• Cocktail strainer
• Barspoon
• Fruit peeler

Method:

• Prechill the glass in the freezer.
• Add the whisky, vermouth, and bitters to the mixing jar. Give it a stir. Then add a handful of ice. Stir until the mixing jar is ice cold to touch (about 30 to 40 seconds).
• Strain the cocktail into the prechilled glass.
• Peel a thin orange rind (about the size of your thumb), express the oils over the cocktail (gently squeeze the orange side of the rind toward the drink while rolling/folding between your thumbs and index fingers), and then rub the peel all around the outside of the glass to coat it in more orange oils then toss. Spear a cherry. Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is — shockingly — lighter than a Manhattan. The orchard fruits and honey come through the barky botanical vermouth and bitters and create a nice balance. The sweetness of both whisky and vermouth blend nicely but don’t make the drink too sweet. It’s more like a hint of rock candy with some floral honey.

Overall, this is a warming-yet-light cocktail that makes you feel like leaves should be falling around you as your pick apples and start bonfires. The whisky is there but not overpowering. There’s balance, depth, and fall vibes through and through. Slàinte Mhath!

There were a number of show-stopping moments (and moments when we wished the show would truly stop) at this year’s Emmys, but the universally acclaimed moment was when Broadway legend Sheryl Lee Ralph took the stage to accept her Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and broke out in an emotional rendition of Endangered Species.

Ralph has been in the industry for decades, she was previously nominated for a Tony in 1981, but this is the first time she has been recognized. “I think I’m on the planet 999,” the actress told Variety the morning after her win. “I feel like I’m just still floating up there. Like I’m having an out-of-body experience. I know something has happened because the glitter has come off of my face. But the response has been crazy.”

After winning her Emmy, Ralph said that they went right back to work on the upcoming season of Abbott Elementary, where she plays the stern but loving teacher Barbara. “Abbott takes no tea for the fever. Abbott was like, we don’t care you won an Emmy last night, there’s work today! Bring yourself here today for work! There are no days off, no time off. Let’s get back to the work of making America’s new favorite TV show.”

Ralph mentioned that she had auditioned for Jackée Harry’s role on 227, which Harry won the Emmy for in 1987. Now Ralph joins her as being the only two Black women to win Oustanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. “Jackée tweeted at me,” Ralph says. “I was like, ‘Girl, you should have just called me!’ Who knew that that role of hers in 227, that the network wanted me. Maybe I just completely forgot all about that. But she was just like, ‘No, they wanted her for the role, but I got it and I won the Emmy. Now she’s got her own.’ That’s right! I got my own.”

You can see Ralph’s impeccable Emmy-winning comedic skills in the upcoming season of Abbott Elementary, which premieres on ABC on September 21st.

(Via Variety)

“Rock bottom” looks and feels different to everyone who experiences it. In the case of Rudy Giuliani, it is rumored to have involved a deep depression, heavy drinking binges, and nearly going broke — with an estimated $17,000 being spent on cigars and fountain pens over the span of six months.

This latest bit of intel, which The Daily Mail shared, comes from Andrew Kirtzman’s new book, Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor. It’s not the first piece of hot gossip we’ve gotten from the book, which was released on September 13th. In the lead-up to its publication, we heard snippets of details about some of the stories it uncovered, including how Donald Trump allegedly refused to make Rudy secretary of state because of his drinking problem.

The biggest bombshell, however, gave a new insight into Donald and Rudy’s relationship. The book reveals that after riding the post-9/11 high of being named TIME’s Person of the Year and regularly referred to as “America’s Mayor,” Giuliani believed winning the Republican nomination for president in 2008 would be a cinch. But it wasn’t.

According to Kirtzman’s book, and interviews with Giuliani’s ex-wife Judith, Rudy went to a very dark place. And it was Trump, of all people, who helped lift his friend out of his depression and disappointment. “We moved into Mar-a-Lago and Donald kept our secret,” Judith told the author, adding that her then-husband was “always falling sh*tfaced somewhere.’”

While Giuliani eventually seemed to emerge from his depression, his stay at Mar-a-Lago didn’t exorcise all of Rudy’s demons. By 2013, the former New York City mayor was so broke that he ended up signing on to make infomercials for the identity theft protection service LifeLock. Ironically, people who signed up got a free document shredder.

What money did come into the Giuliani household was going quickly back out again. Kirtzman says that at one point, Rudy “blew $12,000 on cigars and $7,000 on fountain pens during one six-month period.” The one-time political force was now giving into his own “worst instincts” and was, according to the author, “professionally and politically adrift” in the summer of 2015, when Trump first approached him about endorsing him should he decide to run for president.

The rest, of course, is history — history still in the making — but does give some insight into why Rudy has regularly made a fool of himself to prop Trump up.

Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor is on sale now.

(Via The Daily Mail)

Do Revenge, a teen dark comedy starring Maya Hawke and Riverdale’s Camila Mendes just hit Netflix today. The film, which fancies itself a Hitchcockian homage, features an inviting soundtrack of songs that will certainly appeal to not only today’s teen audiences, but also to those of us who have fond memories of certain songs in our teen years as well.

So for every song like Olivia Rodrigo’s “Brutal,” Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” and Tate McRae’s “She”s All I Wanna Be,” there’s also a heavy dose of Gen X and millennial teen classics like Third Eye Blind’s “How’s It Going To Be,” “Dreams” by The Cranberries and Fat Boy Slim’s “Praise You.”

Check out the complete list of songs that will appear on the Do Revenge soundtrack below.

Hayley Kiyoko – “For The Girls”
Robyn – “Do You Know (What It Takes)
Syd – “Cybah”
Olivia Rodrigo – “Brutal”
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “The Impression That I Get”
Third Eye Blind – “How’s It Going To Be”
Chloe Moriondo – “I Eat Boys”
Rosalía – “Milionària”
Hole – “Celebrity Skin”
Le Tigre – “Deceptacon”
Blu DeTiger – “Blondes”
Mazie – “Dumb Dumb”
Caroline Polachek – “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings”
Kacy Hill – “Easy Going”
TOBi – “Move”
The Symphonic Pops – “How Bizarre” (orchestral version)
Maude Latour – “Kids In America”
Juliana Madrid – “Pretend”
Helen – “Bitter Bitch”
MUNA – “Silk Chiffon” (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Harvey Danger – “Flagpole Sitta”
Tate McRae – “She”s All I Wanna Be”
Pom Pom Squad – “Shame Reactions”
Billie Eilish – “Happier Than Ever”
Chloe Adams – “Dead To Me (Simonyouth remix)”
Fatboy Slim – “Praise You”
Meredith Brooks – “Bitch”
The Cranberries – “Dreams”

Some of the artists mentioned here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After her unauthorized parody, The People’s Joker, was pulled from the TIFF lineup after one showing, creator Vera Drew is setting the record straight on the film’s legal status and its future. In a new statement arriving after an outpouring of support for the “queer coming of age Joker Origin story,” Drew vowed to screen the film again once she locks down a distribution partner. As for the legal status of the film, Drew said that she went to “great lengths” to make sure The People’s Joker fell under “parody/fair use.”

More importantly, Drew never received a “cease and desist” from Warner Bros. Discovery, who owns the rights to the DC Comics characters. Instead, she received an “angry letter,” which prompted her to scale back the screening and shield TIFF from any blowback after they were generous enough not to pull the film entirely.

Drew ended her statement with a defiant message for the parody film’s supporters: “Free The People’s Joker!”

You can read Drew’s full statement below:

The eve of our premiere …. A media conglomerate that shall remain nameless sent me an angry letter (misreported as a “cease and desist”) pressuring to not screen. Any other film festival would have pulled us immediately, but after being fully transparent with TIFF, we agreed to premiere as planned while scaling back our later screenings to mitigate potential blowback. It was disappointing (especially since I went to great lengths with legal counsel to have it fall under parody/fair use) but I made this choice to protect our film’s future and to protect our new friends at TIFF who have been some of PJ’s biggest advocates.

The People’s Joker will screen again very soon at several other festivals worldwide. We are humbly seeking a distribution partner who believes in what we are doing, will protect us, and will eventually help us make this film accessible to trans people and their families everywhere.

FREE THE PEOPLE’S JOKER

So it appears this is far from over!

(Via Vera Drew on Twitter)

Taylor Swift shocked the world when she surprise announced her forthcoming album Midnights at the end of the MTV Video Music Awards. On top of the fact that the pop star wasn’t expected to be at the show, she has spent the last few years releasing new recordings of her old albums due to a legal conflict with Scooter Braun. With Midnights set to release on October 21, the 32-year-old is now inviting listeners to view a glimpse of her album-making process.

In a TikTok posted by a Taylor Swift fan account on Twitter, the “Blank Space” artist can be found playing piano, walking through the snow, spending time with her cat, recording vocals, and drinking wine. The West Reading artist smiles a lot throughout the video, which is refreshing to see in spite of all she has endured over the last few years.

Midnights is 13 songs long and set to be a very personal offering from Swift. She shared a message along with the album’s cover art a few weeks back, saying “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … We’ll meet ourselves.”

Check out a glimpse of the album-making process for Midnights above.

Midnights is out 10/21 via Republic. Pre-order it here.

Cancer is serious. Ryan Reynolds is not. Luckily his characteristic sense of humor—along with being true to his word—has helped shine a light on a sobering topic in a fun way.

After apparently losing a bet to friend and “Welcome to Wrexham” co-star Rob McElhenney of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Reynolds agreed to get a colonoscopy … while broadcasting it to the entire world, of course.

Reynolds is an actor famous for hilarious hijinks. From his intense fictional feud with Hugh Jackman to performing epic pranks on talk shows, he is often the best thing on the internet for a good laugh.

However, he is also not one to shy away from difficult conversations, particularly when it comes to health. So raising awareness about the importance of colonoscopies was, as he quipped, “enough motivation for me to let you in on a camera being shoved up my ass.”

Reynolds might have lost the bet, but his actions paid off. The procedure turned out to be lifesaving.

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The video shows the “Free Guy” actor getting the news that an “extremely subtle” polyp was discovered and cut out. Reynolds had previously shown no symptoms.

“I’m not being dramatic,” his doctor told him. “This is exactly why you do this. You are interrupting the natural history of a disease, of something of a process that could have ended up developing into cancer and causing all sorts of problems. Instead, you are not only diagnosing the polyp, you are taking it out.”

Ever the expert marketer, Reynolds smoothly slid in a quick plug for his alcohol brand, joking that “I can’t believe you pumped all that Aviation Gin into my IV. I was out like a light” before thanking the doctor.

Reynolds got his colonoscopy at 45, which is the recommended age to begin routine screenings. Though it’s a preventable cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths for men and women combined, and it is predicted to be the top cancer killer for people under 50 by the year 2030.

Because of the inherent invasiveness of the procedure, many people feel uncomfortable even talking about colonoscopies, let alone getting one, despite early detection being so vital. But now, thanks to Reynolds hilariously riffing on his experience, the whole thing might not seem so daunting after all.

Thanks for the delightfully silly PSA, Ryan.

Ever since Matt Smith reigned as Prince Phillip on The Crown and also as Prince Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon, it’s easy to forget that he is Just A Guy and not an actual member of the royal family. But when it comes to the actual royal family, it seems like they might have appreciated his role after all!

While on The Today Show, Smith revealed that he actually met Prince Harry, Phillip’s grandson, while playing polo. Polo is one of the most royal-adjacent things you can do, as it is literally nicknamed “the sport of kings.” At the event, Smith ran into Prince Harry, who gave him a familiar greeting. “I met Harry once, at polo, which sounds a bit grand, but it wasn’t that grand,” Smith said. “And he walked up to me and went, “Granddad.’”Smith then mimcked a very stern handshake.

Smith added, “He watched [The Crown]! Well, I can’t claim to know if he watches it currently, but he watched a bit of it then.” He knew enough of it to be aware that Smith played Prince Phillip, so that’s definitely something! Smith also mentioned that he has met the now King Charles, and complimented his shoes.

Production on the current season of The Crown is currently suspended out of respect for the Queen, but the show saw a massive spike in viewership after her death last week. It’s unclear if the royals really watch the show, which follows their family over decades. The current reincarnation of Prince Phillip will be portayed by Tobias Menzies on the upcoming season of the Netflix drama.

Even though he’s not really a Prince, Smith traveled the universe for several years as The Doctor, so he’s basically British royalty anyway.

(Via Variety)

If you’re lucky enough to see Blonde in a theater this weekend, you should do that. Unless you’re under 17 years old. Then you’re not allowed.

Blonde is the first Netflix film with an NC-17 rating, for reasons unclear to both star Ana de Armas and director Andrew Dominik. “We live in a world where ‘[WAP]’ is, like, the number one song,” he told MovieMaker. “This sort of Eisenhower morality doesn’t really seem to bear much resemblance to what’s going on in the world. But I feel like anything that’s showing a woman in sexual situations is sort of something that — nobody wants to look under that hood.” Dominick doesn’t “even think the rating is deserved,” so he was “kind of surprised that they would consider that to be worthy of an NC-17.”

Blonde is rated NC-17 for “some sexual content,” according to the Motion Picture Association. And according to the parents guide on the film’s IMDb page, there’s “strong uses of ‘f*ck,’ ‘damn,’ ‘ass,’ ‘crap,’ ‘asshole,’ ‘whore,’ ‘c*ck,’ and ‘sh*t.’” So, parents, don’t let your little ones watch the nearly three-hour Marilyn Monroe biopic based on a Joyce Carol Oates book, no matter how much they beg.

“Marilyn Monroe was a confusing, alluring contradiction, and so, necessarily is Blonde,” Uproxx’s Vince Mancini wrote in his review. “But it’s also mesmerizing, hard to watch, and impossible not to watch almost in equal measure, a somewhat guilty pleasure, compelling in spite of, partly because of, the fact that you don’t quite understand.” For everyone who can’t see it this weekend, Blonde hits Netflix on September 28.

(Via MovieMaker)

The long wait is finally over: Blackpink’s sophomore studio album, Born Pink, is finally here and it’s trending high on socials.

After successfully dropping “Pink Venom” as a pre-release single last month, it comes to no surprise Blinks, K-pop fans, and pop music lovers alike are celebrating and reacting to today’s album release from the quartet. Featuring eight songs on the album, Born Pink is a well-packaged sophomore project from the K-pop icons that explodes into a sonic roller coaster of powerful, bass-bumping hip-hop dance tracks with a little mesh of acoustic rock and R&B, all while embodying pop in between.

Born Pink’s tracklist features a variety of songs produced by YG Entertainment’s in-house producer Teddy, Bekuh BOOM (“Ddu-Du Ddu-Du,” “Kill This Love,” “Ice Cream”), 24 (“Kill This Love,” “Lovesick Girls,” “Pink Venom”), and more. Not to mention a track co-written by members Jisoo and Rosé title “Yeah Yeah Yeah” and “Hard to Love,” a solo sung by Rosé.

At the moment, there are no signs of the hype dwindling down as promotions have just begun. Blackpink is set to do some stateside promotions, including an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel next Monday, followed by a world tour next month.

To grab a glimpse of what the internet feels about the album, alongside their favorite B-sides, here’s what they have to say: