Over the years, there have been multiple cases of rappers or producers withholding big features from their albums because it “wasn’t the right time” (Rick Ross removing Pusha T from “Maybach Music VI”), they didn’t want one song to overshadow the entire project (Swizz Beatz not placing “Just Because” with Jay-Z, Nas, and DMX on Poison) or various other reasons. In the most recent case of this confusing phenomenon, NAV spoke on why his collaboration with Drake did not make it on his new album Demons Protected By Angels.
In the “Myself” artist’s recent appearance on Full Send Podcast, he told the hosts “We did a song. I feel we could’ve done a better song and the timeframe was just not good, it didn’t work out.” He continued on saying “He’s such a big artist that I didn’t want to put the song on the album and have it take away from anything else on the album. You know, take away life from all the other moments.”
Co-host Kyle Forgeard was bewildered and replied, “So you had a song with Drake and you’re purposefully not putting it on your album? That’s pretty crazy.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, NAV had nothing but positive things to say about the “Six God,” saying “Drake’s an amazing person and we hang out all the time in Toronto.”
Demons Protected By Angels was released on Friday (September 9) with features from Future, Travis Scott, Gunna, Bryson Tiller, and more. Though the decision was questionable, the hope is that maybe one day this collaboration will see the light of day.
Check out NAV’s appearance on Full Send Podcast above.
Demons Protected By Angels is out now via XO and Republic. Listen here.
In recent years, the NFL has made a concerted effort to connect with a broader (and younger) fanbase, finally taking steps to embrace hip-hop and Black culture after taking plenty of criticism over the past decade. Its most recent Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring Dr. Dre and friends won three Emmy awards, while the NFL office says it didn’t mind Eminem kneeling as an acknowledgment of Colin Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality and subsequent blackballing by the league.
However, that doesn’t mean that the NFL, which has traditionally skewed older and much, well, whiter, has completely figured out how to connect to audiences raised on rap. Case in point: The Atlanta Falcons’ “Rise Up” season promo, which the team debuted today on social media. The musical clip inexplicably features actor-singer Rotimi crooning from a throne while wearing a Younghoe Koo jersey. Fans on Twitter were not impressed, calling out the team for not featuring any of the dozens of prominent Black artists who call the ATL home (for instance: Gucci Mane, Future, Latto, Lil Baby, and Migos, just off the top of my head). As Omeretta The Great might say, “That is not Atlanta.”
Artists got in on the act, too. “I’m right here yall,” wrote JID, who just released his new album The Forever Story to both critical acclaim and impressive commercial success. “y y’all put rotimi in the line of fire like dat?” asked 6lack, who, like JID (his bandmate in Spillage Village), is a homegrown ATLien.
Obviously, Rotimi’s background was a sticking point for fans — he’s from New Jersey, and didn’t even go to school in Atlanta, opting for an education from Northwestern — but likely so too was the general presentation. The song features a relatively generic horn-backed beat that sounds about two decades out of date to be the contemporary sound the marketing team clearly wanted.
It’s probably already too late for the Falcons to change things up now, but it’s especially sad that an NFL team hasn’t learned from the rich history around it. In 2018, with the Super Bowl in Atlanta, fans booed the league’s halftime performer pick, Maroon 5, while nearly every peripheral event in the city featured an artist that should have been considered first. Hopefully, the team and the league can avoid too many more stumbles like this in the future — pun 100 percent intended. See more responses below.
thugger and gunna didn’t gonna jail for y’all to put out this bullshit https://t.co/ml1gek3Mo4
However excited fictional white girls get about pumpkin spice season in every comedian’s hack bit, that’s me with Oktoberfest beer. For three or four weeks out of every year, I get to experience what life must be like for IPA lovers. If you love the hop bombs, virtually every brewery and bar will have you covered, usually six or seven times over. Where I live, it’s not uncommon to go to a brewery, bar, or grocery store and see 70% of the craft beers be variations on IPAs (some of which aren’t even really IPAs — a “black IPA?” the P stands for “pale,” motherf*cker!). Then the other 30% end up being a collection of novelty flavors, peanut butter fudgesicle sundae stouts, and apology blonde ales. If your go-to style is an amber lager or red ale, or anything with a little color and mild-to-moderate amount of hops like mine, at best, you generally get one option. At worst, you have to settle for a brown ale or a Czech pils (if there’s a helles? I’m over the dang moon!).
Oktoberfest gives us malty lager lovers the one thing we usually don’t get — variety. Of course, the downside of being spoiled for options is that you start having to make tough decisions. In that spirit, and in honor of my favorite beverage season, I decided to round up as many Oktoberfest brews as I could find, taste them blind, and rank my favorites.
Before we get to that, I should note that an “Oktoberfest beer” doesn’t always mean exactly the same thing. You don’t quite see brewers just naming any damned beer an Oktoberfest brew like a lot of them do with IPA, but there is still some variation within the larger umbrella of the style.
Going back to the beginnings of the festival in Munich, which began in 1810, the signature style of the festival was a märzen. A märzen is an amber lager, brewed in March (aka März) and aged through the summer, peaking in September and October right when the festival gets going. A märzen uses Munich malt, bringing a deep orange color and grainy, toasty flavor. The reason I like them is that they usually come on sweet and flavorful, but still finish crisp with just enough bite, thanks to the noble hops and Bavarian yeast.
However (caveat alert), at some point during the seventies, the big Munich brewers who make all the beer at the festival decided that märzens were a little heavy for an all-day kicker like Oktoberfest. They started producing lighter lagers as their official Oktoberfest or Festbier flagships and now you won’t find märzens under the tents. This is why German import Oktoberfest beers taste different than American breweries’ Oktoberfest brews, which generally aim for the old märzen version.
Personally, as an ugly American, I want a märzen when I’m picking an Oktoberfest beer — though I can still enjoy a well-made German light lager. In both cases, my ideal is a nice balance of sweet flavorful malt and crispy hoppy bite, neither too syrupy sweet nor too hoppy bitter or watery.
For this tasting, I just grabbed every Oktoberfest beer I could find here in Central California, plus a handful of other breweries we knew that could ship samples. The pool ended up being a nice mix of American craft märzens, imported German Oktoberfest lighter lagers, and German export märzens — all ranging from the syrupy, rum-raisiny prune brews of the too malty ones, to the bitter, watery, sometimes piss-tasting pilsneryness (sorry, that’s just the way I think of it) of the too hoppy/too watery ones. There were 18 in all, which is probably approaching the upper limit of how many beers you can sample blind and still have coherent taste buds by the end (I didn’t spit either, it seemed somehow both un-American and anti-German).
Sam Adams Oktoberfest, er, Octoberfest, is a märzen -tyle beer brewed with Tettnang, Tettnanger, Hallertau, and Mettelfrueh hops, with 5.3% ABV and 15 IBUs, available every year from about August-October.
My Notes
More towards the dark end of the spectrum, brownish amber in color. On the nose, it has that strong rum-raisiny, almost fruitcake-like aroma, almost like a scotch ale. On the palate… woof, this is rum-raisin city. Waaay syrupy for my tastes, and weirdly not even that sweet? It just tastes strong. This would be hard to drink all day. Drinking this, I can see why the German brewers switched to something lighter.
Rating: 3.75/10
Bottom Line
This was a huge shock for me. Before this tasting, I would’ve told you that Sam Adams generally makes one of my favorite Oktoberfest beers. I buy it every year and generally put it slightly over Sierra Nevada’s. Their flagship beer, Boston Lager, is a great, balanced amber lager that I can and do drink all year round. I’m not sure whether the beer is just different this year or if the branding just had that much of an effect on me. It definitely tastes like maybe they went harder into the maltier, sweeter, more syrupy territory, maybe to differentiate it from the Boston Lager. But that’s all speculaish.
All I know is that this one was too rum-raisiny for me. For what it’s worth, my brother-in-law, who tasted with me (and generally drinks IPAs), had it rated “good… solid” and neither in his top three nor bottom three.
17. Temblorfest Märzen (Sample 7)
Vince Mancini
The Beer
Temblor Brewing, out of Bakersfield, California, brews this 5.5% ABV, 28-IBU märzen-style lager every Fall.
My Notes:
This one is more of a brown amber than an orange. I smell sweet toffee and yeasty bread on the nose. On the palate, this one comes on sweet but finishes bitter. In fact, it’s more bitter than I like. The hops on this one tip it more into German pils/IPA territory.
“Bitter bitter.”
Rating: 4/10
Bottom Line:
If Sam Adams was too malty, this was the other end of the spectrum, a little too hoppy/crisp to the point that it finished bitter. I want just enough bite to balance out the malt in a märzen, not this much. For the record, my brother-in-law had this one in his top three, which checks out considering his bitter-skewing palate.
16. Shiner Oktoberfest (Sample 12)
Shiner
The Beer:
Founded by a Bavarian, Kosmos Spoetzl, in 1909, Texas powerhouse Shiner-Spoetzl still brews plenty of German styles, God bless them, including this 5.7% ABV, 18-IBU märzen made with Hallertau and Hersbrucker hops.
My Notes:
Very orange-amber in color. On the nose, lots of yeast and something I can’t quite identify. There’s a weird note in there I can’t put my finger on. On the palate, this one is more bitter than sweet. Not really a fan.
Rating: 4.5/10
Bottom Line
Another big surprise, as I’m usually a big fan of Shiner in general. Texas beers tend more towards styles I like compared to the hop-heavy stuff that dominates here in California. That being said, this one tasted bitter to the point of being slightly unbalanced, and even my brother-in-law had it in his bottom three.
15. Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier
Paulaner
The Beer
One of the big six Munich brewers, Paulaner has multiple Oktoberfest beers, with this one being the German lager type. Brewed with a mix of Pilsner and Munich malt and Herkules and Hallertauer Tradition hops, it comes in at 6.0% ABV.
My Notes:
Light orange amber. This smells like biscuits with honey, it’s really nice on the nose. On the palate, it does have that biscuity flavor, but it’s missing the honey. There’s not enough sweetness to balance the hop bite for me, so it finishes slightly more bitter than I’d like.
Rating: 5/10
Bottom Line:
This one was fine for what it is, but like I said, I tend to prefer the märzens to the German-style Oktoberfest lagers. Paulaner also makes a märzen that finished better.
14. Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Amber Märzen (Sample 2)
Sierra Nevada Brewing
The Beer:
Brewed with a mix of Black, Munich, Pilsner, and Special Roast malts, as well as Hersbrucker and Tradition hops with lager yeast, this 5.5% BV brew with 19 IBUs packs flavors of caramel and graham cracker and is released every fall.
My Notes:
Nice amber color. The nose isn’t super strong of anything, but what I can smell has a nice caramel malt character to it. On the palate, this is refreshing and lightly caramel malty but has a more bitter German hop character on the back end.
It’s fine, but I think I prefer sweeter.
Rating: 6/10
Bottom Line:
Sierra Nevada is another one of my favorite Oktoberfest brews. This year it seemed slightly more bitter. It does tend more toward bitter than, say, Sam Adams, whose Oktoberfest tends more syrupy, but it seemed like those differences were more pronounced this year. My wife also had this one in her bottom three. That being said, I’m mostly working with shades of grey from here on out, and from this one on up they’re all pretty drinkable, even if not my favorite of the 18 different Oktoberfest beers I tasted.
13. Societe Brewing Company Fest Bier Oktoberfest Lager (Sample 8)
Societe Brewing
The Beer
Hailing from the craft beer mecca of San Diego, Societe’s Fest Bier Oktoberfest Lager is “inspired by the famed light brews of Munich. Crisp and clean with floral and mineral notes, plus a touch of lemony citrus zest,” it comes in at a sleek 4.6% ABV.
My Notes:
Lighter amber, more straw to orange in color than the deep orange märzen color. On the nose, this has a malty, Czech pils smell to it. On the palate, this tastes very much like a German macrobrew lager. It’s more crisp than sweet, with that bitter-ish hop character, but it’s not overly bitter.
I’d drink this… but I don’t love it.
Rating: 6.25/10
Bottom Line:
This was a bit of an outlier in that it’s an American Oktoberfest beer that’s clearly trying to ape the German Oktoberfest light lager rather than a märzen. It fooled us well. I assumed it was a German macrobrew, and my brother-in-law’s notes had “GERMAN” in all caps. Results were split. Brother-in-law had it in his top three of the first round, and my wife had it in her top three. I guess I was the only objector.
Even I thought it was fine, just a little on the bitter side.
From another San Diego brewery, Alesmith’s Oktoberfest is a märzen-style lager coming in at 5.5% ABV and 13 IBU, “characterized by a clean, elegant, and toasty malt character. ”
My Notes:
Lighter amber, more yellow-orange in color. Not a lot on the nose, straw? On the palate, a very light body on this one, albeit with some faint caramel malt and a distant note of hoppy bitterness. This is decent but feels watered down somehow.
Rating: 6.5/10
Bottom Line:
Another “fine but not exceptional” beer for me. My wife had it right in the middle and my brother-in-law had it in his bottom three for the first half. We all thought it tasted a bit light and pilsner-y for what was mostly a märzen contest.
11. East Brother Beer Co. Festbier (Sample 6)
Vince Mancini
The Beer:
East Brother Beer Co. out of Richmond in Northern California, brews this “smooth, clean, pale German lager” every fall, with 5.8% ABV and 24 IBU.
My Notes:
Vibrant orange amber color. Caramel malt on the nose, but not super aromatic. I get a hint of grains in there, maybe pumpernickel bread. On the palate, this is sweet but light, and lightly syrupy. It has that German hop character, more on the crisp spectrum as opposed to sweet and malty.
Maybe a little watery?
Rating: 6.75/10
Bottom Line:
East Brother is one of my favorite breweries, partly for the handsome cans, and partly for their line of un-gimmicky, across-the-board-solid beers. My favorite beer they make is their red lager, a biscuity-sweet Vienna lager that, if it had been in this competition, I have to imagine would’ve finished near the top. But they couldn’t just relabel the same beer, so it seems they give their Festbier a little more hops and bite to differentiate it.
I found it solidly drinkable, if neither my favorite nor least favorite, and that’s where all my other tasters had it as well.
10. Karl Strauss Oktoberfest (Sample 14)
Karl Strauss
The Beer:
Another great brewery out of, once again, San Diego, Karl Strauss has been around since ’89, making it kind of an OG in the local scene. This one combines Vienna, Munich, and Carahell malts with Hallertau and Perle hops for a 5% ABV, 20 IBU ode to the märzen style.
My Notes:
Orange to red amber in color, similar to most of the others. There’s a spicy… oak note to the nose? I’m getting wood in this. On the palate it comes on sweet and kind of crunchy. It’s not bitter, exactly, but goes more towards… watery? Solid if unspectacular.
Rating: 7/10
Bottom Line:
I really thought I detected something spicy or oaky in this one that made it distinct from the others. I actually thought it was the Firestone Oaktoberfest, because I know that one is oak-aged. Something about it tastes distinct from the others — I thought it was woody/spicy, my brother-in-law had “bitter” in his notes and ranked it in the bottom of round two. I would class it more as “interesting.” Not better, or worse, exactly, but a slight departure.
I should also note that two of Karl Strauss’s oldest brews, their Red Trolley Ale and Columbia Street Amber Lager, are the kind of can’t-miss sweet malty beers that I’ll pour every time I see them.
9. Hofbrau Oktoberfestbier (Sample 15)
Vince Mancini
The Beer:
Another one of Munich’s big six breweries, chances are you’ve seen this one in the imports section somewhere. Billed as a “full-bodied, bottom-fermented specialty beer,” it comes in at 6.3% ABV and 23 IBU, with Herkules, Perle, Magnum, and Select hops and a combination of light and Munich malts.
My Notes:
One of the lightest ones, orange in color but really almost yellow. On the nose, this smells like a German man’s urine. Not really, but it has that very pronounced German macrobrewery lager smell to it. On the palate, there’s a nice sweetness on the front end balancing that classic German crispness. Not super memorable, but it goes down really easy.
Rating: 7.5
Bottom Line:
This is very representative of what an Oktoberfest beer has come to mean in Germany, as opposed to the American märzens. I would very much describe this as a “German piss lager,” but it’s a really solid and drinkable German piss lager that I could easily see myself drinking six or 10 of and using to watch down a nice pork knuckle.
It’s a solid version of what it is.
8. Weihenstephaner Festbier (Sample 17)
Vince Mancini
The Beer:
Another one of Munich’s big six, Weihenstephaner bills itself as “the world’s oldest brewery” and is certainly one of my favorite. This gold lager comes in at 5.8% ABV and 26 IBUs.
My Notes:
Orange straw in color, more towards the light end of the spectrum. Smells like proofing French bread on the nose, pretty aromatic for a lighter beer. It’s sweeter on the palate than I was expecting, with none of the rum raisin flavor. It’s definitely more crisp than malty, but it’s nicely balanced. Very drinkable.
Rating: 7.5
Bottom Line:
Weihenstephaner makes two of my favorite beers on Earth, their Hefeweissbeer Dunkel and Hefeweissbeer, so even though the German light lager-version of Oktoberfest beers is my second favorite of the two styles, I’m not surprised that Weihenstephaner’s version of it is still pretty good. My brother-in-law had it in his top three.
7. Golden Road Brewing Oktoberfest (Sample 1)
Vince Mancini
The Beer:
A 5.8% ABV, 13 IBU mix of German Tradition hops and a bunch of deep amber malts from Golden Road Brewing, an LA brewery founded in the golden age of 2011.
My Notes:
This one is very rum raisiny on the nose, with some notes of dark bread underneath. On the tongue, it’s sweeter on the palate and less rum-raisiny than the smell led me to believe. It’s syrupy and sweet and definitely leans more malty than crisp/hoppy. This is nice, but could maybe use a little more bite.
Still, pretty good all things considered.
Rating: 8
Bottom Line:
This is a great choice if you like your Oktoberfest beers to skew more sweet and syrupy than crisp and bitter, and divided us accordingly. My wife had it as her top choice and my brother-in-law had it in his bottom three. I’d be curious to see how this one fared in a true Oktoberfest contest, where you have to drink four or five of each beer.
Of course, those conditions are pretty difficult to recreate in the real world with 18 different beers unless you’re Wade Boggs. Maybe next time I can convince Uproxx to let me expense a cross-country flight. “C’mon! It’s for a post!”
6. Hacker-Pschorr Oktoberfest Märzen (Sample 13)
Hacker-Pschorr
The Beer:
I’m going to defer to the copywriters of Southern Bavaria and just quote them here: “Forbidden as it was to brew in summer, a stronger beer – the Märzen – was brewed earlier in March. It would finally be served at the Oktoberfest, under the ‘Heaven of Bavaria.’ We have returned once again to the age-old recipe and recreated that gloriously smooth, honey-coloured piece of history from times gone by. And all is brewed with due reverence to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516.”
Beyond that lovely bit of background, we know it has 5.8% ABV and Hallertau hops.
My Notes:
Orange to red amber in color. This one comes on sweet and malty on the nose, with notes of maple syrup. On the palate, this one is very syrupy caramel toffee sweet, but it’s also balanced just enough with that crispy hop note on the back end. This is very solid, though there is a bitterness that builds the more I drink.
Rating: 8/10
Bottom Line:
It’s sad that most of the big German brewers moved away from märzens as their Oktoberfest brews because they can brew the shit out of a märzen when they want to. This was well-liked by all my tasters.
Dust Bowl, in Turlock, California (you may have seen it in Colin Kaepernick’s terrible Netflix show) brews this amber-colored märzen every Fall, which never feels very autumnal in Turlock. This year’s clocks in at 6.4% ABV.
My Notes:
Nice reddish amber color to this one. Smells strongly of raisin bread on the nose, with maybe a little persimmon. On the palate, this one has a plummy, fruitcake vibe to it, as you might expect from the nose, but it’s nicely balanced by its crispness. This is more rum raisiny than I usually go for, but it’s actually nicely balanced.
Rating: 8.25/10
Bottom Line:
Okay, here’s why blind tastings are weird: my wife and I visited the actual Dust Bowl brewery (which was indeed dusty as shit that day, looking like spring in Abu Dhabi) on our way up to San Francisco less than a week before this tasting, and when we had their Oktoberfest off the tap in the actual brewery, we both thought, “Eh, this is fine, nothing to write home about.”
I even ordered something different for my second beer. Then in the blind, I have it in my top five and she has it in her top three (my brother-in-law also had it in his top two of the first half). Is it possible it tastes better out of the can than out of the tap? Because that seems to be what happened here.
Firestone in Paso Robles, California has been making Oaktoberfest for 15 years — brewed with Weyermann Vienna malt, Weyermann pilsner malt, noble German hops, and Weihenstephan yeast and then lagered in French oak wine barrels. 5.2% ABV.
My Notes:
This is more towards yellow on the amber spectrum we’re working with here. Head is sort of uriney and smells like an American pils. It smells… crisp. On the palate, by contrast, it comes on sweet, with a very light toffee flavor. This tastes like a German macro lager but also an excellent version of that.
“Crisp, refreshing, and sweet.”
Rating: 8.5/10
Bottom Line:
Boy, I was way off. You’d think I’d be able to identify the only oak-aged beer in the tasting, not to mention one I’ve had often at the Firestone-Walker flagship in Paso, but nope. Solid beer nonetheless. As you would expect from one of the OGs of craft brewing.
3. Brooklyn Oktoberfest Märzen (Sample 3)
Vince Mancini
The Beer:
This 5.5% ABV märzen out of Utica combines bready malts and German noble hops for a sweet, drinkable lager available every year from August to October.
My Notes:
More of a toffee-amber color. On the nose, I get more caramel toffee on the nose, with maybe some candied pecan nuttiness sneaking in there as well. On the palate it’s sweet caramel and syrupy, combining medium flavor and medium bite. Above all, it’s a very nice balance of malt and crispness, which is exactly what I want in an Oktoberfest lager.
Rating: 8.5
Bottom Line:
For me, this defined that balance between malt and sweet and landed in that 5-6% ABV, 10-20 IBU sweet spot. I should note that my wife had this in her bottom three, but women can be very irrational sometimes.
This mix of Herkules and Hallertauer Tradition hops, pilsner and Munich malts from one of Munich’s big six comes in at 5.8%.
My Notes:
A reddish amber brown color. On the nose, notes of orange and yeasty barley. On the palate, crunchy and sweet on the front end, but very crisp with lots of sparkly head on the back end. This one feels very German macro too, but extremely drinkable. …I kinda wanna crush 10 of these.
Rating: 8.75/10
Bottom Line:
Did I redeem myself for not being able to recognize oak that I did once again correctly identify a German macro? …You don’t have to answer that right away. Anyway, as I said above, the Munich breweries may not have märzen as their flagship Oktoberfest brews anymore, but they can still brew the shit out of them.
This one was a wonderful balance, and all my tasters agreed.
1. Jackrabbit Brewing Company Märzen (Sample 5)
Vince Mancini
The Beer:
While the brewery doesn’t have much information on this one, we know it’s a märzen-style festbier that comes in at 6% ABV.
My Notes:
Darker in color, amber towards brown. Faintly rum raisin on the nose, but more of a substantial brown bread aroma than that kind of alcohol-y, fermenty rum-raisin. Nice. This is somehow crunchy on the palate, refreshing and crisp but also strongly grain forward. Not too sweet, not too bitter with nice caramel malt and enough head to cut any syrupiness from the darker, sweeter malt.
Rating: 8.75/10
Bottom Line:
I’d never had this beer before nor heard of this brewery, and I probably wouldn’t have picked the can up out of a lineup. It doesn’t have the most eye-catching label like the East Brothers or Societe (though it’s perfectly fine), and it doesn’t even say “Oktoberfest” on it (because it’s a märzen and was in the seasonal section I was able to put two and two together). But it’s a damned fine beer. I didn’t actually drink five or six of these in a sitting, but it felt like the kind of beer you’d be able to while still packing in a lot of those nice hearty märzen flavors of brown bread and darker malt.
Final Thoughts
A blind tasting always packs a few surprises, and chief among them was Sam Adams ending up last on my list. I would’ve put money on that one landing in my top five, as I always stock up on it come Fall. Blind tastings are flawed in a lot of ways, too — chief among them being that I’m a firm believer that any drink’s “story” makes up part of how it tastes and the can/bottle design is part of that story. Beer also tastes a little different depending on whether you have it in a bottle, can, glass, stein, or in small plastic cups like we tasted these.
You can’t tell me that Miller Lite doesn’t taste better in the retro can. It absolutely does.
As surprised as I was by some of these — the Sam Adams being low, the Jackrabbit being my favorite, the Dust Bowl tasting so much better than I thought it did at the brewery — when I went back and sipped these in their marked vessels after the blind tasting was over, I didn’t feel like I’d been wrong about any of them during the blind. This year’s Sam Adam’s Oktoberfest does taste very raisiny to me, and the top five or six all were pretty fantastic. That being said, even the lowest ones on the list were still decent, and if we had this kind of variety in amber lagers and orange-red-brown beers all year round I sure wouldn’t be disappointed about it.
If your idea of fun is trying to figure out what the hell you’re watching, Barbarian will be a blast. Opening only in theaters this weekend, the horror movie, from writer/director Zach Creggers, previously of The Whitest Kids U Know comedy troupe and later an actor in various forgettable sitcoms, starts out as a stylish, genuinely creepy horror movie, only to slowly evolve into something resembling Malignant, last year’s Evil Siamese Tumor movie so weird and silly that the internet couldn’t help but love it.
Barbarian may not quite have Malignant‘s level of schlocky panache (few directors can match James Wan in that department), but the fact that Malignant is my only point of comparison feels like an achievement on its own. Barbarian is so consistently perplexing it gave me frown lines I’ll have forever.
Maybe it’s best not to know that Barbarian was written and directed by a comedy guy. I certainly didn’t going in, and there’s nothing overtly comedic about it. In the beginning, there’s nothing even conceptually comedic about it, it’s just a genuinely creepy horror movie. Georgina Campbell plays Tess, a prototypical brainy ingenue who has come to Detroit for a job interview. When she arrives at her AirBnB on a prototypical dark and stormy night, she finds the door locked and there’s a man inside. They come to find that the rental has been double-booked, and the property manager isn’t around to help straighten things out.
She’s wary of the man, naturally, but it’s late, pouring rain, and there’s a convention in town clogging all the hotels (in Detroit? come on), so she doesn’t have many options. The guy, Kevin, played by Bill Skarsgard, urges her to just come in from the rain until they can work things out. He seems nice enough, doing everything he can to put her at ease. Then again, he’s Bill Skarsgard, the clown from IT. Those big doe eyes are always threatening to go buggy and start swimming around their sockets, chameleon-like, at any second.
Tess and Kevin get on okay and Tess makes it through the night, but when she opens the door in the morning, seeing the neighborhood in the daylight for the first time, she finds that the house seems to be the only inhabited dwelling for miles, smack in the middle of one of the Detroit area’s abandoned suburbs. And it’s completely abandoned; overgrown and crumbling, like something you’d find near Chernobyl.
Is this not the perfect setting for a horror movie? Why is there this one seemingly nice, vaguely Scandinavian guy in the only occupied house for miles? Is he fellow victim or predator?
It’s a believable enough premise, and it feels like the perfect pregnant metaphor for about 100 different stories. Will it be about the death of manufacturing? The facelessness of the tech economy? About gentrification, “sacrifice zones,” the crumbling of empire, the prototypical Death of the American Dream?
So many poignant options are on the table, but just when you think you’re going to hurt your brain trying to figure out which one Cregger is going to go for, he opts for something much, much stupider and hurts your brain even more. It doesn’t feel like a success, exactly, but it’s so over-the-top strange that you almost have to respect it.
Just when this story about a double-booked Air BnB in a ghost town paints itself into a corner, Cregger bookends it and starts what at first seems like a whole new one, starring Justin Long as an actor who gets #MeToo’d right on the cusp of his big break. This is another teasing premise (if a less obviously horror-centric one) that you could imagine Cregger taking a number of different ways.
Instead, Cregger just sort of smooshes his storylines together in the dumbest, shlockiest way possible. Normally that kind of thing would be a disappointment, and in Barbarian it sort of is, but it’s also a film that’s so stupid and shlocky that it just becomes entertaining in a different way. It shifts almost seamlessly from the tension of “what is going to happen” to “what the fuck are you doing?”
Just when you think Barbarian can’t get any sillier or further from the promise of its intriguing premise, it does, in a way I had to sort of begrudgingly respect. It feels like Zach Cregger really had something here and couldn’t quite figure out what to do with it and then just started flailing. But that flailing is so transparent and unabashed that it’s almost a kind of performance art.
Does that make this a rave or a pan? I don’t really even know myself. So go see Barbarian. I couldn’t tell what the hell it is, and I still don’t know why it’s called “Barbarian.”
Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
He made it fun, too, by throwing some playful jabs at Nike while on stage. Commenting on the longevity of the brand, Drake quipped, “Nike is 50. Nike’s so old, it’s wearing New Balance.” After taking a sip of water, he continued, “Nike turning 50 means LeBron’s going to get you to try to play for the Lakers this year. This is the year where you’re going to walk into a restaurant and see Nike having red wine with Jared Dudley and Carmelo Anthony.”
Drake hosting the Nike Maxim Awards show tonight in Portland, Oregon — Part 1. pic.twitter.com/mVxM5XVOmq
After at least two years worth of rumors that Star Wars: Rebels character Ezra Bridger would make the jump from animation to the live-action world of The Mandalorian, Eman Esfandi has been reportedly cast in the role for the upcoming Ahsoka series on Disney+. Esfandi’s casting arrives after rumors that Midnight Mass actor Rahul Kohli and Aladdin star Mena Massound were circling the Ezra Bridger part.
Esfandi’s credits include the Robert Rodriguez horror film Red 11, which screened at Cannes in 2019, as well as a small role in best picture nominee King Richard. He also appears in the upcoming gay military drama The Inspection, which is getting strong early reviews out of the Toronto Film Festival this week.
As one of the main characters of the animated Rebels series, Ezra Bridger displayed a sensitivity to the Force at a time when the Empire was aggressively hunting down the Jedi. After unlocking an ability to travel through space and time with the Force, Ezra disappeared in the series finale along with the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn. Ahsoka Tano and Mandalorian fighter Sabine Wren set off on a quest to find him, which will reportedly be the plot of the Ahsoka series. (The Society star Natasha Liu Bordizzo was cast as Sabine earlier this year.)
In Season 2 of The Mandalorian, Rosario Dawson‘s Ahsoka is shown searching for Thrawn in her live-action debut, so the groundwork for finding Ezra Bridger is in place. Judging by this casting news, it’s a good guess that she finds him.
We don’t always choose our gifts. Joy Milne’s superpower, one she inherited from her mother’s side of the family, was having a highly acute sense of smell.
Milne might have never used her olfactory talent as a force for good, had it not been for her late husband, Les Milne.
According to NPR, Les and Joy met in their teens and it was love at first sniff. “He had a lovely male musk smell. He really did,” she told NPR.
After many years of a happy marriage, Joy noticed her husband, then in his 30s, had developed an “overpowering sort of nasty yeast smell.” The running joke-slash-complaint was that Les “wasn’t washing enough.”
Eventually Les’ scent wouldn’t be the only thing to change. Joy told NPR that her once funny, thoughtful husband completely transformed, becoming “moody,” irritable and even aggressive. He wouldn’t receive a proper Parkinson’s diagnosis until the age of 45.
Joy didn’t suspect that she could somehow detect the disease until going with Les to a Parkinson’s support group and noticing that the same distinctive smell seemed to fill the room. After sharing the discovery with her husband, she knew she had to take action.
Joy began working with researchers at University of Edinburgh and through a series of experiments confirmed that she could sniff out Parkinson’s with flawless accuracy. Now scientists have created a breakthrough method of detection based on Joy’s special ability.
Under the belief that Parkinson’s affects a person’s odor due to a chemical change in sebum, or skin oil, doctors simply run a cotton ball along the back of the neck, then identify specific molecules linked to the neurological condition. The BBC reported that the skin-swab test is 95% accurate under laboratory conditions.
Though this medical advancement is still in its early stages, the discovery is promising. There is currently no definitive test to get a Parkinson’s diagnosis and, as Joy explained to Sky News, it is often not identified until patients have “over 50% of neuronal damage.”
Joy Milne, who can ‘smell Parkinson’s Disease’ has helped scientists from The University of Manchester develop a test to diagnose the disease within minutes. 👃 pic.twitter.com/j68oSQnM2o
Les died in 2015 at 65. An earlier diagnosis might have provided the opportunity to improve his lifestyle, which could possibly have offset symptoms. “It has been found that exercise and change of diet can make a phenomenal difference,” Joy told The Guardian.
She also recalled to BBC News that it would have meant having an explanation for the mood swings, not to mention traveling, spending more time with family … making the most out of what time was left. That perhaps is the biggest saving grace an early diagnosis could offer.
God save the Queen! The fascist regime! She kicked off before the Frot… Now Vince and Matt have lots of thoughts…
That’s right, this week, the Queen has died and we welcomed all-star Frotcast guest Jessica Sele back to Frottingham Palace to talk all about it. Was she a good queen? Was she a bad queen? Did she do an imperialism? Is The Crown real life? Most of all, what does Frank Stallone think about it all?
Once we got through discussing the Liz and Frank of it, we got down to discussing more pressing geopolitical matters. Such as the Don’t Worry Darling press tour, all the dumb things Harry Styles says, whether he spat on Chris Pine, and whether Olivia Wilde is the real villain here or if it’s just a typical case of the media trying to bring down down a powerful woman who named herself after Oscar Wilde. Hey, remember Booksmart?
Believe it or not, we managed to squeeze in ALL THAT before we even got to our Big Review Of The Week, of Rings Of Power, the new Tolkien show about how Elves just wanna have fun. Matt is a piggy, so he loved it. I’m Peter Jackson hater and I only watched the first 47 minutes so I was bored. Jessica, who’s some kind of damned Tolkien scholar, was in between. More importantly, she actually has some insights into what that old limey fart was actually on about in all those books. We wrap things up with a spirited debate over whether this latest round of “The racists hate the woke show!” is worth paying attention to. We really think you’ll enjoy it. But if you don’t, remember: no refunds.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PATREON FOR ALL THIS INCREDIBLE #CONTENT!
EMAIL us at [email protected], leave us a voicemail at 415-275-0030.
Ari Lennox’s sophomore album Age/Sex/Location was officially released on Friday (September 9) to the excitement of many fans of hers and of the R&B genre in general. One person in particular who has been loud and proud about his approval of the album, before it was released and now, was none other than her Dreamville labelmate J. Cole. The “Middle Child” artist drew a major parallel when he promoted Age/Sex/Location on Friday morning.
Ari Lennox album phenomenal Shit make me feel 14 again like when I heard songs in A minor https://t.co/AUHD2s29m3
In a tweet, the North Carolina rapper said “Ari Lennox album phenomenal Sh*t make me feel 14 again like when I heard songs in A minor” in reference to Alicia Keys’ 2001 debut album Songs In A Minor, highlighted by “Fallin’,” “A Woman’s Worth,” and “How Come You Don’t Call Me.” As the breakthrough LP for Keys, this is a major comparison to make for the Shea Butter Baby artist and time will tell if Age has a similar impact on her career.
Ahead of Age‘s release, a video surfaced on social media of Cole in the studio with Ari Lennox. He provided her ideas for song creation, sang background on a record, which ultimately became “POF,” and expressed how excited he was for the album to come out. Thus, such a statement comes as no surprise.
Check out J. Cole’s tweet above.
Age/Sex/Location is out now via Dreamville and Interscope. Listen here.
Puerto Rico is the birthplace of some of the world’s most prized masterpieces – the piña colada, sexy salsa music, Bad Bunny. Where would we be without them? While I’ve long been a lover of these party-centric cultural contributions, what I learned on my recent trip to the little Caribbean island is that its charm goes far beyond just the hits. Puerto Rico is also home to a vibrant community, lush landscapes, and pristine beaches — as well as a food and drinks scene that’s rooted in history while rapidly evolving. The best part? You don’t even need your passport to get there!
One of the best things about Puerto Rico is that it feels like you’re in a far-out tropical paradise even though you’re still in a United States territory. And with the infamous passport delays and international airport nightmares over the past year, staying somewhere closer to home can be the most reliable option for travel as fall weather starts turning cold on the mainland. All you really need is a few days in Puerto Rico to enjoy your time there, too. I only spent a long weekend in town and was able to adventure in the outdoors, relax by the beach, and indulge in the local delicacies.
If you’re in the market for a tropical island vacation without the hassle of international crossings, Puerto Rico should be your go-to destination. Read on for my top recommendations on where to play, eat, drink, and stay.
All I can say about Puerto Rico’s tropical landscape is wow. The island’s mountainous and hilly terrain, in many places, is covered in lush flora that looks especially bright green in contrast to the crystal blue sea and sky. The best place to experience and learn more about Puerto Rico’s stunning natural scenery is by visiting El Yunque National Forest. It’s the only tropical rainforest in the US, making it a must on your itinerary.
Much of the public forest area is still closed due to lasting damage from Hurricane Maria, but there is still plenty of land and trails to explore. To start, stop by the visitor center for a guided informational tour. This is a great way to get familiar with the different plants and animals you might see before exploring on your own. From there, you can drive up the winding two-lane road that takes you to various trailheads, observation points, and historic sites throughout the forest. You’ll stumble across natural waterfalls, doable hikes (there are also overnight hikes for the avid adventurers), swimming holes, and awe-inspiring views.
My favorite stop along the way, which had what I believe might be one of the best accessible views on the entire island, was at the Yokahú Tower. It’s an old lighthouse-looking building in which you can climb up a winding staircase to the top. What you’ll find once you make your way up is an unobstructed sweeping view of the forest and the island beyond. You can see for miles, from the luscious rainforest canopy to the distant Caribbean waves.
What’s a trip to the Caribbean without some boating? The best way to wind down after a long day of exploring and feasting on fried Puerto Rican food (more on this later) is by going for a sunset sail with Sail Old San Juan. The sunset tour fits up to six people, so grab your travel crew, throw on your nicest vacation getup, and celebrate by toasting with complimentary bubbly. It’s nothing but carefree, laidback vibes out there on the water.
Your US Coast Guard licensed Captain will take you through the San Juan harbor and past the city of Old San Juan. You’ll get a glimpse of the area’s famous historic sites, such as the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a citadel built between the 16th and 18th centuries and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The sail lasts for about two hours, so you’ll have plenty of time to soak in the cool ocean breeze (savor it — Puerto Rico is hot) and gawk at the sun setting over the horizon. Overall Sail Old San Juan is an excellent way to take in the historical monuments from the water, admire the stunning sunset views, and relax at sea. Your captain might even let you steer the boat!
Book a sunset sail or another boating excursion with Sail Old San Juan here.
PART II — Where to Eat & Drink
Kioskos de Luquillo
Chloe Caldwell
If you want to indulge in the goodness that is authentic Puerto Rican food, you need to make a trip to Kioskos de Luquillo — but be prepared for a serving of fried everything. Kioskos de Luquillo is a long street side row of about 60 family-owned kiosks selling food, drinks, and souvenirs. Some traditional Puerto Rican meals include mofongo, tostones, arroz con gandules, and coquito. Mofongo is one of the most recognized Puerto Rican dishes, made with plantains as its main ingredient — the plantains are typically fried and then mashed with salt, garlic, broth, and olive oil in a wooden pilón. Being that Puerto Rico is surrounded by clear Caribbean waters, there’s an abundance of good seafood options (for the most part, these are also fried).
Kioskos de Luquillo is an ideal lunch spot, especially if you spent the morning exploring El Yunque, as it’s only a short drive away from the forest. Plus, you’ll need to burn off some energy and get hungry before coming here. Like I said, there are 60 food stalls, bars, and shops to explore, so it’s best to come with a big appetite.
Learn more about the many family-owned food stalls here.
La Factoría
Chloe Caldwell
If you’re looking for a place to party it up on a weekend in Puerto Rico, head back to Old San Juan. There are tons of bars on the heavily trafficked San Sebastian Street, all located within walking distance of each other. The best place to start is at La Factoría. This low-lit, speakeasy experience has been named one of the world’s 50 best bars numerous times, and for good reason.
Beyond the main entrance, which appears to be more of a small dive bar, there are “secret” doors and passages to six other bars with their own unique ambiance and drink menus. I stayed in the main “Facto” bar area and ordered the Lavender Mule, a tart and tasty concoction made with Ketel One, ginger tea, lavender, and citrus.
Whether you want to sip on craft cocktails, dance late into the night, or just chill with your squad for a quick nightcap, it’s safe to say you can find what you’re looking for on a night out at La Factoría. You can basically start and end your night here exploring the different rooms, or bar hop down the lively and colorful stretch of Old San Juan.
I know, Margaritaville. But seriously, it’s well worth staying here on your trip to Puerto Rico. The Margaritaville Vacation Club at Wyndham Rio Mar offers oceanfront suites, apartment-style accommodations (since it’s a timeshare property that’s available to book for short-term stays), poolside restaurant and bar service, and easy access to the beach — it’s just steps from the sand and sea. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from most “resort” properties, but that might be exactly what you want and need for a relaxing and somewhat secluded weekend away (as opposed to the bustle of Old San Juan). It’s definitely what I needed, and nothing helped me unplug and relax more than savoring a cup of fresh coffee on my oceanview balcony each morning.
The best part is the property’s proximity to El Yunque National Forest and Kioskos de Luquillo. It’s right down the street from both, so if these are top activities on your Puerto Rico to-do list, you can’t beat Margaritaville Vacation Club’s location.
Book your stay at Margaritaville Vacation Club at Wyndham Rio Mar here.
If you’re looking for a more boutique yet still luxury experience, book a room at Hotel El Convento, a historic hotel in the heart of San Juan. It’s located just steps away from the historic landmarks and nightlife of the city, so this is ideal if you’re looking to be immersed in the action. Built in 1646, this property offers old-time charm combined with modern amenities and comfort — including high-end, vintage-inspired rooms, an open-air restaurant, courtyard bar, fitness center, and a pool with an ocean view.
Uproxx was hosted for this story by Puerto Rico Tourism. However, they did not review this story. You can learn more about the Uproxx Press Trip policy here.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
pic.twitter.com/PVyM2RFyrF
(@MsAshleySmiles) 
, of Rings Of Power, the new Tolkien show about how Elves just wanna have fun. Matt is a piggy, so he loved it. I’m Peter Jackson hater and I only watched the first 47 minutes so I was bored. Jessica, who’s some kind of damned Tolkien scholar, was in between. More importantly, she actually has some insights into what that old limey fart was actually on about in all those books. We wrap things up with a spirited debate over whether this latest round of “The racists hate the woke show!” is worth paying attention to. We really think you’ll enjoy it. But if you don’t, remember: no refunds. 
