A new invention looks like it may completely change how hearing-impaired people communicate with the rest of the world. According to EuroNews, XRAI Glass has developed augmented reality glasses that allow people who have difficulty hearing to read real-time conversations in their glasses through closed-captioning.
It’s like watching a TV show with subtitles, but in real life.
The idea came from Dan Scarfe in January while he was spending time with his 97-year-old grandfather. His grandfather wasn’t participating with the rest of the family because he couldn’t hear their conversations.
“It’s just so difficult when there are so many people around you and you’re trying to keep track of the different conversations which are going on,” Scarfe told Euronews. “It’s got to the point now where he literally just sits in silence. And I thought, well, hang on a second. He watches TV all the time with subtitles. Why can’t we subtitle the world?”
Now, just seven months later, his new company XRAI Glass is already testing its closed-captioning glasses on 100 people before they’re released to the public.
To make the glasses a reality, Scarfe and his team used software based on Amazon’s Alexa transcription service and combined it with glasses made by augmented reality manufacturer Nreal. The result is comfortable glasses that look natural while allowing the wearer to read the text of the person with whom they are speaking.
Josh Feldman, who was born with profound hearing loss, says that the glasses are “quite extraordinary,” he told The Daily Mail. “The impact of being able to not rely on looking at someone’s lips and being able to talk to them is clearly something which could be life-changing.”
Hannah Brady, 60, who has 60% hearing loss in both ears agrees.
“Gosh that’s really accurate,” she said according to The Daily Mail. “What’s brilliant about it is it’s not getting in the way of what I’m trying to see either.”
The glasses also have the support of the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID). “This is a great example of the positive difference innovative technology can make for people who are deaf or have hearing loss,” RNID CEO, Mark Atkinson, said in a statement. “XRAI glass is intuitive and simple to use and could be a powerful tool in ensuring people with hearing loss don’t feel excluded in social settings.”
The technology is similar to a prototype that Meta revealed earlier this year that was highlighted by Upworthy. The software connects to existing hands-free wearable devices such as Microsoft’s HoloLens and provides subtitles for conversations.
u201cThese augmented reality glasses help deaf people see live captions of people’s speech nnBy @paul_mealynn#techforgood #innovation #technology #AR #VR #augmentedrealitynn@TechAmazing @sebbourguignon @Nicochan33 @KirkDBorne @mvollmer1 @pierrecappelliu201d
However, it’s uncertain when this technology will be available to the general public.
The good news for those who are interested in trying XRAI glass is that if all goes well, they could be available to consumers in the near future.
“We’re going with a small number to begin with to prove it out, to get the feedback, to understand what people like, what they don’t like, [and] rapidly innovate on that,” Scarfe told EuroNews.
“And then we’re hoping if the winds are behind us, then we will reach general availability by September,” he added.
After releasing Who Is Nardo Wick?? (Deluxe) and unveiling the music video for his collaboration with The Kid Laroi on “Burning Up,” Nardo Wick is back with another video, this time for “Dah Dah Dahdah.”
The last video was directed by Cole Bennett, and this time it was by Dell Nie and even Nardo himself. It begins with a stunning shot of three pianos set up in a triangular form while bloody hands play the haunting rhythm on the keys, whose melody can be recognized from Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” or, more recently, Fall Out Boy’s “Centuries” which also samples it. Guns are laid out on the pianos and Nardo dances in the middle in between them all. Interspersed are scenes with an intense downpour and some security footage.
The Jacksonville rapper concluded his 2021 year with the release of his Who Is Nardo Wick? project, which consisted of 18 songs and features from Future, Lil Baby, Hit-Boy, G Herbo, Lil Durk, 21 Savage, Lakeyah, and Big30. The deluxe of Who Is Nardo Wick? added onto the amount of features, pulling in artists like Latto and The Kid Laroi for special guest appearances that excited fans.
Warning: This post contains vague-ish spoilers for the last final episodes of Better Call Saul.
Better Call Saulcame to an end on Monday, and even for a Breaking Bad spin-off, it went to some pretty dark places. One of the most gutting scenes happened in the penultimate episode, entitled “Waterworks.” It found Rhea Seehorn’s Kim Wexler having a breakdown on a bus. Crying onscreen ain’t easy, and Seehorn, a professional thespian, knows it. Luckily, they only wound up doing two takes, but Seehorn was ready to do far more.
“I didn’t know we’d only do two takes until I arrived,” Seehorn told Vulture in a kind of exit interview for the show. “I prepared as best I could to have to do many, many, many, many takes. That is not because any of our directors are sadistic, but it’s because the visual vocabulary of the show is many angles on the same thing. So, just technically, that requires you doing it over and over and over and over.”
Still, she was hoping for fewer takes. She was already anxious about having to “go over to a corner and drum up some painful memory of my real life.” But she also knew she “can’t do that for 36 takes.” One way she steeled herself for possibly doing several crying jags was to “think about the different pieces that she’s crying about here, because it is not just about one moment. She’s crying for the entire Shakespearean tragedy of Jimmy McGill and of Kim Wexler and of their relationship and of Chuck and of Howard and of people that try to be a good person and how hard that fight could be in day-to-day real life.”
And so Seehorn decided to think about the many heartbreaking aspects of the show’s storyline:
I just tried to pull all of those things, get on a bus with strangers, which made me feel so alone even though my crew was there, and now try really hard not to cry. Literally that was my plan because if you go in there and say, “I hope I can make myself cry for 30 takes,” you’ll fail. That’s too scary. I literally just put the things physically that we have all felt in extreme shame in our lives or extreme pain in our lives and then try to not let them come all the way out. As soon as you get fissures and it cracks a little bit and you fight to squash it down harder, it’ll come back at you harder. Those are the takes you ended up witnessing and then Vince [Gilligan, the show’s creator and the episode’s writer/director] said, “I think we’re good. We’re just going to do two.” And I was like, “Oh.”
Seehorn says she even offered to do more, but Gilligan told her, “No, we have it exactly. We have it exactly.”
The scene not only shows a side of Kim we’ve never seen before, but also one, Seehorn argues, that she’s never seen of herself. “Someone asked me the other day in an interview, ‘Do you think Kim, over the last five, six years, has been privately crying in a closet like this away from people?’ I said, “No,’” Seehorn explained:
“The decision I made is that this is the first time she’s let any of this out. She would not let herself feel it. One, for fear that the dam would never be able to be closed up again and two, because of the compartmentalizing. You can’t rehearse it in a traditional way, but I did a lot of thinking about it and then gave myself some tactile markers that I knew that I could have as a reminder of my starting point each time when I get on the bus.”
You can watch Seehorn cry her eyes out in the video above. Hope you liked it because you might not be seeing the Breaking Bad-verse any time soon, though Seehorn told Vulture if Gilligan and team ever change their minds, she’s return to the role “in a heartbeat.”
Russell Peters jumped on People’s Party with Talib Kwelithis week, primed to tell amazing stories about his life on and off the stage. For years, Peters has made millions laugh while learning a bit about themselves with his unique brand of comedy. Beyond the celebrity though, he’s a man who has a deep reverence for art, culture, and music (especially hip-hop!) — making an interview with Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh a natural fit.
Being a top tier comedian often means you move between elite and very thugged out circles. Here Russell tells a truly bonkers story about how he lent his Bentley to legendary hip-hop icon Eric B. When Eric B brought the car back, it arrived with none other than boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson. The exchange they had was a historic exchange about a very hood-affiliated friend they had in common from Tyson’s pre boxing fame. Several years later, they met again. Upon seeing Peters, Tyson immediately recounted their first conversation to Chuck Zito, former President of the notorious Hells Angels motorcycle club.
Peters was blown away by Tyson’s clarity in what he recalled from their first meeting. In the years since, they’ve become close friends.
Chuckling in amazement he says to Kweli “He meets one hundred and fifty people a day — of note! To remember that detail…” Peters pauses in awe reflecting on the moment, then adds. “Don’t think people aren’t paying attention. The people [at the top of the game] are retaining everything. It’s what they choose to react to [that matters].”
Check out more insane and informative stories from comedian Russell Peters onPeople’s Party with Talib Kweli with co-host Jasmin Leigh below.
“Small Batch” bourbon whiskey still has pretty big sway in the American whiskey industry. The term is a catch-all for bottles of whiskey that exist one step above the standard expressions on the lower shelves at the liquor store (but below the single barrels, limited editions, bottled in bonds, etc.). The term “small batch” imbues a tad more refinement which whiskey drinkers look for once they get past the entry-level stuff and start craving the “better” bottles.
To that end, let’s rank some serious small batch bourbons for you to drink. Before we dive in, let’s get a little context. Small batch doesn’t technically mean anything. There’s no legal destination that makes any whiskey expression a “small batch” offering. It’s simply a marketing term that was made up to allow brands to take up more shelf space with their whiskeys. A small batch of bourbon whiskey can be made with anything from two barrels that were painstakingly hand-selected by the blenders to an expression that incorporates hundreds of barrels in the blend. That’s not to say that there isn’t more refinement at play in small batch expressions, there absolutely is. It’s simply to say that there’s no hard and fast rule for what makes a small batch bourbon a “small batch” bourbon.
That means that this category of bourbon comes down to the flavor profile created by the distillers and blenders. Make sense? Great! Now let’s rank some spectacular new and classic small batch bourbons!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This is a standard “small batch” from Buffalo Trace’s budget brand, Benchmark. There’s not a whole lot of information on what this is exactly when it comes to the mash bill or aging. The “batch” could be 20 barrels or 200. The bourbon is cut down to 90 proof before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Vanilla extract, slightly wet oak, and that Buffalo Trace Bourbon raw leather/wet grain dominate the nose. The taste pretty much stays in that arena with caramel apples and floral honey popping up next to a slight metallic note and soft mineral water mouthfeel. The end is short and sweet and leaves you with that leather, oak, and vanilla primarily.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the cheapest pours on the list that also still feels a little cheap. It’s not astringent. It’s just very much for taking shots, mixing with Coke, and maybe mixing into a really fast old fashioned.
This is a “small batch” in theory. The expression marries 200 classic bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill’s warehouses. That juice is then proofed down to 45 proof and bottled as is.
Tasting Notes:
Vanilla and leather lead the way with a distinct note of fresh and warm cornbread that’s just touched by an oak note. The palate holds onto that caramel apple flavor profile while the cornbread makes a very buttery and honey-forward return with a light hint of egg nog spices. The end is short-ish and dances through that honey-soaked and buttery cornbread, rich vanilla, caramel apple, and oak towards a final touch of brown spice.
Bottom Line:
This is a big step up from Benchmark with a classic vibe that doesn’t feel cheap or bottom shelf at all. This is also a great mixing bourbon and makes a solid cocktail.
This brand was devised by Heaven Hill to be the accessible wheated bourbon with Heaven Hill’s own Old Fitzgerald and Buffalo Trace’s Pappy and Weller having long left mass accessibility far behind. The juice is a wheated bourbon mash bill that’s small batched with no age statement before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a note of freshly baked biscuits with butter and toffee dripping from the breadbasket. That butter really becomes creamy as the toffee leads towards rich vanilla, sweet oak, and very slight fruitiness. The real star of the show is the buttery toffee, biscuits, and hint of sweet wood that lingers the most through the short fade.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty solid cocktail base that can work as an on the rocks sipper in a pinch.
Paul Sutton is a new bourbon from an old family recipe. I know, we’ve all heard it before. The new whiskey is not a blend of sourced bourbons. The brand took the time to release its contract distilled whiskey. The bourbon mash bill has a touch of rye in it and it aged for up to five years in medium char barrels.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this has a distinct barnyard funk tied to wet bales of straw that leads to a salted caramel sweetness with a twinge of a pine box full of cherry pits. The taste veers away from most of that towards sweet corn cakes with a touch of vanilla cream and eggnog spice. A Caro syrup-soaked pecan sweetness and nuttiness drive the mid-palate towards a cherry tobacco finish with a hint of dark cacao powder.
Bottom Line:
This is a nice standard bourbon with a unique vibe. I tend to use this for cocktails and highballs thanks to that funky nose.
This whiskey is made under contract at Owensboro Distilling Co. The mash is 70 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and nine percent malted barley. Those barrels then have oak staves put in them for a final maturation. The “Oak Bill” by Broken Barrel is 40 percent French oak, 40 percent ex-bourbon, and 20 percent sherry cask staves. That whiskey is then blended and bottled after proofing.
Tasting Notes:
This feels classic on the nose with big notes of dark cherry, rich cacao, raw biscuits, and wintery spice next to vanilla beans and a hint of caramel. The palate largely delivers on that nose, which is a little bit of a letdown, but also layers in some dark cacao and espresso beans with clove/cinnamon/allspice spicy warmth. The end is cherry tobacco dipped in lush eggnog and packed into a cedar box.
Bottom Line:
This is a new whiskey that leans into classic vibes. I like using this one for cocktails mostly, but you can certainly enjoy it over a few rocks too.
Bib & Tucker is another classic example of what great blending can do with sourced juice. The Tennessee whiskey is a marriage of ten-year-old whiskeys aged in the lowest char barrels available, allowing more direct contact with dried wood rather than black char (which is a filter). Those barrels are blended and then proofed down before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sense of vanilla bean (pod, seeds, essence) up top with hints of spicy chewy tobacco, dry oak (almost pine), and a distant note of fresh corn husks. The palate really holds onto that velvety vanilla as the corn husks dry out and notes of orange-infused dark chocolate mingle with that spicy tobacco, which starts buzzing on your tongue. The end is long-ish, has touches of that dry pine, and holds onto both the vanilla and dried corn husks.
Bottom Line:
This is a high point for the brand. I dig this neat or on the rocks, but it truly shines as a solid cocktail base for a Manhattan, Sazerac, or old fashioned.
This is Elijah Craig’s entry-point bottle. The mash is corn-focused, with more malted barley than rye (12 percent and ten percent respectively). Originally, this was branded as a 12-year-old whiskey. The brand decided to move away from that labeling and started blending younger whiskeys to create this label.
Tasting Notes:
Classic bourbon notes greet you with a clear focus on vanilla, caramel, oak, orchard fruit, and a touch of fresh mint. The palate holds onto those flavors while adding in mild Christmas spices with a touch of oak and tobacco. The end is short, simple, and will leave you with a warm Kentucky hug.
Bottom Line:
This is just a solid whiskey all around. It’s not mind-blowing but it gets the job done either as an ice-filled sipper or a cocktail base.
This craft whiskey from Kentucky is made with a mash bill of 65 percent corn, 30 percent rye, and five percent malted barley. The barrels have aged a minimum of six years before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Butterscotch leads the nose on this sip as ginger snaps mingle with rich and sharp toffee candies next to a touch of vanilla, pepper, and cherry lurk underneath everything. The taste really amps up the creaminess of the vanilla and the butteriness of the toffee, as a slight marzipan flourish arrives with a thin layer of freshly cracked black pepper and salted black licorice. That pepper marries to the ginger as the heat levels off and fades out leading towards a finish with more of the vanilla and dry wood than anything else.
Bottom Line:
This really does have a lot going for it from the nose to the finish. It’s a little green with that butterscotch note, which is the biggest reason it’s ranked this low. Otherwise, this is a solid bottle to have on hand for everyday use.
Garrison Brothers is a true grain-to-glass experience from Hye, Texas. The juice is a wheated bourbon made with local grains. That spirit is then aged under the beating heat of a hot Texas sun before the barrels are small-batched, proofed with local water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a caramel apple note on the nose next to a bit of dry straw, worn leather, and … what feels like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That cereal nature continues through the palate with a sugary and buttery shortbread note mingling with hints of vanilla cake frosted with lemon cream leading to a touch of orange oils. The end is very long and warm with a bit of cinnamon that ultimately leads back to the caramel apples plus just a touch of dry campfire smoke at the very end.
Bottom Line:
Garrison Bros. bourbon is a great example of juicy and thick Texas bourbon. It’s big and bold but has serious nuance. All of that boldness also makes it a great candidate for powerful cocktails.
This is a sourced bourbon from around Kentucky. The age, mash, and vital details are undisclosed. What we do know is that the team at Jefferson’s spends a lot of time tinkering with their barrels to create accessible and affordable bourbons.
Tasting Notes:
This opens pretty thin with hints of caramel, vanilla pods, and maybe a touch of leather and oak with a mild berry vibe. The palate is either subtle or thin … I can’t decide. There are notes of classic bourbon caramel and vanilla countered by a hint of stewed apple, buttery toffee, and maybe a hint of nutmeg. The end stays pretty mild but does build to a nice finish full of classic bourbon notes.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the most even-keeled sips on the list. It’s light but has real depth, which makes this one an easy drinker. This is also very affordable for such a soft and welcoming bourbon. There are no rough edges here.
10. Dragon’s Milk Origin Small Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 5 Years
This whiskey from New Holland Brewing up in Michigan marries craft bourbon with the brewery’s beloved Dragon’s Milk beer. The whiskey in the bottle is made with a high-barley bourbon mash bill. After five years in the barrel, the juice is blended, proofed down, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
A big chocolate malt note draws you in on the palate first before layers of winter spices, dark caramel malts, a twinge of orange oils, and a mild Vanilla Coke kick in. The taste has an almost Hershey’s Kiss feel to it alongside spiced chocolate powder next to a hint of lemon-lime that turns into a tangerine-laced maltiness (kind of like a tangerine White Claw) with a chocolate wafer in the background. The end holds onto the chocolate maltiness and mild winter spices the longest.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for big chocolate notes and a great stout pairing, this is the whiskey for you. This is a distinct pour that feels familiar. Make sure to pour it over a rock or two or with a few drops of water to really let it bloom in the glass. You’ll get a much creamier mouthfeel with all that chocolate.
9. Hidden Barn Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Small Batch
Former Master Taster for Old Forester Jackie Zykan just left her post at Brown-Forman and her new whiskey is already out. Zykan’s first release at her own shingle is a sourced whiskey from Neeley Family Distillery in rural Kentucky. The bourbon is made from a sweet mash (a brand new mash with every cook instead of reusing mash for a sour mash) with a high-ish rye content over pot stills (a true rarity in bourbon these days). Those barrels aged for four to five years before Zykan picked a handful for this inaugural release at batch proof.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is full of digestive biscuits and whole wheat pancakes cut with vanilla and pecan next to hints of anise, caramel candy, and cinnamon-toast tobacco next to plenty of toffee. The palate holds onto the massive graininess with a clear sense of rye bread crumb next to thick oatmeal cookies with more of those pecans and plenty of raisins and spice. Later, a hint of white pepper arrives and leads the finish to soft espresso cream with a dash of nutmeg and creamy toffee.
Bottom Line:
This is another great outlier. The nose is wholly new and fresh before leading into a classic and deep flavor profile on the palate. Though, I would recommend some ice or water to let this one open up a bit in the glass.
This whiskey is built from a batch of barrels that are a minimum of seven years old. Nearest’s Master Blender, Victoria Eady-Butler, builds the blend according to classic flavor notes first put into Tennessee whiskey by her ancestor, Nearest Green, back in the 1800s.
Tasting Notes:
Pecan Sandies and leather pouches that once held cinnamon sticks dominate the nose. The taste is more about the vanilla ice cream over a fresh piece of apple pie with plenty of brown spice and brown sugar with a hint of butter. The end brings about some walnut, cherry, and chocolate powder with a touch more of that cinnamon-infused leather but ultimately kind of peters out.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the better cocktail bases on the list. The juice is soft but deep with a good profile that stands up to mixing really well. Naturally, you can sip this all day over some rocks too but try in your favorite cocktail first.
7. Kirkland Signature Small Batch by Barton 1792 Master Distillers Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch no. 1124
This is the entry point to Costco’s new lineup of Kentucky Bourbons (along with a Bottled-in-Bond and Single Barrel release). The whiskey in the bottle is from Sazerac’s Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown with a mash bill of 74 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and eight percent barley. That juice is left to age for four to five years before blended, proofing, and bottling for Costco.
Tasting Notes:
Apple and pear open the nose up toward peach taffy with a hint of black licorice ropes, old leather, sweet winter spices, and a whisper of Nutella. The palate lets the vanilla linger while a sweet and mild Red Hot vibe mixes with classic cherry cola, dried sweetgrass, salted caramel candies, and apricot jam on a Southern biscuit with a drop of fresh honey and butter. The end stays pretty classic with a sense of spiced cherry tobacco, rich vanilla, and a few old oak staves.
Bottom Line:
This has no business being as good as it is. If this were a regular 750ml bottle, it’d be around $15. The quality of the juice and that price jettisoned this up to the top ten.
All of that said, this is more of a cocktail base that works as a table whiskey for end-of-day pours. It’s not fancy but it’s good.
The first whiskey from Frank August is a sourced bourbon. The juice is made in Kentucky, where it’s also aged. The team at Frank August then takes roughly ten to 15 barrels per batch and builds this bourbon painstakingly to fit their desired flavor profile. The whiskey is then lightly proofed down to 100 proof before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is pure classic bourbon with hints of salted caramel with a twinge of soft grains next to spicy cherry syrup, a whisper of sour apple, and a touch of aged oak staves soaked in mulled wine. The palate moves on from the soft grains towards rum-soaked raisins with a warm winter spice matrix — cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice — before a brown sugar/rock candy sweetness takes over on the mid-palate. The finish is long and sweet with a nice dose of sharp cinnamon and soft nutmeg that leads to a supple vanilla cream with a thin line of dry cedar and tobacco spice just touched with dark cherry on the very end.
Bottom Line:
I’ve tried this new whiskey a few times now and it feels like an instant classic. This is also where we get squarely into sippers first that happen to make amazing cocktails. The only reason this is on the lower end of the top 10 is that it’s still growing on me. Give it a year and it might be even higher on this list.
This is classic Beam whiskey with a low-ish rye mash bill. The juice is left alone in the Beam warehouses for 12 long years. The barrels are chosen according to a specific taste and married to create this higher-proof expression.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with clear notes of cherry, dark chocolate, winter spices, and a hint of menthol. The palate leans into a red berry crumble with a hint of chili flake spice, salted caramels covered in dark chocolate, and a spicy/sweet note that leads towards a wet cattail stem and soft brandied cherries dipped in silky dark chocolate sauce.
Bottom Line:
This is a great whiskey. It’s a damn near perfect sipper. It makes a killer Manhattan. It’s available pretty much everywhere around the country (with a few exceptions naturally).
4. Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 5 Years Limited Edition National Parks No. 2
This bottle celebrates our National Parks with each limited edition release. In this case, the release celebrates Yellowston’s 150th anniversary with part of the proceeds from each bottle sold going to Yellowstone Forever, which helps protect the park. The whiskey in the bottle is a special release from Wyoming grains — 68 percent corn, 20 percent wheat, and 12 percent malted barley — and water. After five years, the barrels are small-batch blended and bottled with a drop of proofing water.
Tasting Notes:
Soft holiday spices mix with orange creamsicle, dry sweetgrass, old boot leather, a dash of dark chocolate powder, and a hint of cedar. The taste feels like you’re on a back porch on a sunny day with rich toffee, cherrywood, and vanilla next to buttery zucchini bread with walnuts and plenty of cinnamon. The end takes on this woody and sweet carrot vibe while lush marzipan brings a nutty sweetness with a hint of Earl Grey and walnut loaf with low notes of soft cedar and warm tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is a deeply hewn sipper that supports something great — Yellowstone NP. That’d be great on its own but add in that this is some seriously delicious juice and you have a bottle worth seeking out. Try it neat first and then add some water or a rock to let it bloom in the glass.
This expression uses six of Four Rose’s ten whiskeys in their small-batching process. The idea is to blend both high and mid-rye bourbons with yeast strains that highlight “delicate fruit,” “slight spice,” and “herbal notes.” The whiskeys tend to spend at least six years in the barrel before blending and proofing with just a touch of Kentucky’s soft limestone water.
Tasting Notes:
This nose is enticing with a mix of dark berries and cloves with a yeasty doughnut filled with dark fruit and covered in powdered sugar next to a thin line of berry brambles — stems, thorns, dirt, leaves, everything. The palate is lush with a balance of dark berry pie filling next to winter spices, mincemeat pies, nutshells, and brandy butter vanilla sauce. The finish arrives with a rush of fresh mint next to wet cedar, blackberry Hostess Pies, and nutmeg-heavy eggnog all leading to a final note of that dark berry bramble black dirt.
Bottom Line:
This is the height of Four Roses’ standard bottles. The juice is delightful and fresh with a great unique vibe. It’s fruity and fun. It’s also versatile in that it’s a great sipper and cocktail base.
Kentucky Peerless Distilling takes its time for a true grain-to-glass experience. Their Small Batch Bourbon is crafted with a fairly low-rye mash bill and fermented with a sweet mash as opposed to a sour mash (that means they use 100% new grains, water, and yeast with each new batch instead of holding some of the mash over to start the next one like a sourdough starter). The barrels are then hand-selected for their taste and bottled completely un-messed with.
Tasting Notes:
Blackberry pie dances with old glove leather, buttery toffee, expensive vanilla beans, and wet, almost sticky tobacco leaves on the nose. The palate leans into the butteriness and spicy tobacco has dry ropes of cedar bark leading to a bitter and oily espresso bean. The end goes deeper with a vanilla pipe tobacco which leads back to that blackberry pie filling with a hint of pie crust and white sugar frosting before the dry cedar kicks back in late.
Bottom Line:
This is hard to beat. The whiskey is so well-rounded, enticing, and rewarding sip after sip.
1. Michter’s US*1 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Michter’s really means the phrase “small batch” here. The tank they use to marry their hand-selected eight-year-old bourbons can only hold 20 barrels, so that’s how many go into each small-batch bottling. The blended juice is then proofed with Kentucky’s famously soft limestone water and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a hint of ripe peach next to maple syrup, vanilla pancakes, and a hint of cotton candy. The palate leans into the vanilla cakes as the stonefruit takes on a grilled vibe next to peppery spice, fatty cream, and a touch of singed marshmallow. The finish leans into wintry spices as the stonefruit almost becomes smoked while toffee and vanilla cake counterpoint everything. The end has a nice layer of old cedar next to maple/vanilla tobacco leaves.
Bottom Line:
This feels both like a true small batch (only 20 barrels) and a truly great whiskey at a great price. This is the bourbon you give to people when you want to both hook them on the category and show them what bourbon is supposed to be. All of that aside, this makes the best cocktail on this list as well. Those are all wins!
Rising idiosyncratic pop star PinkPantheress teamed up with “genius level producer” Sam Gellaitry for “Picture In My Mind,” a simultaneously clubby and tender song that comes with a cinematic video in a laundromat. As always, her vocals are sparkling and it’s a beautiful summer song.
Niki — “Take A Chance With Me”
Niki’s sprawling album Nicole is out now, and it’s an evocative, thorough examination of youth and the intensity of feelings and interpersonal relationships that exist in teenage years. “Take A Chance With Me” is a gorgeous closer, glowing with optimism and a strong sense of maturity.
Joshua Bassett — “Smoke Slow”
“This song is about savoring those moments together with a person you feel close to, but know you can’t be with,” Joshua Bassett said about this new song “Smoke Slow,” a heartbreaking ballad that grapples with impending loss. Though gratitude is present in his lyrics, it’s more heartwrenching than anything: “Making believe there’s a future / Is it naive to think we could work,” he sings with confliction.
Omar Apollo — “Endlessly”
Omar Apollo just unveiled Ivory (Marfil), the extended version of his last album. “Endlessly” is one of the new tracks, and it’s a stunning, Frank Ocean-like earworm with an alluring atmosphere bursting with desire and longing.
Bella Poarch — “Living Hell”
Aside from getting hacked and having drama started with Cardi B, Bella Poarch also released “Living Hell,” a haunting, sassy anthem in the eerie realm of Melanie Martinez. Her vocals are hypnotizing against dark, dynamic rhythms, making for an immersive listening experience.
Genevieve Stokes — “Habits”
Genevieve Stokes is a rising singer with a compelling voice and sticky melodies, especially on this bewitching song “Habits.” Her words are powerful and chill-inducing: “‘Cause it’s on again, off again / Love me like oxygen / I don’t know what to say or do,” she sings in an emotive hush.
Ali Gatie, Kehlani — “The Look”
Who Hurt You? is Ali Gatie’s new album, which was highly anticipated after a handful of catchy singles. This collaboration with Kehlani, “The Look,” proves that it was worth the wait and the hype; it’s a seductive, infectious track with spellbinding harmonies between the two singers that leave the listener wanting to hit repeat.
MØ — “Spaceman”
MØ’s new song “Spaceman” is futuristic off the bat, exploding with sizzling synthesizers while the singer announces: “Let’s make a home in the stars up high.” From there, it becomes an eccentric, addictive anthem that soars with the feeling of another universe.
Maddie Zahm — “Inevitable”
Like Niki, Maddie Zahm is a young artist with a knack for storytelling. Her vulnerable vocals share intense stories brimming with emotion, like on this new ballad “Inevitable”: “Make sure we’re never alone / ‘Cause it could give me hope,” she sings heartbreakingly.
Amelia Moore — “Love Me Or Leave Me”
Amelia Moore’s “Love Me Or Leave Me” is an inspiring, bold anthem about wanting direct communication and setting firm boundaries: “Are you really that afraid to call it what it is / ‘Cause i’m embarrassed / It’s not fair to be only one that’s wanting this,” she sings against a building rhythm.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Costco recently upped their bourbon game pretty dramatically. The big box shop released three new bourbon whiskeys in collaboration with Barton 1792 Distillery, which is one of the Sazerac Company’s most revered distilleries (after Buffalo Trace, of course). While the bourbon for Costco is a sourced bourbon, it is very clear where it comes from. And that distillery also produces some very good and very similar bourbons.
That means only one thing: It’s time for a side-by-side comparison!
For this taste test, I grabbed a bottle of Kirkland Signature Small Batch Barton 1792 Bourbon and tasted next to 1792 Small Batch Bourbon. Technically, these two whiskeys come from the same source/distillery/warehouses and are likely to have some big parallels. That said, the blenders at Barton 1792 surely devised a unique flavor profile for the Kirkland version so as not to step on the toes of their own small batch release (which is how this always goes).
So how different are the two expressions?
That’s the question I aim to answer below. I also want to figure out if it’s worth hitting up Costco for a much cheaper bottle of Barton 1792 instead of just dropping into my local liquor store for a standard 1792 bottle. Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This opens a little woody with cherrywood next to a hint of sour apple that develops into sour mash grains (kind of like walking into a distillery) that are all cut by caramel and vanilla notes with a cherry vibe that goes from sweet to spicy enough to feel like Cherry Coke. Moving onto the palate, there’s a clear “classic” bourbon vibe with rich caramel and smooth vanilla that hits a spicy heat on the mid-palate.
The end hits on a soft vanilla and cherry creaminess with a hint of dry wicker and more of that spicy warmth.
Taste 2 — Kirkland Signature
Zach Johnston
Tasting Notes:
This is immediately a much sweeter nose with hints of pear and peach candy leading towards a watermelon taffy with mild hints of old leather, dry woody spices, wet oak, sweetgrass, and cherry Starbursts. The palate lets the cherry shine with a good sweetness next to creamy vanilla, caramel, spiced apricot, toffee candies, and a hint of dried sweetgrass. The mid-palate’s sweetness fades away pretty quickly on the light finish while a whisper of slightly spiced cherry tobacco leads back to a hint of that wet oak on the very end.
Part 2: The Ranking
Zach Johnston
2. Kirkland Signature Small Batch by Barton 1792 Master Distillers Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Batch no. 1124
This is the entry point to Costco’s new lineup of Kentucky Bourbons (along with a Bottled-in-Bond and Single Barrel release). The whiskey in the bottle is from Sazerac’s Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown with a mash bill of 74 percent corn, 18 percent rye, and eight percent barley. That juice is left to age for four to five years before blending, proofing, and bottling for Costco.
Bottom Line:
This ranks last because it was so much sweeter on the nose and had a lackluster finish — compared to this one other pour. Had I been tasting this against a different bourbon, different notes would have surfaced and created a different experience. But that’s not the point here.
1. 1792 Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This whiskey from Barton 1792 Distillery is a no-age-statement release made in “small batches.” The mash is unknown but Sazerac does mention that it’s a “high rye” mash bill, which could be exactly the same as Kirkland Signature Small Batch — or not. The juice is batched from select barrels and then proofed down and bottled as-is.
Bottom Line:
This wasn’t any deeper but it was more nuanced. It also had a much stronger finish, albeit a little warm. But a bold finish is better than a finish that peters out, IMO.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Zach Johnston
Side-by-side, these are very, very, very similar. Both are classic bourbons with a lot of cherry, vanilla, caramel, oak, and spice. Both are fairly well balanced but you do feel a little let down by the Kirkland bottle’s soft landing.
That said, if you’re mixing cocktails or highballs, 100 percent buy the Kirkland Signature Small Batch. A liter of the 1792 Small Batch would run around $37. The Costco bottle — which is a liter — is $19 (before tax). The taste difference is way too minor to get caught up in it when the price gap is that wide. Yes, there’s a little softer finish on that Kirkland bottle and a tad more depth on the 1792 Small Batch. But in the end, these are extremely close pours.
Look at it this way, Costco has some serious bourbon for a great price right now. Don’t sleep on them — they’re cheap, tasty, and will make killer cocktails or everyday sippers on the rocks. If you don’t have a Costco membership, grab a bottle of 1792 Small Batch. It’s a very solid and classic pour for everyday use. Either way, you can’t lose with these two.
It has been over a decade since one of the all-time great moments in sports debate television history, when Jalen Rose called Skip Bayless “Water Pistol Pete” during an argument on First Take in which Bayless dared bring up what kind of shooter Rose was, leading to Rose burying Bayless by noting he averaged 1.4 points per game as a senior in high school.
It’s a moment that will forever be remembered by those who loathe Bayless, because for once he didn’t have a real retort and could only really muster disgust at Rose bringing that up rather than an actual comeback. In the 10 years since then, Bayless has left for Fox Sports’ Undisputed, where he still will walk himself out into deep waters at times opposite Shannon Sharpe. Bayless’ most recent misstep in the minds of many came on a truly bizarre tweet in which he seemingly critiqued Bronny James not using his left for an incredible dunk in an AAU game in Europe that was the talk of the basketball world here in the dog days of August.
Hey, Bronny … impressive. But your dad would’ve dunked it left-handed. You sure got away with it, though.
Bayless insisted it wasn’t criticism but just commenting on someone who he says will be a “focal point” of his show going forward — which shouldn’t be a surprise given how much they talk about LeBron. However, as a rising senior in high school, many were displeased that Skip would treat Bronny as he would LeBron in that situation, and among those who saw Skip’s tweet was none other than Rose, who took a hilarious jab at Bayless on Tuesday’s episode of NBA Today, without even mentioning him by name.
It’s pretty great that all Rose has to do is mention the 1.4 points per game and everyone knows who he’s talking about, because that will be a clip that people remember as long as Rose and Bayless are doing television.
It’s that magical time of the year, the one where the latest Madden game hits consoles. Madden NFL 23, the first game in the series since legendary coach and personality John Madden passed away, is slated to come out a little later this week. But good news, friends: While the game isn’t widely available yet, we still have absolutely bonkers clip of something from the game.
Behold this clip from what appears to be an Ultimate Team game where Carson Wentz overthrows Cooper Kupp. The ball lands right into the outstretched arms of Jimmie Ward, who reels it in and runs about 77 yards into the opposing end zone for a touchdown. The catch is that Ward actually runs, if I had to estimate, 200 yards with plenty of showboating and stopping and starting, while the entire Green Bay Packers team is incapable of even laying a finger on him.
For my money, the best moment comes around the 18-second mark, when Ward is right up against the sideline and there are, like, eight opposing players all around him, but somehow, he manages to escape unscathed. Anyway, if you pick up Madden NFL 23 and manage to do something more ridiculous than this, please post it to the internet so we can have fun writing about it.
Kids say the darnedest things, sure. But often they say the wisest things too.
Case in point—this viral video.
Hannah Lewis, a 32-year-old mom and LGBTQ advocate who goes by the name “Lesbimum” on TikTok and Instagram, shared a sweet exchange between her and a young boy after he asked if she had a boyfriend.
Their heartwarming conversation received nearly 2 million likes, and it really offers us all a glimpse into what the world can look like through the eyes of pure acceptance.
When approached with the question, Lewis chose to answer him plainly, rather than “hide who I am.”
No, she didn’t have a “boyfriend” and wasn’t interested in dating boys.
“Oh so you want to have a girlfriend,” the boy quipped.
When Lewis responded that, “yeah,” she wanted to have a girlfriend, the boy shared with her that he didn’t “know any girls who have girlfriends.”
Lewis then asked her young friend what he thought about girls being with each other. “And he was like, ‘well does that also mean that boys can have boyfriends?’” she recalled.
“Wow. Think how many more people can be in love now.”
What a simple, pure and profound thing to say.
“Honestly my heart melted,” Lewis said through tears, adding that “I swear kids are living proof that homophobia is a taught behavior.”
Many folks in the comments echoed Lewis’ sentiment:
“All prejudices are taught. Kids are blank canvases influenced by society, their family, friends, school etc.”
“I’m so glad I’m able to teach my brother and sister so much about different sexualities, races etc. as I have never been taught from my parents.”
“My heart EXPLODED.”
“’Think of how many people can be in love now’ ….. AMAZING VIEW POINT!!!! 🥰”
Whether hate, particularly homophobia, is socially learned or biologically inherited is a long-standing scientific debate. But it’s hard to hear this young boy’s point of view and not think that unconditional love must be the most natural thing there is. It certainly seems like the world would be a happier place if we did.
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.
(@WorthyFly) 