Kids say the darnedest things. And usually, those things are the stories you don’t want them sharing. It’s the Murphy’s law of having young children—as soon as you tell them a story stays in the house, EVERYONE will know about it. One former preschool teacher in Texas is hilariously chronicling tales from his former students on TikTok. So far, there are 69 videos, but given how popular they are, that number will continue to grow.
Mr. Hills, aka atxhills on TikTok, started the series last year, and I’m sure even he could not have anticipated just how successful it would be. What makes these videos funny is always Hills’ reaction to the truly off-the-wall stuff his students say to him.
I was able to talk to Mr. Hills on the phone, and it was a hilarious and enlightening.
When I talked to Hills, he explained that he was a preschool teacher for 18 years. On the encouragement of his sister and later, his wife, he wrote down all of the wild things his students said to him in notebooks (he has about 5). Initially, he planned on making one video, then five. He definitely didn’t think he’d be making 69 and counting. But the stories were just too funny to stop sharing.
In another video, he reveals that during a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” a female student told him he has a head like a “naked cat.” (Hills is bald, and his lack of hair comes up in several videos.)
As the videos progress, Hills starts to talk about certain students with more frequency—some of the stuff they talk about is a bit adult in nature. I asked Hills and he confirmed that many of his students were children of color and lived in lower income neighborhoods. Hills was the only Black male teacher, and as a result was often tasked with teaching some of the most difficult little ones. He did have several co-teachers who were usually older women. The Mrs. Martinez you hear him refer to in the videos is real, and has declined making a guest appearance on TikTok.
“I asked, can I get students who listen?” Hills said. He explained that his two years with the children who feature most prominently were two of the “most difficult” because most of them would just do their own thing.
In particular, there is one little boy named Gavin (Hills uses his middle name at the request of his mom who follows along and asked so she could keep track of the stories) who has a lot of videos made about him. And after a couple, you can understand why. Again, we don’t know much about his home life, but from Hills’ videos, you learn a lot about Gavin. For example, he has a gang called the “Knee High Killers,” among other things.
Another fan favorite is Bradley, a second grader Hills supervised in an after-school program. Bradley is white but he has a Black stepdad and, as a result, has some interesting takes on things. Hills is still in touch with him via TikTok, and Bradley (who is now 18) loves hearing his stories told. He even shares them with his friends.
Hills told me that he left teaching a few years ago to become a trained behavioral teacher and now works a couple of days at a new preschool. He also works with teens. Yes, he’s been taking notes for both and plans to share those videos as well.
While he never anticipated these videos taking off the way they did, he’s enjoying riding the wave and making videos while people are still interested.
Bay Area’s own Rexx Life Raj is back with his first album in two years. His latest effort, The Blue Hour is his most personal project to date, detailing the harrowing loss of his parents and the process of grieving and maintaining his mental health.
“This album is about transition,” said Rexx in a statement. “This album is about grief. This album is about experiencing every emotion and not running from them. This past year and a half have been so insane that I could make another 20 albums about it. From losing my parents, to moving out of places I grew up in and made me who I am, all while trying to maintain some type of balance and sanity. I tried to be as honest and intentional with this project as possible. Creating it helped me in ways I can’t even explain. I pray it does the same for someone else.”
This fall, Rexx will support The Blue Hour with a 24-date North American tour.
Check out the full list of tour dates below.
09/22 — Dallas, TX @ Cambridge Room @ HOB
09/23 — Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock @ HOB
09/25 — New Orleans, LA @ Parish @ HOB
09/27 — Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl
09/29 — Washington, DC @ Songbird
09/30 — New York City, NY @ Baby’s All Right
10/01 — Philadelphia, PA @ Milkboy
10/02 — Boston, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
10/03 — Toronto, OH @ Velvet Underground
10/06 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall
10/07 — Columbus, OH @ The Basement
10/09 — Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
10/11 — Denver, CO @ Other Side @ Cervantes
10/12 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
10/14 — Vancouver, BC @ Fortune
10/16 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
10/18 — Portland, OR @ Star Theatre
10/20 — Arcata, CA @ Arcata Theatre Lounge
10/23 — Ventura, CA @ Ventura Theatre
10/24 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
10/25 — San Diego, CA @ VooDoo @ HOB
10/29 — Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
10/30 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace Of Spades
11/04 — San Francisoco ,CA @ August Hall
The Blue Hour is available now via EMPIRE. Stream it here.
It’s not every day that the happenings at a local fair make their way to internet fame. But Linda Skeens and her unbeatable baked goods have garnered some well-earned online attention.
Skeens won every single category of baked goods at the Virginia Kentucky District Fair (aka the VaKy Fair). In many, she placed multiple times.
She also placed heavily in canned goods and the non-food related embroidery and wall decor categories.
Out of 29 categories she entered, Skeens won 25. Unbelievable.
Aside from having the best cake, pie, brownies, candy and both sweet and savory bread in town, Skeens quickly became the inspiration for some hilarious memes, including my personal favorite below:
Plus, there was no shortage of tongue-in-cheek Facebook comments, of which there were thousands. Some highlights: Skeens was previously Chuck Norris’ personal chef… she once baked a ladder on the spot to rescue a kitten stuck in a tree … she made a wedding cake for 200 people using only an easy bake oven. What a legend.
Some even joked that she must have been the only one who competed. Rest assured, she wasn’t. Spokesperson Jennifer Sturgill confirmed with TODAY that “she wasn’t the only entrant…she’s just that good.”
However, despite going viral, this culinary queen’s identity remained a mystery—much to the disappointment of her new fans clamoring for a recipe book. That is, until Dallas’ HOT 93.3 radio host Mason Moussette sent the search to her followers on TikTok.
Moussette’s faith in the internet was justified, because not long after her post, the real Linda Skeens was found. In her interview, Skeens told Moussette that this wasn’t her first win—only last year, she got 40 blue ribbons. No big deal.
Skeens also revealed that after being diagnosed with leukemia in December, cooking for her friends and family helped her while undergoing treatment. Of course, she isn’t the only one to find solace in the kitchen.
Cooking and baking can be very therapeutic during difficult times. In her 2014 article for The Wall Street Journal, Jeanne Whalen explained that psychologists define these types of activities as “behavioral activation,” where we can shift our focus on personal stressors and instead engage in something we find personally rewarding, improving our well-being in the process.
If cooking isn’t your thing, don’t fret. All kinds of creative activities can be soothing in similar ways. What matters is finding what feels best. It sounds like Skeens was able to do that through cooking. Or maybe she just likes to win those blue ribbons, who knows. Either way, she found her thing, and feels “blessed.” That in itself is worth celebrating.
Linda, we hope to find you with a whole new slew of award-winning concoctions at next year’s fair. Thanks for giving us all a wholesome story worth savoring.
By now, everyone’s sick of hearing about Doja Cat’s interaction with Noah Schnapp, including the stars themselves. While the idea of Doja contacting the 17-year-old Stranger Things actor for his co-star Joseph Quinn’s info has been polarizing, Schnapp revealed to Variety that the two have since made up since their squabble.
“I’m super unserious on social media and pretty goofy,” Schnapp said, “so I posted that not thinking too much of it, but obviously it hurt her feelings. So, as I should, I apologized and she was totally okay with it, and was like, ‘I’m sorry how I reacted.’ It was all good. I love her. I’m like the biggest fan of her music, and I told her that. I was like, you’re literally my role model. It’s all good. People make such a big deal out of everything when it’s on the internet, but, like, in reality, it’s like a two-minute thing.”
Doja has kept fairly quiet on social media since Schnapp shared screenshots of the conversation, however, not before calling him out on Instagram Live, saying, “That’s like borderline snake sh*t. That’s like weasel sh*t. I’m not saying that encapsulates his entire personality. I wouldn’t imagine he is. Maybe he is, like, a whole snake. But I didn’t see him that way. I made an assumption that he was gonna be chill about it and he went and shared information that I didn’t feel comfortable with him sharing.”
Doja Cat calls out Noah Schnapp for sharing her Instagram DMs without her permission:
“The fact that Noah did that […] is so unbelievably socially unaware and wack. That’s like borderline snake shit… that’s like weasel shit.” pic.twitter.com/qXZdmv1K4S
Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin was accused of domestic violence earlier this month, but a new report now adds incest to the claims against him. According to the Spanish news site Marca via TMZ, the alleged victim was the singer’s nephew, Dennis Yadiel Sanchez, who also filed a protection order against him. Sanchez claims that he and Martin were in a relationship for seven months and that the relationship was marked by “physical and psychological attacks on him” by the singer. The domestic violence charge came when Sanchez allegedly ended the relationship and an angry Martin reacted poorly.
According to Puerto Rican laws, certain sexual crimes carry harsher penalties if the victim is related to the accused, which could lead to up to 50 years in prison. Ricky Martin posted a statement on social media calling the accusations against him false but said he could not provide more details because of the legal case. “The protection order entered against me is based on completely false allegations, so I will respond through the judicial process with the facts and the dignity that characterize me,” he wrote. “Because it is an ongoing legal matter, I cannot make detailed statements at this time. I am grateful for the countless messages of solidarity, and I receive them with all my heart.”
Berkeley, California is home to college sports, eco-conscious living, and a slew of noteworthy restaurants. At least, according to Andy Baraghani — a chef, former Bon Appetit editor, viral culinary content creator, and cookbook author. It’s safe to say the dude knows a thing or two about good food. In fact, if you want to learn from the master himself and up your cooking skills, you can snag his new book, The Cook You Want to Be — on sale now.
Having grown up in Berkeley, Baraghani has explored the Bay Area town’s culinary scene like no other. So we asked him to give us his top recommendations in the city (birthplace of the globally famous Chez Panisse. From freshly baked sweets to vegetarian pizza to natural farmers’ market goods — read on for Baraghani’s absolute favorite food spots to eat in Berkeley, California.
The Cheeseboard Collective Pizzaria is a place that has been in Berkeley for over 45 years. It’s an institution and I’ve been going ever since I was a kid. What is so great about it is that it’s collectively owned — very Berkeley in that sense.
Their pizzas all have a sourdough crust, no red sauce, and are always vegetarian. They only have one type of pizza per day and it changes daily. Everything is highly seasonal – we’re in late spring, so it could be asparagus with gremolata and mushrooms. In the summer, it could be heirloom tomatoes and corn.
There are many farmers’ markets and natural food stores around Berkeley, but Monterey Market holds a very special place in my heart. A majority of their produce comes from local farms. They have almost a whole aisle of all kinds of mushrooms, from the obvious cremini to the less obvious black trumpet and lobster varieties. A big reason I love it is also all the samples: wedges of tangy citrus to bite into in the winter or pieces of fragrant peaches and juicy tomatoes in the summer, they don’t hold back!
A tiny pastry shop close to Cheeseboard Pizzeria, Masse’s Pastries make traditional European pastries–eclairs, mille-feuille, and macaroons to name a few. It’s their cakes though that are out of this world. Their ricotta guava cheesecake and the passionfruit white chocolate cake were the go-to desserts for very special occasions at my parent’s home. Now when I’m back home I get an espresso (they don’t do drip!) with a few of their smaller offerings and a glass of seltzer.
Grégoire Restaurant
Grégoire Restaurant
I spent a lot of my teenage years going to Grégoire Restaurant to load up on potato puffs. The French takeout restaurant has been around for 20 years and it’s the perfect place to grab a sandwich (like a flank steak with brie) or a salad. There is no indoor seating but they do have a few benches outside.
The Smokehouse
The Smokehouse
I never want a fussy burger. The Smokehouse is not trying to redo or make trendy burgers. Instead, they just do the classic really well: thin patties, cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, chopped raw onions, and a squishy sesame bun. It is perfectly proportioned, it’s grilled over a flat top so it’s perfectly caramelized all over and the fries are thick. They put mustard on their burger, which lends a certain level of acidity, which makes you salivate and makes you want to keep eating it. It’s so smart.
Top Dog is where a lot of students go and it’s all I could afford as a teenager. You’d spend like $2 on a hot dog. They have sesame buns, and all these different hot dogs like linguica, all-beef, lemon pepper chicken, bratwurst, etc. The usual fixings are there (ketchup, spicy mustard, yellow mustard, relish, sauerkraut, and onions).
One thing to note, you need to know your order before you go up, even if there’s a line forming. Otherwise, whoever’s working will pounce on you and send you to the back of the line. You can totally tell who is a beginner and who’s an expert when it comes to ordering because you need to know quickly!
Tacubaya
Tacubaya
This whole list could have been dedicated to my favorite Mexican spots, but I had to go with Tacubaya on Fourth Street in Berkeley. A lot of the menu are beloved dishes that street food vendors sell in Mexico: taco al pastor, tortas, and sopa de tortilla. If you go on the weekend do not miss ordering the menudo, a chile-infused beef broth with tripe and hominy and all the fixings.
Like millions of other people, Donald Trump has reportedly been “riveted” by the January 6th hearings. Apparently, watching your former colleagues and very favorite child turn against you makes for some pretty fascinating television—not to mention some pretty compelling evidence that the former president was one of the key architects of the deadly Capitol riots of 2021. It’s that latter part that apparently has Trump itching to finally let the world in on whether or not he plans to run for president again in 2024.
Over on Puck, political reporters Julia Ioffe and Tara Palmeri had a fascinating conversation about what they’ve been hearing about Trump’s potential run in 2024, and how the hearings are playing into his decision on the timing of that announcement. Ioffe has heard rumblings about Trump being anxious to declare his candidacy before Ron DeSantis does. And Palmeri’s been hearing a lot about the many reasons why the former president might be looking to fast-track Announcement Day:
Advisors I’ve spoken with say that Trump is desperate to turn the national conversation away from January 6. He’s calling around, asking for advice, and realizes he doesn’t have the same microphone he would have as a candidate. That’s a big thing that’s motivating him to announce.
He’s also obsessed with the perception that January 6 is hurting him with big donors, who are tired of the antics and worry about how his January 6 baggage will impact the presidential election if he decides to run. Not to mention they’re having a bit of a love affair right now with DeSantis, who they are donating to under the guise of his gubernatorial campaign. He’s raised more than $100 million.
Palmeri also made mention of a Politico article which stated that Trump has been “quietly conven[ing] some of his wealthiest and highest-profile supporters for intimate dinners in recent weeks, where the groups have talked about the former president’s 2024 election plans — and debated when he should make his expected comeback bid official.”
While a presidential hopeful fundraising is hardly newsworthy, what makes this particular tidbit rather telling, according to Palmeri, is that Trump is hosting these dinners all around the country — Houston, Nashville, and Las Vegas, so far — rather than at one of his tacky golf palaces.
“This reeks of desperation to me,” says Palmeri, “because one thing I remember from covering the Trump White House was that he absolutely hated overnights, and they always tried to arrange trips so that he could be back at home, sleeping in his own bed. This means he’s courting the money, not just holding court in Bedminster as he could do when he was president. It suggests that he’s feeling insecure about his status among the donor class, something I’ve heard from his advisors. Indeed, the January 6 hearings have reinforced his toxicity to some mega-donor Republicans, but one top bundler stressed to me that a mass exodus has not occurred yet.”
Given how many new witnesses have reportedly surfaced in the wake of Cassidy Hutchinson’s explosive testimony about Trump’s toddlerish behavior and direct involvement in the plan to overthrow our democracy, only time—and more witness testimony—will tell if and when that mass exodus occurs.
While the progressive house supergroup known as Swedish House Mafia has been performing together for almost 15 years, they only just released their debut full length album this year, in Paradise Again. The trio of Sebastian Ingrosso, Axwell, and Steve Angello featured a number of vocalists on the album from The Weeknd and ASAP Rocky, to Ty Dolla Sign and 070 Shake. But lately, it’s been the track “Heaven Takes You Home,” featuring British singer Connie Constance that’s been on heavy rotation on dance floors and music festivals across the globe.
Today, Swedish House Mafia released a video for the song, directed by Constance and just like the song, it celebrates the beauty of life’s daily occurrences and how music guides her through all the wins. “Tell them how you backflip from tragic, show them how to struggle, make magic,” Constance sings. She shared a thoughtful statement on the collaboration and the video:
“It’s been the most incredible journey working with Swedish House Mafia,” states Constance. “From creating a beautiful song that is so dear to me, to then directing the video, I cannot be grateful enough for how empowering this process has been. Everyone you will see in this video and even most of the crew has changed my life in some shape or form which feels propitious as this song is currently doing the same. I wanted to create a video for SHM that might be shown at a wedding or sadly a funeral. All the best bits, and the best people. It’s not the London eye or the River Thames that makes London. It’s the people that keep the culture so diverse and the energy so dynamic. I hope this video gives an insight to the young dreamers in the city and how together we help each-other pass all limitations and take over the world…. until heaven takes you home and you’ve got the most triumphant story to tell.”
Watch the video for “Heaven Is Here (Connie’s Lens)” above and check out the dates for Swedish House Mafia’s upcoming Paradise Again Tour here.
Much to his chagrin, Australian resident Mark Polchleb recently went viral on Tiktok after sharing that he unknowingly yelled at his DoorDash driver as he approached the front door.
Polchleb had not actually been shouting “get away from the door, mate!” to the innocent driver, but rather to his rambunctious dog, who clearly could smell food fast approaching and began barking in anticipation.
Unfortunately, this was lost in translation, and the driver put down the delivery in shame as he slowly backed away before leaving.
Polchleb saw what had happened after reviewing his security camera footage and was instantly dismayed. He told TODAY, “I couldn’t bear the thought of someone thinking I disrespected them for just doing their job!”
“I’ve genuinely lost sleep over this,” he added in a follow-up TikTok.
Others were quick to commiserate in the comments section.
“The way I’m actually shedding tears thinking of how he must have felt disregarded and a nuisance. I’m feeling sick,” wrote one person
“I WOULD LOSE SLEEP FOR DAYSSSSSS,” wrote another.
Of course, finding a way to apologize would be no easy feat. Not long after the delivery is done, customers have no way of contacting their DoorDash driver. But that didn’t stop a determined Polchleb from reaching out on TikTok for help.
And luckily, being viral meant millions of people were ready to spread the word. What could have been a long and arduous process came to fruition in the blink of an eye.
“It took only two days to track him down,” Polchleb told TODAY. “His daughter stumbled across my original TikTok after around 7 million views, and I was able to connect with her, and then her dad.”
Polchleb posted a follow-up TikTok showing a sweet reunion with the driver, who we can affectionately call Sami.
In the video we hear Polchleb say, “This afternoon I got to head out and meet with my DoorDasher Sami to say thank you in person and make sure he was happy,” followed by the two sharing a hug.
But wait, there’s more. This story gets an even happier ending.
DoorDash soon heard about the incident and gave Sami “Top Dasher” status for life as well as extra Dasher pay. Then Sami’s daughter Mary set up a GoFundMe so that he could visit his son in France.
Sami wrote on the fundraiser website, “I came to Australia 8 years ago as a refugee and I haven’t seen my son for 10 years. He lives in France, and I have to do some work to book a ticket to see him.”
So far, more than AU$8,000 has been raised, well surpassing the AU$2,000 goal. It looks like this misunderstanding was a blessing in disguise.
Delivery drivers often have to put up with a lot. Rude customers, terrible tips or worse, tip baiting, where a large tip is offered for fast service then taken away, are just some of the unsavory common occurrences. It’s great that Polchleb went out of his way to make sure Sami was treated with kindness and appreciation.
Jim Beam/Elijah Craig/Evan Williams/Wild Turkey/istock/Uproxx
Recently, I wrote an article where I blindly tasted and ranked popular gins. The results were so surprising and I had such a good time doing it, that I figured I’d try it again. But this time it’s going to be much more difficult — I’m taking on some of the most well-known, popular, easy-to-find bottles of bourbon on the market.
While the last blind taste test featured gin and had us comparing juniper and other herbal and botanical flavors, bourbon’s flavor profile is palate is significantly more nuanced. At this price point, I’m looking for balance, bold flavors, and a ton of caramel, vanilla, oak, and wintry spices. But to truly stand out, the bourbon needs to conjure flavors beyond those prominent notes as well.
Today’s Lineup:
Maker’s Mark
Jim Beam White Label
Bulleit Bourbon
Woodford Reserve
Wild Turkey 101
Elijah Craig Small Batch
Buffalo Trace
Evan Williams
Part 1: The Taste
Taste 1
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Cinnamon, cracked black pepper, charred oak, and vanilla are prevalent on the nose. That’s about it though. Taking a sip revealed more toasted vanilla beans, raisins, sticky toffee, and a dollop of peppery rye at the finish. It ends with a dry, warming, slightly sweet, slightly spicy finish.
All in all a decent whiskey, but none of the flavors really had the punch I would hope for.
Taste 2
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
The nose is filled with caramel corn, cracked black pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, and light wintry spices. It’s definitely a welcoming nose that made me want to dive in and taste it. The palate starts with a nutty sweetness, toasted vanilla beans, charred oak, raisins, candied orange peels, and just a hint of warming cracked black pepper.
Taste 3
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
The nose is fairly bland with some vanilla, sweet corn, and maybe light caramel candy. But not much else. It definitely didn’t get me excited to take a sip. The palate didn’t add much to the experience with more overly sweet vanilla, some toffee, and maybe some oak.
It all tasted very generic.
Taste 4
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
A complex nose of dried cherries, toasted vanilla beans, caramel apples, honey, and slight herbal aromas greeted me before my first sip. One sip revealed notes of raisins, vanilla cookies, and charred oak. But that was about it. Surprisingly, as inviting as the nose was, the palate was much more on the bland side.
While warming and smooth, the overall flavor was really lackluster.
Taste 5
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
A symphony of sticky toffee, cinnamon sugar, peppery spice, toasted vanilla beans, and rich, woody oak greeted my nostrils before my first sip. The palate is loaded with notable flavors of butterscotch, toasted oak, vanilla cookies, raisins, and just a hint of warming spice at the finish to tie everything together nicely.
It’s warming, sweet, and slightly spicy.
Taste 6
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
A fairly generic nose of oak, vanilla, and raisins set the stage for what was ahead. While the nose wasn’t bad in any particular way, it was just fairly muted. The palate continued the trend. While there is no doubt this is an easy-to-drink, mellow, soft bourbon.
Its simple flavors of vanilla, oak, and toffee aren’t enough to excite anyone who has been drinking whiskey for very long.
Taste 7
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Butterscotch, charred oak, candied orange peels, spicy cinnamon, slight cracked black pepper, almond cookies, and sweet vanilla were notable on the nose. The palate follows suit with hints of peppery rye, brown sugar, clover honey, more candied orange peels, toasted wood, and creamy caramel.
Overall, a very well-balanced, multi-dimensional whiskey.
Taste 8
Christopher Osburn
Tasting Notes:
Aromas of clover honey, dried cherries, toasted oak, toffee, slight winter spices, and vanilla beans are highlighted on the nose. The palate is littered with flavors of almond cookies, woody oak, butterscotch candy, vanilla cookies, and a nice kick of cracked black pepper. The finish is a warming mix of spice, oak, and caramel sweetness.
There are few bourbon brands more well-known than Jim Beam. And while the brand has many iconic expressions, there are few more beloved than the classic, bargain bottle of Jim Beam White Label. The world’s number one selling bourbon has been made the same way for over 200 years. It’s known for its bold oak and vanilla-centric flavor profile.
Bottom Line:
Sure, Jim Beam White Label is cheap. But I think you can do better. It tasted like vanilla candy with some fake wood flavor added.
Like all the brands on this list, Maker’s Mark is a big name. Known for its mellow flavor profile thanks to the addition of soft red winter wheat instead of the usual spicy, peppery rye, it comes in the iconic red wax-covered bottle.
Bottom Line:
Like Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark is a beginner whiskey that lacks the complex flavor profile to make it anything else. While smooth and easy to drink, the flavor (or lack thereof) and price tag don’t fully align, in my opinion.
Bulleit Bourbon touts itself as “Frontier Whiskey” and comes in a pretty cool bottle. That and a ton of advertising exposure have made this a fairly popular bourbon. But is it really all that great? Made from rye, corn, and malted barley, along with special yeast strains and Kentucky limestone-filtered water, this high-rye bourbon is known for its peppery, spicy, bold flavor profile.
Bottom Line:
Bulleit Bourbon, like Maker’s Mark, isn’t a bad whiskey. It’s just probably not as good as its popularity would suggest.
According to legend, Elijah Craig, a former minister turned distiller, invented bourbon when he aged his corn whiskey in charred oak barrels. Whether or not that story is true doesn’t change the fact that this popular small-batch bourbon bears his name. This award-winning whiskey is known for its complex, mellow flavor profile.
Bottom Line:
Elijah Craig Small Batch lands in the slightly overrated realm for me — simply because its nose is so inviting and then when you sip it, it’s surprisingly thin.
Woodford Reserve makes a wide array of expressions, but before you try any of the more complex bottles, you should try its flagship Kentucky Straight Bourbon. A mash bill of 72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malt, and is matured in charred oak barrels for a minimum of six years.
Bottom Line:
Woodford Reserve is a little pricier than some of the other bottles on this list and for good reason. It’s complex and flavorful. It’s the kind of bourbon where you find a few new flavors every time you sip it.
Bartenders and drinkers alike consistently list Wild Turkey 101 as one of the best value bourbons on the market. Aged for a minimum of six years in new, charred American oak barrels this 101-proof whiskey is known for its bold, spicy and sweet flavor profile.
Bottom Line:
Wild Turkey 101 certainly isn’t over-hyped in my book. It’s cheap, surprisingly well-balanced, and filled with nuanced, interesting flavors that work well together. It helps that it’s 101-proof.
When it comes to bargain bourbon bottles, few get more acclaim than Buffalo Trace’s flagship expression. This corn, rye, and malted barley-based bourbon is aged in new, charred American oak barrels and batched at no more than 40 barrels at a time. It’s known for its mellow mix of vanilla and baking spices.
Bottom Line:
For the price, it’s difficult to beat the complexity of Buffalo Trace. It’s a great mix of butterscotch sweetness and wintry spices.
Evan Williams Black Label is constantly listed as one of the best bargain bottles on the market. Also known as “Extra Aged”, this bold, rich, value bottle is matured for at least seven years in new, charred American oak barrels. Smooth, oaky, and filled with vanilla sweetness, it’s hard to beat.
Bottom Line:
Proving that price doesn’t necessarily dictate quality, Evan Williams Black Label is consistently under $20. Yet it’s well-balanced and loaded with myriad complementary flavors.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Even though I selected eight of the most popular, best-selling bottles, they all varied in price between $15 and $35. That’s a pretty big price difference and, besides Jim Beam White, the blind taste test showed that price doesn’t guarantee nuance — as some of the more expensive bottles didn’t fare as well. Complexity, balanced, and unique flavors were the name of the game and our winner today nailed all three.
The fact that it’s one of the cheaper bottles is a great bonus.
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