GoneTrending

Buffalo Trace is renowned for high-priced bourbon whiskey that, these days, is damn near unattainable (Weller, Pappy, Stagg, Eagle Rare…). The thing is, Buffalo Trace is a massive distillery operation with 19 brands coming off their stills, which means they’re also producing plenty of inexpensive bourbon whiskey. Benchmark is just such a whiskey, and today I’m going to rank the whole line.

Benchmark is one of the many brands that come from Buffalo Trace’s “Mash Bill no. 1,” which is their low-rye bourbon mash (one of Buffalo Trace’s four core mash bills overall). Of course, Buffalo Trace doesn’t divulge the exact parameters of any of their bills, so we don’t know how “low” the rye content is or how “high” the corn content is. We do know that the same mash bill is used to make Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Stagg, Eagle Rare, Old Charter, and Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. bourbons.

While using the same mash bill doesn’t quite make Benchmark the “poor man’s Eagle Rare,” it does speak to the quality of the spirit that goes into the barrel and eventually the bottles. Each of the bourbons from that famed mash bill are still all housed and aged in unique ways that inform the flavor profile of the final product. Benchmark is batched, proofed, and bottled to match Benchmark’s flavor profile, not Taylor’s or Stagg’s.

That said, Buffalo Trace is still a business with a bottom line too. If, say, a few barrels of Eagle Rare or Old Charter don’t quite meet the flavor profile standards of those brands, those barrels will likely end up (ie, be blended out) in a Benchmark, which is still a bottom-shelf whiskey. That said, this is also a cheap bourbon that’s having a bit of a moment thanks to awards love over the last year or two (it’s still a Buffalo Trace product after all). Multitudes, folks!

Alright, let’s dive in and rank some great bourbon — on taste alone — from the bottom shelf.

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked
• We Tasted Bourbon Whiskeys ‘Double-Blind’ And Tried To Guess Each Bottle
• All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

6. Benchmark Old No. 8 Brand

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $10

The Whiskey:

The juice in this bottle is from the aforementioned Buffalo Trace Mash no. 1. This is a standard straight bourbon. Once the barrels are vatted, the whiskey is proofed all the way down to 80 proof for bottling.

Tasting Notes:

Faint lemon candies and honey lead to an old vanilla wafer and wet cornmeal on the nose but not much else. The taste is “classic” bourbon with very watery hints of leather, spice, and cornmeal next to vanilla extract, caramel, and old buttered popcorn. The end is very faint and almost vodka-like with a tapwater vibe.

Bottom Line:

This isn’t great. It’s pretty watery and faint overall. It might be fine for a shot and a beer but that’s about it.

5. Benchmark Small Batch

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $19

The Whiskey:

This is a standard “small batch” though there’s not a whole lot of information on what that entails exactly. The “batch” could be 20 barrels or 200. The bourbon is cut down slightly less to a bolder 90 proof.

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 feels like a good shooter or mixer for a whiskey and Coke. Beyond that, it’s a little watery still for highlighting in a cocktail.

4. Benchmark Top Floor

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $17

The Whiskey:

This expression says it all in the name. The barrels are pulled from the top floors of the Buffalo Trace warehouses. Essentially, heat rises and the barrels on those top floors age/mature more quickly and can have a deeper flavor thanks to that accelerated process. This whiskey vatted from those barrels and proofed down to a slightly higher 86 proof.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mild sense of orange oils and Christmas spice on the nose with a touch of buttery yet sweet caramel and a whisper of raw leather. The palate follows along that path pretty closely as butterscotch and orange marmalade with a hint of sourdough pancake lead to caramel corn and subtle “oak” on the finish.

Bottom Line:

This is simple but good. I could see drinking this in a highball or maybe even on the rocks as an everyday table bourbon.

3. Benchmark Bonded

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

This is a four-year-old bonded bourbon that’s not that far off the Colonel E.H. Taylor, Jr. line, as all of those bourbons are bonded too. That also means that this bourbon is only proofed down to 100 proof, far above the Old No. 8 entry point above.

Tasting Notes:

This is surprisingly bright with a nose full of lemon-honey tart sweetness, a touch of vanilla extract, a hint of charred wood, and maybe a little wet leather. The taste keeps it simple and really leans into the oak and vanilla while the honey sweetness mellows to a standard caramel with a hint of spicy tobacco. The end is pretty short but leaves you with that vanilla, honey, and tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is actually good. For $20, this is great. I’d mix an old fashioned with this in a heartbeat. I’d go a little easy on the sugar as this is already on the sweeter side, but it’d be a good cocktail.

2. Benchmark Full Proof

ABV: 62.5%

Average Price: $22

The Whiskey:

This is the standard Benchmark bottled at barrel proof. Well, it’s more than that. Only a few barrels of Benchmark make it to a flavor point that’ll allow full proof barreling. So, this batched bourbon is all about the pure juice from the barrel with no cutting with water to tame it.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a mild intensity with notes of spicy dry tobacco next to dark chocolate, a hint of eggnog spices, and creamy vanilla. Overall, it’s creamy on the nose with that leathery/wet grain note completely gone. That all delivers on the palate with the addition of spicy stewed apples soaked in brandy, a touch of dark fruit leather chewiness, and a long, spicy tobacco finish with a hint of orchard fruit in the background.

Bottom Line:

This is where things get interesting. This is a really solid mixing bourbon for cocktails. Those high ABVs are almost non-existent (to me) but really pop in a cocktail format. The flavor profile also feels very “classic” bourbon, which would make a hell of a Manhattan or old fashioned.

1. Benchmark Single Barrel

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $25

The Whiskey:

This expression is from the single barrels that actually hit that prime spot/flavor profile to be bottled one at a time. This is the best of the best of the barrels earmarked for Benchmark in the Buffalo Trace warehouses. Those barrels are watered down slightly before bottling at a healthy 95 proof.

Tasting Notes:

That orange and caramel really come through on the nose with a thin line of creamy dark chocolate and some nutmeg and cinnamon. The palate largely adheres to that flavor profile while adding in layers of dark fruit, old leather, mild oak, and orange cookies. The finish arrives with a sense of winter spices and dark chocolate oranges next to a twinge of cherry-kissed spicy tobacco chew and a final note of old porch wicker.

Bottom Line:

This was hard to place. I really like it but it’s not quite as bold as it could be. That said, this is a perfectly fine on-the-rocks sipper or cocktail base. It’s complex enough to handle mixing while also blooming nicely with a little water or ice. Plus, come on! That price for a single barrel bourbon in 2022? That’s pretty amazing.

Get busy living or get busy dying, the choice is yours. Brooklyn wild man Meechy Darko’s latest Gothic Luxury single “Get Lit Or Die Tryin’” takes its inspiration from this quote, as well as the philosophy of 50 Cent‘s star-making first album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, as well as a sample (from “Hustler’s Ambition”). The gravel-voiced Flatbush Zombie demonstrates just how intense this nihilistic outlook can get in the song’s black-and-white video, which follows Meechy and his gang as they live recklessly, robbing gangsters and challenging each other to a game of Russian roulette.

“Get Lit Or Die Tryin’” is the second single from Gothic Luxury, Meechy’s upcoming solo debut album. He announced the album a month ago with the defiant video for “Kill Us All (K.U.A.),” a (justifiably) paranoid anthem detailing the systemic oppression of Black Americans at the hands of the government and its agents. That backdrop is the overall inspiration for Gothic Luxury, which he calls “the most personal thing I’ve ever done.” “I’m in an extremely soul-stirring part of my life right now,” Meechy explained in a statement. “Who I was yesterday may not be who I am tomorrow. I’m not who I was last week. There’s no telling who I’ll be next year or the year after, so it’s very important to capture this while I can still feel.”

Watch Meechy Darko’s “Get Lit Or Die Tryin” video above.

Gothic Luxury is due 8/26 via Loma Vista Recordings. You can pre-save it here.

Last night (July 13), as part of their Music Of The Spheres tour, Coldplay put on a show at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany. The band is on the stretch of the tour that features HER as their opening act and they seem pretty enamored by one of her performances… but not an on-stage one.

Today, Coldplay shared a video, taken backstage at that Berlin show, of HER and her band firing off a quick a capella rendition of Coldplay’s enduring 2005 single “Fix You.” It starts with some vocalists singing the song’s instrumental before HER comes in with the first verse. On the chorus, everybody joins in and harmonizes with HER for a gorgeous conclusion to their truncated cover.

Sharing the video, Coldplay wrote, “Fix You by @HERMusicx, backstage in Berlin. We’re so lucky to hear these voices every night on tour.”

This comes shortly after Hannah Reid (of London Grammar, Coldplay’s other tour opener) joined the band on stage, also in Berlin, on July 10, singing duet with Chris Martin on “Let Somebody Go,” Coldplay’s single from earlier this year that features Selena Gomez.

Watch both of those performances above.

Coldplay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

With a little over a month to go until the massive drama finally takes streaming audiences by storm, Amazon has released a new trailer for its heavily-anticipated series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The preview is the deepest look yet at the sprawling (and wildly expensive) project set thousands of years before the events of the events of the Lord of the Rings films that turned the J.R.R. Tolkien series into a box office phenomenon.

In the new trailer, a young Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) refuses to heed the urging of Elrond (Robert Aramayo) to put down her sword as peace seemingly envelopes Middle Earth. Haunted by fiery visions, Galadriel knows an evil darkness is coming that will lock the vast fantasy world into a brutal war with no end in sight.

Here’s the official synopsis:

This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness. Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premieres September 2 on Amazon.

The Beths are releasing Expert In A Dying Field later this year, and today they’ve unveiled the resonant title track. “Expert In A Dying Field” is a tame earworm with Elizabeth Stokes’s soaring, gentle vocals as the centerpiece as she sings inquisitive contemplations: “Can we erase our history?”

“I really do believe that love is learned over time,” explains Stokes in a statement. “In the course of knowing a person, you accumulate so much information: their favorite movies, how they take their tea, how to make them laugh, how that makes you feel. And when relationships between people change, or end, all that knowledge doesn’t just disappear. The phrase ‘Expert in a Dying Field’ had been floating around my head for a few years, I was glad to finally capture it when writing this tune.”

“Expert In A Dying Field” is slower than their last single “Silence Is Golden,” which Stokes explained was a “song is about stress and anxiety manifesting as an intolerance to noise.” These singles follow February’s release of “A Real Thing,” an energetic one-off song.

Watch the video for “Expert In A Dying Field” above.

Expert In A Dying Field is out 9/16 via Carpark Records. Pre-order it here.

Bridgerton‘s second round didn’t show off quite as much sex appeal as the season revolving around Daphne and Duke Simon. And that’s for the better, honestly, since it’d be rather difficult to do that again without, well, The Duke. The sophomore season still pulled off a viewing record for Netflix, and everything’s still going full steam ahead for more Bridgerton and a Queen Charlotte spinoff, but of course, people miss The Duke.

Regé-Jean Page, who crushed ovaries on SNL to poke fun at The Duke phenomenon, will probably always carry that character with him. He’s onto starring roles in franchises like Dungeons & Dragons, and he plays a villain in The Gray Man (Netflix’s movie starring Chris Evans’ stache, Ryan Gosling, and Ana de Armas). Naturally (and as he revealed), journalists keep asking him about The Duke, and that included Variety‘s Marc Malkin, to whom Page observed that Simon really wasn’t a good guy before all of that “redemption.”

Remember, Simon was a “rake” who (as Daphne put it) was “raking across the continent”? And here’s a clip of Page telling Malkin that Simon was “kind-of this horrific…” and “a Regency f*ckboy” (with his quote below):

“Shonda and I had a wonderful conversation at the end of the Season 1. We were quite happy about how we stuck the landing on that one. I’m still proud of how we stuck the landing on that one. I’ve had a lot of conversations on this junket of folks saying, ‘You know, Simon was such a lovely gentleman, and now, you’re playing this super bad character…’ I think we did so well on that redemptive arc, people forgot that Simon was kind-of this horrific… he was the best example of a ‘Regency f*ckboy’ that any of us have come across.”

Further, Page revealed that he hasn’t caught Season 2 yet, and while he has always seemed grateful for the opportunity to play Simon in the first place, everyone should feel “free” to recast The Duke if they really want him in the show. Page previously turned down a guest spot for Simon in this second season, and now we know more about why he’s moving onto other places.

Still, Page would like to stress how he feels like “you really have to be brave about ending stories like that.” That’d refer to Simon’s transformation for love, “And because we brought that round full circle so well, because we stuck that landing, you’re left with this great feeling.” And that means (credit to John Oliver) less “jizzing in blankets.”

Bridgerton‘s first two seasons are currently streaming, and Netflix’s The Gray Man streams on July 22.

The Bear is the breakout television show of the summer. It’s got a killer dad rock soundtrack, turned “yes, chef” into a catchphrase, and inspired people to share their deepest, darkest secret (the time they hooked up with restaurant line cooks, not all of whom are as handsome as Jeremy Allen White, presumably). Unsurprisingly, The Bear has been renewed by FX for another eight-episode season.

“The Bear has exceeded our wildest creative, critical and commercial expectations,” Eric Schrier, FX Entertainment President, said in a statement. “We deeply appreciate the brilliant work led by creator and co-showrunner Christopher Storer and co-Showrunner Joanna Calo. Jeremy Allen White’s lead performance is spectacular, as are those of his co-stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Lionel Boyce, and Liza Colón-Zayas. We can’t wait to get to work on season two.”

Storer and Calo added, “We are so grateful to FX, our insanely talented cast, our crew who worked hard, fast, and in the dead of winter, not to mention everyone who watched. And we can’t wait to bring you all back to The Bear in 2023.” They celebrated the renewal not with a bottle of champagne, but by splitting an Italian beef sandwich (I assume).

Will Carmy f*ck in season two? We’ll find out next year.

Over the past few years, Lizzo has become an exceptionally famous person. There’s plenty of good that comes with that, like her work being recognized for its excellence and beloved by millions of fans worldwide. Of course, though, being in the spotlight opens you up to more criticism than you’ve ever faced in your life, which Lizzo admits has been “difficult.”

Speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Lizzo says of her experience with fame and criticism:

“I’ve noticed that once people knew who I was… because before, it was discovery. It was like, ‘Who is this? Who is that?’ And then once people knew who I was and it became kind of solidified, they became more comfortable with using me as some sort of punchline or joke, or immediately they want to criticize whatever I’m doing because there’s levels to me that they don’t accept. So I’ve found that I’m always going to receive some sort of backlash or criticism whenever I put myself in a public space, just because of who I am and the way I choose to exist. […] It’s absolutely bait now. People use negativity as clout and attention, and it makes them feel good to get that kind of attention, which is… it’s very addictive. It is like an adrenaline, it’s drug-like. And I don’t know, I’m trying to distance myself from even looking at those people and reading those comments. It’s been very difficult because I just feel I can’t escape it.”

Check out the full interview above.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is used to being heckled by doofuses. Tucker Carlson called her an “obnoxious ski bunny,” Lauren Boebert thinks she’s a “celebrity hypocrite,” and Marjorie Taylor Greene said she’s “not an American” because “she really doesn’t embrace our American ways.” Everyone knows real Americans tweet pure fiction about mass shootings (on second thought, maybe that is the most American thing, unfortunately). AOC came across another buffoon looking for attention on Wednesday, and nearly decked him after he called her a “big booty Latina.”

“I posted about a deeply disgusting incident that happened today on the Capitol steps, but took it down bc it’s clearly someone seeking extremist fame,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “It’s just a bummer to work in an institution that openly allowed this, but talking about it only invites more. Just really sad.”

In the video, far-right troll and “notorious conspiracy theorist” Alex Stein can be heard saying, “AOC, my favorite big booty Latina. I love you AOC, you’re my favorite. She wants to kill babies, but she’s still beautiful. You look very beautiful in that dress. You look very sexy. Look at that booty on AOC.”

Ocasio-Cortez briefly confronted Stein and made a peace sign to the camera before walking up the Capitol steps. Stein continued speaking to the camera as she walked away and added: “Hot, hot, hot like a tamale!” Stein shared Ocasio-Cortez’ tweet on his own Twitter account and added: “If you really love me you would of at least tagged me” and also joked about the fact she appears to have blocked him on the social media platform.

In a follow-up tweet, AOC wrote, “I was actually walking over to deck him because if no one will protect us then I’ll do it myself but I needed to catch a vote more than a case today.” She also called out the security officer who let Stein — who will face no repercussions, because Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t eating a steak dinner at the time — continue spewing “disgusting garbage.” You can read her tweets below.

(Via Newsweek)

When the Utah Jazz traded Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves for a package where future draft picks (four firsts and a first round swap) were the headliner, the attention immediately shifted to Donovan Mitchell’s future in Salt Lake.

Initially, the Jazz were insistent that they wanted to build around Mitchell, but it only took two weeks for that to change to them being willing to listen to trade offers for the All-Star guard. Mitchell figured to garner plenty of interest from around the league, but the Knicks jumped to the front of the line in terms of teams with the combination of strong interest and the expected asset pool capable of landing Mitchell. After making lots of moves on draft night to acquire future firsts, the Knicks have eight future first round picks they are eligible to trade at this moment, allowing them to outbid just about any other suitor for Mitchell in terms of a future-facing trade package — which is what the Jazz will want.

Late Wednesday night, word broke from Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic that the two sides have “begun discussions” on Mitchell trade talks, advancing beyond preliminary discussions and into actual framework talk in the last day.

The Jazz are having conversations with multiple teams on a Mitchell deal, but the Knicks have emerged as the focused destination over the past several days, sources said. Both sides have discussed a deal framework in the past 24 hours, those sources said.

For New York, Mitchell would be their biggest star acquisition since Carmelo Anthony and would give them a formidable offensive backcourt with the newly signed Jalen Brunson — albeit with some defensive question marks. For Utah, New York can send them the most picks back and, as Jones and Charania note, have some young players like Quentin Grimes who intrigue them. What is maybe most interesting in the report is that RJ Barrett isn’t mentioned at all, indicating the Knicks would like to keep the young star two-guard, pushing him out to the three in lineups with Brunson and Mitchell.

The Knicks can cobble together salaries to make the money work to offset Mitchell’s $30 million deal, with Evan Fournier’s $18 million deal the most likely financial centerpiece of a deal filled with other young players and draft picks. It’s not a guarantee that the two sides can reach an agreement immediately, but it does seem like both parties have the motivation to get a deal done sooner than later so that they can begin planning for next season in earnest. For Utah in particular, moving Mitchell would allow them to enter a full on sale mode, with veterans becoming available for young players and assets.