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Another standout single from Future’s new album, I Never Liked You, has received the video treatment. Unlike the video for “Wait For You,” which imagines Future and Drake as medieval knights, or the more abstract “Keep It Burning” video with Kanye West, the new video for “Puffin On Zootiez” takes a more literal approach, visually recreating the feeling of being extremely stoned with warped, smoky visuals. Future mainly appears in blurry, out-of-focus close-ups and performance shots seen through kaleidoscopic lenses.

I Never Liked You, Future’s ninth studio album, was also one of his most successful, landing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 222,000 equivalent units sold — the biggest release of 2022 at the time. While that number was eventually blown away by Kendrick Lamar and his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, those 222,000 units are reflective of Future’s continued popularity after over a decade in the rap spotlight. In addition to being a big moment for Future, though, it also gave collaborators like Drake and Tems big accomplishments. “Wait For You” gave Drake his tenth No. 1 single on the Hot 100, making him the first rapper with that achievement. Tems’ appearance on the single also made her the first African artist to ever debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Watch Future’s “Puffin On Zootiez” video above.

The 2022 NBA Finals offers up a chance for Steph Curry to win his first Finals MVP award. It’s the lone trophy missing from his otherwise jam packed trophy case, and there’s been a whole lot of chatter in the lead-up to the Finals about what winning that would mean for Curry’s legacy, because apparently, winning that will confirm for some people that Steph Curry is, indeed, good at basketball.

Anyway, Wednesday’s episode of First Take included some Curry legacy chat, and at one point, Stephen A. Smith went on a rant about how Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball for the worse. His argument was more or less that Jordan made the game less team-centric and more based on the individual. You can watch it here.

It took a bit for one of Smith’s oldest foils, Kevin Durant, to see the clip and respond to it. In Durant’s eyes, players of Curry and Jordan’s caliber are not capable of changing the game for the worse, and the folks who do that are takesmen like Smith, Skip Bayless, and Shannon Sharpe.

Durant went on to say that, beyond it being damaging to the game, Smith’s take is just not accurate and “beyond insane.”

Listen, I’m writing a blog about this instead of something about the NBA Finals so I fully concede that I am part of the problem here. Having said that, this is the latest in a long line of times we’ve seen Durant call Smith out for stuff he says on ESPN, and if history is any precedent, we fully anticipate that Smith is going to say something in response.

You’ve probably seen Jax on TikTok, given that her videos routinely rack up millions of views apiece and have earned over 143 million likes in total. Much like Petey, she also his a discography of killer music to complement her social media stardom. Her biggest hit, last year’s emotive and soul-bearing ballad “Like My Father,” has nearly 40 million streams on Spotify. Now, she finds herself separated from the rest of the world for a remote performance of some of her other highlights.

For Uproxx and T-Mobile’s “Way Way Out Live” series, Jax headed to California’s Split Mountain (more specifically, 33°02’19.0″N 116°05’47.5″W) for renditions of “U Love U,” “Ring Pop,” and “Boys Who Like Boys.” The setup was kept minimal, with just a keyboard, speakers, and an accompanying guitarist. While Jax’ public life necessitates her to be very much on the grid, she sounds just fine off of it, too, as her voice had room to breathe out in the California desert.

Elsewhere in the video, she notes of her relationship with technology, “Over the course of the last few years, I’ve started to look at my phone like it was a stage. Every time I have a thought, I’m like, ‘Whatever. Let’s just put it out in the world and not let it go to waste.’ I think the coolest part about the era that we live in now is that people are craving authenticity, so I really, really want to be 100 percent authentic.”

Check out Jax’s performances in the video above.

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

Haai, also known as Teneil Throssell, unveiled her debut full-length Baby, We’re Ascending just last month, and now she’s back with a music video for the title track.

“I’ve worked with Tom [Furse] across my entire album, including the video for ‘Purple Jelly Disc,’ the AI clouds on the digital album cover, my Mixmag cover and now for this,” Throssell told FACT. “He’s also creating some bespoke visuals for my bigger shows this year which I’m really excited about. I met Akira [Uchida] virtually as he had choreographed a dance piece to an older track of mine called ‘Feels’, which blew me away. His interpretation of my music and translating it into movement was really emotional to watch. It was a no-brainer for me to work with both Tom and Akira on the video.”

Uchida added, “The first thing that impacted me upon listening to the track was this feeling of it being heavenly and ethereal. The peak in the song gave me a very specific feeling of falling upwards into the sky and beyond (not to be confused with flying) which inspired some of the visuals at the end of the video. There is also an immensity in the sound which I felt was important to capture as well as a powerful feminine energy I wanted to channel in movement.”

Watch the video above.

One of the hardest parts of every vacation is figuring out the best place to stay. There are various factors to consider before booking accommodations — proximity to tourist attractions, spacious rooms, a balcony with a view, included amenities, good sheets — and the list goes on. Of course, the number one thing that keeps us from booking that hotel we really want is the hefty price tag. Luxury doesn’t come cheap…but it might come discounted thanks to Tripscout‘s latest product launch.

Tripscout, a social media travel empire that’s amassed more than 30 million followers across its many Instagram profiles, has introduced quite possibly the best travel hack to come along in a long time. Now, you can get insanely discounted hotel rates through just a simple DM. All you need to do is send the Instagram account @hotel a direct message saying “hotel.” Within seconds you’ll receive a personalized link serving up hotel discounts around the world for as much as 75% off.

To learn more about how Tripscout’s new hotel booking platform actually works and how it can save travelers money, we spoke with Tripscout’s founder, Konrad Waliszewski. Read on for everything you need to know before booking your next hotel.

Can you start by explaining exactly what the new Tripscout hotel booking platform is?

We’re building the first hotel booking platform for Instagram, and there are two really interesting components to this. One is the fact that we realized a long time ago that people search on Instagram for their travel inspiration and travel planning, long before anywhere else. We wanted to update the whole experience of how people plan and book travel, which is a more social media experience. The second thing is that there’s something really interesting in the industry. The interesting thing about the travel industry is every online travel agent and booking website and hotel website are all bound by these price parity agreements where everyone has to publicly advertise the same hotel rooms for the exact same rate.

That’s why everyone has the same room at the same price. But the key nuance that we tapped into is that you have to ‘publicly’ advertise that rate. Privately, as long as you’re an OTA, you can charge whatever you want for that room. What we realized is that we could become an OTA and have a direct message channel with 30 million followers across our accounts that are growing at 2 million followers a month. So we realized we could give people really compelling hotel deals by giving them a private booking link. So it’s a booking link that takes them to a booking website that’s exactly what they’re familiar with.

It’s like everyone else, except this booking link is personal and it can’t be shared and can’t be indexed by a search engine. So it’s your own link and has basically every hotel in the world, but with thousands of them being 25% to 75% off. We’ve decided we can pass pretty much all the savings back to the traveler. By DMing the account @hotel and sending the word “hotel,” you’ll get that personal link. It basically allows you to book hotels with a massive discount compared to what you’d find anywhere else, including the hotel website.

What else makes the new Tripscout platform stand out among other booking sites?

The social media angle for sure. But the main thing is just the fact of how much people can save because we’re able to deliver you these over DM, as opposed to just an open website. Especially right now, hotel prices are just skyrocketing. When we like really dug into our customers and our followers, we found that everyone wants to travel more. But the number one barrier to doing that is it’s just expensive. We wanted to find a way to help people travel better and travel more and spend less and do it at scale. That kind of put us on this long journey, which was the product that we ended up building.

We want people to be able to spend less and be able to travel more. How do you save some money on the hotel you’re going to book, but how do you then book those hotels that you find on Instagram that you really dream about that you just never thought you could afford? Because of our huge social reach, we were able to work with thousands of hotels and suppliers in order to give those crazy deals because they wanted access to our audience

We work with a bunch of different suppliers, so we pull in the best discounts on our website. That is compared to the best available rate publicly — what you would expect if you went to a hotel website or you went to any of those other really famous booking sites that everyone goes to. We are comparing it constantly to them. For some rooms, we have the same price. But for many of them, we’ll offer 50% off. Wow. And then we’ll have a couple of dozen that will be 25% to 50% off. You can almost always just end up finding a better rate and we’ll tell you what the market rate is compared to our price.

Do you have any specific tips for first-time users of the platform and how they can make the most of it?

The biggest tip is just flexibility. Just go to @hotel, DM the word ‘hotel,’ and explore whatever destination and dates are on your mind. Right now people have more flexibility than ever. The problem that most people have when booking travel is they pick a specific place and then they pick a specific date and then they try to find a flight and a hotel that match that exact time and place. What I’d actually say is just like play around with it, look at the places that you have on your list, and ask yourself, ‘where do I want to go?’ Because right now people have like so much more flexibility.

There’s a chance that you could go somewhere for longer, and you don’t even have to take a vacation. You could just go work remotely from that place. I would say play around and look at what’s available. Then I’d also look at flights. You can find those places that you’re like, ‘oh man, I’ve always wanted to go here.’ And then you just happen to find that there was this crazy 60% off deal for this really incredible place on the beach with this great view, and back into it that way. I would recommend that people just not pigeonhole themselves into a specific place and specific time. Browse around and see what’s possible.

I’ve been testing it and it really is a great travel hack. Why should people be excited to use this in the future?

When we were running our tests, people were blown away. They’re like, ‘I’m going here for a few days and I just saved $300 or $500.’ I think it’s the best travel hack that has come around in a long time. It’s probably the best way to save money on travel. There is this nuanced legacy in the travel industry, which is all dominated by a few companies that have been doing the exact same thing since the invention of the internet. And they haven’t really changed that model. The reason that becomes really expensive is that not a lot of people do it.

And then two, they have to spend a lot of money on advertising. Booking.com and Expedia together spend 12 billion a year. Wow. So a lot of their profit margin goes to just paying for advertising. We don’t pay for advertising because of social media. We have 30 million followers growing at a rate of over 2 million followers per month. We’re not gonna spend that money. We’re just gonna keep growing organically and pass all that savings to the customer. It’s a pretty new way of doing things. I’m hoping that people end up traveling a lot more and traveling a lot better while spend spending a lot less.

What inspired you to start Tripscout in the first place? And what has the journey of growing it so immensely over the past few years been like?

I’m a repeat entrepreneur, but travel was always my passion and obsession. I’ve traveled to 100 countries. I had a travel blog in the very early days of blogging and I don’t do it anymore, but I got deeply plugged into the travel industry and the travel community and I became friends with a lot of really big, early creators. I just saw a real fundamental shift happening with our society’s relationship to travel — why we travel, how we travel, what we hope to get out of the experience, and how we share those experiences with our friends. All that looks radically different over the last 10 to 15 years. But if you look at every single travel product and service you use, nothing has changed in over 20 years. Maybe with the exception of taking an Uber from the airport or booking an Airbnb.

I thought that we could create something for the modern traveler built for a modern time. We started building products and I ended up giving my personal cell phone number to the first 250,000 customers. I was like, “Hey, anytime you’re traveling, text me, call me, email me anytime. If you’re traveling, there’s a chance I’ve been, I’m happy to be helpful.” Through that, I learned so much about how people were planning trips and what their pain points were. That was one of the reasons we saw people search on Instagram before they did anything else. When it came to planning a trip, they went and typed in a destination into Instagram to get visual inspiration.

We basically pioneered the science of SEO for Instagram and built a hundred different brands. We’ve built a community around that. We’ve partnered with a bunch of creators and ended up building this 30 million follower community. Once we did that and we helped people have all these experiences and planned trips, we realized there’s so much value in traveling. Travel has changed peoples’ lives and opened their minds and made them better people, and given them really cool, fun experiences. Then we asked, why don’t you travel more?

So we knew that finding a way to make it more affordable would be the next big step. To double-tap into the affordability, people were seeing these really cool spots on Instagram, but so many people just couldn’t actually book those places. We wanted to find a better way. We had a really smart team working on it for a while until we came up with this approach.

Jordan Poole’s inaugural playoff campaign qualifies as a gigantic success. Through 16 games, the 22-year-old is averaging 18.4 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.2 rebounds on a scorching hot 67.3 percent true shooting. He’s buried 65 percent of his twos and 39.3 percent of his threes. He owns a pair of 30-point outbursts and has scored 20 or more seven times.

Many bright-eyed scorers can struggle when shrewd, savvy defenses hone in on their tendencies to expose shortcomings in the playoffs. Against a pair of top-7 defenses, the Golden State Warriors’ youngster has resembled a brilliant offensive star for long stretches this spring. Regardless of result or individual performance, these NBA Finals will not diminish his first three rounds of offensive excellence and the forward-thinking optimism they rightfully elicit.

Increasingly, though, Poole’s limitations as an on-ball defender have magnified throughout the playoffs. That stands to continue as the NBA Finals approach. How Poole navigates his newest test is absolutely a relevant storyline in the pursuit of a title; blowouts factor in, but he’s seen his minutes per game dwindle each series. At 6’4, 194, he hasn’t yet established the core strength, slippery screen navigation, or center of gravity to relent in isolation scenarios.

The Denver Nuggets’ dearth of perimeter juice failed to tax him much at all. Ja Morant found profits in the conference semifinals, but he didn’t play the final three games and the Memphis Grizzlies’ offense isn’t built on standstill creation beyond him.

The Dallas Mavericks’ trio of initiators, Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, and Spencer Dinwiddie, burned him for portions of each contest. In three of the five games, Poole committed at least four fouls — one of those, Game 4, saw him foul out. However, Dallas’ inability to stymie Golden State’s free-flowing ethos shrunk the magnitude of their mismatch-hunting offense; Poole still rocked to the tune of 16.5 points per game on 79 percent true shooting.

Despite each round further thrusting his defensive concerns into light, the opposition has yet to neutralize Poole and Golden State’s offense, which to this point has registered a playoff-best 116.1 offensive rating. As they both prepare for the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, there are reasons to believe that dynamic could change. The Celtics boast the NBA’s top-ranked defense. Both defensively and collectively, Boston is in a tier of its own compared to who the Warriors have dispatched (which makes sense, this is the Finals!).

Switching is the Celtics’ base coverage. But they’re malleable, fueled by communication, active hands, and complementary skill-sets packaged into a seven-man rotation — or eight, including Payton Pritchard—- lacking many soft spots. The crispness of their switches, timeliness on peel switches, and physicality are all traits that give them a chance to frustrate Golden State’s screen-heavy offense, particularly on Pindowns, Flares and Floppy actions.

The Warriors have thrived in these playoffs by fashioning mismatches off the ball via quick-hitting, early offense sets and attacking said mismatches from there. Boston, though, excels at blotting out disadvantageous matchups, utilizing scram switches or pre-switches (switching a defender out of a screen before it’s set) to insulate players from being involved in suboptimal situations. Its defensive personnel is also just much better than any of Denver, Memphis, or Dallas’. Far fewer gaps to target exist.

As such, Poole’s offensive exploits could assume grander importance. He’s been dynamite puncturing titled defenses, but he can also operate from a standstill. His footwork, acceleration, and change of direction empower him to commandeer the offense. The playmaking has also shined.

According to Cleaning The Glass, in the 379 possessions the Warriors have played with Poole and without Stephen Curry this postseason, they’re generating a 115.3 offensive rating. He’s an elastic scorer, one who applies himself where required. That could frequently be on the ball against the Celtics, who seem designed to at least combat some of Golden State’s movement-rich approach that’s flourished through three rounds. Outside of Curry, no Warrior is knifing through an organized defense like Poole. Everyone else typically warrants a significant shift to best strike as a scorer.

Poole might be too crafty for Jaylen Brown and too shifty for Derrick White or Jayson Tatum. That’s not to imply he’s going to leave them in the dust every trip down, of course. I anticipate him causing some problems, given his athletic tools and three-level scoring chops, and potentially ease the fallout of the Warriors’ free-flowing spirit being countered.

While Boston’s offense is less daunting, it still should present issues. Tatum, Brown, and Marcus Smart can all create in different manners, while White is capable on a whim as well. The Celtics’ offense has fizzled out for periods the last couple rounds, though I would argue Milwaukee and Miami’s defense are a little better equipped to slow Boston than Golden State’s.

Does this mean Boston’s offense will feast going up against Golden State’s defense? Not necessarily — it’s still an excellent, cohesive, lively defense. But it’s possible there are a few more exploitable areas, especially if Poole’s offense takes on a larger scope for the Warriors.

For a stretch of the postseason, the Warriors would switch Poole’s screens, but he simply couldn’t hang and the adjustment was to hedge-and-recover. They employ a similar tactic with Curry, yet Curry’s hedge-and-recovers are much more effective. He’s stronger, quicker back to his assignment, and elevates his arms on the recovery to complicate passing windows.

If Boston is going to mismatch-hunt — something it has done throughout the playoffs — Poole could be the Seth Curry, Grayson Allen, or Max Strus of this round. He’s a phenomenal offensive talent, but the on-ball defense presents challenges during his minutes. Brown has feasted against mismatches and Smart’s also flashed a propensity to outmuscle dudes downhill. It is not hard to foresee both of those trends continuing against Poole.

The bevy of angles prevalent in this series have run through my head basically since Sunday’s Game 7 concluded. Many can be filed under the push-pull category. Whichever way the currently ambiguous pendulum swings could prove vital to the outcome of the Finals.

Poole’s versatile offensive could inject life into potentially stagnant possessions against Boston’s ironclad defense and expand his series-wide standing. His tenuous defense could just as easily catalyze a mildly rocky Celtics’ offense — featuring multifaceted ball-handlers — and diminish his series-wide standing. The latter leaves Golden State’s offense with worrisome doubts. The former is a potentially series-shifting boon to it.

This isn’t the headlining piece of what should be a fascinating battle. But it’s one that could carry considerable implications and ultimately prove a differentiator in whether the 201-22 Larry O’Brien trophy will call Beantown or the Bay its home moving forward.

Known for her philanthropy and outspokenness on social justice matters, Brandi Carlile is an ardent opponent of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was passed in Florida last month. She even delayed the release of her Proud Sparkling Rosé, as part of her XOBC wine collection, following the passing of the bill.

She spoke about her wine in an interview with Billboard, as well as how the “Don’t Say Gay” bill has affected her and her family. When her seven-year-old daughter, Evangeline, was named student of the month at her Florida school, she was excited to talk about her moms, until Carlile had realized Evangeline couldn’t disclose Carlile’s marriage to her wife, Catherine Shepherd.

“I suddenly realized that whole thing was against the rules in Florida,” Carlile said. “I don’t want that to be the reality for my child — but I don’t think there’s a difference between my child and anybody else’s.”

Since the passing of “Don’t Say Gay,” 100% of profits from the XOBC wine collection go toward LGBTQ+ organizations fighting discriminatory bills.

“We’re blinded by this insatiable need to do the right thing,” said Shepherd. “[Carlile’s fans] expect a certain level of thought that goes into everything Brandi lends her name to.”

Craft bourbon can often be a murky area in the whiskey industry. Opening a distillery from scratch and then waiting for two, four, maybe even five years to put a bottle on the shelf is not cheap. So a lot of small-time operators will source barrels and blend in-house or have a big distillery contract distill their juice and maybe age it too. We’re not here to talk about those — still worthy — producers today. The list below is all about the small-time operators that are actually doing everything in-house.

For this list, I’m defining a “craft bourbon” as something made outside the main players in the industry that’s also produced at a single craft distillery. That’s not to say that some of the craft distilleries below don’t have partnerships with distributors (Constellation Brands being one). Distribution is a different matter altogether and obviously, these small-time operators need to get their bottles on shelves.

Lastly, I’m providing my tasting notes on each of these to give you an idea of what’s in the bottle. Hopefully, you’ll find something that speaks to you and find yourself a new bottle for your home bar cart.

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

• The 50 Best Bourbon Whiskeys Of 2021, Ranked
• Every Winning Bourbon From Our 2021 Taste Tests, Blind Tasted And Re-Ranked
• The 100 Best Whiskeys Our Head Drinks Writer Tasted In 2021
• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• The Best Ten-Year-Old Bourbon Whiskeys, Tasted Blind And Ranked

10. Town Branch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

Town Branch is Lexington’s destination distillery/brewery right in the city. Their flagship bourbon is a high-malt mash bill, adding more smooth sweetness to the mix. The whiskey ages for four to five years before it’s blended and proofed with water from the “town branch” of Elkhorn Creek, which runs through Lexington.

Tasting Notes:

This is as soft as it is classic on the nose with hints of rich caramel mingling with dark cherry, soft nutmeg, and a hint of leathery oak. The palate follows that path while layering in a twinge of orange blossom next to cherry leather with cinnamon and clove hints and a twinge of pipe tobacco in a wooden box. The finish is subtle and short and marries the cedar with the orange blossom with the cherry lingering the longest on the backend.

Bottom Line:

This is a pretty nice and classic pour. It’s a little muted for my palate but still works wonderfully in a classic bourbon-focused cocktail.

9. Watershed Bourbon Finished in Nocino Barrels

ABV: 56%

Average Price: $99

The Whiskey:

This Columbus, Ohio distillery likes doing things their own way. The juice in this bottle is made from a mash of 60 percent corn, a 35 percent mix of wheat and rye, and five percent spelt chips. That whiskey mellows for four to five years before it’s re-filled into Nocino barrels. Nocino is an Italian black walnut liqueur, which adds a serious nuttiness to the final product.

Tasting Notes:

Walnut pound cake comes through on the nose with orange oils layered next to a hint of espresso macchiato, a dash of nutmeg, and a drizzle of salted caramel. The palate part dark chocolate-covered walnuts and part dried cranberry with a hint of clove, allspice, and cinnamon warming the senses. Maple syrup drives the mid-palate toward a finish that’s full of walnut shells and cedar boxes full of orange tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This is delicious and bold. It’s a little warm in the middle, but a single rock will calm that down nicely.

8. Leopold Bros. Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $60

The Whiskey:

This crafty expression has been garnering a lot of attention since it dropped. The mash is made from 64 percent corn, 21 percent malted barley, and 15 percent Abruzzi Heritage Rye that Todd Leopold — the Master Distiller — grew for his malting house at the distillery in Denver. That mash ran through a classic pot still before it was barreled and left to rest for five years.

Tasting Notes:

The floral and spicy nature of that Abruzzi rye really comes out on the nose with a touch of candied apples, Quick powder, and the faintest hint of sourdough rye with a light smear of salted butter. The taste leans into stewed pears with nutmeg and clove spices leading the way as Almond Roca and green peppercorns jostle for space on your palate. The end mellows out as that spice fades towards an eggnog vibe with a creamy vanilla underbelly and a final touch of that floral rye and hint of pear.

Bottom Line:

This is a great example of spice and grains that build from the nose to the palate and take you on the journey. That mild floral edge also helps this stand out as a good cocktail bourbon.

7. LAWS Four Grain Bourbon

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $78

The Whiskey:

A.D. Laws out in Colorado is a special shingle. The distillery is renowned for its award-winning four-grain bourbons. This bottle is the most accessible of the bunch. The juice is made from 60 percent corn, 20 percent heirloom wheat, ten percent heirloom rye, and ten percent heirloom malted barley. That hot juice is then aged for over six years before it’s batched and cut down to 100 proof per bonded whiskey laws.

Tasting Notes:

This feels more crafty on the nose, with a balance between bitter black tea that’s been cut with a summer-y and floral honey as touches of cinnamon and orange pop in the background. The orange and spice thickens and leans into an orange pound cake with a buttery and spicy streusel crumble as that black tea bitterness circles back to cut through all that butter, spice, and orange. The end leans into the spice with more of a cinnamon candy vibe that drives towards a final dusting of dark cocoa.

Bottom Line:

This has a nice complexity to it that helps it shine as a sipper or a cocktail base. It still does feel more crafty than classic, which is fine but drops it a little on this list.

6. Chattanooga Bottled-In-Bond Vintage Series, Spring 2017

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $55

The Whiskey:

This particular whiskey was made back in spring 2017 and released in late 2021. The whiskey is a blend of four mash bills that all feature specialty malts ranging from honey malts to peated barley to naked oats to chocolate roasted barley to caramel malts and many more. The throughline is yellow corn, bonded warehouse aging, and proofing down to 50 percent ABV.

Tasting Notes:

You get all those grains on the nose with rich toffee, dark chocolate-covered sweet and tart berries, malted vanilla milkshake, and a hint of yellow masa. The palate sweetens like honey dripping on a buttery southern biscuit while hints of soft leather mingle with cherry tobacco and this very distant whisper of hickory smoker smoke. The sweetness of that woody smoke dissipates quickly as hints of dry cedar mix with cherry tobacco leaves and a mix of vanilla pods and allspice berries bring a mild warmth.

Bottom Line:

There’s a lot going on here and it all makes sense. That’s a tough trick to pull off. Overall, this is great on the rocks sipper. Still, it’s a little wild and unique compared to the next five which are just that little bit more dialed.

5. Nelson Bros. Whiskey Reserve Bourbon

ABV: 46.65%

Average Price: $69

The Whiskey:

This new release from Nelson’s Green Brier is a big evolution for the brand. This high-rye bourbon is aged for four years before it’s masterfully blended into his expression. It’s then bottled without any fussing or meddling.

Tasting Notes:

A vanilla wafer with soft nougat greets you on the nose with a hint of burnt orange zest, Christmas cake, candied cherry, and a little bit of apple pie filling. The taste has a moment of grilled pineapple that leads to brandy-soaked dark chocolate-covered cherries with a supporting act of zucchini bread, pecan pie, and a whisper of lemon meringue pie — it’s kind of like being in an old-school diner. A mild dusting of white pepper ushers in the finish with a smooth green tea cut with menthol tobacco.

Bottom Line:

This was made to be your next go-to bourbon, full stop. It’s a killer cocktail base that you can pour over some rocks and sip. It wouldn’t challenge you but you’ll have something truly classic in your hand.

4. Woodinville PX Cask Finish Bourbon

ABV: 47.5%

Average Price: $70

The Whiskey:

This whiskey takes Woodinville’s signature (and much-lauded) five-year-old straight bourbon and gives it a new finishing touch. The juice is finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. While there are similarities between this and the much-loved Woodinville Port Cask Finish, this feels like a step up in many small, tough-to-define ways.

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a bouquet of dark spices next to dried orange rinds, soft Christmas cake, and a slight floral underpinning that’s more “damp” than “dried out.” The taste embraces the holiday spice matrix with a creamy veneer of dark chocolate oranges, eggnog spice, and a velvety mouthfeel with a hint of orchard fruit and toffee drizzle. The finish is long but doesn’t overstay its welcome. There’s a sense of the woody spices that’s more akin to cinnamon sticks once stirred in hot apple cider, leaving you with a dry note of spicy tobacco.

Bottom Line:

Speaking of classic, this whiskey is a damn masterpiece and yet it’s fourth on this list! All of that aside, pour this neat or over a rock and dive in.

3. Peerless Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 54.65%

Average Price: $86

The Whiskey:

Kentucky Peerless Distilling takes its time for a true grain-to-glass experience. Their Single Barrel 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 percent 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, hence the name). The barrels are then hand-selected for their taste and bottled completely un-messed with.

Tasting Notes:

This is bold yet delicate, with a nose full of berry brambles hanging heavy with dark fruits with a touch of tart next to old leather, a spicy plum pudding, and a touch of old cedar. The palate takes that cedar and leans into the wet bark, as a moment of espresso bean bitterness leads into a mid-palate that’s the softest and moistest vanilla cake with poppy seeds. Those berries tumble onto the cake, now dusted with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon, as the finish slowly melts into pure silk.

Bottom Line:

This pulls off a magic trick of feeling both fresh and nostalgic at the same time. It helps that this is delicious but that feeling of sweet smoothness and comfort cannot be denied. And not for nothing, but this makes a killer old fashioned.

2. Garrison Brothers Balmorhea

ABV: 57.5%

Average Price: $200

The Whiskey:

This much-lauded Texas bourbon is the highwater mark of what great whiskey from Texas can be. The juice is aged in Ozark oak for four years and then finished in oak from Minnesota for another year, all under that blazing West Texas sunshine. The bourbon is then small-batched, proofed with Texas spring water, and bottled at a healthy 115 proof.

Tasting Notes:

You’re greeted with a real sense of a corn-syrup-laced pecan pie next to hazelnut bespeckled cinnamon rolls and creamy milk chocolate with a hint of vanilla tobacco lurking in the background. That chocolate drives the taste towards a mint-chocolate ice cream vibe (heavy on the chocolate part) with small dashes of holiday spices, hard toffee candies, worn leather, and a flourish of cedar boxes full of more dried tobacco leaves. The end circles back around to all that sweet and chocolatey creaminess with a final slice of perfect pecan pie on a slow fade.

Bottom Line:

This is the highwater mark for the Texas craft distillery. It’s just so goddamn good that it’s hard not to fall in love with it at first sip.

1. Starlight Double Oaked Carl T. Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $60 (Distillery only)

The Whiskey:

This whiskey from Southern Indiana’s Huber Winery is a masterful blend. The whiskey is one part 60 percent corn, 20 percent rye, and 20 percent malted barley and one part 51 percent corn, 20 percent rye, 20 percent malted barley, and nine percent wheat. That whiskey is then aged for four years before it’s re-filled in unused Seguin Moreau vanilla toast barrels for a final rest.

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla-laced apple fritters with a white sugar glaze mix with baking spices and a slight hint of dry firewood on the nose. That palate leans in the vanilla with a sheet cake vibe with apple-cinnamon frosting next to sticky toffee pudding, apple tobacco, and a hint of vanilla cream sauce. The finish subtle moves away from the sweetness toward a dry stack of firewood with a hint of dry black dirt next to dry apple tobacco laced with cinnamon.

Bottom Line:

This is subtle, delicious, and as crafty as it gets. These Starlight releases are also starting to break through with those in the know. So look out for these. — they’re going to blow up soon.

Bingewatching may have saved some collective sanity during the pandemic, when streaming services reigned supreme without question. These days, though, several services including Netflix have realized that they kind-of signed up for churn by tossing entire seasons of shows out for the taking. The practice, while allowing for instant gratification, makes it easy for people to push pause on any given subscription and wait for the next season of Stranger Things or The Witcher or whatever. Obv, this could be contributing to some of Netflix’s current subscriber woes. Meanwhile, other services (and shows) decided to pull back on giving it all away at once. Those early efforts to coax audiences into cooperating, however, haven’t always gone smoothly.

Yep, I’m talking about Amazon’s The Boys, which triumphantly skewers superheroes and entertains an enthused following. However, a certain contingent of that following began to review bomb the show’s second season out of sheer fury that they couldn’t receive eight episodes at once. It was an incredibly silly response, and Amazon stuck to their plan for the rest of the season, when Homelander stood atop a skyscraper for a narcissism-fueled, raunchy solo performance, one that I don’t think would have landed (figuratively, not literally on the ground) in the same way at the end of a bingewatch.

And anticipation is key! Not only that, but The Boys provides a very, how do you say, sensory-overloading experience. It’s gnarly in the best way but a lot to absorb. Look at my very sophisticated stream of reactions during a Season 3 midseason episode:

– The Deep… oh my god
– And Homelander, no, what a f*cking sadist
– Eeeek, don’t do that to The Deep
– I can’t keep watching this
– Holy sh*t
– You should stop watching this
– Breathe, lady, breathe
– Why did I eat dinner before this episode?
– Ew, Homelander
– EW EW EW, no no no noooo
– [Stares into space for a few minutes]
– God, I love this show

During times like these, we are all Hughie sitting inside of The Whale.

Why would one want to experience that kind of a rollercoaster, repeatedly, in one or two sittings? I mean, the endorphins are fantastic in the end, but it’s something that would best be appreciated (and/or endured) while savoring these Supes on a weekly basis. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m in awe of the creative and smart ways that the show manages to both thrill and gross out its audience without wearing out its welcome, and I appreciate the opportunity to watch the entire season, but the way that the cliffhangers and developments happen, this would actually be a more rewarding experience to space things out. Also, my brain feels a little bit tweaked to squish it all in there at once, even if I’m impressed as hell that this show keeps doing its thing like no other.

To evaluate on a more proper level here: Humor is hard. Satire is even harder. The Boys not only manages to be outrageous and funny and satiric, but it does so on a deceptively deep level. We get to crawl around in Homelander’s head, and he’s clearly in a not-alright state (after watching his own son burn Stormfront to a crisp before Queen Maeve wished him a very lonely life). And we see what it’s really like for Vought International to be challenged for its very existence, more than during any other arc. Homelander, who’s their top asset, must be dealt with. He’s a danger to absolutely everyone, and he’s reached a point where no level of PR wizardry can contain his crazy.

The action simmers for a few episodes before we even meet Captain America parody Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), a living time capsule who shows up and tears everyone’s little world apart. He’s a real hoot to behold and equal parts banal and fascinating. And we get to watch all of the other Supes, and The Boys, revolve around the pair and take sides and take turns screwing around with Compound V while the show manages to consistently outdo that 2nd season Whale scene. Yes, the Whale scene, the same one that the show marvelously used to submit for a damn Emmy. No one can forget it, and it’s the litmus test that everything in this franchise will be measured against, forever.

This is not a matter of gore. It’s easy to toss in more blood (and other bodily fluids) and brag about it. It’s also easy to make characters get naked and do provocative, shocking things. Yet it’s important (yes, I’m serious) to remember that this show’s disguising a lot of profundity in these outrageous moments. The Deep doesn’t simply show off his tan lines, and Homelander’s not only jerking off, and Soldier Boy’s not saying unfathomable things for the sake of shocking an audience. The layers of this rotten onion unfurl themselves, and even after all the shock wears off, one can appreciate this show for being, on a higher level, cultural critique even outside of the superhero realm.

What I’m saying is this: Showrunner Eric Kripke and the writers do an enviable job outdoing The Whale multiple times while delivering substance. And I completely understand why Chace Crawford worried that he’d never work again after what The Deep does (and what’s done to him) this season. And goodness, the Ladies crush it, even more than last season, with the action scenes and how they maneuver throughout these spaces meant for white dudes. Dominique McElligott hasn’t truly ever gotten her due for portraying Queen Maeve, outside of her portrayal of the character’s sexuality, but she gets a juicier arc this season that really brings the character home.

And speaking of the Ladies of The Boys, let’s take it back to how, last season, the weekly format also allowed for the show’s actors to (as Karen Fukuhara told us) to “selfishly” engage following episodes. The show became more of a weekly conversation piece, and as Erin Moriarty pointed out, the frustration factor actually illustrated why this is such an addictive show. Pacing ain’t a bad thing, and with The Boys, we’re receiving a blueprint of how patience is a twisted virtue worth celebrating.

Amazon’s ‘The Boys’ are back (that’s obligatory phrasing) on June 3.

Tony Parker knows a thing or two about what it’s like to play in the NBA Finals. One of the greatest European players in the history of the league, Parker and the San Antonio Spurs made it to basketball’s biggest stage five times. On four of those occasions, he was able to play a major role in the Larry O’Brien trophy making its way to San Antonio.

This year, the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors will go head-to-head in the Finals, and Parker has a unique tie to the men in charge of teams. Both Steve Kerr and Ime Udoka spent time with the Spurs as one of his teammates, while Udoka joined Gregg Popovich’s staff as an assistant following the conclusion of his playing career. He’s been happy to sit back and watch as they’ve managed to navigate their respective conferences and face off in the Finals, which begin on Thursday night in San Francisco. And if Parker’s prediction of what’s going to happen comes to fruition, the series will end there, too, as the teams will need seven games to determine who is going to earn the distinction of being champions.

Prior to things tipping off a little later this evening, Dime sat down with Parker to discuss his partnership with Mountain Dew, the Finals, and much more.

What do you have going on with Mountain Dew?

We decided to become partners for the for the Finals, with Mountain Dew Legend. They’ve been working with the league a lot, making sure our fans have a great experience. They love our game, they love our fans, and that’s something that I can relate to. And when they asked about the Finals and what I thought, you know, I think it’s gonna go to Game 7, I think we have two great teams. And so they have something special: If it goes to Game 7, you will have a free Mountain Dew Legend at every Buffalo Wild Wings. And so I was like, that’s a cool concept, so I’m going to push for that, for it to go to a Game 7, and that’s why we decided to partner together.

I counted it up and I believe you played in six Game 7s. Can you describe the feeling of a Game 7 — is the vibe different, is your approach different, are things in the locker room and on the floor different?

Game 7 is the best is the best game. It’s the best, it feels like a Super Bowl. It’s the best feeling because everything is just one game, win or go home, and there’s no excuses. By that time, you know the team perfectly, you’ve play them six times. And so Game 7, there’s no excuses, you gave everything you got. I love the atmosphere of a Game 7.

I want to ask about the teams in the Finals. What are your general thoughts, what do you like, what do you like about the matchup, whatever goes through your mind.

I love everything. They have two great defenses, great firepower on the offensive end, a lot of guys can create and score. I think it’s going to be a very, very interesting Finals, because the story of Golden State, obviously, is unbelievable — six Finals in eight years, and the way that whatever happened in 2019, to come back after two seasons with no playoffs, I just think the story is great. And then obviously, with Ime, I played with Ime, he was my assistant coach when we won in 2014, I’m just so happy for him. His first year, it’s unbelievable what he accomplished with the Celtics, and it’s always nice to see the Celtics in the Finals. If you know NBA history, it’s pretty cool. So, it’s gonna be a great Finals. I love everything about it, I love all the stories, and I think it’s gonna be a tough Finals.

Are there any matchups between a player on Golden State and a player on Boston that you’re particularly looking forward to?

No, I think that the teams … obvious the story with Klay is unbelievable, Steph too, Jayson Tatum becoming a superstar. But I think it’s more like the teams, who’s going to make the difference. And it’s going to come down to who’s going to make the big shots and make the big plays in the fourth quarter, I think it’s gonna be a tough series.

I want to ask about winning an NBA Finals MVP, just because everyone’s talking about it with Steph right now and you have one from 2007. What does it feel like to win that, specifically to get recognized for being at your best with a title on the line?

It’s an unbelievable, unbelievable feeling. It’s one of the best awards you can get in our league, especially at the time, I was the first European to to achieve that. It was kind of weird, because out franchise player was Tim Duncan, and he won the first two times we were in the Finals. And so for me, it was like, that trophy goes to Timmy, it’s just normal, me and Manu were like the soldiers. [laughs]

But in those Finals, I had a great matchup and my teammates, they were feeding me the ball and I just kept going, just kept going, shot the ball very well in that series, I think 58 percent, something like that. So, they just kept passing me the ball, and I was just on fire that series.

You’re unique guy to talk to because you played with both Steve Kerr and like you mentioned, Ime Udoka. When you were teaming up with them, was it obvious to you back then that they were two guys who would go on to be successful coaches?

Steve for sure. Ime, I was kind of surprised, but Steve for sure. He has a great basketball mind and when I played with him with the Spurs, he was already giving great advice and always teaching the game, all his experience that he got from his Bulls days. So for me, it was great to have a teammate like that. And then Ime, he was obviously, too, a great teammate, but it was kind of surprising. But then, he stayed seven years with us, learned from the best, and just had an unbelievable first season.

You mentioned the best in Pop, and while acknowledging that you’re not in the locker room or practice or those sorts of things, are there ways you see Pop’s influence on them in their approach, how their teams play, how they communicate, those sorts of things?

Yeah, you see some similarities, that’s for sure. The way they approach the game and the consistency that the demand. But then, they have their own thing, too, because when you’re a coach, you have to adapt to the players you have — Steph Curry is one of a kind. So you’re not going to coach Steph the same way you’re going to coach Timmy, and Boston, same thing, the way they’re built. So, you see similarities, but at the same time, they have their own identity.

I would argue the Warriors are the closest thing we’ve seen to you guys in terms of there’s a core of players, there’s a coach, and it’s led to a sustained championship level of success. It’s so rare to see that — is there any sort of secret to making that work for as long as they have, and as long as you guys did?

It’s very hard, it’s very hard, because first of all, you need to ownership to believe in the core, and to go through the ups and downs, because we won three championships in five years and then nothing for seven years. In 2011, we had the best record in the league and we lose in the first round. They still didn’t break up the team. In 2012, we go to conference finals, we lose, 2013, we go to the Finals, we lose. Ownership just believed in us.

So to have that unbelievable run that we had for 20 years starts with ownership, starts with dedication with the coach and dedication with the core, with a big three. It takes a lot for that to happen. And you can see similarities with Golden State — Steve Kerr has been there forever. When Klay was hurt, they didn’t make the playoffs for two years. They still stuck with with their core, and now they’re rewarded this year.

And so, that’s why I think I’m going with Golden State in seven, because first of all, I think the story is unbelievable, and I think experience is gonna play a big factor in these Finals.