Before winning the Billboard Music Awards for Top R&B Album, Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Female Artist, and Top Viral Song this past weekend, Doja Cat was asked about an online chat with Jack Harlow from 2020.
During an Instagram livestream, Harlow and Doja exchanged pleasantries before Harlow explained that both of their fan bases thought they were dating, as Harlow looked like the person Doja was dating at the time. The two continued to ask each other questions, before Doja shouted “What the f*ck? My wig is coming off, I gotta go, bye.”
After she signed off, Harlow said, still on stream, “Oh man, I’ve had a crush on her for months,” however, fans took Doja’s abrupt sign-off as the “Kiss Me More” singer’s way of curving Harlow.
Two years later, Doja has since clarified that this wasn’t the case.
“My wig was peeling off and I noticed that and I was like, ‘Oh, gotta go, bye,’” she said to E! News on the BBMAs red carpet. “Not that I care about that thing usually.”
Harlow was asked by ET about the infamous livestream, to which he responded, “I’ve become cool with Doja. That was early in our friendship, now we know each other pretty well. So I ain’t gonna do nothing too silly. I think I’m playing it cool today.”
Jack Harlow is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The Better Call Saul Lie Detector Test is a weekly recap of the major events of the final season, separated out by their apparent truthfulness at the time. This is not one of those recaps that gets into granular detail about things. It will miss the occasional callback or foreshadowing. But it will be fun. Sometimes, that’s what’s important.
Season 6, Episode 6: “Axe and Grind”
UPROXX
Kim is making good decisions
AMC
Were you shouting at your television a little bit, too? Were you sitting there watching Kim behind the wheel of her car — on her way to her big meeting for the big legal defense project, the one Cliff specifically recruited her for and she would be extremely good at, the one that could change her life for the better and get her on a track to a fulfilling career in the law — and just screaming “NO. DON’T DO IT. DO NOT TURN AROUND. KIM. LISTEN. NO”? Maybe even just inside your own head?
Lord knows I was. I knew it was a long shot, though. This is not a show about people making good decisions. It can’t be. That’s the thing about a prequel. Everyone we see on this sucker ends up murdered or on the run or has a mysterious future that is being dragged to hell by the people who end up getting murdered or going on the run. Kim was doomed the day she met Jimmy. I know that. We all do. But this one still stings.
It’s even more heartbreaking when you take that cold open into account, the one where she got caught stealing jewelry as a Nebraska teen and her mom threw a ruse on the store manager to get her out of trouble. And then stole the jewelry herself. Kim Wexler has not had a lot of ethical clarity in her life. It kind of all makes sense, though, this thing where she wants to do good and be helpful but can’t help herself. It’s all very literal, in a way. She was driving down a path of righteousness and morality and then slammed on the breaks and whipped through the median to head back toward the dark side.
It’s a little depressing if you think about it too much. Kim was probably doomed before she met Jimmy. There was a fire burning there already and he was just the gasoline. It’s sad, really. But it makes for tremendous television.
You should tell Mike where to put his guys
AMC
Hey, speaking of heartbreaking moments involving characters I like a lot who do not make great decisions all the time, let’s check in with Mike. Mike is:
Pulling security off of his own house to make sure Kaylee’s house is extra protected
Guiding her through a star-gazing lesson while watching her from across the street
Lying to them and saying he’s in Chattanooga because seeing them in person could put them at risk if Lalo is tailing him
Kind of sighing a lot
I still want one episode — just one — where Mike flies to Philadelphia and goes to an Eagles game. Picture a crowd going absolutely insane after a touchdown, jumping and hollering and high-fiving, and Mike just sitting there in silence with half a smile flashing on his face for one single second. It would make me so happy. Freakin Go Birds, baby.
A bedazzled jean jacket is a timeless look
AMC
I legitimately laughed out loud when Kim’s mom walked in during that flashback looking like she just came from a George Michael concert. Look at her. The attention to detail here is remarkable. I hope she is still alive in the present day and still dressing exactly like this and she shows up at the Cinnabon in the Nebraska mall where Jimmy/Saul/Gene and his mustache are rolling out dough. I do not ask for much.
Actually, I kind of ask for a lot.
But still.
Give me this.
And give me a while behind-the-scenes segment about the process of making or acquiring this jean jacket. Those two things. And all the other things I’ve asked for. That’s all.
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Things are about to get really bad for Howard
AMC
D-Day is here and I could not be more excited. We have conspiracy walls with Post-It notes and method actors getting way too intense about their fake facial hair and about six layers of subterfuge to tie it all together. We also have, of course, chaos. A little jaunt to the liquor store for a pricey bottle of celebratory tequila resulted in a quick glance at the real person that Community Theater Daniel Day-Lewis was pretending to be in their incriminating photos, and yup, he has a broken arm now. And a cast. Which makes things awkward. The whole plan is going to hell. It’s a thing.
Which is… I don’t know… good news? It’s easy to forget in all of this that Jimmy and Kim are being the jerks here. Howard appears to be a decent guy, to whatever degree characters on this show and/or lawyers in general can be decent guys. He’s just trying to do his job and make his wife a nice fancy latte and no one is giving him a break anywhere. His biggest crime this season is being kind of a pretentious doof, with his buffed shoes and stupid license plate and all of it. Flip the perspective on this whole endeavor and Jimmy and Kim look like full-on villains.
And yet… still… again… I’m really excited to see if this plan works. I’m even rooting for it to work. Even knowing it’s terrible for Kim and Howard doesn’t really deserve it and it’s sending Jimmy down a path that ends in an aforementioned Cinnabon. I should be more conflicted about this. I really should. But I’m not. If I’m being fully honest here, I think it’s the license plate. Imagine if you were stuck in traffic for an hour behind a Jaguar with a “NAMAST3” license plate. You’d pray for his personal and professional demise, too. It was nice of the show to give us all this little push.
Francesca is having fun
AMC
Good news and bad news for sweet Francesca.
Good: Jimmy — er, Saul, this is weird for her and us, too — is letting her decorate the entire office, which is coming together nicely when the unshaven masses aren’t peeing in the corner. She has an eye. It’s very serene. Except for the urine.
Bad: She is now an accomplice in the Sandpiper ruse, thanks to the phone call she placed on one of the many burner phones her boss keeps in a drawer in his office, which, as far as red flags go, is… pretty red. It’s rarely a great thing when you’re standing in an alley next to a dumpster — the law library, if you will — using a fake name in a conversation you’re having on a flip phone. Francesca knows this. She doesn’t love it. This might be why she shoots for all that serenity in the decor. To keep from smashing things. She fascinates me a little bit.
UPROXX
It is wild how easily this show shifts from Ocean’s Eleven to a horror movie sometimes
AMC
Meanwhile, in Germany…
Lalo is still on the hunt for information about what Gus is building, and he used to gift from the Ziegler house to track down the lumberjack, and then he stalked the lumberjack through the woods, and then he played possum after getting walloped in the ribs so he could turn around and slice the guy with a razor blade hidden behind a business card, and now he has the axe and some questions that he would like answered.
Two things about all of this are true:
Lalo Salamanca remains the most fascinating character on television, for reasons I wrote about here but can be summarized as “he’s like if Danny Ocean was crossed with John Wick,” and I get a little excited whenever he pops up on the screen
This episode was directed by Giancarlo Esposito, Gus Fring himself, and it is both a testament to the show as a whole and his work behind the camera that the entire tone shifted about 180 degrees for a minute there — New Mexico lawyer shenanigans to cabin-based terror — without losing an ounce of quality
Also, big shoutout to the people doing the captions for AMC for “[Branch snaps].” That’s when I knew for sure this was going sideways for someone. The takeaway from all of this is twofold, and we will return to the bullet points to lay them out:
Everyone on this show is good at their job
Never go into the woods
Both good things to remember.
Foreshadowing does not always need to be subtle
AMC
I do not know exactly why Jimmy was getting dosed-up with animal medicine that made his pupils dilate like he was an anime character that just fell in love, or how it ties into the plan to hose Howard, or whether any of it is safe/good. What I do know is that I did the full-on “DiCaprio pointing at the television” meme in real life two separate times during the scene: Once when I saw our buddy the shady veterinarian and again when the card for the vacuum guy straight-up fell out of his deeply encoded black book of crimes.
This could not possibly have been less subtle without like neon flashing text on the screen. The vacuum guy is how Gene the Cinnabon Man happens eventually. It’s where this is all headed. Better Call Saul is occasionally more delicate with its callbacks and foreshadowing. I don’t even catch them all until days later when someone sends me a link to Reddit and implies I’m an idiot for missing it. There was no missing this one. I kind of appreciate that. It’s nice to get a wide-open layup sometimes.
I love Fernando
AMC
LOOK AT HIS LITTLE FACE
LOOK AT HIM
I AM VERY WORRIED ABOUT HIM
I NEED WEEKLY CHECK-INS ON HIM AND HIS TUMMYACHE
I NEED TO SEE LALO HOLD HIM IN ONE HAND WHILE HOLDING A PISTOL WITH THE OTHER
Just as the second fervor over Chris Rock getting slapped at the Oscars by Will Smith started to die down thanks to Dave Chappelle being similarly attacked on stage during a stand-up performance, ABC president Craig Erwich has opened the door to Rock being a potential host for next year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
While talking to Deadline about how pleased he was with this year’s broadcast — minus The Slap, of course — Erwhich confirmed that he’s open to Rock hosting the 2023 ceremony. It would be one way to address the topic head-on, and more importantly, get it out of the way, so the focus could return to the nominees where it belongs.
While Erwich obviously regrets what happened with Smith and Rock, he thinks the Oscars on an upswing that he hopes to see continue next year:
“It was the biggest bounce back of any award show this season. If you look at what they were trying to do, which is really bring entertainment back to the program, they had three amazing hosts, clips, and incredible musical performances, I thought it was a great way for the show to reclaim its place on the mantle. There’s always things to learn and we’ll endeavor to do even better next year.”
However, bringing Rock back as the host is a risky gamble. The comedian faced significant backlash for making a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith’s baldness, which was reportedly not scripted, and was the somewhat forgotten whole reason for the slapping. Rock is also in the middle of a stand-up comedy tour where he’s been wading into controversial topics. Most recently, he fired off jokes about Amber Heard and her high-profile court case involving Johnny Depp.
“Believe all women, believe all women… except Amber Heard,” Rock reportedly joked. “What the f*ck is she on? She sh*t in his bed! She’s fine, but she’s not sh*tting fine.”
Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see if the Oscars actually pulls the trigger on letting Rock host and whether or not he gets slapped again. Both are clearly in the mix.
Top Chef is currently in full swing, with the latest, first post-COVID-bubble season taking place in Houston, Texas, building towards a finale with only five chefs remaining. Meanwhile, this past weekend was the Kentucky Derby, less a horse-race than a week-long party in many parts of the country.
To create a perfect menu for all those Derby Day parties, Williams-Sonoma partnered with Top Chef season 16 winner Kelsey Barnard Clark, who not only won the Top Chef season set in Kentucky, but is a native Southerner — from Dothan, Alabama. It’s hard to think of a better choice than Barnard Clark, whom I nicknamed “Wine Mom” and “Elle Woods” in my rankings. She created for them a series of easy-yet-elegant Derby dishes, featuring everything from wings with Alabama white barbecue sauce to succotash (for which she says you can even use leftover corn), taken from her new cookbook, Southern Grit.
Barnard Clark was easily one of my favorite competitors, and I must not have been alone because she was also voted Fan Favorite for her season, an honor that comes with an extra $10,000 prize. Naturally, when I was offered an interview in conjunction with the Derby menu, I jumped at the chance. In our first attempt at it, Barnard Clark was stuck in traffic, on the way back from the beach with her young family (Fun Mom indeed). And stuck in traffic with a car full of kids, despite the miracles of modern communication, probably wasn’t the most conducive atmosphere for an in-depth chat (as a dad and a stepdad, I was amazed she even attempted it).
We did get another shot at it, which is why I didn’t quite get this writeup posted in time for the actual Kentucky Derby. I also didn’t really intend for it to be an “in-depth” chat in the first place, but with Barnard Clark, who now runs KBC in Dothan, Alabama along with her media schedule, has such a winning mix of plainspoken candor and high level of insight, both into food, the restaurant industry, and the television industry, that I couldn’t help but continue picking her brain. We had a lot to talk about, and she’s full of both charm and wisdom, so I’ll just shut up now and let you read it.
Williams-Sonoma
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Since winning Top Chef, have you gotten comfortable doing a lot of media and television appearances and things like that?
I mean yeah, I mostly have my representation to thank for that. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Bullfrog, which is like an agency. [My agent] only represents about six people, and all of us but one are Top Chef winners. It sort of became her passion because she realized that when we go on the show, we’re just normal people who were chefs and then all of a sudden it’s like, now you’re famous, and we don’t know what we’re doing. It’s one thing if you did an all-star season, but me coming from a small town in Alabama, I had no experience. You’re literally just immediately thrown into this other world, and we’re not savvy at all because we have no practice with it. So three, four years down the road I’ve gotten the hang of it a little bit better, but it was crazy that first year. It was a very wild ride.
That’s only something that happened post-winning the show? You didn’t have any representation or things like that before?
No, I got the representation because the period between you physically winning the competition versus the world knowing you won is roughly nine months. So I got like, nine months to prepare for what was to come. I had an agent by the time the finale aired, which was nice. And Top Chef definitely holds your hand, there’s a media person on staff that definitely helps with that, but she’s not your publicist or your agents, it’s not the same, obviously.
Right. I follow most of you chefs on Instagram and stuff and it’s funny to watch the transition between pre-television and post-television. I think they were doing side by sides for some of you guys where you showed what you look like before Top Chef and afterwards, you always come out looking so much more polished.
That was hilarious. Mine was not funny at all, because I still look mostly the same — I mean, mine was so soon, like maybe in 10 years it’ll be funny, but some of them were so good. I think too, especially if you did Top Chef in the early years, it was really different than it is now. It’s pretty crazy. I look at like things I said on the show and it was just stuff I would never freaking say or do now, or wear the things that I wore that were on Top Chef. You become just much more thoughtful with your words, I guess.
That was actually going to be a question I had, if you would do anything differently now knowing what you know if you had to do over again?
Oh hell yes. Like all of it. The ending turned out fine, but it is sort of going through a booby trap that you all of a sudden just end up on the other side of. I didn’t do it very gracefully, I’ll be honest with you. That’s why I always say like when you go on All Star, I can’t imagine doing an All Star season because we know way too much. Kind of like Tournament of Champions. When I did Tournament of Champions, it was weirdly not exciting because everyone was so calm and not nervous because we knew exactly what was going on. But I had no idea what I was doing [during the original run]. Really, my plan going into it was like, I’m going to be myself, I’m not going to worry about the cameras. Which is like yeah, in theory that’s great, but I watch some of this stuff and I’m like, “You’re on freaking camera, what are you doing right now? Did you just totally black out and forget?”
I assume the producers, that’s kind of their goal, to get you guys to forget all that. Did you notice strategies of things they were doing to try to make you guys forget that you were being watched and just sort of be candid and off the cuff?
Oh my God, 100%. And actually, I’m working on this project with Magical Elves productions [the production company behind Top Chef] and we hung out for like a week and it was just a small team and there was a new girl, like on the talent side, and she had never done this before and she was like, “How do y’all get people to say…” And one of the producers, he’d been on The Bachelor a few times and some food shows, and he was like, “Oh listen, we basically become your best friend, we make you think that you can trust us and then we manipulate everything you say and do.”
I’m like, yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes. Especially, you’re in this bubble, specifically with Top Chef, where you’re totally cut off from the whole world and you don’t have anyone and you sure as hell don’t feel like you can really confide in your castmates. Because you’re competing against each other. Anything you tell someone, like “I’m really having a hard time with this,” they absolutely can, and if they’re smart, will use against you in the next challenge. So you’re really on this island by yourself. So you start leaning in on producers a little bit, but they have their own motives as well. But it works. We all do it.
Williams-Sonoma
(Twinkle Light Succotash, from Barnard Clark’s Derby menu)
One of my first internships out of college was I was working as a production assistant on a reality TV show. For me, there were some parallels between those crews and the people who work in kitchens. I remember thinking those reality TV show people were kind of like pirates, because they’d crew one show in one city and then go immediately go off to another city right afterwards. Then when I read Kitchen Confidential I think Bourdain called the kitchen “the pirate ship.”
Yes. In fact, I have found myself being very attracted to the job of being a producer. If I decided to just bail on food, I could totally see myself doing that. Because that’s like what chefs are, we’re very nomadic. A lot of the time we do end up settling down somewhat, but at the end of the day, we all have that nomad gene in us where we want to just travel and do crazy things. We love chaos and we love a routine, but we also love to break a routine. It’s very similar because production is all about keeping your kit and making sure everything is precise, but then having fun and going rogue. It’s like having your shit together in terms of, like mise en place, but then using your creativity to go wild. So I think that’s probably why we all get along really well.
When I was on Top Chef, it was my first experience on TV, really. So I just remember telling one of the TV people at first, God, this job is so weird. And one of them was like, “And yours isn’t?” And I was like, “Yeah, you’re right.” We literally move anywhere for a job and do crazy things and we don’t even call it a job. It’s more like this is our life and it happens to be our job.
So I’m looking at your wing recipe. I think that was the most intriguing one on your Kentucky Derby list. I noticed that you’re a chicken rinser. That feels like a controversial decision these days. Do you have a theory behind that?
Oh, you mean from that last, what was it? Paula Patton? Did you see that TikTok or something?
Oh yes, yes. I know what you’re talking about, where she’s like pouring the seasoning directly into the–
Yes, yes. She seasons the oil instead of the chicken. Anyway, I am definitely a chicken rinser. I believe in washing chicken because it’s disgusting, first of all. And that’s really my reasoning for it, rinsing in cold water. And then yeah, depending on what you’re doing with it, like at KBC, we keep it in a brine with pickle juice and buttermilk. I tell people number one, it’s for seasoning, but number two, pickle juice kills all things. It’s like the edible bleach of the culinary world.
So your deviled eggs recipe has a note at the top that says you built a chicken coop in your backyard. Do you sell those at all or are those just for family use?
We’ve got 15 chickens and a rooster and no, it’s just for family use. I guess this was back about four years ago that I built it and got the chickens.
Was that super important to you to have fresh eggs whenever you want?
Yeah. I wouldn’t say I grew up with that by any means, but it was also that I wanted my kids to grow up around — I always said I wanted to live on a farm, but I don’t want to be that far from work and all that. So it’s sort of like the best of both worlds, having a little farm in the yard, but not having to be way out in the country. But I love animals, number one. And number two, the same with the garden as well, I wanted my kids to like grow up understanding and having a different level of respect and connection to their food and where it comes from.
Williams-Sonoma
Do you notice a huge difference between fresh and store-bought eggs?
I definitely do now. I think that anyone who’s kind of gotten used to the taste of fresh eggs and then you eat a store-bought egg it’s totally different. Specifically when they’re boiled, they’re a lot softer and more… Store bought, they’re always older. So once you boil them, the whites get very hard and chewy, and with fresh eggs, they don’t. They literally just melt in your mouth.
As a Top Chef winner and a TV personality, you’re sort of you’re going around, you’re doing a lot of travel and media, you’re living sort of this cosmopolitan lifestyle. Do you feel like that still fits with your restaurant in Alabama? Do you feel like you have to, I don’t know dial it back for like the local palate or anything like that?
You’re talking about what I serve?
Yeah, just in terms of, I imagine your experiences are now a little more eclectic than the average diner at your restaurant.
I mean you’re definitely spot on with that. I actually had a restaurant that I felt like it was a failure, and I always looked back on that and it was because I was doing what I wanted to do and not listening to the town and where I was. I was thinking like a chef and less like a business woman. So for me, I think the biggest shift in my success as a restaurant owner, as a boss, as a leader and anything, is to do what’s best for the restaurant and take what I want out of it. So I think that like, my creative fulfillment and things like that don’t necessarily always happen within the restaurant. My career fulfillment and my business fulfillment, because I’m definitely someone who’s very much entrepreneurial and business minded, that’s what I get fulfillment from with the restaurant. When it comes to cooking really amazing food that I want to be cooking, it doesn’t always happen there and that’s okay, because the restaurant’s doing other things for me. I think for me at this point in my life and just where the restaurant is and how it’s become successful, investing the most time in my staff and my people is more important to me than investing everything in the food. The second I switched my mindset with that was when we really became successful.
What’s that been like, having a restaurant going during the COVID experience? Do you feel like indoor dining and stuff like that has bounced back?
I mean, yes, to be totally honest with you. What was harder to me was being in a state that didn’t really acknowledge COVID hardly while being a part of a world that was. It always has been difficult to live in the very deep south, as someone who doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with the majority of the people, and definitely doesn’t have the same belief system as a lot of the people. Which is fine, I love different things and I love to be welcoming of that, but that was a little difficult during COVID, because we weren’t shut down that long. And our laws and regulations were very lax at times, and I was looking at all of my friends, all of my peers, just shut down, really just like begging for anything. So I almost felt guilty for that, number one. And number two, we were enforcing things that weren’t enforced by the state within our restaurant, which was very challenging as well. We had our own challenges I think that were a little bit unique, but I think everyone could tell you a different story of how they had a difficult time during COVID with their businesses.
Going back to your Derby menu for Williams-Sonoma, I noticed you have a succotash recipe on here, and it says you can use leftover corn for this?
Yes. Or frozen corn, even. I’m a big fan of frozen corn kernels. I don’t love anything canned because I can taste everything, and I feel like canned things always taste canned. Like canned tomatoes I’m fine with, but everything else… Frozen corn is one of my best friends because it’s something that especially, in a lot of places like you can buy fresh frozen corn that was put out during the summer. I always have that in my freezer at all times.
What other types of frozen stuff do you have in there?
All types of frozen beans and peas. Peas is something that I eat almost every day of the week because my kids love it and the whole family loves it. And that’s something that we get at our Piggly Wiggly. It’s always local and I keep those frozen at all times. Those are my biggest staples. I freeze a lot of meat as well. I buy meat in bulk and break it down myself and then freeze it. So there’s almost always multiple types of beef, chicken, plus a lot of people give me things like duck, deer. I have a ton of that in my freezer at all times as well.
If you had to give advice to someone who has no media experience, just a chef that’s going on Top Chef, what advice would you give them?
I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me right after they go on the show or right before they’re going on the show, and I think the biggest thing I would tell anyone is like, figure out who you are. Whether you’re even sure yet, figure out what your story is. Because if you don’t know it by the time you get there, they’re going to make it up for you, trust me. So decide what you want it to be and stick to it. Sell it and make it. And I don’t mean like, “Hey, I’m Kelsey and I’m from Alabama, but I’m going to now talk about how I’m obsessed with Italian food and I’m going Italian.”
I mean, it has to be true to you. Like, dig deep into your roots. Has your training all been in, I don’t know, like Aztec cuisine and you’re obsessed with Aztec cuisine and that’s what you want your story to be? Then sell that. And let that be the food you cook. Because I think to me, even when I judge, if I can’t figure out why the hell you cooked something and you can’t tell me why you did it, you’re already down on the bottom for me. I don’t even want to go to bat for you because there’s no heart there, you’re just cooking someone else’s food. Getting there and being, even if you’re not super confident, fake it till you make it and just commit to that. Commit to, this is who I am, this is what I’m going to be, and this is the food I’m going to cook.
For me, that was always going to be Southern and French food and I stuck with that the entire time. I was always like, if I cannot find a story from my actual heart about why I want this food to be on this plate, I can’t cook it. It always started with a story and then ended with a plate. All the times that I actually did well was when I stuck to that.
This last season before this one, they sort of had a situation where they had a winner where they found out some stuff about him, and sort of had to disavow him after the fact. Do you think they’re doing anything different now? Is there anything that they can do differently to avoid that? And do you see the process being any different as a result of that?
A hundred percent. And without saying too much of why I know what I know about it, I think I will say this: I think the coolest thing about Top Chef is that I look at them totally differently now after that scenario than I did before. Because they could’ve pretended like it didn’t happen. They could have erased him. They could’ve changed the ending. They could’ve done a lot of things. And I think what I really applauded was them just being like, “Hey, we didn’t know and we don’t support this.”
I think that is powerful in this day and age, just being honest. And then what they’ve done now more moving forward is, again without saying too much, the people who are getting cast are 100% being vetted. It wasn’t like we weren’t before, but they’re definitely doing a nose dive deep into your background now. They’re asking questions, they’re asking peers that you don’t know about questions, which is what should be done to maintain the respect of the show. And I think every show should do that. If you want to have any kind of respect, all you have to do is ask a few questions. I mean, there’s been a lot of that lately, where if you would’ve just asked four people in the restaurant that person worked in, one of them would’ve told you. That’s all it would’ve taken, one person to say, “Yeah, no, this guy’s an asshole and you probably don’t want him on your show.”
Do you think it’s a matter of, traditionally, coming up in kitchens has been sort of a chauvinist environment, and now there’s this broader change that’s happening, but then you’re still getting people that sort of came up in that and are still influenced by it?
No, I think that there’s just still a lot of assholes in the world, and no matter what we do, I don’t think we’re going to get rid of them in any culture. I will say, where it used to be very much, I call it like locker room behavior more than anything, that was absolutely the kitchen. When I was in it, there is no sugarcoating, it was horrific. It was so inappropriate. I would’ve rather been in an NFL locker room than in the kitchens that I was in, any day. It would’ve been so much more professional and appropriate. That is now gone because it was way crossing the line. It wasn’t like a little bit inappropriate, it was like downright abusive. So that was a kitchen thing before that absolutely can’t happen anymore.
But as someone who runs a kitchen, I’m the first to say, like we’ve had guys that I’m like, what is wrong with you? Like number one, you’re fired and number two, what the hell is wrong with you? Get out of here and don’t work anywhere until you go see a therapist for a while. So I think it’s less a kitchen thing and more than just, like some people just suck.
100 Gecs put their weird stamp on 2019 with their peculiar and attention-grabbing debut album, 1000 Gecs. Now, the world awaits its follow-up, naturally titled 1000 Gecs. The new LP is expected to drop at some point this year and while we don’t have a firm release date yet, we do have a couple of singles: “Mememe” came out last year and the duo dropped “Doritos & Fritos,” which is among 100 Gecs’ catchiest and most accessible material yet, a month ago. Now they’re back with a new visual for their latest single and yes, it’s odd.
The clip sees Dylan Brady and Laura Les reprising the wizard personas they adopted for the “Mememe” video, but this time, they’re soaring high above the city, which has taken notice based on the fact we see this supernatural activity through the lens of a news broadcast.
Lyrically, Pulitzer-worthy lyrics from “Doritos & Fritos” include, “Okay I went to France to get some new pants (Ooh!) / I went to Greece to get something to eat (Ooh!) / He said, ‘Sh*t, all we got’s Doritos and Fritos’ / I said, ‘Then give me all of those f*cking Doritos and Fritos.’”
Houston rap icon Scarface is retiring from the rap business, but not before he takes one last bow. He recently announced his 32-city Farewell Tour, which will take one last spin of the US. Kicking off in Oakland, California on July 8 and running through August 27 in Odessa, Texas, the 51-year-old will give fans a final opportunity to see him live before he rides off into the sunset and sends his jersey into the rafters after almost 40 years.
A likely contributor to Scarface’s impending retirement is his recent bout with COVID-19 and kidney failure. Although he received a new kidney in 2021, it looks like he’s bowing out after his rough ordeal to take a well-earned rest. However, it’s hard to let go, thus: The Farewell Tour. Tickets go on sale Wednesday May 18. See the full run of tour dates below.
07/8 – Oakland, CA @ Yoshi’s
07/9 – Los Angeles, CA @ NOVO
07/10 – Phoenix, AZ @ AURA
07/12 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theater
07/13 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
07/15 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
07/16 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
07/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Soundwell
07/20 – Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
07/21 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Cotillion Ballroom
07/22 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
07/23 – Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
07/24 – Minneapolis, MN @ Skyway Theatre
07/26 – Springfield, MO @ Outland Ballroom
07/27 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
07/28 – Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot
07/29 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
07/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
07/31 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Piere’s
08/2 – Columbus, OH @ Skully’s
08/3 – Washington, DC @ Howard Theatre
08/4 – Harrisburg, PA @ XL Live
08/5 – Portland, ME @ Aura
08/6 – Queens, NY @ Rock the Bells Festival
08/7 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club 24
08/11 – Huntsville, AL @ Envy Entertainment
08/12 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
08/13 – Mobile, AL @ Soul Kitchen
08/14 – Jackson, MS @ The Hideaway
08/18 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
08/19 – Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room
08/27 – Odessa, TX @ Ector Theater
Two Canadian forces will combine this summer to give us a refreshing treat. Continuing his partnership with Tim Hortons, Justin Bieber is teaming up with the coffee chain to deliver a French vanilla cold brew beverage called Biebs Brew.
Tim Horton’s teased Biebs Brew on Twitter with a picture showing Bieber carrying a cup of cold brew labeled Biebs Brew, captioned “June 6th. It’s worth the wait.”
Biebs Brew follows last November’s Timbiebs, a line of donut holes consisting of flavors like chocolate white fudge, birthday cake waffle, and sour cream chocolate chip.
“We couldn’t stop at Timbiebs,” said the Biebs in a statement. “We needed a Biebs Brew too. And we are bringing both to Tims next month. Doing a Tim Hortons collab had always been a dream of mine. I grew up on Tim Hortons and it’s always been something close to my heart.”
The Timbiebs will also return this summer, and beliebers will be able to order a “Biebs Bundle,” in which they can get a large brew, along with 10 Timbiebs pieces, for $5.
@justinbieber is back with Biebs Brew: a new co-created French Vanilla Cold Brew. Mark your calendar. June 6. Oh and did we mention Timbiebs are back too? pic.twitter.com/5OgYempdef
“Timbiebs was a huge success — truly beyond all of our expectations — and what made it so great was the authenticity of the partnership,” said Hope Bagozzi, Chief Marketing Officer for Tim Hortons, in a statement. “[Bieber’s] commitment to working with us to develop a natural and authentic twist on the Tims experience is what made Timbiebs a hit and we know guests are going to love Biebs Brew and his take on Tims Cold Brew.”
America’s favorite Ryan is looking to be an action star. Ryan Gosling is set to play the lead in the upcoming film adaptation of the classic TV show The Fall Guy.
The Fall Guy (not to be confused with Free Guy, a different Ryan’s movie, or First Man, another Gosling movie) was a TV show that ran from 1981 to 1986 and followed Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who also worked part-time as a bounty hunter. Hey, those Hollywood salaries are rough! Think a ton of Hollywood action stunts with some murder sprinkled in. Just like Once Upon A Time In Hollywood!
Gosling has been busy as of late, starring as Ken in the highly-anticipated live-action adaptation of Barbie alongside Margot Robbie. He will also star in Netflix’s upcoming thriller The Gray Man alongside Chris Evans and Ana de Armas. The similar titles beg the question: who is naming these movies and why do they all sound the same?
Production is slated to begin this year in Australia. Universal Pictures’ President of Physical Production, Jeff LaPlante, said in a statement: “After a successful partnership on the studio’s production of Ticket to Paradise in Queensland, Universal is thrilled to return to Australia and base in New South Wales for the highly-anticipated film, The Fall Guy.”
There are new bourbons hitting the shelves practically every day now. You may not have to keep up with it all, but I do (it’s a tough job, but someone has to…etc). While reviewing them all would be exhausting and generally probably self-defeating, in the interests of both my time and yours, today I’ll be diving into 20 new bourbons that are both under-the-radar and priced less than $100, but worth seeking out.
Admittedly, “under the radar” is pretty subjective. I don’t know what you know, but I do know that the bourbons below are pretty far from the mainstream. This isn’t a list for new Wild Turkey expressions or Buffalo Trace drops or Heaven Hill one-offs. This is for the smaller brands that don’t get the same level of exposure as these international icons.
The 20 bourbons below are all available now and very new (a few are last year’s expression drops). I’ve added my own tasting notes for each and then ranked them according to which ones I think are most exciting. Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
Castle & Key Distillery is the renovated Old Taylor Distillery outside of Frankfort, Kentucky. This distillery has spent years contract distilling for other brands, until this year when they released their first batch of this expression in April. The juice is a mash of 73% white corn, 17% malted barley, and a scant 10% rye. After four years, 80 barrels are chosen for this small-batch expression and proofed down with local water.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a sense of unbaked sourdough cinnamon rolls next to Graham Crackers dipped in vanilla-creamed honey served with a warm can of peach soda. The palate leans into the fruitiness with a pink taffy vibe that’s countered by slight pepperiness, a touch of “woody,” and more of that creamy honey laced with vanilla. The fruity take on a savory essence — think cantaloupe — on the mid-palate before circling back to the pepperiness with a bit of woody spice on the short end.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those bottles that arrived with a lot of hype. And … it’s fine. This feels way more like a cocktail base than a sipping whiskey. I’m looking forward to seeing what Batch #2 brings later this month.
19. Black Button Distilling Four Grain Straight Bourbon
Rochester’s Black Button is putting out one of the more interesting four-grains at the moment. The mash is only 60% corn that’s supported by 20% wheat, 11% barley, and nine percent rye. The bottle doesn’t carry an age statement but it is “small-batch.”
Tasting Notes:
You’re drawn into this one with a rich and buttery toffee next to soft and sweet peach with a light touch of old leather and pine. The palate holds onto the sweetness while adding in a layer of vanilla ice cream cut with salted caramel stripes as a line of walnut oat cookies dries out the otherwise light sip. The fade is longish and brings about a mild rye peppery spice that lingers and overwhelms that sweetness finally.
Bottom Line:
This is another whiskey that leaves you with a “that’s nice” vibe. It’s really well made and hits a nice balance of fruity and classic. Still, there’s a lot on the shelf that’d easily challenge this bottle and win at $50.
18. Manifest Whiskey Project No. 4 Blend of Straight Whiskeys
This Florida distillery/blendery is doing some really interesting, bespoke shit right now. Their latest release is a blend of straight bourbons and straight ryes (making this technically an American blended straight whiskey). The juice is part 75% corn, 21% rye, and four percent malted barley four-year-old sourced bourbon. That’s cut with Manifest’s own organic wheated rye whiskey with 60% rye and 40% wheat, which then rests for two and half years.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a homemade creamy vanilla pudding on the nose that really leans into nostalgia while layering in cherry compote, tobacco leaves dipped in mulled wine, and spicy minced meat pies. The palate builds on that nose with a Black Forest cake full of creamy vanilla, flaked dark chocolate, soft dark chocolate cake, and more of that cherry sauce. That sweet mid-palate circles back around to the tobacco with a slight spice and a hint of old oak on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is lush and really feels like a great digestif sipper (it’s dessert in a whiskey glass!).
Green River Distillery has been pumping out contract distilled juice for a while. In the spring of 2022, they finally released their much anticipated Green River Bourbon to much hoopla. The bourbon is a blend of five years and older barrels of bourbon made from a mash bill of 70% corn, 21% winter rye, and nine percent malted two-row and six-row barley.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a hint of dry cornmeal on the nose with clear and rich butterscotch (which feels a little young) alongside vanilla pudding cups, wet brown sugar, and a hint of an old leather jacket. The taste holds onto that leather note as a foundation and builds layers of sticky toffee pudding with vanilla buttercream, a handful of roasted almonds, and a thick buttery toffee sauce tying it all together. The finish is green with a big note of fresh mint that leads back to the leather with a whisper of dark fruit leather and Red Hots.
Bottom Line:
This feels a little all over the place but really does come together pretty nicely by the end. This isn’t something I’d race out to try again, but I can see using the rest of my bottle in highballs and cocktails and being pretty happy about it.
16. Clyde May’s Special Reserve Straight Bourbon Six-Year-Old
This Alabama whiskey (distilled in Indiana) is a small-batch product of hand-selected barrels. Those barrels are expertly blended by the Clyde May’s team to highlight classic bourbon notes in this special edition from late last year.
Tasting Notes:
This is all about the spicy apple pie filling on the nose with clear notes of cinnamon and clove next to tart apples, plenty of brown sugar, a pad of butter, and a whiff of raw sourdough yeast rolls. The apple becomes stewed on the palate with an almost apple fritter vibe as the spices really amp up with extra hot Red Hots and a hefty dash of that clove. The end is a mix of packed brown sugars and dark winter spices with a long, warming buzz that nearly washes everything out.
Bottom Line:
This absolutely needs a rock or a few drops of water to calm it down. Once you’ve done that, it is pretty nice for a sort of classic apple pie bourbon. That said, this is still squarely in the cocktail-base section of this list.
This sourced whiskey comes from Kentucky. The juice is a blend of 70% corn, 21% rye, and nine percent malted barley whiskey that’s aged for up to four years before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This smells like “bourbon” on the nose with hints of caramel, vanilla, oak, and a dollop of maple syrup. The palate has a thick winter spice vibe with dusty cinnamon and nutmeg-heavy eggnog with a creamy edge next to vanilla tobacco with a whisper of cedar humidor. That spice really amps up toward the finish with a Red Hot tobacco chew and dry wicker finish.
Bottom Line:
“Hey, that’s pretty nice” was my reaction to this. Again, this is not something I’m racing to find more of, but I dig it when it’s put in front of me. If you find yourself with one, it won’t disappoint as a classic bourbon.
14. St. Augustine Distillery Port Finished Bourbon
This Floridian bourbon rests for three years in new American oak, giving it a classic base. Then the booze goes into port casks from San Sebastian Winery next door to the distillery for up to six months (depending on the Florida heat). The end result is a unique bourbon that’s both enticing and refined.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a touch of woodiness but the star of the show is the red berries that are both tart and sweet next to a dusting of winter spices. Vanilla and hints of mint show up on the palate with white pepper, mild florals, and a little bit of ripe cherry. The end leans into oak, dark chocolate bitterness, and a whisper of ripe red berries with a touch of clove.
Bottom Line:
Berries and spice are the dominant factors on this one. It’s a little thin but is unique enough to grab your attention — well, enough for a cocktail base that is.
This whiskey marries Italian-American heritage with bourbon in Kentucky’s horse country. The juice is a contract-distilled high-rye bourbon that spends six years resting in new American oak. That juice is then just barely touched with local water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose feels like walking through a peach orchard on a sunny day with blossoming honey suckles wrapped around cinnamon sticks in your hand. The taste builds on that spiced honey with a mild root beer vibe next to overripe peach, a touch of vanilla cream, and a whisper of fresh mint. The finish stays fairly mellow with the creamy honey and mild spices blending with a soft touch of vanilla/mint tobacco warmth.
Bottom Line:
This is where we leave the cocktail base bourbons behind and get into the sippers. This is a pretty mild bourbon overall, but it hits nice as an everyday sipper — a table bourbon, if you will.
This contract distilled juice from Pinhook celebrates the young racehorse “Bourbondini.” The whiskey in the bottle is made from a mash of 75% corn, 15% rye, and 10% malted barley. After a long rest, the whiskey is just touched with water and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a big nose full of hot apple cider spiked with clove, raisins, and molasses next to a soft bar of high-quality marzipan all with a whisper of figgy jam in the background. The palate leans toward that savory fruit with a hint of dry tropical fruit before a chili-infused dark espresso takes over with a dash of powdered dark chocolate. The finish sweetens with a rich toffee and brown butter vibe as the charred barrel makes an appearance at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty chill sipper. I like to add a rock or two to calm it down and let it bloom a bit in the glass. If that wasn’t necessary, this would’ve ranked a little higher but here we are.
This Lux Row bourbon continues to fly under the radar. The whiskey is a blend of high rye and wheated bourbons from select barrels that Lux Row pulled from local distilleries. Those barrels are then masterfully vatted and proofed down with local water.
Tasting Notes:
Old honey candies mingle with orange oils, vanilla wafers, salted caramel sauce, and a hint of mint on the nose. A mild note of sweet cedar drives the palate as floral honey and spicy vanilla pudding round out the taste toward the mid-palate. The orange comes back in late with a dusting of black pepper next to more of that soft cedar dipped into that floral honey.
Bottom Line:
This has a sweet edge that’s very distinct. If you like honey in your bourbon, this is going to be the bottle for you. Still, there’s more depth than just honey and this bourbon works pretty well as an everyday sipper with a rock or two.
This bourbon is all about precision blending. The MGP barrels create a four-grain whiskey that’s finished in oak staves from Tonnellerie Radoux in France. Those staves are added to the barrels to create a unique finish that’s part Kentucky and part France.
Tasting Notes:
This starts fairly familiar with notes of sugar pie and vanilla cream with orange spice and a hint of dried florals that then veers into dried mushrooms and firewood bark with a bit of black dirt. The palate circles back to the sweetness with a big pile of pecan waffles covered in vanilla/maple syrup before soft orange-infused tobacco leads back to that wet firewood and black dirt on the backend of the sip. The very end has a touch of charred oak that’s more like singed red-wine-soaked-oak staves.
Bottom Line:
This is complex and interesting. There’s nothing quite like it on the list, and that might be off-putting for some palates. Still, all of that makes this a great palate expander.
9. Jeptha Creed Four Grain Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This four-grain bourbon is all about the farm-to-glass experience. The juice is made from a mash with Bloody Butcher corn — a sweeter red corn used by Indigenous Americans throughout the Midwest and South for millennia — grown right outside the still house on an expansive Kentucky farm. The red corn is mixed with malted rye, wheat, and barley in the mash and aged for an undisclosed amount of time before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This is like your grandmother’s garden on berry picking day on the nose with huge notes of rhododendrons and wisteria next to blackberry jam, blueberry pie, and mason jars of apricot jam with plenty of dark spices layered in. The palate holds onto the jammy notes but adds in rich vanilla pudding, candied walnuts, nutmeg dusted eggnog, and a tiny echo of cherry sasparilla. The dry spices circle back around on the finish with a touch more of that vanilla and a whisper of fresh mint from the garden with a little dirt still on it.
Bottom Line:
This is kind of an entry-level bourbon for Jeptha Creed and it rules. This punches above its weight class and could probably cost more without any complaints. It’s deeply hewn, transports you, and tastes unique without sacrificing tasting good. And we’re only halfway through this list…
The latest in the Fusion Series from Bardstown carries on the tradition of blending Bardstown’s own juice with expertly sourced barrels. In this case, 70% of the blend is from three different three-year-old bourbons with varying high-rye mash bills. The remaining 30% is from two 12-year-old barrels with a low-rye bourbon mash. Those barrels are vatted at Bardstown and touched with a little water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The wood comes through on the palate as a cedar plank that’s had nectarines crushed on it and then thrown on a grill with supporting notes of crushed almonds, floral honey, and buttery toffee rounding out the nose. The taste leans into the sweet wood and toffee as a touch of old malt cookies with a hint of vanilla leads to a spiced mulled wine with a little more of that honey. The finish is bold and warm with plenty of cedar, dark spice, and mellow toffee.
Bottom Line:
This is a bold yet easy sipper. There’s a lot going on but it all makes sense. You can easily sip this over a rock or in a Glencairn and find something new every time.
This whiskey was founded by cinephiles who also happen to be bourbon lovers — the “Lucky Seven” moniker is a nod to Warner Bros.’s iconic Sound Stage 7. The bourbon in this bottle is a blend of sourced 12-year-old barrels from Kentucky. Those barrels are hand-selected by the Lucky Seven team to create their perfect bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
Dried apricots and prunes lead to a date-rich cake with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to an echo of caramel corn with a flake of salt. The taste starts off sweet with a cotton candy depth that then turns toward old cedar planks, worn leather, and a hint of savory herbs like thyme and sage. The mid-palate pops with Red Hots as the caramel corn makes a comeback before the finish dives into a plummy tobacco chewiness and buzz.
Bottom Line:
That savory note around the mid-palate makes this an interesting pour. The profile around that is very classic but also very dialed in. This is an interesting sipper all around that deserves a little time to really dig into what’s buried in that profile.
Hotaling & Co., started by San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing, is a hell of a blendery. This expression is a mix of two MGP of Indiana whiskeys. The lion’s share (94%) is a five-year-old bourbon with a fairly standard mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and four percent malted barley. That’s married to a six-year-old bourbon with a mash bill of 60% corn, 38% rye, and four percent malted barley. The whiskey is proofed down to 92 proof and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of pipping hot cornbread dripping with whipped butter cut with cinnamon and vanilla on the nose. That spicy vanilla butter really drives the palate’s flavor as the sweetness leans towards pancake syrup on a pecan waffle with a small hint of leather and tobacco lurking in the background. The finish pops with dried cherry tobacco dipped in cinnamon butter with a hint of that cornbread (now a little burnt) leading to a rich end.
Bottom Line:
This is another one that’s just interesting. While I said we are out of the “cocktail” bourbons, I do like this in an old fashioned. That said, this works as an easy on-the-rocks sipper just as well.
5. Lost Lantern 2022 Single Cask #1: Smooth Ambler West Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Lost Lantern just dropped their spring 2022 collection of single cask selections from some seriously big hitters in the craft whiskey world. For their first edition, the bottler chose a barrel from Smooth Ambler in West Virginia. This bottling is from one 53-gallon barrel of wheated bourbon from West Virginia that’s bottled as-is without filtering or cutting down with water. That means there are only 190-odd bottles of this around.
Tasting Notes:
You’re taken to a confectionary on the nose with dried cranberries and cherries rolling through rich, bitter, yet creamy dark chocolate that’s just been touched with dark and chili spices and bespeckled with crushed almonds. The palate builds on that with a Christmas cake spice mix next to more dried and candied fruits — think brandied cherries and candied orange peels — that leads toward a deep cacao note that’s nearly waxy. The end is all about the black cherry tobacco and old pine boxes that hold that tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is where things get really interesting on this list. I’d argue all the bottles above are fine if you stumble across them. This is the first bottle you should seek out and buy two of — remember, there are only 190 of these and that’s it, forever.
This whiskey from country music legend Brad Paisley actually crisscrossed the country with the star. The juice in the bottles is largely from Bardstown Bourbon Company, with four whiskeys aged three to 15 years with both low and high rye bourbons in the mix. The team at Bardstown worked closely with Paisley — a whiskey nerd himself — to select, blend, and finish the bourbon according to Paisley’s palate. After a 7,314-mile trip across America, the barrels were vatted, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a lightness at first whiff that gives way to a soft apricot jam on a buttered Southern biscuit next to a hint of cinnamon-spiked caramel and apple cider-soaked oak staves. The palate really does burst forth with firework aerials of old leather, toffee candies, Red Hots, peanut brittle, nougat, milk chocolate, and vanilla pipe tobacco. The mid-palate sweetness fades as the pipe tobacco takes on a little warmth and spice while brioche, black pepper, and braided dry cedar bark round out the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a hell of a whiskey. Yes, it sounds so gimmicky, but never bet against Bardstown Bourbon Company. This is the bottle you drop on the table when someone starts going on and on about how shitty “celebrity” whiskeys are. This expression delivers as a great sipper and a mean base for a Manhattan. And there are still four more bourbons to go. What a time to be alive.
And we’ve officially come full circle. This whiskey was distilled at Castle & Key back in 2018. 200 of those barrels were hand-picked for this release to take a look back at the past two years and “reflect” upon the trials they brought.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a distinct note of tart yet slightly sweet cherry on the nose with a supporting cast of butterscotch candies, mild firewood, and a hint of pancake batter. That batter becomes a stack of pancakes with vanilla-laced butter, maple syrup, and a few nuts thrown in that lead to a herb garden full of rosemary bushes. That savory note mellows out through the mid-palate as a dusting of nutmeg rounds out the finish with hints of woody maple syrup and a final echo of that tart cherry.
Bottom Line:
Always bet on Blue Run to knock it out of the park. Even with these new contract distilled releases (compared to their sourced barrels), you’re getting expertly made bourbon that takes you somewhere. It’s deep, rewarding, and fresh.
2. Starlight Distillery Bourbon Finished in Cognac Barrels
Starlight Distillery, part of Huber Orchard, Winery & Vineyards in southern Indiana, is one of those distilleries where I ask, “where have you been all my life?” This release — from the distillery’s broad selection of uniquely finished whiskeys — is made with Starlight’s own four-year-old bourbon that’s loaded into hand-selected Cognac casks for six months. The whiskey then goes into the bottles with no fussing.
Tasting Notes:
Smoked maple syrup and raw tobacco lead the way on the nose as floral honey, dry cacao powder, and a hint of rum-soaked raisin mingle throughout. The palate turns that cacao into a dark chocolate bar with almonds layered in as a mild, dry chili pepper adds some pep on the mid-palate. There’s a dark and worn leather vibe that kicks in as the finish arrives with hints of apple-raisin-honey cider pipe tobacco vibing with old leather tobacco pouches and dry sweetgrass braids round out the end.
Bottom Line:
This is the tip of the iceberg of all the beautiful whiskey coming out of Starlight and Huber right now. But if you’re going to start somewhere, let it be here. This is great juice made by a family who’ve spent the last nearly two centuries refining their craft.
Okay, bear with me. This is a bourbon blend made with five, six, seven, nine, and 14-year-old bourbons from Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Wyoming, New York, and Texas. All of those bourbons are expertly blended in Barrell’s Louisville facility and then bottled as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
I swear, this has a nose that’s exactly like a rich, moist, and spicy carrot cake smothered in cream cheese frosting, and it works. The nose is rounded out my Meyer lemons, honeydew melon, grassy sugar cane, and a touch of white peach. The palate is part of apple Jolly Rancher and part raspberries in cream with some brown sugar and cinnamon in the mix. The mid-palate has a banana cream pie vibe that leads to a little bit of waxy cacao bean and a fleeting sense of granite countertop covered in oak staves. The finish has a mix of green tea and mint chocolate chip ice cream with this small whisper of salty pretzel wrapped in banana leaves.
Bottom Line:
This is a wild ride. It’s so out there but I love it. That said, these bourbons are not for the faint of heart, especially not for anyone looking for a “classic” bourbon experience. This feels like the future in a glass and I’m here for it.
While there are countless things Tucker Carlson truly does not understand, NATO likely isn’t one of them. Yet, in his ongoing quest to endear himself to Vladimir Putin and the Russian propagandists who hold him in the highest regard, he’s back to pretending that he’s truly baffled by NATO’s continued existence.
On Monday night, Carlson had some comments on the current proposed expansions to NATO, which would include adding Finland and Sweden. But basically, he seems to not get why NATO is even a thing.
“OK, so NATO is the most successful military alliance in world history. Yes, it kept the Soviet Union from invading Western Europe. What is the point of NATO now? Can anyone explain? No. No one can explain. Instead of explaining, we hear demands that NATO explain as rapidly as possible—damn the consequences. And the benefits to the United States. What are the benefits exactly? Again, silence.”
Tucker: What is the point of NATO now? Can anyone explain? No, no one can explain pic.twitter.com/fOhbbE7Cz5
It didn’t really help that Carlson was asking these questions out loud to no one but himself.
While Mitch McConnell has made it clear that he sees no problem with approving the new members, not everyone is as gung-ho about the plan. Carlson is clearly one of them. Meanwhile, Turkey is threatening to block the expansion. Putin, on the other hand, seems to be flip-flopping. On Monday, Al Jazeera reported that Putin said admitting both countries would pose “no direct threat for [Russia] … but the expansion of military infrastructure to these territories will certainly provoke our response.” Yet Fortune reports he also claimed, again on Monday, that “Russia has no problems with these states.”
On Monday, Finnish president Sauli Niinisto admitted that he called Putin directly to let him know of his country’s intention to join NATO, and was surprised by just how calmly Vlad took the news.
“Altogether the discussion was very good,” Niinisto said on Sunday, according to Fox News (of all places). “I say calm and cool, and he did not repeat those threats he had earlier, and his people had been telling that is that if Finland joins—that means some kind of contra steps, military contra steps, whatever that meant—but he didn’t repeat it now.”
Still, Carlson didn’t seem to want to take any chances in pissing off his Kremlin superfans, so he toed the line perfectly by pretending to really not understand or care about any of it. You can watch part of his commentary above.
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