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Bottled-in-bond bourbon whiskey is often called “the good stuff.” Part of that is due to the style being a little rarer than your average small batch bourbon. Another reason is the way it’s made. The juice in bottled-in-bond bourbons need to come from one distiller, during one distilling season. After at least four years of aging, those barrels are then blended and proofed down to 100 proof, every time.

The idea is that since the barrels have to come from the same season, they’re generally the same age and have the same depth. There’s no hiding/fixing flavor notes with older or younger barrels. Here’s the thing: any barrel can be a “bottled in bond” if it fits the flavor profile of that brand’s b-i-b expression. Distilling is a big business and all warehouses are federally bonded (another rule for bonded whiskey). So if a barrel doesn’t match that flavor profile, it isn’t thrown out, it’s just blended out into another expression. If it fits, it stays a bonded whiskey.

To many, the bottled-in-bond label represents a certain kind of fidelity to the process and to the product. But does it actually taste better? To try to answer that, I thought I’d pull some bottled-in-bond bourbons from my shelf and taste them blind, to see if they really are the good stuff. And to really drive that point home, I added two ringers — Knob Creek 12 and Johnny Drum Private Stock — which both have an ABV of 50 percent, like all bonded whiskey.

The lineup today is:

• Jack Daniel’s Bonded
• Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond
• Knob Creek 12
• Johnny Drum Private Stock
• Boulder Spirits Straight Bourbon Whiskey Bottled In Bond
• E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bottled In Bond
• New Riff Red Turkey Weated BIB
• Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Spring 2022 Edition

Do bottled in bonds really taste that much better than an average 100-proof bourbon? Let’s find out.

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

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

This is all about the vanilla cakes and cherry candies on the nose with a little bit of new leather, orange oil, and sweet wood. The palate leans into apple fritters with vanilla frosting next to plenty of wintry spices — nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon mostly. There’s a Cream of Wheat vibe on the mid-palate with brown sugar, cinnamon apples, and raisins mixed in. The finish is a bit like a Hostess Cherry Pie with a dry cedar edge.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla ice cream and salted caramel draw you in on the nose with dashes of dried apple chips and cedar bark. The taste has a floral honey sweetness with layers of Graham cracker, nutmeg, and orange zest. The mid-palate leans into the sweetness with rich toffee before the finish arrives with a mix of sticky cherry tobacco, old leather, and woody spice.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Cherry bark and dark chocolate dominate the nose with a whisper of winter spice and menthol tobacco. Blueberry and cherry pie lead the way on the palate as salted caramel and dark chocolate cut with dried chili balance things out. The finish is part green reeds and maybe even sugar cane and part rich and dark brandied cherries dipped in that chili-infused chocolate with a silky body.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Creamy and lush eggnog with plenty of allspice and nutmeg gives way to a soft and slightly sweet cedar plank with a hint of salt. Red Hots and orange rinds lead the way in the taste as Cherry Dr. Pepper livens things up. That hot cinnamon and creamy nog round out the finish with a touch of tap water at the very end.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

This is all about that hazy IPA on the nose with plenty of tropical fruit countered by rummy spices, vanilla, and oak. That tropical rum cocktail vibe continues on the palate with plenty of sticky toffee pudding, vanilla creaminess, and wet oak. Dried apricot leather and cotton candy dominate the back half of the sip as notes of dark chocolate and tobacco finish things off.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

Orchard wood and berry fruit leather dance on the nose with layers of old cellar beams, dry black potting soil, vanilla wafers with a touch of nougat, and buttery toffee. The palate is part of sharp cinnamon tobacco and part dark fruit leather that mingles with old leather boots, winter spices, and cedar boxes before a cotton candy sweetness hits on the mid-palate. The finish leans back towards the berry with a pie while the leather and tobacco dry out the end.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

Sourdough and cherry pie are dominant on the nose with hints of old leather, maybe some orange rind, and a bit of green cedar. The taste is more of that cherry pie with a cinnamon stick woodiness next to a layer of dry sweetgrass and worn leather. The cherry continues on the finish as almost tart grape and more old leather round things out.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a mix of freshly fried yeast doughnuts smothered in blackberry jam with moments of dried leather, old cedar, orange blossoms, and date-rich Christmas cake. The taste follows those lines and adds in almost smoky cherrywood, more blackberry jam, lush vanilla cream, black tea, cloves, and sticky tobacco. The finish balances that pipe tobacco with old cedar and plenty of dark berry compote.

Part 2: The Ranking

8. Boulder Spirits Straight Bourbon Whiskey Bottled In Bond — Taste 5

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $90

The Whiskey:

This Colorado bourbon is a bit of an outlier. The juice is made from a mash bill of 51% corn, 44% malted barley, and only five percent rye. That makes this one almost closer to a grain whiskey from Ireland or Scotland than a standard bourbon. The whiskey ages for four years before blending, proofing, and bottling in the Rocky Mountains.

Bottom Line:

This was very young/green on the nose. The hazy IPA vibe gave it away instantly as a crafty bourbon. It was good, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not my jam.

7. Johnny Drum Private Stock — Taste 4

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

Willett — or Kentucky Bourbon Distillers — makes this special label. As with everything at Willett, though, the cards on the aging, mash bill, and blending of this bottle are held pretty close to the chest. The juice is a marrying of varying barrels that are cut to 101 to compete with Wild Turkey. That’s about all we know.

Bottom Line:

This felt like a perfectly good cocktail bourbon. I’d also pour this into a refreshing highball, but that’s about it.

6. New Riff Red Turkey Wheated BIB — Taste 7

ABV: 50%

Average Price: Limited Availability ($50 MSRP)

The Whiskey:

This release from craft whiskey darling, New Riff, is all about the heritage grains. The whiskey uses a 19th-century grain, Red Turkey Wheat, to create a unique whiskey. The juice is aged for five years at New Riff’s warehouse before it’s vatted, proofed ever so slightly, and bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

This was where things get a little “same-y.” There was a lot of cherry, wood, and vanilla in this lineup and this was the most indirect of these. It’s nice but didn’t stick out, hence the lower ranking.

5. E.H. Taylor Single Barrel Bottled In Bond — Taste 6

ABV: 50%

Average Price: Charity only

The Whiskey:

The whiskey in this case is a 12-year-old barrel of E.H. Taylor. That whiskey was hand-picked by Chris Stapleton. It was then cut down very slightly to bottled-in-bond proof, or 100 proof, with that famously soft Kentucky limestone water.

Bottom Line:

This, again, was nice. It felt like a classic bourbon or an everyday bourbon. I wasn’t overwhelmed or awed, but I was satisfied.

4. Jack Daniel’s Bonded — Taste 1

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $35

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is from Jack’s bonded warehouse. The mash of 80% corn, 12% barley, and eight percent rye is twice distilled before it’s run through Jack’s very long Lincoln County process of sugar maple charcoal filtration. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with that Jack Daniel’s limestone cave water, and bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

This was a nice departure from the rest of the list but not quite as refined as the next three on the list. Still, this is where we get into “that’s a nice sipper” territory.

3. Heaven Hill Botted-in-Bond — Taste 2

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

This expression has been a touchstone bottled in bond since 1939 and remains a go-to for many bourbon lovers. The juice is the classic Heaven Hill bourbon mash bill that’s left to age for an extra three years compared to Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond.

Bottom Line:

This still rules. It’s a little one-note if I’m really being overly critical. But that “one note” is a pretty nice one with a lot of clarity and depth.

2. Knob Creek 12 — Taste 3

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $71

The Whiskey:

This is classic Beam whiskey with a low-ish rye mash bill of 77% corn, 13% rye, and 10% malted barley. The juice is then left alone in the Beam warehouses for 12 long years. The barrels are chosen according to a specific taste and married to create this higher-proof expression.

Bottom Line:

This would have won easily today had an Old Fitz not been in the mix. This was deep, interesting, and comforting all at once. It also goes to show that Jim Beam doesn’t need to slap “bottled in bond” on the label to make this the good stuff.

1. Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Spring 2022 Edition — Taste 8

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $1,275

The Whiskey:

This wheated bourbon whiskey — 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley — was distilled and laid down in barrels back in 2004. The barrels were vatted after 17 years and proofed down to the bottled-in-bond standard of 100 proof and then bottled in the iconic Old Fitz decanter for a Spring 2022 release.

Bottom Line:

Not surprisingly at this price, this was in a different universe to the rest on the list and it’s kind of unfair to even rank this against them. This is one of the best bourbons of the year by a mile.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

So, I guess that’s a “no” to my question at the end of the lede. Good bourbon is good bourbon whether it’s labeled bottled in bond, small batch, or even single barrel.

Overall, Knob Creek 12 was the clear winner today. Old Fitz was walking away with the number one seed pretty much no matter what. But that Knob Creek really wowed in the blind tasting and beat out the competition easily.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

You’ll find tracks that creep into the seven- or eight-minute range on Ethel Cain’s debut album, Preacher’s Daughter. Muted sermon soundbites, the thick buzz of bees or the incessant hum of flies, and her own languid vocals build out worlds of sound that are so dreamy and dark they remind casual listeners of Lana Del Rey. But even if Cain’s singing style is languorous like Lana, a deeper excavation of her lyrics — and Cain’s own backstory — will help newcomers understand the comparison stops there. Perhaps what connects the two women is an insistence that pop can sound however they want it to; if they build a sound and stick to it, listeners will fall in line. And on those terms, Lana is a logical precursor for the rise of Cain’s sprawling sound.

Growing up in the rural town of Perry, Florida as the oldest of four, Cain’s born-again Christian background included homeschooling and threats of hell when she began to vocalize her queerness. After surviving her teen years, in part thanks to internet portals like Twitter and Tumblr, Cain formally came out as transgender at the age of 20, changing her name to Hayden Silas Anhedönia and landing on the persona of Ethel Cain shortly after. “I love overkill — I’m nothing if not dramatic,” Cain told The New York Times, who recently published a freewheeling profile that collects the artist’s personal life data into a cohesive narrative for the first time. “It’s over-the-top American melodrama, it’s Thelma & Louise and the most ridiculous, psychotic, psychedelic things.”

Cain told The Times that unveiling her new artistic persona was more akin to being possessed than an act of creation, a fitting revelation from an artist who so often deals in matters of the occult. First adopting the aliases of Atlas and White Silas for making music, there’s a renewed focus and sharpness in the work of Ethel Cain that these previous iterations lacked — so maybe the spirit world is involved. Quietly building out the world of Ethel Cain across three EPs — Carpet Bed and Golden Age in 2019, and Inbred in 2021 — her first full-length album represents a huge leap forward for the artist. Building pop out of fire and brimstone, these songs confront a loss of faith and the threat of eternal damnation within the intimacy of story-songs.

“A House In Nebraska,” one of the first tracks off the album that Cain wrote for the record, nearly reaches the eight-minute mark. Its tortured love story unfolds across brooding piano chords, building toward a maximalist, shoegaze-y crescendo with layers of buzzy electric guitar and sporadic drums. The longest track on the record, “Thoroughfare,” leans more toward the Americana side of her sounds, with harmonica and acoustic guitar morphing into the kind of warped epic that warrants a wailing guitar solo. The best song on the album, “American Teenager” gets closer to Khalid’s own American Teen than any listeners of the early EPs would’ve ever guessed, pinning a cheerleader, a dead teen soldier, and an unmoved Jesus into the kind of ethereal pop melody that made 1989 such a beloved record.

Cain told Alternative Press that Preacher’s Daughter is the first album in a “planned trilogy about three generations of a family,” dubbing that trilogy “the Ethel Cain Cinematic Universe.” She’s certainly right that her songs unspool like movies, filled with high-drama, moving dialogue, and the kind of characters you’ll think about long after each song’s inevitable climactic moment dies down. A great example of this is one of the album’s earliest singles, “Gibson Girl,” one of the most sensual and violent songs in Cain’s repertoire. Told from the perspective of a prostitute, “Gibson Girl” is more stripper anthem than Biblical kiss-off, living in that liminal space between empowerment and subjugation. You get the sense there’s no way Cain would rather have it.

And as accessible as some of the record is, it’s still not for the faint of heart — nor is it a mainstream pop release by any means. Alienating songs like “Ptloemaea” pit Ethel’s sweetly quiet vocals against walls of sound that lean into metal and harder rock, and the three-minute instrumental of “Televangelism” paints a story with piano and vocal loops instead of lyrics. Repeating motifs of generational trauma and recurring toxic cycles on “Family Tree (Intro)” and “Family Tree,” Ethel unflinchingly explores the impact that religion, guilt, and shame have — and continue to have — on so many American families. The ominous hiss of flies builds in the backdrop of the song while Cain sings about a white horse, taking down another degree of separation between herself and Taylor Swift.

Since the characters in Ethel Cain songs glow on Harleys in parking lots (“Western Nights”) and mourn the long-gone ritual of church on Sundays while staring at dead bugs (“Sun Bleached Flies”), it’s little wonder the industry that has invoked comparisons to Lana’s absent-minded Americana fetishism. But even Del Rey’s best writing has never delivered a line as poignant as “God loves you / but not enough to save you.” That’s a lyric written by someone who has escaped the worst of what worship can be, but never lost the urge to keep singing hymns to the silence. Ethel Cain’s faith won’t save you, but maybe her music will.

After learning that Tesla being knocked off the S&P 100 ESG list for a litany of violations, Elon Musk had a total meltdown on Twitter, the social media platform he apparently no longer wants to buy, but may be forced to purchase anyway. During his weird, conspiratorial rant, Musk claimed that he’s the target of “political attacks” before vowing to never vote for the Democratic Party ever again.

“In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican,” Musk tweeted. “Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold.”

Clearly, Musk is attempting to blame Democrats for Tesla being pulled from the ESG list and not the actual reasons for this year’s exclusion, which are not great. Specifically, Tesla’s infamous autopilot feature, which has been the cause of several headline-making accidents. Via Bloomberg:

The index provider also cited concerns related to working conditions and the firm’s handling of an investigation into deaths and injuries linked to its driver-assistance systems. A lack of low-carbon strategy and codes of business conduct also counted against Elon Musk’s company, it said.

Of course, none of those reasons were mentioned during Musk’s meltdown. Instead, he railed against the “leftist agenda” and essentially accused the ESG of being “woke.” It was enough of a wild tangent, that Mike Lindell started trending as Musk was compared to the maniacal MyPillow CEO, who also has a penchant for going on wild rants about leftist forces conspiring against him and his best pal Donald Trump.

You can see Musk being hilariously compared to Lindell below:

(Via Bloomberg)

Ever since the potential overturn of Roe v. Wade hit the news, many in the music world have expressed their opposition of it. Halsey has been among the most vocal, as she was one of many artists who signed a big Planned Parenthood ad after sharing a lengthy message of her own, in which she called the rumored Supreme Court decision “a cruel attack on our fundamental right to choose if and when to have a child.”

Now that she has started a new tour, she has used some of her stage real estate to continue spreading her pro-choice message.

While performing “Nightmare,” a video played behind her, which showed statistics about abortion. One read, “Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed today, more than 99 perfect safe in fact.” Another read, “Nearly 8 in 10 Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.” Another said, “Black women suffer from maternal mortality at rates three times higher than white women.” Another noted, “There are now 16 states where 95% of counties do not have an abortion clinic.”

The message concluded with a choice “Nightmare” lyric: “So save me your prayers.”

“Nightmare” was a thematically appropriate choice for the message, as it’s about to young women and some of the pressures they face.

Check out a fan-shot clip above.

Top Dawg Entertainment’s newest rapper, Doechii, is already making a big impression. After featuring on “Wat U Sed” from labelmate Isaiah Rashad’s album last year, Doechii officially announced her signing to TDE this March, following up with videos for her first two singles, “Persuasive” and “Crazy,” before announcing TDE’s joint deal with Capitol Records to distribute her upcoming album. Last night, she took her next big step into the limelight, performing both singles as a dazzling medley on The Tonight Show.

Doechii’s penchant for going big circled every aspect of her performance, from the elaborate styling (a gigantic gown and attention-grabbing space buns in her hair) to the band’s full-tilt renditions of her uptempo, house-influenced singles. Doechii performed with her whole body, letting her gyrations emphasize the rebellious crazy, even with the restrictions caused by her dress. The crowd obviously loved it, too, cheering her on as she flailed and twerked her way through the disorienting back half of her set.

Doechii hasn’t announced her album yet, but it’s clear from her eye-popping rollout so far that she puts a lot of work into the presentation — so when she does drop her album, you can bet it’ll be worth checking out for both the music and the visuals attached.

Watch Doechii perform “Persuasive” and “Crazy” above.

Lil Nas X has seen much success ever since he recorded the 2019 smash “Old Town Road” for $50 in a small Atlanta studio. The record, recognized as the longest-running Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit, served as the launchpad for a fast-rising music career loaded with multiple No. 1’s, Grammy wins, and a massive social media presence. Now the 23-year-old is about to enter another echelon as he is set to receive the Hal David Starlight Award at the upcoming 51st Songwriters Hall Of Fame gala.

The award recognizes “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs.” Lil Nas X joins Drake, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Halsey, Sara Bareilles, John Legend, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, and many more previous recipients of the high honor created in 2004 to maintain the legacy of its namesake, SHOF Chairman Hal David. Multiple members of the current SHOF board cited the young artist is being recognized for the success of his songs and his proud, outspoken representation of the various communities he identifies with.

In addition to Lil Nas X, the gala will celebrate the induction of Mariah Carey, The Isley Brothers, The Neptunes, Eurythmics, and more. This will be the first Songwriters Hall of Fame gala since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Umbrella Academy‘s recent Season 3 teaser made clear that the entrance of The Sparrow Academy included the formerly ghostly Ben, who had wanted to know, “Who the hell are these a**holes?” Well, the full-on trailer has arrived, and now, we’re learning that the Sparrows are a bunch of “d*ckheads.” However, they are d*ckheads who can damn well fight, so it’s on. This is a different Ben, and he’s not sweet and nice and only antagonizing Klaus. He’s got it out for everyone.

This season, notably, showcases this new group of siblings (including Cazzie David’s character) also sired by Bad Dad Reginald Hargreeves, and of course, the entire timeline jumping thing has opened up another riff in the universe. It’s now up to Klaus and his savvy dance moves to save the world, and… just kidding. All of the siblings proper must band together, and that now includes Lila, seen joining forces with Viktor, to put an end to this exasperatingly annoying apocalypse sh*t. That’d also be a reference to Elliot Page’s character — who comes out as transgender in a nod to Page’s IRL July 2020 announcement — and this looks like another action-packed, chaotic installment of the beloved supernatural family drama. From the synopsis:

After putting a stop to 1963’s doomsday, the Umbrella Academy return home to the present, convinced they prevented the initial apocalypse and fixed this godforsaken timeline once and for all. But after a brief moment of celebration, they realize things aren’t exactly (okay, not at all) how they left them. Enter the Sparrow Academy. Smart, stylish, and about as warm as a sea of icebergs, the Sparrows immediately clash with the Umbrellas in a violent face-off that turns out to be the least of everyone’s concerns.

The Umbrella Academy returns on June 22.

Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel have had some bad luck when it comes to COVID. The late night hosts both tested positive earlier in the month, throwing a wrench into their shows. However, Colbert’s situation got even hairier when The Late Show had to go dark after he had a recurrence of the pandemic disease. It was a rare moment — until the same thing happened to Kimmel. The ABC host is out this week after testing positive again, and well, Colbert couldn’t help but feel like Kimmel was copying him.

“Getting COVID twice is kind of my thing,” Colbert said during his Wednesday night monologue. “If you’re gonna steal my bit, Jimmy, I have no choice but to steal one of yours, too.”

That bit? “Mean Tweets.” Except instead of having celebrities read awful tweets about themselves, Colbert read tweets that dunked entirely on Kimmel.

Clearly, these tweets were written by the Late Show staff to roast Kimmel, but that doesn’t make them any less stinging:

@dogluver-123456 writes, “Get better, Kimmel. ‘Cause you can’t get worse.”

@skateboardmaya-1 writes, “It’s hard to tell if Kimmel got Covid from a staff member or a family member, because most of his staff are family members.”

@GolgferCraig19672 writes, “Sad to hear that Covid sidelined my third favorite Jimmy, after Fallon and ‘Dean Sausage.’”

@californiadreaming27 writes, “Jimmy Kimmel has Covid? Who cares? I only watch his show for The Roots anyway.”

While Kimmel is out, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers stars Andy Samberg and John Mulaney filled in for the late night host. They, too, roasted the late night host for catching COVID twice because, let’s face it, that’s the ultimate form of love from a comedian.

(Via The Late Show on Twitter)

The world was given yet another intergenerational fantasy collaboration today in the form of “Turn Up The Sunshine,” starring the legendary Diana Ross and multi-talented Tame Impala. The uplifting track is loaded with a myriad of instruments, a huge chorus, and an opportune, palpable brightness that is well-timed for the impending summer. The Sun reported on the record last fall after a conversation with someone from Ross’s team, and it is now known that “Turn Up The Sunshine” is the lead single from the upcoming soundtrack for Minions: The Rise Of Gru.

“Turn Up The Sunshine” features songwriting contributions from Jack Antonoff, who is responsible for producing the entire album, in addition to Sam Dew, Patrik Berger, and the man behind Tame Impala, Kevin Parker. The seventies-inspired soundtrack will also feature HER, Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, Thundercat, RZA, and Caroline Polachek, some of which will be trying their hand at covering classic songs from the disco era.

This release follows Diana Ross’ 2021 album Thank You, the 25th in her catalog, lead by the single “I Still Believe.” Tame Impala released The Slow Rush B-Sides & Remixes in February of this year featuring Lil Yachty, Blood Orange, Maurice Fulton, and more.

Check out “Turn Up The Sunshine” above.

Before this interview, I’ve had three encounters with Glen Powell. The first time was in 2016, when Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! was up for a Gotham Award and there was an extra seat at the cast’s table and Paramount asked if I wanted to take it. (The thinking, I believe, is if they are paying for that seat anyway, maybe they can get some easy press out of it; six years later, that gamble has finally paid off.) This sounds like a fun idea in theory, until I showed up and it kind of hit me, oh, these people all made a movie together and I have nothing to do with that movie and, my goodness, this is going to be awkward. Memories of being the new kid at school during the first lunch break, not knowing anyone and not knowing where to sit, came flooding back. It will probably not surprise you to learn that the cast of that movie is a pretty fun hang. And Powell was certainly an alpha dog at the table among the actors (Megan Ellison was also at the table and she, too, is very much an alpha dog) and I could tell quickly, once he was nice to me, everyone was nice to me. Even when he didn’t have to be nice to the idiot literally crashing their party, he realy was.

The second was in February 2020. Paramount was hosting a mid-day screening of Top Gun: Maverick footage with the cast. As you probably know, February 2020 was a strange time in New York City. I remember that were a lot of handshakes and a lot of running to the bathroom to immediately wash those hands. Everything said about the release of the movie kind of ended with some sort of postscript, “assuming everything turns out to be okay.” (It, uh, did not.) But Powell was noticeably excited. Now, having seen the final, yeah, I can see why. Imagine knowing your whole life is about to change in just a couple months.

Turns out, all our lives were about to change, and Top Gun: Maverick wouldn’t be in a movie theater for another 27 months.

The third was when we were both, randomly, trying to hail a cab after the New York City premiere of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Powell was getting into his cab, but when he saw me, he said, “I’m going to message you, I have something to tell you.” True to his word, a few minutes later, I started getting messages from Powell about how excited he was for Top Gun: Maverick and that, once I saw it, I’m “going to lose my mind.” Yeah, sure, he was hyping up the movie a bit. Though, at the time, I was still very excited for his excitement. It’s nice to see actors not pretend that what they are doing isn’t cool.

And then I saw Top Gun: Maverick and Powell was right, I lost my mind.

“Talking to Tom about how the first movie changed his life, I feel like this is, at least, a next chapter for me in my career,” says Powell, who is probably correct about that feeling. “And, sometimes, holding onto that secret is tough to not share the excitement that you have with the rest of the world. But also, career-wise, it’s sometimes hard to wait for your career to start a little bit? Even until about two weeks ago, I still felt like I was putting on my tuxedo for a wedding that wasn’t going to happen. You know what I mean?”

In Top Gun: Maverick, Powell plays Jake Seresin, call sign Hangman. Hangman, along with other crack pilots, have been assembled at Top Gun to train for a very dangerous and complex mission, and their instructor is Pete Mitchell, call sign Maverick, of course played by Tom Cruise. Powell originally auditioned to play Bradley Bradshaw, the son of Goose, Maverick’s late best friend (played by Anthony Edwards in the first film, his son is huge source of tension for Maverick in the new one). That part would go to Miles Teller and Powell was instead offered the role of Hangman, who is the best pilot on the team, and isn’t shy about letting people know that fact. (There’s an easy comparison to make to Val Kilmer’s Iceman here. But Hangman isn’t Iceman, except probably for the attention the actor playing each role gets after the movie is released.)

“I was sort of waffling on whether I was going to do the movie or not,” says Powell about when the offer for Hangman came. “This character didn’t exist on the page. And it was a real leap of faith that Tom convinced me to do. This character was not even close to what it is on the screen at the end of the day. So I really had to take a leap of faith in the fact that we were going to start shooting with a character that had nothing to say and a character that had no great payoff anywhere in this movie.”

Powell’s biggest problem with the character was that Hangman was a braggart, but was consistently wrong. If you go back and watch the original Top Gun, Iceman bullies Maverick, but what’s interesting is, it’s not macho hazing, it’s Iceman not wanting for him or the other pilots to be killed. In the final film, Hangman isn’t a bully, but he’s not afraid to be, let’s say, blunt. But the character needed a lot of work from the script. “His original call sign was Slayer,“ says Powell. “And he was a guy who wasn’t right. He wasn’t a wingman, but he also wasn’t right in what he was doing. And I told Tom, I was like, hey, I can be a jerk. I’m happy to play a guy who lacks sensitivity in that way in terms of delivering the news. But he’s got to be right at the end of the day. And Hangman is a character that I think is so fun because yeah, Maverick and Rooster should not be flying together. That is information that needs to be out on the table because that’s information that could get everybody killed.”

Powell continues, “I think the danger of playing this type of role is you’re playing a derivative Iceman, right? And this character was not even an inspired Iceman with a point of view. It was a character in which he was just the voice of dissent and a negative opinion in the room with no purpose or grounding. And that was a thing in which I go, well, that guy is not a guy I root for. I don’t want to live in those boots for this amount of time.” Powell was then promised by Cruise, director Joseph Kosinski, and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie that the character would be fleshed out.

Randomly, I know multiple people who just know Powell in their normal lives, and I have yet to meet anyone who has a bad word, even privately, to say about him. It makes me think Glen Powell is the kind of person who just kind of knows everyone. One of those people is actor Phil Burke (from Hell on Wheels and who, a few years ago, was also one of my favorite New York City bartenders). The pair met in 2014 on the set of a movie called Windwalkers. A few years ago, without prompting, on a sunny New York City Saturday of day drinking, Burke wanted to tell his (I like to assume) favorite customer (me) about his buddy who just got cast in Top Gun: Maverick.

What was odd about the interaction was there was not one hint of envy at Powell’s success (and I’ve been around enough actors to know that’s kind of rare). I reached out to Burke this week to talk about Powell and he wrote me back a very long email with a lot of stories that don’t really fit in the confines of this particular piece (one involves an alligator; “He may be in Top Gun, and he may have broken some sound barriers up in the Big Blue, but if you want to see a man squirm you talk about alligator-infested waters in Florida”). I’ll have a little more from Burke in a bit.

But, to Burke’s point, Powell has a tendency to deflect questions about himself or his character by praising his colleagues. I asked Powell about walking the tightrope on a character who is smug, but at the same time remains likable to the audience. Instead of answering that, he started praising co-star Monica Barbaro, who plays a pilot named Phoenix, “Phoenix’s character, I’ve got to give Monica Barbaro so much credit. That is an incredibly difficult character to embody because you’re representing all female aviators and you have to be part of the squadron. You don’t want to be in your own pack or your own lane. You want to be part of the group. And yet you have to stand out. And standing out is part of being a female in the Navy, but you have to look proficient because you want to inspire more female aviators. And I think that’s important. So it’s a really delicate dance.”

To not spoil this, I will keep it vague, but Powell’s Hangman has a pretty big moment in the film’s third act. The audience at my screening erupted in applause. When I asked Powell if he knew this moment would be a crowdpleaser when he read it in the script, I was shocked to find out this scene did not exist. “That wasn’t in the original draft,” says Powell. “He just disappears from the script at a certain point. And so, Tom and I discussed that.” There’s literally a point in Top Gun: Maverick we all just knew Hangman was coming back. Which, once you see the film, it’s kind of hard to imagine the movie without that scene.

This has to be a tough moment for an actor in a big movie like this. Weighing the balance between this character suggestion will benefit the movie and this character suggestion will benefit me. The thing is, sometimes both can be true. Powell explains, “The interesting thing, when you’re making a movie, you have to really separate your ego from the story. Right? And it’s so crucial. And I feel like it’s where so many movie stars misstep. Tom just doesn’t have that in him. He really understands how to put himself out of the process and go, What’s best for the story? And in that moment, I really did, I could authentically sell it because I really felt like it was best for the story, not just for me as a character or an actor. I was like, no, I think the audience needs to sense a completion.”

Powell continues, “But on the page at the time, Hangman just disappeared. I felt the exact same way you did. I was like, man, I feel like the audience is going to be left off without the sense of completion.”

So, I had heard a rumor about the, let’s say, spiritual sequel to the original Top Gun volleyball scene – this time a beach football game. (This scene alone will probably cement Powell quite a few new fans.) The rumor I heard was Tom Cruise wouldn’t tell anyone exactly when this scene would be shot so no one could fully prepare for one particular day, physique-wise. So, instead, everyone just had to always be on their toes that this might be the day they have to film shirtless. “We shot it the first time, we literally, we brought beer to the beach,” says Powell. “We immediately went out to this Tater Tot Bar in San Diego. We binged on as many carbs as possible. The first time we shot it, he didn’t push it. The date was set. We executed on that date, and we did the whole thing. Then we celebrated, and then we were told we were going to shoot it again in a couple weeks.”

Powell continues, ”So then everybody, after the craziest night at tequila and tater tots and beer, we had to go back into the trenches and everybody’s back in the hotel gym doing crunches until they cried. And then we re-shot it again. And I believe there was even a third time, if I’m not mistaken, where we had to do it again. And it was just like this thing where there was this rumor constantly. And I’m not sure if it was so that we didn’t gain a ton of weight over the course of this movie and be drastically looking different. But there was always this rumor around set that we were going to re-shoot the beach montage. So when you have that level of fear, a montage, like kind of weighing on your shoulders at any given time, you make the right decisions in the kitchen.”

Finally, back to Phil Burke from earlier, my former bartender and friend of Glen Powell — after he finishes up with all the amusing stories (I do love that the stories he provided would be better served for a roast rather than a glowing piece like this one; another one involves Powell’s love of the movie Armageddon), he sums everything up about Powell with a closing thought, “The guy is second to none. Love that man and excited to see him continue moving and shaking.”

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ will open in theaters on May 24th. You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.