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A few days ago, Lizzo declared her new album is finished, writing on Instagram, “Oh yeah b*tch… I just mastered my album and turns out its 100% DONE ! YOU THINK U KNOW BUT U HAVE NO IDEA. BABY HOW YOU HEALING? HEALING GOOD AS HELL.” Last night, she guested on The Late Late Show With James Corden and offered a taste of a new song called “About Damn Time” by sharing a sample of it on the show.

During the interview, Corden pulled out a vinyl record with a simple sleeve that said, “TOP SECRET Lizzo New Music 2022.” He then popped the record on a portable turntable and played about 30 seconds of the track as Lizzo, fellow Late Late Show guest Gabrielle Union, and the studio audience danced and clapped along to the beat. Indeed, it’s a song to dance to and the soulful, funky, disco-inspired tune sounds like a hit.

Lizzo also noted the song is set to be released on April 14. That’s just two days before her upcoming appearance on Saturday Night Live, so it seems likely she’ll end up performing the track on the show.

Elsewhere in the show, Lizzo popped up after Corden declared ’80s music is the best for dancing to. They then had a “riff-off,” with Corden singing ’80s tune while Lizzo sang Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar,” BTS’ “Butter,” and her own “Juice.”

Watch clips from Lizzo’s Late Late Show appearance above and below.

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

This year’s Oscars telecast is already bound to be a hot mess, but while people marvel over the show’s bizarre invitation list, there’s a more serious concern looming large over everything: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Eighteen years ago, there was another global issue that hovered over the Academy Awards, and one in which America itself was the aggressor nation. In 2003, the ceremony took place shortly after the George W. Bush administration launched the Iraq War. And while viewers got to hear Michael Moore, accepting for his documentary Bowling for Columbine, tear the then-president a new one, the night could have been even more political than it was.

In a recent interview with the Sunday Times (as caught by Variety), Adrien Brody — who won that year for The Pianist — claimed that his fellow Best Actor nominees almost didn’t attend, at the behest of Jack Nicholson. The legendary actor, nominated that year for About Schmidt, invited his four competitors in that category — Brody, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Caine, and Nicolas Cage — over to his house, where he urged them to boycott the show in response to the Iraq War. Brody, though, was reluctant.

“I said, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going,’” Brody told the publication. “I said, ‘I kind of have to show up. My parents are coming. This doesn’t come around too often. I know you guys are all winners. You can sit it out. But I can’t.’”

In the end, no one boycotted it and Brody won. (He also infamously grabbed presenter Halle Berry for an unwanted kiss.) Instead of protesting the war with his absence, Brody used his speech to decry the war that would last for eight years and cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands of lives to over a million.

“I’m filled with a lot of sadness tonight because I’m accepting an award at such a strange time,” Brody told the crowd. “My experience of making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people at the times of war, and the repercussions of war. Whomever you believe in, if it’s God or Allah, may he watch over you, and let us pray for a peaceful and swift resolution.”

There won’t be any such boycotts at this year’s ceremony, though attempts to make the show topical have been both ill-advised and, thankfully, impossible.

You can watch Brody’s win in the video below.

(Via Sunday Times and Variety)

We know that Donald Trump will eat (or at least pose for a picture with) his Trump Tower taco bowls, but did he ever eat a Trump Steak? Did he ever play Trump: The Game? Did he ever take a course at Trump University, ride in Tour de Trump or fly on Trump Shuttle? He reportedly doesn’t drink, so he’s probably never guzzled Trump Vodka. But there’s another product of his we now know he doesn’t use: his Twitter clone Truth Social.

A month has passed since Trump’s contribution to the social media game had a soft launch, and pollster Frank Luntz noticed something (as caught by Raw Story): Trump himself hasn’t posted on it since he bestowed it with its first-ever post.

“Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!” Trump wrote on February 15. Jump over a month to March 21 and he still has yet to follow that one up.

Mind you, there’s not a lot of people on there anyway. When the service went live on February 20 — available only as an iOS app and only in America — it was an instant disaster, plagued with outages, quirks, and difficulties with the sign-up process that still haven’t been resolved. Things don’t appear to have gotten much better, which have reportedly made the former president who now lives in resorts hopping mad.

Truth Social was supposed to be Trump’s take on Twitter, which banned him shortly after his violent supporters stormed the Capitol building, attempting to overturn an election he lost. But not only has it been drowning in technical issues (and sketchy behind-the-scenes allegations), it also has to compete with a sea of other far right social media services, like Gab, Gettr, and Bumble. Is there even room in this realm for the guy who started it all?

Why hasn’t Trump posted? Maybe because it’s a ghost town. Maybe because, as people like Joe Rogan find out when they try one of those “free speech” social media services, it’s deeply unpleasant to be in a place that exclusively attracts maniacs and not everyone else as well.

Of course, one day Truth Social could get its act together. It could finally expand to Android and desktops. Trump himself could start firing off bizarre and alarming tweets like it was 2020 again. Or maybe it will just be yet another Trump failure, one more misfire for a guy who’s lost more than he’s won.

(Via Raw Story)

The 2021-22 season hasn’t been overly kind to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the team picked up a notable victory on Monday evening. Led by a monster night from LeBron James, the Lakers went on the road and toppled the Cleveland Cavaliers by a 131-120 margin, and James energized his old home in Cleveland with a few throwback moments along the way. One such moment occurred late in the first half when James caught a pass with a head of steam and threw down a mammoth dunk over old friend and teammate Kevin Love.

Following the game, it was a celebratory atmosphere for James, who finished the night with 38 points (on 17-of-29 shooting), 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Naturally, he was prompted about the dunk that made the national rounds and, in short, he almost apologized to Love, saying that he “hate it had to be him” on the other end of the highlight.

Obviously there is a bit of good-natured trash talk in here, but Love and James teamed up with Kyrie Irving and company for a title in Cleveland, so there is history there. James is correct that the dunk didn’t make the difference in the game, but it certainly was the most memorable play of the evening. Furthermore, it was another reminder that James is still one of the best players in the world, and it was even more appropriate that he put on a show at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Disney hasn’t been doing so hot lately. Staff at the corporate behemoth have been revolting over CEO Bob Chapek’s clumsy handling of the company response to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, legislation seen by critics as anti-LGBTQIA+. With walkouts planned for this week and next, the company is a little too preoccupied for what was supposed to be a nice management retreat.

As per Deadline, the retreat, which was set for next week, has been postponed as the company deals with internal rebellion. Instead, leadership at the media company will reportedly go on a “listening tour” with employees in an attempt to repair staff relations and bolster their commitment to queer rights issues.

The news was broken during a town hall for all Disney employees that was led by Chapek, who last week enraged some of his staff over his response to the bill. In a memo released two weekends ago that went public, Chapek expressed solidarity with the queer community but stopped short of taking a public stance on Florida’s controversial bill.

During the town hall, Chapek took a much firmer stance, saying the company would oppose anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-trans legislation not only in Florida but also in places like Texas, whose governor, Greg Abbott, threatened to target parents of transgender children on charges of child abuse.

The company’s walkouts are scheduled over the next week starting Tuesday. Each day will feature a brief walkout, during breaks. On next Tuesday, the 29th, there will be a larger walkout. The town hall, originally scheduled for early March, was moved to Monday so that any employees taking part in the walkouts could attend.

Also taking umbrage with Chapek’s response, if for different reasons, were conservatives, including Florida governor and bully Ron DeSantis, who mocked the company as “Woke Disney.”

(Via Deadline)

While Donald Trump has gone from praising Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to awkwardly backpedaling, another former host of The Apprentice has been handling the issue much better. Last week, Arnold Schwarzenegger released a moving video, in which he pled with the Russian populace to see through their leaders’ lies about why they’ve attacked a neighboring nation. And Russian state TV is not happy about it.

As per The Daily Beast, a bevy of Russian personalities have come out in force against the actor and former governor, who’s quite beloved in the country, in part because he played a KGB agent in 1988’s Red Heat. (Also because he wipes out an entire army singlehandedly at the end of Commando.) One of them was Vadim Gigin, who railed against the actor on the state TV show Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovievon.

“That face is the cover page of American imperialism and colonialism,” Gigin roared over the video. “Not the caricature image of Uncle Sam, but this Schwarz, in a Hollywood production.” He added, “He, in California, will tell us, who live here… the truth?! That is their approach towards us.”

Gigin took particular umbrage with the second half of Schwarzenegger’s video, in which he discussed the cup given to him by champion weightlifter Yury Vlasov. That set Gigin off. “Vlasov couldn’t transfer any of his brain [to Schwarzenegger] with his handshake and the gifted cup,” he steamed.

Then host Solovievon chimed in. “Schwarzenegger twice traveled to Iraq to support the American troops and never tried to tell the Iraqi people why they’re being destroyed,” he asserted.

Russian powerlifter champion Maryana Naumova also trashed Schwarzenegger in a column published by Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. While struggling to claim Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can be a Nazi even if he’s Jewish, she also dove into the actor’s filmography.

“Do you remember how in the second part of the Terminator your hero goes back in time to prevent the creation of Skynet, which would bring the death of all mankind?” she asked the actor. “Russia’s special military operation does not aim to destroy the Ukrainian people. It is aimed at the neo-Nazi Skynet, which over the years has completely subjugated Ukraine and was about to turn into an uncontrollable monster, dangerous for all of its neighbors, not only for us… Don’t side with Skynet, Terminator.”

Writer Zakhar Prilepin also tried to use Schwarzenegger’s movies to hang him. “In his video message, Schwarzenegger, who killed three million Russians in his films, told the Russian people how much he loves us and how wrong we are about Ukraine,” Prilepin wrote on Telegram. “This Austrian, the son of his father, who served in the SS and was wounded near Leningrad, is trying to act as the good cop.”

Neither Putin himself nor his cronies in power have yet to comment on Schwarzenegger’s video, which he posted not only on Twitter but also on Telegram, which is used almost exclusively by Russians. But Russian powers and propagandists ought to have seen enough of his films to know what happens when you cross him, even if you’re Sinbad.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Nick Smith — head distiller and director of distilling operations at Bardstown Bourbon Company — is one of the shooting stars of Kentucky bourbon. Smith, who grew up in Bardstown, a stone’s throw from some of the biggest whiskey distilleries in the country, has a passion for whiskey that shines through in every release.

As the head distiller for Bardstown Bourbon Company, Smith makes whiskeys for one of the freshest distilleries in Kentucky, while also chaperoning a contract distilling operation for a long list of whiskey brands. While the former is easy enough to understand, contract distilling is a frequently maligned process, misunderstood by the average whiskey drinker and likely completely unknown to the passive whiskey drinker.

It can take millions in start-up capital to get a distillery up and running, not to mention the years of aging. That’s where the contract distiller comes in. Often times, brands will hire a contract distiller to produce their whiskey from start to finish, well before they can build up their own production capacity. Other times contract distillers work with heritage producers just looking to get some extra juice aging to meet skyrocketing demand, over and above what those producers can make on their own.

Of course, there’s a lot more to the process than that. Smith and Bardstown are making juice for some of the hottest names in whiskey right now, from Blue Run to Kentucky Owl to Belle Meade to Pursuit United, running 40 different mash bills in 2021 alone. We figured that if anyone could help shed light on this process, it was him.

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So what is the difference between contract distilling and sourcing bourbon?

With contract distilling, the big difference is with us is customization from the very beginning on. Every customer we have is definitely different, from start-ups that might not know anything at all about the bourbon industry but they want to get started in it, to people who already have an established brand and know what they want but just don’t have all the details. That then goes all the way up to big names that have been doing this for over 200 years and just need a little bit of extra juice. Where we come into play is to be able to customize what it is that they’re looking for. We’re able to do any bourbons or whiskeys. The customer can sit down with us and go through that process step-by-step to customize it just for them.

And then on the sourcing whiskey side, you’re just going to be purchasing what is available on the market. So, no customizations. It’s just going to be what’s already being produced, and, usually, you’re not able to get too many new fill barrels. It’s going to be something that’s aged, and, currently, it’s hard to find any good products out there because a lot of people aren’t releasing as much of it as they used to.

So, let’s stick with the contract distilling side and walk through the process. How much influence do you, as a master distiller, have over the actual customization? Are you helping them select grains? Are you helping them select yeast? What’s the process there?

It’s definitely customer-dependent. But where I come into play is definitely how we do things here at Bardstown. You know, how our equipment runs, our beer age, our aging, where it’s going in the warehouse, the char of the barrel, the coopers that are available. As you said, the yeast we use. Everything from very start to finish.

So, say if it’s a new customer who doesn’t have any idea what they want, but they want to get into this industry and know how many barrels they’d like to start laying down, it all starts at the very beginning with a flavor profile. So, what we’ll do with a brand new customer is, we’ll go into the lab and I’ll pull out a wheated bourbon with a low wheat percentage, a wheated bourbon with a higher wheat, a wheat whiskey. Then we’ll move into a lower percentage rye bourbon, a high rye bourbon, and then some rye whiskeys, a four-grained bourbon, and then into American single malts as well. And we’ll go through all those profiles and try to see which one they’re most interested in for the grain profile that they would like to start with or the spirit type.

Once they get that and say, “Oh, I’d really like, say, wheated bourbon. That’s what I want to go with. I like the one that had a little higher percentage than the lower percentage.” we’ll dial it in from there.

What’s being dialed in?

So, if they say, maybe it was a 38 percent wheat that they tasted and they want to run one at a 36 percent. Then we’ll ask, “What percent corn do you want? Malted barley percentage?” And then we’ll dial it from there. After we get our grain recipe, we ask, “What yeast strain do you like? Here are the ones that we’ve used, the flavor profiles that you’d be looking at.” And then we go over the proofs, entry proof. What proofs do you want it off the still? Off the doubler, for those flavor profiles?

And then here’s the cooking process. That’s where I come into play, especially with the new customers. I’m working on the temperatures the grains are going to go in. I’m designing the actual procedure.

But then if you jump over to an established brand, they know exactly what they want. They’ve been running this same recipe for over 100 years or more. They come in and it’s more of how does our equipment run compared to their equipment? Things like what temperatures I set for our facility versus theirs. And with a lot of the technologies that we have in place, if they have the specs that they know that they like to run to produce at their facility, we can plug those same specifications in here to run the most similar product to what they’re producing at their facility. So you’re not going to see a big difference in that inventory whenever it comes of age.

How much customization can you do on the hardware side? I mean, you know, some people have Oregon pine fermentation tanks that are open, while other folks have stainless steel fermentation tanks for their mash. Some people want column stills, some people want pot stills.

On that, it’s more of a what we have situation. So with that type of customization, we don’t have, like you said, the different types of fermentation tanks. We’re operating all stainless steel fermentation tanks here. So, that’s what our process would be.

A customer that I do have — he’s a craft distiller down in Arkansas — what he produces in one year is what we produce in one day. So for him, it was like, “What’s in my best interest? Am I best to expand my facility, have that overhead, the extra labor, everything? Or partner with these guys and I can get that extra volume in a very short amount of time?” And with him, he runs a pot still. We have column stills here, so that’s where things are a little bit different.

But to make the most similar product on the grain side, I’m bringing in his Arkansas corn that he uses at his facility. His Arkansas wheat that he uses at his facility. He has two yeast strains that he uses. We’re using both those yeast strains and the yeast nutrients he likes to do in fermentation. So we run it as similar as we possibly can, but we’re handcuffed to the equipment that we do have here on site. That said, we have looked at possibly putting in a pot still and things like that, just to make us a little bit more complex.

That’s fantastic. And you’ve answered my next question about bringing in grains.

You name a grain, we’ve probably used it here. That’s all customized as well. We definitely use the main four grains the most, but we’ve also used, you know, popcorn, black popcorn, red, blue. We’ve used your bloody butcher heirloom corn, your hockey blue, white wheat, smoked mesquite malt. We use a lot of different grains here; Munich malt, 360 caramel malt. So, a lot of different varieties and different things for that customization for the customers.

How much advice do you give your customers in the barreling process? I feel like there are a lot of ways you can go with sizes, times, woods, and so on.

Yeah, we definitely give the customer as much advice as possible. If they want to do something, we will do that for them. But we will give advice like “this is what’s possible to happen if you do go down this road instead of a traditional route.”

But with the aging process, you know, it starts by what cooper they want to use. We’ve used maybe nine different ones here. Our main one is Independent Stave Company which, you know, they’re the world leader for a reason. So putting our product in those barrels would add top quality. We actually have a contract with Independent Stave Company to do a certain percentage of our barrels from them. We also use West Virginia Gray Barrel Company, Bayside, Kelvin, Barrel 53, Canton Cooperage, Zach Cooperage.

So you lead them in the right direction as best you can.

We use a lot of different ones and we’ll give our advice on which ones we prefer. But if the customer wants to go with a different cooper, then that’s fine. Then once we have the cooper, we’ll dial into what entrance proof they want to put it in at. I’ll give advice on what different proofs can provide. You know, a lot of the big guys that are looking to make the dollar at the end of the day, they’re going to go with that max 125 proof. If they know that they’re going to come out with a product in four years that’s going to be 90 proof, they’re going to be cutting that down to 90 proof by adding a lot of water. That means that they’re going to get the max amount of bottles out of that production. So they’re looking at the money side of things.

On the quality side of things, you can get different flavors if you go in at lower entry proofs. But you might not have as much volume at the very end because you’re not going to be cutting that spirit down. But you could have a lot better flavors coming out of that barrel. So, we’ll give all that advice for which direction they want to go. We have a lot of samples here, as well, to be able to pull from different entry proofs to show that aging out and let them try those.

What about warehouse placement?

Currently, we’re somewhat handcuffed on that because we are still a new distillery. We’re filling warehouses as they’re being built. You know, we only maybe have a two-week window on a warehouse being ready before we run out of space. With that, we have to kind of fill the warehouses as we can until we start pulling a lot more barrels out to re-gauge as these barrels get older. That will give us a lot more spaces available where we can kind of pick and choose, see where some customers might want to go.

That naturally leads to getting these whiskeys into bottles. Are you providing blending rooms and blenders to help them along that process? Do they bring in their own people? Is it a mix of both?

Everything. We definitely are involved on the blending side of things. We just don’t do the custom distillation here. It’s also custom blend, custom bottling, everything from pretty much start to finish. You know, we even have compliance in place for all those tricky things and getting your colors approved on your bottles, every single thing like that.

A lot of these new customers, they’ll need to get a product going right away. Of course, they want to wait at least four years, usually, on aging their bourbon. So a lot of times, these new customers, once we get a couple of years into their bourbon being aged, if they have some source material or anything like that that they’ve purchased, that’s where we’ll come together. Usually, it’s me, our quality manager, Travis Cantrell, Justin Willis, the head of operations, and then the big player in all the blending is Dane Calloway, our VP of new product development.

So, we’ll all get in there with the customers. We’ll work on the blends with the products they have available or any source material we might have available that we could sell them. And then that kind of gets their product going as they’re waiting on their units to age. So, once we get that blend ready to go, we’ll go to the bottling side of things and Johnny Caldwell, our bottling operations manager, takes it from there and they’ll go through bottle designs, label designs, cap designs — every single thing like that for the product, start to finish, to be ready to go. And usually, they’ll release that before their product that we have in the distillery is aged. That way, they can get their brand started and name out there, ready to go for people.

Is there a sort of acid test you have for which people you’re going to take on? Obviously, if somebody comes to you with 200 years of tradition and just needs that extra juice to keep up, it’s very different than somebody who’s wet behind the ears with more money than they know what to do with. What’s the selection process for Bardstown?

There is somewhat a selection process, you know. We would definitely prefer to help out the smaller guys or the start-ups or the established ones looking for a little bit more of that juice. A lot of ones that are getting into this industry right now are investors. So you know, it takes money to make money, right? So, a lot of investors are seeing that you know, “If we can lay money into bourbon and maybe let’s say we produce 1000 barrels and we’ve got the money to pay for them, it’s no big deal to sit on them for four years, six years, whatever it might be and then quadruple that value when we can sell them as a four-year oak.”

So, that’s become kind of popular, that a lot of these investors are getting into it so they can make some more money off of it in the long run. We do produce for people like that, but I would much rather produce for the ones that are truly wanting to start their brand and build their businesses, things like that. Instead of just an investment opportunity.

It’s interesting because, at the end of the day, you’re putting out stuff that you’re putting your blood, sweat, and tears into and you’re not even on the label, you know? It’s somebody else’s label. It’s somebody else’s story. What sort of pride do you feel when you see something go out there and it actually pops and lands in the market and makes a dent? As opposed to, you know, do you feel a sort of regret when it doesn’t?

I definitely take pride in it. I’ve always said that I take pride in every single thing that I make. One day, it’s going to be really cool that I’ll be able to go and sit down at a bar anywhere, any bourbon bar, and look on the shelf and probably be able to pick out 30-40 different brands that I created the product for. Which you know, name, recognition might not be on the bottle, but that’s no big deal to me. I’m not chasing fame or anything like that. I just have a passion for making bourbon. As we’re building our brand, it’s really great that we’re able to help out these other ones.

About eight years ago, Tracy Morgan got into a horrible traffic accident. A Walmart truck crashed into a minibus in which he was traveling, causing a chain reaction crash. The accident killed his friend and collaborator, James McNair. Morgan spent two weeks in a coma, along with suffering multiple injuries. He eventually returned to showbiz, but his recovery wasn’t easy, as he recently told Conan O’Brien on his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.

Morgan recalled the first time he did showbiz after his accident, after he returned to SNL in October of 2015, about a year and a half after it happened. (It took him almost a year to do his first interview.) “I was hosting Saturday Night Live and at rehearsals, I decided that night, let’s go to The [Comedy] Cellar,” he recalled. “I grabbed the mic, and I remember it felt so good to be welcomed back. It really did. And that day, I didn’t think I was ever going to touch the microphone again.”

At this point, Morgan broke down, crying as he recounted how nervous he was to go back to performing. “I didn’t think I was going to walk again, and I did. I just fought,” he said. “I fought to come out of the coma. I’d seen my daughter in the coma saying ‘daddy come back’ and she was only ten months and I fought and came out of the coma. Then I just wanted to be better.”

One of the issues is that he was worried he wouldn’t be able to bring it like he had before. “Bones heal but when you got traumatic brain injury, uh-oh, when you mess with somebody’s mind!” he said. “When I came back I didn’t even know how to eat. They had to teach me how to eat.”

He went on:

“My daughter was only ten months so she was just learning how to walk. But she was scared of me when I first came home. I stayed in the bed for two weeks. I don’t even remember that. I stayed in the bed for two weeks and then my daughter wouldn’t even come to me ’cause she was scared of the wheelchair. And that really hurt me. She learned how to walk at fourteen months. And when I’d seen her take a few steps, I got out the wheelchair … and I took my first few steps. So me and my daughter learned how to walk together.”

Morgan wound up suing Walmart and settled for an undisclosed amount. It was revealed that the driver of the truck had been up for 24 hours at the time of the accident. Morgan later forgave him. Three years after the incident, he dedicated a Netflix special, Staying Alive, to the episode that nearly claimed his life.

You can listen to audio of Morgan’s story at Mediaite.

White sand beaches probably aren’t first thing that come to mind when thinking of Scotland. That honor probably belongs to golf, or whisky. But this is a country full of surprises, and even if the grassy dunes and rocky highlands don’t exactly conjure a Corona ad in your mind, the fact is, Scotland has a staggering 11,602 miles of coastline between the mainland and its many islands. That’s as much as California and Florida combined. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that this beautiful corner of the world is rife with beaches. Yes, even white sand ones.

When it comes to accessing the best of these, the Inner Hebrides are your best bet. While the Outer Hebrides (the isles of Lewis, Harris, and Stornoway), have huge, dramatic vistas and surfable (if chilly) waves to recommend them, the Inner Hebrides beaches are slightly more accessible for day trips, and, in this writer’s opinion, just as stunning.

Below, we’re going to shout out five Inner Hebrides beaches on five islands. These are the beaches we think are worth your time and effort to actually enjoy if you’re heading to Scotland (if still only a small introduction to the hundreds of beaches there awaiting the serious adventurer with more time to explore)

Fair warning, a lot of these are very remote (which, for those of us who appreciate serious seclusion, is half the point). You’ll need a car to get to most of them (though hitchhiking is still popular on the smaller islands), and then an additional hike for some of them. Make sure you eat a full Scottish breakfast that morning, those calories will come in handy. And yes, we are talking about the northern reaches of Europe here and not Hawai’i. The weather can turn brutal in a hurry, especially in the fall, winter, or spring. So pack accordingly, and expect these beaches to be more pink/grey/brownish when the sun isn’t out. But, hey, that’s all part of the charm.

While you may not be able to enjoy them in shorts and a tank top, these spots are idyllic, offering a chance to experience Scottish culture firsthand. Most of these beaches are near fishing villages, where you’ll be hard-pressed not to find amazing smorgasbords of freshly-caught fish (did someone say seaside fish and chips?). Then there are the distilleries, often just a stone’s throw away, if not on actually on the sand. And, lastly, don’t be surprised if you make a few (or a lot) of dog and sheep friends along the walk to and along the beach. These beaches really are Scotland at its most picturesque and quintessential.

Calgary Beach, Isle of Mull

The Beach:

The Isle of Mull is about a 45-minute ferry ride from Oban. The island is very close to the mainland, all things considered, but once you drive or step off that ferry, you’ll feel like you’re a million miles away. If you drive the tiny, single-lane roads towards the northwest of the island, you’ll come to a very secluded white sand beach that you’ll likely have all to yourself.

While this is on the far side of the island (about an hour from the ferry at Craignure), you can drive right up to this beach and park easily. There are a few houses dotting the southern hillside but that’s about it when it comes to civilization. The beach is westward facing and surrounded by a “machir” which is a sort of lowland grassland/woodland, which is bursting with wildflowers in the summer.

You can find Calgary Beach here.

Where to Stay:

There isn’t a place to stay on the beach, but Mull has a lot of options for B&Bs all over the island. If you not heading to the island for a day drive from Oban, the best bet is to start near Craignure at a place like Isle of Mull Hotel & Spa. The whole setup is one long building overlooking the sea with common areas with rip-roaring fireplaces centered in sitting rooms and spa pools/amenities in between. It makes for a nice home base for heading out in any direction around the island. Expect to pay around $160 per night for a room, depending on the season.

You can book a room here.

Where to Eat:

There actually is a place to grab a bite on the beach (well, near the parking lot on the northside of the beach). Robin’s Boat doles out scoops of local Mull ice cream from an overturned boat with an ice cream shop built right on top of it. While the local ice cream is the main pull, you can also get some chips, a Scottish pie, and a warm cup of coffee. Though be warned, this place is closed from late fall to mid-spring.

You can find Robin’s Boat here.

Machir Bay, Isle of Islay

The Beach:

This list probably could have just been beaches on Islay, but that would’ve been a bit of a cheat. Kilchoman Beach in the middle of Machir Bay is a stunner. The beach sits between rocky outcrops on the southside and rolling farmland on the east and north. While this beach is very remote, you can still get there, thanks to the Kilchoman Distillery about three minutes up the road.

There’s a small parking lot at the end of a dirt road about a two-minute walk from the beach. You’ll walk over some green sand dunes next to a pasture full of hearty sheep down to the beach, which stretches for nearly two miles of soft sand. It’s the sort of beach where you’re more likely to see a farmer walking his sheepdog than anything else. Since this beach is westward-facing, it has a mild yet consistent surf and is a prime location to watch the sunset (especially after an afternoon the distillery).

You can find Machir Bay here.

Where to Stay:

The Islay Cottages overlook Machir Bay from a hill amidst the green pastures above the beach. While this is a super remote side of the island, a stay here does offer you a chance to truly disconnect, as cell service is pretty much non-existent in the area even at the distillery down the road.

The self-catering cottages are homey and quaint while offering serious comfort, and enough modern amenities to make sure you don’t feel completely cut off from reality. Each one is a semi-detached house with white-washed walls and black trim, which is very Islay. And the best part is that you can literally walk out of your door and into nature for the whole day. The experience doesn’t come cheap: expect to pay between $500 and $700 for a cottage that sleeps four to six guests.

You can book a cottage here.

Where to Eat:

Kilchoman Distillery is your best (and only) bet for a good Scottish meal. If you walk in just when they’re opening up, you’ll smell the bread baking in the ovens and the seafood chowder — Cullen Skink as it’s called there — simmering on the stove. It’s hard not to fall in love at first smell. There’s also plenty of in-house-made pastries and cakes and a solid coffee shop in case you need a sugar and caffeine boost. Oh, and you can also do a full whisky tasting at Islay’s only family-run distillery in the same building. That’s a lot of wins, folks.

You can find the Kilchoman Distillery Cafe here.

Coral Beach, Isle of Skye

The Beach:

Ah, Skye. The northernmost of the Inner Hebrides and so big that it nearly reaches the Outer Hebrides, this island is rugged Scotland at its best. That also means there are plenty of beaches from top to bottom.

Coral Beach is one of the most interesting beaches on the whole island. The beach starts off with black craggy rocks that turn into black pebbles that then fade into white sand along the northern stretch. It’s kind of the best of both worlds, with the iconic rocky beaches of Scotland meeting white sand over a two-mile stretch.

The beach is also pretty remote all things considered. It’s basically a two-hour drive from Kyle of Lochalsh (the main bridge onto the island) to the Claigan Coral Beach Car Park. From there, you’re going to walk about a mile-and-a-half along the coast to reach the beach. You’ll want sturdy shoes for this short trek, as the craggy coast, pastures, and wildland is pretty uneven, and can be waterlogged. But once you make it to the beach, you’ll be detached from all modernity and civilization, except for a few good dogs with their owners. Make sure to head to the northernmost point of the beach and pop up on top of Coral Rock for the best view over the beach.

You can find Coral Beach here.

Where to Stay:

Skye has a good balance of being both super remote and rustic but still pretty well set up for tourism. You can camp a few miles south near Dunvegan Castle at the Kinloch Campsite if that’s your jam. If you’re looking for more upscale accommodations, make your home base around Portee, about 45 minutes east of the beach by car. Spots like Cuillin Hills Hotel offer everything you want in Scotland — local wild foods on the menu, plenty of whisky, isolation, and modern comfort. Rates start at around $190 per night.

You can book a room here.

Where to Eat:

The nearest place to grab food is going to be in Kinloch (about 20 minutes south of the beach by car). There are plenty of B&Bs and inns that’ll have a restaurant that’s usually open to the public. Or you can drop into The Old School, which is, well, an old school pub in the old schoolhouse. They do a really good fish and chips and have a pretty solid seasonal/rotating seafood and foraged menu of local and fresh treats. It’s especially nice if you can snag a table right next to the fireplace.

You can find The Old School here.

White Strand of The Monks, Isle of Iona

The Beach:

We’re getting more and more remote on this list as we go. Isle Iona is only reachable via another island, Mull, on a ten-minute ferry ride that only fully operates between March and October. But this island is full of great white sand beaches that are pretty much untouched.

The beach is a mix of grassy sand dunes that lead you to a white sand beach with black rocky protrusions and crystal clear, blue-hued surf. The small beach has a northeasterly setting with a large island off short. That means it’s very calm. That crystal clear water gently laps at the white sand and black rocks, the epitome of chill.

To get there, you’re going to drive north from the ferry at Baile Mor until the road just sort of ends just past a farmhouse (don’t park at the farm, just find a spot on the side of the “road”). From there, you’re going to walk about 10 minutes through the pasture to the beach (basically keep walking straight from the end of the road and turn left, following the footpath until you reach the beach). Once there, you’ll have a little strip of paradise all to yourself. The best part is if you turn right instead of left, you’ll still hit a white sand beach on the other side of the pasture, fully north-facing toward the open sea. So you’re getting two beaches for the price of one.

You can find the White Strand of the Monks here.

Where to Stay:

Iona is tiny, under two miles from north to south and less than a mile from east to west. That makes it very walkable if you don’t have a car for whatever reason. It’s also sparsely populated. There are plenty of B&Bs and hotels around the ferry terminal at Baile Mor, where you can expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $250 a night.

You can book a hotel room here.

Where to Eat:

That spareness also means that the food options are pretty slim out on Iona. Your only real bet is to hit one of the handful of hotels when their restaurants are open during the day. Expect extremely local food, usually grown on-site, alongside lamb, beef, and plenty of seafood. Realistically, you’ll probably want to hit a grocery store on Mull or even back in Oban before you venture out here.

Balevullin Beach, Isle of Tiree

The Beach:

The Isle of Tiree is the westernmost of the Inner Hebrides and reachable via ferry from Isle of Coll, which, in turn, is reachable from Oban on the mainland. Once again we’re going so remote, you have to island hop to hit these white sands. But we also saved the best for last. This island — which some call the “Hawai’i of the north” — has some truly stunning and massive white sand beaches that are worth the long trip.

Balevullin is probably the most fun if you’re into water sports. There’s a hut right on Balevullin beach that rents out surfboards and windsurfing kits. The beach is a huge destination for local and international windsurfers looking to harness the dramatic winds of the North Atlantic. The sport is enough of a draw that this tiny island actually has its own equally tiny airport if you’re looking to get there a little faster than local ferries.

The beach is pretty easy to get to once you’re on the island. From the ferry terminal, it’s about a 15 to 20-minute drive west. The drive is cut in half from the airport. You basically take some dirt roads past plenty of farms until you hit the beach and the Blackhouse Watersports shed, where you can pick up a board.

You can find Ballevulin Beach here.

Where to Stay:

Self-catering cottages are the standard on Tiree. You’ll pay anywhere from $75 to $200 a night depending on where and what you want. Most of them will be in the interior but still plenty close to the beach on this small island. If you’re looking for a more “hotel” vibe, then hit up Reef Inn right by the airport. The hotel is both modern and minimalist, letting the beautiful nature surrounding the hotel shine. Expect to pay around $160 per night for a real slice of luxury in the middle of the wilds of Scottish isles.

You can book a room here.

Where to Eat:

The easiest bet is to hit the Reef Inn, even if you’re not staying there. The menu is as local as it can get with modernized Scottish classics and a pretty damn good bar for a post-surf-sesh cocktail hour. And, of course, there’s a ridiculous amount of local seafood on the menu. Yes, there’s whisky too.

Still, Tiree is the sort of place where you take life as it comes. As you bounce around the 10-plus beaches on this island, you’ll find plenty of friends and dining options to enjoy with those new friends along the way.

You can find the Reef Inn restaurant here.

More photos:

It’s not only the voices in your head. Manifest‘s fourth season is really coming, and it’s been filming since November 2021. All of this went down after Manifest fans (including one Stephen King) raised a ruckus over NBC’s cancellation, and the show’s now getting the Lucifer treatment with a resurrection. Fortunately, the will have a 20-episode order, which obviously isn’t the six-season run that creator Jeff Rake had hoped for, but it’s hopefully enough to wrap up what truly went down with Flight 528.

As far as a firm date goes, that question has been on viewers’ minds, and that includes King as well. The horror maestro recently tweeted at Rake with three questions: “1. When does it come back? 2. How many times will a character say ‘Trust me’? 2-A. How many times will a character say ‘It’s complicated’?”

All very pertinent questions, and Rake duly answered the call: “Re: #1, I’m hearing November. Re: #2 and #3, if you’re proposing a drinking game, I’m in.”

From there, we’re left to wonder whether we’ll see all 20 episodes drop (November seems too speedy for that route), or if Netflix will take a recently popular route, which would be a split season. According to a new update from TV Line, that’s the ticket:

Due to be delivered in multiple parts (of a quantity and frequency TBD!), the supernatural drama’s farewell flight is on track to take off “late this year.”

Now, as far as when the series finale will actually air, there’s no telling. It would be something, though, to think of this in terms of a series “death date,” which is a huge concept in the show. And it sure looks like, if Rake and Netflix decide to play that card (and this is simply a morbidly cute theory) that (as noted by Reddit) this would happen on June 2, 2024 to match the “death date” of Flight 528 passengers on the show. That would be quite a wait, but hey, fans might still dig it.

(Via TV Line & Jeff Rake on Twitter)