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Netflix knows that the holidays are coming, and with that, there’s guaranteed to be a whole lot of family togetherness (and the need to “get away” when the chance presents itself). The streaming service has you covered on that end with a whole heaping helping of content that’s bigger than your ideal Thanksgiving meal. In other words, no stale leftovers will be found here, only several seasons of returning beloved shows, some A-lister-filled movies, and many classic additions to the library, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Snakes on a Plane, Stripes, and 21 Jump Street.

In short, though, this is an action-packed month on the fresh content front. Red Notice will finally bring The Rock, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds together in one movie. Narcos: Mexico will take a “final blow” at the drug war, and Cowboy Bebop will go bounty hunting. More seasons of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, F is for Family, and Gentified are also on the way, and I guess it’s also good news that Tiger King 2 has almost arrived? Hmm.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Netflix in November.

Red Notice (Netflix film streaming 11/11)

A few years ago, Netflix set the stage for their supposed biggest (and most expensive) movie ever, and a lot of that has to do with the leading cast: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds. Well, we’re finally about to see what hundreds of millions of dollars purchased, so it should be a genuine blockbuster in your living room. Gal plays a notorious crook who mops the floor with Johnson’s FBI agent and Reynolds’ (also notorious) art thief, and yeah, I hope they never catch her. Even though she won’t be wielding the Wonder Woman magic lasso, she’s guaranteed to kick ass.

Narcos: Mexico: Season 3 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

Drug lord extraordinaire Félix Gallardo warned Agent Walt Breslin that he’d freed a circus of animals within the drug war, and he wasn’t joking. The cartels are poppin’ in what will be the final season of the spinoff to the Pablo Escobar-centered beginnings of Narcos. Fortunately, the spirit of Pablo is still around, sort-of, given that actor Wagner Moura has returned to direct, and Breslin and the fledgling DEA sure have their work cut out for them with hydra heads springing up everywhere. That includes El Chapo, who’s all up in the Sinaloa business, and the tagline for this season is absolutely magnificent: “THE FINAL BLOW.” No subtlety there.

Cowboy Bebop (Netflix series streaming 11/19)

Bounty hunting never looked so stylish, and from the looks of this teaser, Netflix is not messing around with their adaptation of a cult-classic anime property. John Cho stars as Spike Spiegel, who’s in stunt mode alongside Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) while dodging death and making money. The spirit of the source material appears to be honored with an action-focused, aesthetic punch, and even non-anime fans who adore ultra-stylization (as with Scott Pilgrim and Sin City) should be intrigued. Heck, even the most casual Quentin Tarantino fan should toss this selection into the queue.

Big Mouth: Season 5 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

The hormone monsters are back for another round with an all-star voice cast that includes Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Rannells, Jordan Peele, and Richard Kind. Oh, and Kumail Nanjiani will be starring as himself, somehow, while shirtless. Settle in as hate spirals and a hate worm and all kinds of other amorphous creatures take over eighth grade. Man, middle school was the worst, right? One might as well vent some angst by seeing how these bizarro creatures (including a love bug) navigate the hurdles.

Gentefied: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 11/10)

If you haven’t had the pleasure of binging this heartwarming dramedy yet, it’s time to get caught up. Glorious character actor Joaquín Cosío (Narcos: Mexico) is up for deportation, and the siblings must work to save his ass while continuing to explore their own Mexican-American identity, save their taco shop, and generally be badass while wrapping their arms around the American Dream. That dream, of course, might be a double-edged sword because success also threatens the communities and values that the family’s hoping to help preserve. It’s a charming series full of authentic characters, and they must save Pops.

Bruised (Netflix series streaming 11/24)

Halle Berry lands in the director’s seat for the first time and also in the cage as a disgraced MMA fighter working toward redemption (both on the professional and personal levels). A classic tale! Really though, Halle’s here to redeem sports movies, as well, which could use some sprucing up following the Space Jam 2 mess. The Oscar winner portrays Jackie Justice who’s full of regret over the shambles her life has become and attempts a career comeback when her soon unexpectedly pops back into her life.

Avail. TBA
Decoupled
Happiness Ever After

Avail. 11/1
The Claus Family
21 Jump Street
60 Days In: Season 6
A River Runs Through It
Addams Family Values
American Gangster
An Elf’s Story: The Elf on the Shelf
Angry Birds: Season 4 – Slingshot Stories
Bella and the Bulldogs: Season 2
The Big Wedding
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Elf Pets: Santa’s St. Bernards Save Christmas
First Knight
Forged in Fire: Season 7
Gather
The General’s Daughter
It Follows
Johnny Mnemonic
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
Last Action Hero
Moneyball
Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher
My Dad’s Christmas Date
The Nightingale
Total Recall
Snakes on a Plane
Stripes
Tagged
Te Ata
Texas Rangers

Avail. 11/2
Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis
Ridley Jones: Season 2

Avail. 11/3
The Harder They Fall
Lords of Scam

Avail. 11/4
Catching Killers

Avail. 11/15
A Cop Movie
Big Mouth: Season 5
The Club
Glória
Love Hard
Meenakshi Sundareshwar
Narcos: Mexico: Season 3
The Unlikely Murderer
We Couldn’t Become Adults
Yara
Zero to Hero

Avail. 11/6
Arcane

Avail. 11/7
Father Christmas is Back

Avail. 11/9
Swap Shop
Your Life Is a Joke

Avail. 11/10
Animal
Gentefied: Season 2
Passing

Avail. 11/11
Love Never Lies
Red Notice

Avail. 11/12
Legacies: Season 3

Avail. 11/3
Arcane

Avail. 11/14
Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You

Avail. 11/15
America’s Next Top Model: Season 21
America’s Next Top Model: Season 22
Kuroko’s Basketball: Last Game
Lies and Deceit
Snowbound for Christmas
Survivor: Season 16
Survivor: Season 37

Avail. 11/16
Johnny Test’s Ultimate Meatloaf Quest
StoryBots: Laugh, Learn, Sing

Avail. 11/17
Christmas Flow
Prayers for the Stolen
The Queen of Flow: Season 2
Supergirl: Season 6
Tear Along the Dotted Line
Tiger King 2

Avail. 11/18
Carlos Ballarta: False Prophet
Dogs in Space
Lead Me Home
The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star

Avail. 11/19
Blown Away: Christmas
Cowboy Bebop
Dhamaka
Extinct
Hellbound
Love Me Instead
The Mind, Explained: Season 2
Procession
tick, tick…BOOM!

Avail. 11/20
Arcane
New World

Avail. 11/22
Outlaws
Vita & Virginia

Avail. 11/23
Masters of the Universe: Revelation: Part 2
Reasonable Doubt: A Tale of Two Kidnappings
Waffles + Mochi’s Holiday Feast

Avail. 11/24
A Boy Called Christmas
Bruised
Robin Robin
Selling Sunset: Season 4
True Story

Avail. 11/25
F is for Family: Season 5

Avail. 11/26
A Castle For Christmas
Dig Deeper: The Disappearance of Birgit Meier
Green Snake
Light the Night
School of Chocolate
Spoiled Brats

Avail. 11/28
Elves

Avail. 11/29
14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible

Avail. 11/30
Charlie’s Colorforms City: Classic Tales with a Twist
Charlie’s Colorforms City: Snowy Stories
Charlie’s Colorforms City: The Lost Valentines Musical
Coming Home in the Dark
More the Merrier
The Summit of the Gods

Here’s the full list of titles leaving Netflix in November:

Leaving 11/1
My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree
My Little Pony: Happy Birthday to You!

Leaving 11/4
Bucket List
The Lovers

Leaving 11/5
The Late Bloomer

Leaving 11/7
Sleepless

Leaving 11/10
A Single Man

Leaving 11/11
Fruitvale Station

Leaving 11/14
America’s Next Top Model: Season 19
America’s Next Top Model: Season 20
K-on! the movie
K-On!: Seasons 1-2
Survivor: Season 20: Heroes vs Villains
Survivor: Season 28: Cagayan

Leaving 11/15
Safe House

Leaving 11/17
Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List

Leaving 11/19
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World

Leaving 11/21
Beverly Hills Ninja
Machete Kills

Leaving 11/26
Broadchurch: Seasons 1-3

Leaving 11/29
Man Down: Seasons 1-4

Leaving 11/30
3 Days to Kill
A Knight’s Tale
American Outlaws
Are You The One: Seasons 1-2
Battlefield Earth
Chef
Clear and Present Danger
Freedom Writers
Glee: Seasons 1-6
The Happytime Murders
Ink Master: Seasons 1-2
Letters to Juliet
The Lincoln Lawyer
Million Dollar Baby
Peppermint
Pineapple Express
Rake: Seasons 1-4
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert
School of Rock
Stargate SG-1: Seasons 1-10
TURN: Washington’s Spies: Seasons 1-4
Waterworld

About a month ago, Idles announced a new album, Crawler, and shared a video for its lead single, “The Beachland Ballroom.” It was indicated that the video was the first part of the song’s visual, and now, the band has shared the second part of their “The Beachland Ballroom” video. This time, it’s footage of the band performing the song, spliced with clips of Joe Talbot leaning off a roof with Michael Jackson-levels of gravity defiance.

Talbot previously said of the song, “It’s the most important song on the album, really. There’s so many bands that go through the small rooms and dream of making it into the big rooms. Being able to write a soul tune like this made me go, f*ck — we’re at a place where we’re actually allowed to go to these big rooms and be creative and not just go through the motions and really appreciate what we’ve got. The song is sort of an allegory of feeling lost and getting through it. It’s one that I really love singing.”

As for the album as a whole, press materials say “the group brings to life vivid stories of trauma, addiction and recovery with its most soul-stirring music to date. […] There are also fresh textures and experiments that push Idles into thrilling new territory.”

Watch the “Beachland Ballroom” video above.

Crawler is out 11/12 via Partisan Records. Pre-order it here.

In today’s UPROXX Sessions, Belly stops by to deliver a passionate performance of his song “Moment Of Silence.” The Canadian Roc Nation rapper got California cozy to show off the new track from his recently released album, See You Next Wednesday, rocking a colorful ensemble that countered his usual monochromatic looks. His performance drops after he previously made his React Like You Know debut, joining our panel to chat up Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push” video.

Belly’s new album, See You Next Wednesday, marked a return to the limelight for him after releasing his last album, Immigrant, in 2018. Between then and now, he stayed busy behind the scenes, helping his XO Records benefactor The Weeknd with his smash hit album, After Hours, which won the two Toronto natives five 2021 Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys). Belly then made his return earlier this year with a string of singles promoting See You Next Wednesday, including “Better Believe” with Young Thug, “Die For It” featuring Nas, and “Requiem” with fellow Canadian Nav.

Watch Belly’s “Moment Of Silence” performance for UPROXX Sessions above.

UPROXX Sessions is Uproxx’s performance show featuring the hottest up-and-coming acts you should keep an eye on. Featuring creative direction from LA promotion collective, Ham On Everything, and taking place on our “bathroom” set designed and painted by Julian Gross, UPROXX Sessions is a showcase of some of our favorite performers, who just might soon be yours, too.

Lana Del Rey may have deleted all of her social media accounts, but that doesn’t mean she can’t still give her fans they content they want. Just days ahead of the release of her upcoming album Blue Banisters, the singer has debuted a serene video to its title track.

The visual is a quite literal representation of the songs’ lyrics. It opens with her on an expansive property overlooking the hills of California. She joins up with a group of friends, including her sister, Chuck, and they spend the day painting Del Rey’s outdoor banisters a cool-toned blue-grey color, baking cakes, and looking wistfully off into the distant landscape.

Previously speaking about her Blue Banisters album in a statement, Lana Del Rey addressed some recent criticisms and said the LP is meant to “chronicle” her career from the beginning:

“I guess you could say this album is about what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now. If you’re interested go back and listen to the first three songs I put out earlier. They chronicle the beginning. […] As much as the on going criticism has been trying, it at least has pushed me to explore my own family tree, to dig deep, and to continue to exhibit the fact that God only cares about how I move through the world. And for all of the skepticism about feigning fragility and unreasonable explanations of not showing general accountability- I must say I’ve enjoyed moving through the world beautifully- as a woman with grace and dignity.”

Watch Del Rey’s “Blue Banisters” video above.

Blue Banisters is out 10/22 via Polydor Records/UMG. Pre-order it here.

Ever since President Joe Biden took office, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has been a frustrating obstacle to the Democratic Party, which has led to repeated rumors that he might jump ship by switching parties. As negotiations for Biden’s Build Back Better package have ramped up in recent days, a new report from Mother Jones claims Manchin has informed associates that he has a detailed plan for leaving the Democratic Party if he doesn’t like how things are headed.

However, shortly after the Mother Jones report was published, Manchin issued a swift and succinct denial, according to CNN’s Daniella Micaela: “It’s bullshit.”

According to Mother Jones DC Bureau Chief David Corn, Manchin was reportedly telling associates that if the Build Back Better negotiations didn’t go his way, he had a process in place to force Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s hand by threatening to leave the party:

He told associates that he has a two-step plan for exiting the party. First, he would send a letter to Sen. Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, removing himself from the Democratic leadership of the Senate. (He is vice chair of the Senate Democrats’ policy and communications committee.) Manchin hopes that would send a signal. He would then wait and see if that move had any impact on the negotiations. After about a week, he said, he would change his voter registration from Democrat to independent.

Whether those conversations actually took place is unknown, but if Manchin’s response is to believed, they did not, and any talk of him leaving the party is apparently BS. Isn’t politics neat?

(Via Daniella Diaz on Twitter, Mother Jones)

A whole heck of a lot tends to happen during the NBA offseason, and every year, a ton of things go under the radar as a result. High on that list are the myriad of players who jump from one team to the next that don’t get the major headlines of superstars teaming up or guys signing gigantic contracts.

A handful of those players are at the heart of one of Inside the NBA‘s most well-known segments: Who He Play For? The idea behind the segment is that Charles Barkley doesn’t pay enough attention to role players moving around, oftentimes by signing with a smaller-market team, so he is asked to name what team those guys joined over the offseason.

This year’s edition of the game featured special guest Drew Carey, who joined Ernie Johnson in hosting the game. If you have seen this in years past (or, let’s face it, if you have not seen this in year’s past but understand why this segment exists), you will not be surprised to learn that Chuck did extremely poorly.

The most unfortunate part is the special, Price Is Right-inspired twist on the game that Carey brought up — “you also have to tell us their salaries without going over” — did not make it into this.

Scotch whisky — like bourbon, Irish whiskey, Japanese whisky, and any other regional variation — always has new expressions hitting the market. With scotch, there are fewer “new” brands but that’s balanced with more old-school shingles doing new things while also updating their age statement classics every year. While the vast majority of yearly releases are going to be very similar to those that came before, there’s still plenty of nuances to be explored between, say, a 2020 Lagavulin 8 and a 2021 Lagavulin 8.

With that in mind, we’re calling out our favorite new Scotch whiskies that we’ve sampled in 2021 (so far). Our parameters are simple: Did we try the new juice this year and is the bottle under $100? That last parameter really limited what we can write about though. The entire Diageo Legends Untold Collection had to be cut, as the least expensive bottle is around $150 (the most spendy bottle in that set is in the thousands). So, we’ll get those higher-end new releases later.

Until then, check out these scotch whiskeys under $100 that we’re digging on this year. They should all be fairly findable and affordable, just click on those prices!

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of 2021

• A Blind Ranking Of Affordable Blended Scotch Whiskies
• Our Favorite Scotch Whisky At Every Price Point From $30 To $500
• We Blind Tested Blended Scotches In The $40 Range And A Clear Winner Emerged
• The Best Bottles Of Scotch Whisky Between $50-$60
• Blind Scotch Taste Test — Which 12-Year-Old Single Malt Whisky Is Best?

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 10

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $85

The Whisky:

Bruichladdich really has fun with peated whisky. This expression keeps the peat phenols in the mid-range, leaning high. The casking is a mix of first and second-fill bourbon barrels and second-fill French wine barrels. That utilization of second-fill oak means there’s a very light touch of wood on this peated whisky.

Tasting Notes:

Imagine a dark chocolate orange drizzled in salted caramel and served on a wet leaf of seaweed and you’ll be on the right track for the nose. The smoke kicks in on the palate with a vibe that feels like those wet seaweed leaves thrown on a smoldering pile of pine to create a massive billow of smoke everywhere, as hints of buttery white wine and strawberry jam-covered scones linger in the background. The finish leans into the bready nature of the scones with a dry straw edge that’s followed by a mouthful of the seaweed heavy grey smoke.

Bottom Line:

This is quintessential and it seems to be getting funkier and better this year. But it’s also not for the faint of heart. This is salty and smoky way before it’s sweet and bready. Have you ever smelt the smoke from a fire while on a boat in choppy seas?

It’s kind of like that.

Aberlour 16

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $94

The Whisky:

This small Speyside distillery has been producing quality whisky for over 200 years. This expression is aged 16 years in both ex-bourbon and ex-Olorosso sherry casks. It’s then married and proofed with soft Speyside water from the Highlands and bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a matrix of dried dark fruits next to powdery dark spices with hints of walnuts and dried florals that draw you in on the nose. The taste delivers on those notes while adding a deep plummy jam cut with clove and slightly sweet wood. The end really holds onto that jammy fruit and spice as it slowly fades across your senses, leaving a velvet texture in your mouth.

Bottom Line:

I just tried this last month with the new 18-year-old from Aberlour. They both slap this year but the 18 is just a little north of $100. That being said, the 16 is still a damn masterpiece, especially for anyone looking for a lovely, sweet scotch.

Talisker 10

ABV: 45.8%

Average Price: $75

The Whisky:

This is one of the most awarded single malts ever. The juice is matured in ex-bourbon casks in Talisker’s warehouse, which is literally feet away from the sea. The subtly peated malts take on a real seaside feel as those years tick past, creating a whisky that will not disappoint.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a distance to Talisker that draws you in on the nose — I like to describe it as campfire smoke smelled from a few hundred yards down a rainy beach. The sea spray mellows the smoky peat to a fine point as oyster shell minerality dances with pears rinsed in seawater, dried apricot, and rich malt. The end doesn’t overstay its welcome and reminds you of oysters, liquor, and that smoldering campfire two coves over.

Bottom Line:

Talisker 10 is one of the most awarded malts on the market (including this year). The biggest reason this bottle is on the list though is its new 2021 packaging. Diageo has pledged to go carbon neutral by 2030, and this is the start of that. The new Talisker look shrinks the packaging by six percent, which will save 28 tons of packaging weight per year. The recyclability increased by 98 percent and the plastics used were reduced by 86 percent.

Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $24

The Whisky:

Rum cask finishing is nothing new, but it is all the rage. This blend from Master Blender Stephanie Macleod is a marriage of 40 whiskies that are vatted and finished in Caribbean rum casks. That final maturation gives the whisky a smooth feel, making it the perfect cocktail base.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear sense of burnt brown sugars and grilled pineapple on the nose, with hints of cloves and vanilla and maybe some dry grass. The taste edges towards a dark molasses rumminess with a touch of dried fruit, more cloves, and a slight mango sweetness. The end really embraces the rummier aspects while holding onto the tropical fruitiness on a fast fade.

Bottom Line:

This really is an excellent mixing scotch. It works wonders in a tropical fruit-centric highball or even as a replacement in Daiquiri or Dark ‘N Stormy. It’s also been winning plenty of awards this year to take it very seriously.

Compass Box Artist Blend Scotch Whisky

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $40

The Whiskey:

The lion’s share of this blend — 45 percent — comes from a single grain whisky aged in ex-bourbon from Cameronbridge Distillery. 22 percent is a single malt aged in ex-bourbon that comes from Linkwood Distillery. The rest is a mix of French oak and ex-bourbon single malts and blended malts from the Highlands, Clyneilish, Linkwood, and Balmenach. Those whiskies are vatted and then proofed down before bottling.

Tasting Notes:

This opens with a very clear and concise note of apple candy with a hint of salted caramel ice cream cut with a touch of eggnog spices. There’s a nice maltiness that leans into a creamy vanilla, soft holiday spice mix, butter toffee, and a hint of milk chocolate near the end. The finish is warming with a whisper of tobacco next to a woody apple, spice candies (maybe ginger), and a final hint of cocoa and caramel.

Bottom Line:

This may well be one of my favorite blends of the year. It’s refined, deep, and makes a hell of a cocktail.

Johnnie Walker Black Label: The Jane Walker Edition

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $38

The Whisky:

Master Blender Emma Walker created this blend with Cardhu — a Speyside distillery — at its core. Cardhu was famously founded and run by another female pioneer in whisky, Elizabeth Cumming, back in the 1800s. The juice is a blend of malts that aged at least ten years from the Diageo stable of Scotch single malts.

Tasting Notes:

The sip has a nose with a clean maltiness next to raisins and peach juice with a hint of leather coming in late. The palate is light, almost airy, with stewed apples floating in rich cream next to a touch of milk chocolate. The finish has a very faint hint of Johnnie Walker peat next to dry reeds, more malts, and a bitter chocolate powder.

The Bottom Line:

This is a really subtle riff on Johnnie Walker Black that helps women’s organizations right now. The use of sweeter malts instead of peatier ones gives the whole feel a very approachable vibe. It’s sippable, mixable, and giftable.

Highland Park Cask Strength

ABV: 63.3%

Average Price: $95

The Whisky:

This yearly drop is part of a new line from the Orkney Island’s distillery. The juice is a blend of single malts that are aged exclusively in old American oak that previously held sherry. The barrels are married and bottled as is, to assure you’re getting all the nuance and flavor of their malts meeting that oak.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a light sense of wildflowers on the nose with a rich vanilla husk that leads towards a touch of peat. The taste is surprisingly silken (for a cask strength) with rich and buttery toffee next to honeysuckle, eggnog spices and creaminess, and a small dose of orange zest as a counterpoint. The end holds onto the creaminess and spices as the peat just edges in with a whisper of resinous pine smoke.

Bottom Line:

We’re already pretty big fans of this bottle from way up in Scotland’s northern reaches. It’s edging toward the pricier end, but 100 percent worth investing in to expand your whisky palate.

Balblair 12

ABV: 46%

Average Price: $69

The Whisky:

This entry-point single malt from the Highlands is an easy drinker. The juice is aged in a combo of ex-bourbon casks and “double fired” or charred used American oak barrels. The results are touched with a little water to bring it down to proof and then bottled.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a rich lemon pudding vibe on the nose that leads towards Granny Smith apple cores and plenty of malts. The taste veers into honey sweetness with dark spices (think cloves) and a touch of orange oils. There’s a light old oakiness with hints of worn leather and very mild tobacco on the short end.

Bottom Line:

This is the perfect introduction to sweet single malts. It’s easy, straightforward, and hits on just the right notes. While this isn’t the first version of this, this year’s sip just hit right when I tried it again.

Lagavulin 8

ABV: 48%

Average Price: $65

The Whisky:

This expression was originally released to celebrate the distillery’s 200th anniversary. The whisky was created to mimic the juice that was being bottled back in the 1880s, during a high point in Lagavulin’s history. The whisky became a modern hit and is now part of their core line.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sense of fried fish wrapped in newspaper that greets you on the nose, next to honey-lemon, dry and earthy malts, and a nod to chocolate-covered cherries. The taste brings a solid billow of campfire smoke with traces of dark chocolate, burning cinnamon sticks, dry mint, and burnt potato skins (yes, really). The end is long-ish and marries the tastes together, leaving you with the memory of drinking a dark mint-chocolate spiked espresso next to a smoldering backyard fire on a cold autumn night while somewhere in the distance the sea laps at the shore.

Bottom Line:

Every year I try this and every year I like it more and more. This year might have been the tipping point and I actually bought a bottle for my own shelf.

Tamdhu 12

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $78

The Whisky:

Speyside’s Tamdhu upped their game a few years back by replacing their 10-year expression with this masterful whisky. The juice is aged for 12 years in a combination of American and European oak that held sherry first. They use both first-fill and re-filled barrels in the aging process before vatting the results, proofing with Speyside’s rich water, and bottling.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a bit of a Christmas cake vibe with candied orange, plenty of dark spice (especially cinnamon sticks), a maltiness that feels bread-y, a touch of sweet oak, and maybe a hint of peppermint candy. The taste veers more into the ripe and red berries with that cinnamon still in play but the breadiness is more like a buttery sugar cake with sherry/plummy depth. The end offers an interesting fade — with everything dialed in, creating shortbread and raspberry jam that’s just touched by the faintest wisp of fruity smoke.

Bottom Line:

This is really bloody tasty for a 12-year-old. Again, I just had it again last month and It’s silken enough to drink neat. But if you really want to dive deep into those flavors, you’ll need to nose and water this dram and take your time exploring its depths.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Parks And Recreation‘s Mouse Rat is one of the most beloved fictional TV bands in recent memory, but they became less fictional a couple months ago when they released an actual album, The Awesome Album. While Andy Dwyer’s voice is heard all over the project, the man behind Dwyer, Chris Pratt, says he wasn’t involved with its release at all.

Recently, Rob Lowe (who of course starred in the show as Chris Traeger) and Alan Yang (who was a Mouse Rat member and also a writer on the show) started hosting a podcast about the series, Parks And Recollection. They had Pratt on a recent episode, and during the conversation, Pratt said of The Awesome Album:

“No one consulted me about it. They were like, ‘Hey, do you want to promote this album?’ I was like, ‘There’s an album?’ And then they were like, ‘Yeah, do you want to promote it?’ Part of me is like, ‘Yeah, that’d be cool. I’d love… I’d always wanted to be that actor who has the vanity album, you know? I hope it gets a million copies and I get the Platinum album on my wall.

But then on the other hand, I’m like, ‘But you’re not gonna like’… I don’t think I’m going to be compensated for this beyond the whatever I… $15,000 an episode I was making for the show. Like um, I think no. I think I’m going to say no. A hard pass on promoting your album.”

Yang then indicated that he and others from the band and show were similarly out of the loop about the project, saying, “They didn’t tell anybody! I don’t think they told [Parks And Recreation co-creator Michael Schur]. I don’t know. I don’t know, it just came out. I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ I was like, ‘I’m in Mouse Rat, I didn’t know about that.’”

Pratt then brought up Mark Rivers, who composed most of the the Mouse Rat songs, was the band’s drummer, and later went on to earn an Emmy nomination for his work on Big Mouth. Pratt said, “I just hope that Mark Rivers gets compensated, ’cause that dude is the heart and soul and brains and talent behind Mouse Rat. So, if anything, I would just advocate that Mark be taken care of because he did such a great job.”

To Pratt and Yang’s point, promotional efforts for The Awesome Album seemed to be ragtag in nature. Nobody involved with the band helped push the album, and furthermore, promotional clips from Jay Jackson (aka Perd Hapley) and Alison Becker (aka Shauna Newport) were amateur-looking videos that appear to have been ordered on Cameo.

Pratt and Yang chatted more about Mouse Rat and memories they have of the band, so check out a clip from the conversation below.

The Awesome Album is out now via Dualtone/Entertainment 720. Get it here.

Swedish House Mafia fans are in for a treat this week. Not only did the electronic trio confirm an exciting collaboration with The Weeknd, but they’ve now just teased a show-stopping set at Coachella 2022.

Both the band and the festival confirmed the set in separate posts on social media Wednesday. Coachella, which is slated for April 15 to 17 and 22 to 24 next year, shared an eerie photo of Swedish House Mafia edited on the festival grounds.

Later, the group followed up with their own teaser, a video showing a sewing machine embroidering a bomber jacket that reads, “Swedish House Mafia live Coachella 2022.”

News of Swedish House Mafia’s Coachella performance arrives after an eventful year for the group, who recently dropped a collection with Ikea. Earlier this week, The Weeknd confirmed his upcoming collaboration with the group, titled “Moth To A Flame,” which will officially drop later this week. The single’s announcement came in the form of a 30-second clip of The Weeknd’s face set to simmering synths and a blown-out bass.

Coachella 2022 will be the first time the festival returned since the pandemic. After canceling their 2020 and 2021 event due to an order by California public health officials, passes to their 2022 festival sold out completely just four hours after tickets went live.

Check out Coachella and Swedish House Mafia’s teasers above.

This article originally appeared on 04.13.18

Teens have a knack for coming up with clever ways to rage against the system.

When I was in high school, the most notorious urban legend whispered about in hallways and at parties went like this: A teacher told his class that they were allowed to put “anything” on a notecard to assist them during a science test. Supposedly, one of his students arrived on test day with a grown adult at his side — a college chemistry major, who proceeded to stand on the notecard and give him answers. The teacher was apparently so impressed by the student’s cunning that he gave him a high score, then canceled class for the rest of the week because he was in such a good mood.

Of course, I didn’t know anyone who’d ever actually try such a thing. Why ruin a good story with reality — that pulling this kind of trick would probably earn you detention?

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Yet something even better just happened in real life when Eric Saueracker, an instructor in Washington, told his students they couldn’t bring cellphones to their physics test, not even to listen to music.

One teen took advantage of a loophole: He brought in a record player. And Saueracker pulled out his own smartphone so he could document the unusual circumstances for his Twitter followers.

Students are taking their Physics Midterm exam today. I said no cell phones, not even for music since they could be… https://t.co/OVvCnMOYNQ

— Eric Saueracker (@esaueracker)
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Yo, that takes a special kind of chutzpah. Most of us, I’m assuming, would have simply taken the test music-free. But the kid who listened to vinyl not only managed to follow the letter of the law, he aced the test — and his musical accompaniment was Kanye’s ironically titled “College Dropout.”

As a follow up:
@TheItalianPacca did ace the test whilst listening to college dropout…

— Eric Saueracker (@esaueracker)
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Yet teens these days aren’t simply acting out timeless rituals of smartassery. They’re also surprisingly healthy, well-behaved, and civic-minded.

The New York Times reports that teen smoking rates have never been lower, studies have found that alcohol use among teens is down by 50% since the ’90s, and despite every sitcom warning us otherwise, on average, teens are safer drivers than ever (or at least they have been since 1975).

Plus, many of them are at the vanguard of the gun control movement, taking on politicians and the NRA, not allowing anyone to disrupt their momentum under the guise of free speech (sorry, Laura Ingraham), and one is even getting a full ride into every Ivy League school he applied to.

Still, questioning authority is an important rite of passage on the way to becoming a healthy adult with critical thinking skills. So, sure, it’s perfectly admirable that Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg, who just turned 18, has a rather evolved birthday wish: That everyone get out there and vote.

Now that I’m 18 I can vote will you?

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111)
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But it’s also wonderful that his classmate Cameron Kasky wanted to poke a little fun at his solemn attitude, suggesting that he’ll also go ahead and give his friend an actual present (a gift certificate).

Today is David’s birthday and I’m gonna ask him what he wants and he’s gonna say “I want you to vote” or “Justice”… https://t.co/dMzFcXaN4e

— Cam (@cameron_kasky)
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I think we can safely assume that today’s teens are doing just fine.