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Whether you’re a smooth sipper or you love the bright bite of an agave-based cocktail, there are simply too many great bottles of tequila out there to choose from. To make your shopping process all the easier, we’ve fixed our eye to every list of the best expressions to pour out of this year’s spirit judging season in search of the absolute best bottles to stock your home bar with. Because if you’re going to drink tequila, you really should make it the best of the best.

Which has brings us to highest-scoring bottles of tequila from the International Wine & Spirits Competition. From completely un-aged silver glittering Blancos to carefully crafted Reposados to even the most luxurious of aged and purified Cristalinos, the IWSC has tasted the best the modern tequila market has to offer and ranked each bottle accordingly using a double-blind tasting method for full impartiality. The IWSC’s judges hail from over 30 countries and are made up of mostly distillers themselves, which helps to give the results an extra layer of authority that we feel we can really trust.

The six bottles on this list all managed to score in the 90-100 range of the IWSC’s 100 point system, meaning even if you buy one of these bottles blind, you’re probably going to land in something great. In addition to links on where you can buy your own, we’ve included the IWSC’s detailed tasting notes to help you really zoom in on what kind of tequila you’re looking for.

So let’s dive into some of the top-rated bottles of tequila from this year, according to the International Wine & Spirits Competition.

Best Blanco/Plata Tequila: Expresiones Corazon Blanco (92 Points)

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Tequila San Matias de Jalisco
Average Price: $59.99

The Tequila:

This small-batch artisanal Blanco tequila is made from matured agave cooked in stone and brick ovens and fermented in stainless steel tanks in an open-air setting before being twice distilled, resulting in an expression with bright citrus and slightly tangy characteristics.

Tasting Notes (from IWSC):

“Yeasty spice and fresh limes entice the nose. First taste impressions of pepper and glazed pineapple soon surrender to an intriguing, highly eccentric amalgam of Parma Violets and Love Hearts.”

Bottom Line:

At $60 a bottle, Expresiones Corazon certainly doesn’t make the cheapest bottle of Blanco tequila on the market, but given its three-year streak of topping the charts at the annual spirit tasting competitions, it’s clearly one of the best.

Best Flavored Tequila/Tequila Liqueur: Black Fire (92 Points)

ABV: 33%
Distillery: Undisclosed
Average Price: £22.59

The Tequila:

Not yet available to the US market, this tequila liqueur sounds like an absolute treat for the senses thanks to its combination of Blanco tequila, black coffee, and hints of chili.

Tasting Notes (from IWSC):

“Big, expressive, and rich with coffee aromas and nutiness mixed with hints of aniseed; a nice complexity to the liqueur, creating an overall well-made drink.”

Bottom Line:

Ideal as part of a more complex cocktail, Black Fire sounds like a great additive for anyone looking for a stronger kick from their tequila. It also sounds like the perfect kick to add to your post-dinner coffee or dessert.

Best Reposado Tequila: Storywood Tequila Speyside 7 (95 Points)

ABV: 40%
Distillery: La Cofradia
Average Price: £38.95

The Tequila:

Harvested and distilled in Tequila, Mexico, Storywood’s single malt Resposado is aged for seven months in Scottish Speyside whisky barrels that supply the expression with subtle hints of earthy vanilla, honey, and caramel with a bright lowland agave base hitting that perfect middle ground between aged and un-aged.

Tasting Notes (from IWSC):

“Lifted and herbaceous with great balance and character. Commendably packed with savory herbs, peppercorns, and cooked agave, yet still manages to possess subtle hints of honey and peach. The oak is well balanced and adds some rather pleasing tannins.”

Bottom Line:

Whether you like to sip your tequila or throw it into a mixer for a top-shelf cocktail, Storywood Speyside provides a solid Reposado tequila that brings together the best of both worlds of the tequila spectrum.

Best Añejo: Cierto Tequila Private Collection (91 Points)

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Tequileña
Average Price: Available January 2021

The Tequila:

Rather than leaning on high-pressure diffusers or additives to achieve the deep amber hue of Cierto Black Label’s Private Reserve Añejo, Cierto uses traditional methods to produce this award-winning tequila. Crafted using only fully matured agave that is hand-harvested and slow-cooked by fifth-generation masters, Cierto’s Añejo is aged in ex-wine casks alongside oak barrels. This results in tequila with a smooth mouthfeel made to savor.

Tasting Notes (from IWSC):

“Butterscotch and herbs tantalize the nose. Sweet agave and the well-judged oak reveal an elegant character and bring a savory, yet delicate balance to the mouth.”

Bottom Line:

A tequila crafted with serious sippers in mind, as soon as we’re able to get our hands on a bottle of Cierto, we’ll let you know if the expression measures up to the rumored high price. With marks this high though, we’re not doubting whether Cierto delivers.

Best Extra Añejo: El Tesoro (95 Points)

ABV: 40%
Distillery: Tequila Tapatio
Average Price: $54.99

The Tequila:

El Tesoro is absolutely killing it this year, scooping up accolades and awards at all of the major spirits tasting competitions as well as being the only Extra Añejo tequila to grab IWSC’s high honor Gold Spirit award this year. Made using Blue Weber agave harvested at full maturity and fermented in wood fermentation tanks in an open-air setting, El Tesoro’s Extra Añejo is aged in American oak ex-bourbon barrels for four to five years giving the Tequila its vibrant golden hue and pulls forward decadent flavors of chocolate and coffee.

Tasting Notes (from IWSC):

“Leafy in style with cool herbaceous notes and some oak on the nose. Spiced strawberries, cherry bubblegum and big dollop of white pepper offers a delectable and well-balanced mouthfeel. Very drinkable.”

Bottom Line:

Given its laborious process, El Tesoro’s Añejo is pretty fairly priced. With its high honors and reputation, it’s one of the best Extra Añejo’s you can buy without killing your bank account, though you’ll probably still reserve this bottle for special occasions and guests.

Best Cristalino: Satryna Cristalino Tequila (92 Points)

ABV: 38%
Distillery: Distillery: Corporativo Destileria Santa Lucia
Average Price: £125

The Tequila:

Stateside, Cristalino is rarely recognized as its own respective category of tequila. In Mexico, the filtered Añejo tequila is exploding in popularity as drinkers seek out all the care and craft of an aged tequila with some of the brightness of a Blanco. Made using steam-cooked Blue Weber agave sourced from Guadalajara, Satryna waits for ten to 12 years to harvest their agave and then lets the juice age for an additional 18 months in American oak barrels before being fine filtered into a Cristalino state. The result is then bottled in a wildly ornate handcrafted French decanter encrusted with metal foil in an aesthetic that owes a considerable debt to the imagery of Día de Los Muertos.

Tasting Notes (from IWSC):

“Soft on the nose with a creamy and sweet texture. Strong hints of new American oak and quality agave make this a very well balanced easy sipping tequila.”

Bottom Line:

A bottle of Satrnya Cristalino is a gift, whether you’re purchasing it for yourself or for a friend that enjoys the complexities of a luxury tequila. It’s a lovely addition to any bar, even once it’s empty.

The NBA’s players met on Wednesday night to discuss their plans moving forward after players from the Bucks began what became a leaguewide wildcat strike, refusing to play their Game 5s in protest of police shooting Jacob Blake in the back seven times, leaving him paralyzed, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The meeting lasted several hours, with reports emerging of a number of different players and coaches stepping up to speak, eventually with coaches being asked to leave. About 2 and a half hours into the meeting, word emerged that the Lakers and Clippers had both voted against continuing the season and left.

Per Charania, they were the only two teams who voted against resuming the season, with LeBron James calling on owners and the league to do more.

As Udonis Haslem reportedly pointed out to the rest of the teams, there isn’t much of a path to the resumption of the season if the Lakers and Clippers, the two top seeds in the West, aren’t a part of it, and clearly there must be a full decision made.

We will await that official word from the players union, but for now it seems two of the league’s biggest teams that feature four of its biggest stars do not plan to continue playing. The question is if the Lakers and Clippers can be brought back into the fold when the NBA’s Board of Governors meet on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. ET, should ownership and league executives agree to do more, speak out, and wield their power, money, and influence more at the state and national levels.

If nothing else, the Lakers and Clippers taking this stance applies immense pressure on ownership to make serious plans and put actual, actionable things on the table in their meeting. Somewhat unsurprisingly, given it was always going to be very difficult to get every player and team on the same page with something like a strike, David Aldridge of The Athletic says the meeting ended “ugly” with players not fully certain how things will play out in the coming days.

It seems as though Steve Ballmer has, at least to a point, gotten the message sent by the Clippers players, issuing a statement through the team on Wednesday night, calling for police accountability and reform.

Following the police shooting of Jacob Blake (who was left paralyzed) in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests have been ongoing for days. It comes as no surprise that Tucker Carlson would (not for the first time) side against protestors of police brutality, but his rhetoric on Tuesday grew so heated and over-the-top that people are calling for Fox News to give him the boot.

Of particular relevance with these calls for Fox News to take news against the anchor is Carlson’s defense of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old vigilante who opened fire (with a semi-automatic rifle) on protesters, killing two of them in the process. Rittenhouse has been arrested and (according to Antioch Police, via CNN) charged with first-degree intentional homicide. However, Carlson didn’t hide his on-air support for the teen.

“Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” Carlson reasoned. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would.”

People are rallying with disgust over Carlson’s apparent justification of Rittenhouse’s actions. They’re asking Fox News to take him off the air, as well as for consumers to boycott advertisers on the cable news network.

Via the Daily Beast, Carlson has suggested that Rittenhouse was acting in “self-defense,” and he further condemned protesters, saying that “Kenosha has devolved into anarchy, the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it.” He added, “People in charge, from the governor of Wisconsin on down, refused to enforce the law. They stood back and watched Kenosha burn.”

Conway The Machine is preparing to unload what would be his third project of the year after Lulu, with The Alchemist, and No One Mourns The Wicked with Big Ghost Ltd. But he’s dropped a new single off this future release, “Fear Of God.” The Hit-Boy-produced track kicks off with a lengthy verse from Conway that finds him reflecting on his rise in fame. Showing up to close out the track after the two-minute mark, Dej Loaf supplies an energetic finish to the song as she reminds listeners of her fearless spirit.

Following his Method Man collaboration, “Lemon,” Conway’s collab with Dej Loaf is the latest single to be released from his upcoming album, From King To A God. The album is set to release on September 11, but it may be delayed to honor DJ Shay, who tragically passed earlier this month due to coronavirus, as other members of the Griselda squad, including Westside Gunn and Armani Caesar, have announced they will do. Following his death, the crew honored DJ Shay in a series of Instagram posts.

As for Dej Loaf, the song arrives after the Detroit native shared a visual for “No Saint” ahead of her upcoming Sell Sole 2 album.

You can listen to “Fear Of God” in the video above.

From King To A God is out 09/11 via Drumwork/Griselda/EMPIRE.

Wednesday was a landmark day in the sports world, as players from four major sports league’s refused to play in protest of Kenosha police shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back on Monday.

The first team to refuse to play was the Milwaukee Bucks, who issued a statement as a team hours after speaking with the Wisconsin attorney general and lieutenant governor on the phone to seek out what their next course of action can be. The Thunder and Rockets soon followed, with the Lakers and Blazers reaching the same decision not to play right as the NBA decided to officially postpone games amid a player strike — in an effort to avoid an immediate termination of the CBA.

From there, the Milwaukee Brewers followed suit by refusing to play their game with the Reds, with the Mariners-Padres game and Dodgers-Giants game likewise being called off after players chose not to play in protest. The WNBA, as they so often do, made a powerful statement with all of the players scheduled to play Wednesday night kneeling together at midcourt in shirts that spelled out Jacob Blake, likewise calling off their games after initial discussion of playing and protesting during the game

The MLS had one game play — Nashville vs. Orlando City — but at halftime of that game the rest of the league, beginning with Atlanta Unite and Inter Miami, decide they too would not play in protest and the rest of the night’s games were postponed by the league as well.

The Black Players for Change group in the MLS issued a statement voicing their support of the movement and the decision not to play made by players in sports all over the country.

Outside of team sports, top tennis star Naomi Osaka announced she would not be playing in her semifinal match on Thursday in protest as well.

It is a powerful movement, and as Chris Webber so eloquently said on TNT earlier in the night, what comes next, while important, is something players can take time to figure out. What is important is how many players are standing together on this issue, across sports, and expressing the need for significant change in this country with regards to police brutality and systemic racism. The Bucks have called for Wisconsin lawmakers to return to session to vote on a bill that includes police reforms that has not been voted on for more than a month, and players from the NBA, WNBA, and elsewhere in the sports world will have more in the way of demands and calls to action from fans and the leagues themselves soon.

Backed by a strong production from Hit-Boy, Nas’ King Disease has gone over well with fans. He continues to promote the album, this time with a video for the song “Ultra Black.” Directed by Spike Jordan, the video boasts cameos from legendary Harlem designer Dapper Dan, Pyer Moss founder Kerby Jean-Raymond, and Hit-Boy himself, all while Nas celebrates the beauty of the homes in Black America. It follows a few families through their daily routines in the video, their lives painted in a beautiful light by Nas’ lyrics.

The video arrives after Nas clarified that his Doja Cat line on the song, which caused some controversy shortly after its release, was simply a result of lyrical wordplay. “I just really was saying a rhyme that rhymed with ‘Ultra Black.’ I rhymed that word with ‘ultra black,’” he explained. “It’s all love. […] It’s bars, it’s just lines. We play with words.”

Nas has been on a heavy promo run following the release of King’s Disease. During his press run, the Brooklyn rapper has discussed missing out on a Notorious B.I.G. collaboration, rushing Nasir with Kanye West, sharing release dates with Jay-Z, and more.

You can watch the “Ultra Black” video above.

King’s Disease is out now on Mass Appeal Records. Get it here.

Back in February, Chris Evans — one of the most likeable of the Avengers, which is saying something — made people mad. How? By taking a picture with Ted Cruz. Granted, it wasn’t just a photo with the controversial Senator and failed presidential candidate; Cruz’s daughter Caroline was in between them. But it seemed jarring that the very progressive former Captain America would willingly be within 30 miles of Cruz, let alone document it for posterity.

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1227683706875371521

The incident, of course, was mostly forgotten, particularly as, well, other, more important matters took up our collective brain space. But half a year later, while chatting on The Daily Show, the actor opened up about it and attempted to explain his reasoning.

He had a couple excuses. “In that circumstance, it was a child,” Evans said, addressing Cruz’s daughter. “I’ll always take a picture with a kid.”

But that wasn’t all. Evans had also started a utopian (or maybe simply overly ambitious) political project called A Talking Point, which is described as a way to “create a bipartisan channel of communication and connectivity between Americans and their elected officials.” Naturally he’d wind up face-to-face with one of the GOP’s most prominent members. So he had another, deeper reason for the Cruz picture:

“[I]n general, just even sitting down with certain politicians ― there are certain people on the extremes of both parties who, there’s no wiggle room for that. And again, what I would argue is, look, if this person wasn’t in power, if this person wasn’t writing bills that affected your life, fine, we can shun them. You know what I mean? We can scream louder than them. But we can’t pretend they don’t have some sort of say, some sort of impact.”

In other words, he meant well. He even thinks it’s lofty to converse with someone with whom he, and many of his fans, vehemently disagree about, well, just about everything. Evans said he finds it “far more pernicious to become stubborn and retreat to your corner” instead of having a conversation, attempting to find “landscape of competing ideas,” as he puts it. “Because I think the other way just becomes cyclical, and everyone spirals, and no one listens, and I don’t think you move the ball down the field as effectively as you would if you say: OK, let’s just, you know … out-talk me.”

In any case, best of luck to Evans as he tries to do A Talking Point during what may be the most combative election season in recorded history!

You can watch the full interview in the video above. The Cruz business begins around the 5:43 mark.

(Via Huffington Post)

The NBA announced that it will not hold today’s playoff games after several teams, starting with the Milwaukee Bucks, decided to boycott over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

The coach of the L.A. Clippers, Doc Rivers, shared his reaction to the shooting, as well as to the country’s current unrest over racial injustice in a video that’s been shared widely. Steph Curry, who plays for the Golden State Warriors, wrote on Twitter, “Proud to know you @DocRivers. Sometimes we don’t know what to say every time this hurt happens. We Need Change! There is so much Truth in every Every word of this. Y’all wake up.”

Doc Rivers Delivers Emotional Speech On Jacob Blake

www.youtube.com

Coach Rivers explained the strangeness of the fearmongering coming from the president and the RNC when Black people are the ones who have always had reason to fear. He pointed out the hypocrisy in the way protests for Black Lives are met with riot gear versus the way men with guns who storm capitol buildings are handled with kid gloves by the police. But perhaps the most powerful moment came when he said, “It’s amazing to me…why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.”

LeBron James expressed himself a bit more forcefully today on Twitter as the NBA announced its cancellation of the playoff games.

As Doc Rivers said, “It’s really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. And I’m so often reminded of my color. You know, it’s just really sad. We’ve got to do better. But we’ve got to demand better.”

We all need to demand better of our law enforcement system that enforces laws unevenly and of our justice system that serves justice unequally. “My dad was a cop,” said Rivers. “I believe in good cops. We’re not trying to defund them and take all their money away. We’re trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else.”

Yet another unarmed Black man was shot multiple times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the weekend, prompting outrage among the citizens who’ve been protesting just this type of targeting of minorities by law enforcement. Numerous NBA players have spoken out about the incident in recent days, expressing their devastation and frustration about the ongoing systemic mistreatment and oppression of Black people in America.

There was even some chatter earlier in the week that players were considering boycotting some of the upcoming playoff games this week, a scenario that quickly came to fruition on Wednesday as teams made a unified decision to sit out their scheduled playoff games. The WNBA also decided to sit out their games.

George Hill was one of the first to suggest this as a possibility in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, questioning his own decision to participate in the restart amid the nationwide protests, so it was only fitting that he and the Bucks led the charge on Wednesday when they were the first announce that they were refusing to play Game 5 against the Orlando Magic.

Later in the evening, Hill and Sterling Brown read a team statement explaining their decision and using the opportunity to once again demand justice for Jacob Blake, whose parents say he has been left paralyzed by the shooting, and the subsequent shooting of protesters.

Full statement from the Milwaukee Bucks: pic.twitter.com/jjGEyVcCmB

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) August 26, 2020

Here is the full text of their statement.

Full statement from Milwaukee Bucks players who led NBA boycott tonight. pic.twitter.com/AOmHxwUTa7

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 26, 2020

The Bucks owners also came out in support of the players’ decision.

A statement from the Milwaukee Bucks owners: “We fully support our players and the decision they made…” pic.twitter.com/k4Mg63A1N9

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) August 26, 2020

There’s been no official word about Thursday’s playoff games yet, but we’ll continue to update the situation throughout the night as it develops.

On Monday, St. Vincent will share her audio project, St. Vincent: Words + Music, as a part of Audible’s Words + Music series. The project will find St. Vincent discussing her influences, lyrics, and the “discovery of her authentic self.” And ahead of its release she sat down for an interview with The Los Angeles Times to discussing the project, her love for podcasts, and her ability to be creative during the pandemic.

St. Vincent explained her decision to give fans a new piece of her life that she previously left untouched, including her father’s imprisonment in the 2000s. “I’ve always wanted people to enjoy and take in my music for what the music was. I don’t want it to be like a piece of art on the wall that needs an explanation in order to enjoy it. I want it to be enjoyed and interpreted on its own merit,” she said. “I think that in the past I felt way more protective of my family and my privacy because he was still in there. But since then, he’s been released, and we have a great relationship… That’s why I feel fine about throwing it out there, because frankly, it had the happiest possible ending.”

St. Vincent also discussed one of her obsessions. “I’m obsessed with podcasts and audiobooks. I probably listen to more audiobooks than I do music.”

She also talked about her creative process during the pandemic and how it changed her process. “I’m doing OK. It’s been a really productive time, but in a different way. I have this theory that people who are creative for a living were dumbstruck, creatively, by the pandemic, because we all need an element of chaos in our day to be able to grab inspiration,” she explained. “People who are creative for a living have had a very hard time being creative during the pandemic. But a lot of people who aren’t necessarily creative for a living are like, ‘It’s a great time. I’ve finally learned how to knit and I finally wrote that short story that I‘d been meaning to do.’”

(via The Los Angeles Times)