The Golden Raspberry Awards, aka the Razzies, may celebrate the worst in cinema, but sometimes they’re as unloved as the purported duds they try and mock. Did you know the first year, in 1980, they dissed Stanley Kubrick? They’ve come for a lot of future classics (such as The Shining). Other times their choices can seem simply lazy. So it was with this year’s nominations, which faux-fêted some obvious choices (Space Jam: A New Legacy, Ben Platt in Dear Evan Hansen) as well as some real obscurities (eight direct-to-streaming Bruce Willis movies).
Then there’s Ben Affleck getting a Worst Supporting Actor nom for The Last Duel. Affleck had a good 2020. He reunited with Jennifer Lopez. He’s an Oscar hopeful for The Tender Bar. The Last Duel, the first movie he’s co-written with Matt Damon since they won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, may have tanked at the box office, but it’s already been reclaimed since dropping on HBO Max. What’s more, Affleck received some of the best reviews of his career for his turn as the peerlessly douchey count Pierre d’Alençon, whose unrepentant hedonism makes for much-needed comic relief.
Nobody told the Razzie voters that. Their inexplicable nomination suggests either they’re stuck in a past where Affleck is overly ubiquitous tabloid fodder or, worse, didn’t even see a turn described by Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri as “wonderfully skeezy,” the actor playing a “marvelously out-there creation who shouldn’t work at all and yet becomes an engine of uneasy delights.” Jersey Girl and Gigli were almost 20 years ago, Razzie people! We’ve all moved on!
When people saw the nomination, they couldn’t believe it — and they made sure people loved one of Affleck’s finest, funniest turns.
Ben Affleck’s name shouldn’t be anywhere near that Razzies list. His performance as obnoxious, narcissistic, philandering royalty is on another level in THE LAST DUEL. He makes a meal out of his screen time and also has one of the best deliveries of a line in that movie. pic.twitter.com/exynke4pqY
The Razzies should obviously be ignored, it’s hack lamebrain shit but Ben Affleck in The Last Duel is the best supporting performance of the year. Get the fuck out of here with that.
The R*zzies clearly just took one look at Ben Affleck’s haircut in The Last Duel and thought they could get away with a blind nomination. Fuuuuuck off.
But it may not be as bad as that anyway. As of this writing, the Oscar nominations will be announced in the morning, and Affleck may find himself with one — maybe even for The Last Duel. It would be funnier still if he won.
Ever since the Netflix docThe Tinder Swindler was released last week, people have been asking a big question: Who is the Tinder Swindler? The film examines the stranger-than-fiction story of a wealthy jet-setter who used the dating service to woo women and fleece them out of money. Over the course of two years, he amassed some $10 million from his victims. But again, who is the Tinder Swindler, you may be asking.
The answer to who is the Tinder Swindler is Simon Leviev, real name Shimon Yehuda Hayut, an Israeli-born conman who already had a lengthy rap sheet. In 2011, he was caught cashing checks he’d stolen from family for whom he was babysitting. He wound up charged with various counts of fraud and theft, but he fled the country. Four years later he was arrested in Finland after exploiting a number of women under an assumed name.
Starting in 2017, after serving a shortened sentence, Hayut again assumed a fake name, Simon Leviev, and used Tinder to contact women and trick them into giving him cash and credit cards. He claimed that he was the son of Israeli diamond tycoon Lev Leviev and that his life was in danger. He would then use the money he swindled to lure new victims, effectively operating a Ponzi scheme. He was again jailed in 2019 but only served five months of his 15-month sentence due to the pandemic.
As per Variety, Hayut was only recently banned from the app he used to con people out of money.
After 21 weeks of NFL action during the 2021 NFL season, it all comes down to Super Bowl LVI. The Los Angeles Rams outlasted the San Francisco 49ers to win the NFC crown, with the Cincinnati Bengals stunning the Kansas City Chiefs on the AFC side. Along the way, we’ve found some success (see below), but Championship Weekend wasn’t incredibly kind to us from a handicapping perspective. It was a lot rosier when the Chiefs led 21-3 in the first half, of course, but the beauty of football (and sports) is that anything can happen and, well, it did.
Before we dive into the Super Bowl card and a few selections for the big game, let’s check in on the season-long progress in this space.
Last Week: 1-2
2021 Season: 57-45-1
Come get these winners, as we seek far and wide to find the best lines.
Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals UNDER 24 points in the first half (FanDuel)
You’ll need to line shop, but at least one major book is still hanging 24 at the time of this post. I’d lean under the full game as well, in part because of what I believe about the Rams on defense, but the first half is preferable. For one thing, the Bengals are very good at making second half tweaks. For another, the Rams have turtled in key situations. For one more, the bright lights of the big stage can lead to tentative play and jitters, all of which projects to help the under. Punts and field goals, please.
Los Angeles Rams OVER 3.0 sacks (Caesars)
Remember what the Titans did to the Bengals offensive line? Well, if you don’t, Tennessee racked up nine (!) sacks in the playoff matchup and, while it isn’t this simple, Los Angeles has a better pass rush than Tennessee. This isn’t a small number by any means, but I’d take the over on 4.5 sacks if I had to. Aaron Donald, Von Miller and company could live in the backfield.
Joe Burrow OVER 11.5 rushing yards (BetMGM)
Wait, the Rams are going to get a ton of sacks and Burrow is going to run for 12 or more yards? Well, yes. In college, this would be a disaster because sacks count as negative rushing yards, but not in the NFL. Joey B is going to be running for his life in this one and, unlike regular season games in which quarterbacks are taught to avoid punishment, Burrow is much more likely to put his head down and keep rolling.
Van Jefferson OVER 30.5 receiving yards (DraftKings)
Jefferson has surpassed 30 receiving yards in 13 of 20 games this season. I do understand that the Rams now employ Odell Beckham Jr., cutting into Jefferson’s target share, but Los Angeles may be without Tyler Higbee, which could get Jefferson on the field more often. From there, Jefferson can (easily) get to this number in one catch if necessary, and with a lot of attention on Cooper Kupp and Beckham Jr., the value is good here.
Los Angeles Rams (-4) over Cincinnati Bengals (BetOnline)
I guess we kinda have to give out the side in the Super Bowl, right? This isn’t a huge value play by any means, but I do feel as if the Bengals are slightly overvalued after their Cinderella run through the AFC. Los Angeles is the more talented team with the better defense and, while home-field advantage isn’t really a thing in the Super Bowl, it doesn’t exactly hurt the Rams to hang out at home for the last couple of weeks. As noted above, the thing that pushes this over the edge for me is the pass rush for Los Angeles. I just don’t think Cincinnati can block them, and Matthew Stafford can take it from there.
Since October, when an accidental shooting on the set of the film Rust led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Alec Baldwin has been laying low. He’s (mostly) played ball with the authorities over what happened that day, which has been extremely tricky to divine. But now, some three-and-a-half months later, he appears to be returning to work.
On Friday, the actor posted an Instagram video of himself at an airport, where was about to embark on what used to be a regular activity: traveling around the globe shooting movies and television. He did not say where he was going (though he was later spotted at Heathrow airport in London). Nor did he reveal what the project was.
Whatever it is, it will Baldwin’s first on-set job since the fatal Rust shooting. Reports from the set pegged him as the one who unwittingly pulled the trigger, which he’d allegedly been told was “cold.” Baldwin has since denied that he was the one who discharged the weapon. Reports from the set suggested a chaotic environment, with accidental discharges. Baldwin has said those claims were untrue. Meanwhile, parts of the far right — including Donald Trump Jr. and Lauren Boebert — have made light of the tragic accident.
The organization In Defense Of Animals has teamed with another org, Panda Voices, to take up the cause of two giant pandas, YaYa and LeLe who are being kept at the Memphis Zoo. Activists argue they’re being abused and malnourished. According to IDA, the pandas were shipped to the zoo 18 years ago, in 2003. Since then, they are being “mistreated” and according to IDA are “visibly distressed, suffering from insufficient bamboo, malnourishment, excessive caging time (10+ hours), skin mite disease, dental problems and zoochosis — a distressed state of mental health shown through abnormal, repetitive ‘stereotypical’ behaviors.”
The pop star showed her support by retweeting something the organization posted last week. Billie retweeted @IDAUSA’s tweet that explained their stance. “We are working with @PandaVoicesOrg to free 2 pandas suffering devastating mental & physical diseases. Urge @MemphisZoo to return YaYa & LeLe to China for qualified veterinary care, quality bamboo & a more suitable environment!”
“We are thrilled that Billie Eilish has joined our campaign to free YaYa and LeLe from horrendous suffering at Memphis Zoo,” said Fleur Dawes, Communications Director for In Defense of Animals in a press release. “Anyone can see these pandas are in crisis and in urgent need of rescue. We hope Billie’s call on Memphis Zoo CEO Jim Dean will encourage him to stop the torture of YaYa and LeLe and send them back to China. These pandas deserve to have suitable food and medical care, and retire to a life that resembles the wild as closely as possible.”
There are close to 75,000 signatures on a Change.org petition begging the Memphis zoo to send the pandas home. Billie’s support will likely trigger a spike of attention. Check out the petition here.
You might not know that Kevin Sorbo — TV’s Hercules in the back half of the ‘90s; star of Kull the Conqueror — found a second life as a star of the far right. He played a mean atheist professor in the first God’s Not Dead. He played a mean atheist in a faith-based movie he directed himself. Sorbo has range! You might not have seen those, but you may have seen him getting dragged online for opinions ranging from the efficacy of masks to him mocking Hunter Biden’s drug addiction.
Now Sorbo is back making dunkable tweets. On Monday, he tried to make an obscure point about vaccines and, of course, only succeeded in accidentally singing the praises of free universal healthcare.
If the shots were given away for free because they’re life-saving, why isn’t insulin free? Chemotherapy? Epipens?
“If the shots were given away for free because they’re life-saving, why isn’t insulin free? Chemotherapy? Epipens?” Sorbo tweeted.
It’s a fair question, Kull: Why are people who are born with or catch deadly diseases forced to pay through the nose just to stay alive? Assuming he was genuinely concerned for people with diabetes or cancer — a big if — it sure would make sense to extend the same care the government is bequeathing so that people don’t die from a highly transmissible disease. (Then again, diseases like diabetes and cancer aren’t contagious like COVID, which fellow winger Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t seem to understand either. But the larger point he almost certainly didn’t mean to make remains.)
In any case, a lot of people who don’t normally agree with Kevin Sorbo — perhaps even his sometime co-star Lucy Lawless, who dragged him over a year ago about a separate matter on which he was emphatically wrong — found themselves agreeing with him on the subject of socialized medicine.
A lot of acclaimed auteurs don’t like superhero movies. Ridley Scott thinks their scripts “are not any f*cking good.” Argentinian director Lucretia Martel, who was approached to direct one but declined because Marvel wouldn’t let her actually direct the action scenes, finds them “hard to watch.” And then there’s Martin Scorsese, the poet laureate of comic book movie haters, who slammed them for turning a once-diverse industry into, in his summation, a one trick pony.
Steven Soderbergh, who was once nominated for two separate Best Director Oscars in the same year (and won for Traffic, losing to himself for Erin Brockovich), has a more specific gripe. He doesn’t like them because they’re insufficiently (or, really, nonexistently) horny.
In a new interview with The Daily Beast, the director of the Ocean’s trilogy, who hasn’t worked for a major studio in ages and even briefly “retired” from movies in 2013, was asked if ever gets asked to return to franchises.
“Not really,” he replied, adding, “and I’m not a snob; it’s not that I feel it’s some lower tier in any way.” He said he simply prefers making movies with realistic “Newtonian physics” (like his remake of Andrei Tarkovsky’s sci-fi drama Solaris). But there was another issue he had with them:
“Also, for a lot of these, for me to understand the world and how to write or supervise the writing of the story and the characters—apart from the fact that I can bend time and defy gravity and shoot beams out of my fingers—there’s no f*cking. Nobody’s f*cking! Like, I don’t know how to tell people how to behave in a world in which that is not a thing.”
On top of why the genre “typically doesn’t involve a lot of f*cking,” Soderbergh had other questions, like, “who’s paying these people? Who do they work for? How does this job come to be?” (Tony Stark really is the only one who seems to be independently wealthy.) He did add, “If people want to go experience that universe, that’s fine. As a filmmaker, I just don’t know where to start.”
Meanwhile, Soderbergh is hard at work on his own franchise, and it is full of sex, or at least randiness. He’s prepping for Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the third in the beloved male stripper genre starring Channing Tatum and his latest for HBO Max, who also ponied up for No Sudden Move and the forthcoming KIMI. He teases that the threequel is “ as close to a full-blown musical as I’m ever going to get.” So Soderbergh does like franchises, long as they’re realistic or at least realistically titillating.
One the more mysterious aspects of being human is our sense of intuition. This “sixth sense” isn’t something we can see or measure, but many people have experienced it in some form or fashion. Maybe it comes as a strong feeling that something isn’t right, or that we or someone else should or shouldn’t do something. It can be hard to read—not every feeling we get is truly our intuition—but there are plenty of examples of people trusting their instincts and being glad they did.
One such story has gone viral on TikTok. Jessica Higgs, a mom who works as an Instacart grocery delivery person, shared a story in an emotional video that illustrates the importance of listening to that inner voice when it prompts you to make sure someone is OK.
“I just want to start this off by saying if you see something, say something,” Higgs said.
She explained how she had done an Instacart order the previous day for a daughter who was ordering for her older dad who couldn’t shop for himself. She said she was going the extra mile like she always does for her customers, and that the daughter told her to just drop the groceries on the porch and he’d get them. That’s what Higgs would usually do.
“I get there and something was telling me no, you gotta help this man out,” she said. “He came out, and I was like OK let me help you, and I got the groceries. You’re not supposed to go into someone’s house, but I used my judgment and I brought the groceries inside and put them down wherever he wanted me to put them down. You’re not supposed to, but I did. And you’re supposed to just take a picture and leave, and I could not just leave.”
Higgs noticed that the man looked really sick and she was really concerned. A voice in her head said, “You gotta say something. You gotta say something, Jess.” Rather than mark the order as complete, she messaged the man’s daughter and told her that it was really unprofessional to say something like this, but she felt like her dad wasn’t doing well. “There’s a propane tank in there,” she told the woman. “I was in there maybe five feet and I got dizzy. There’s got to be a leak. He might not be doing good because of this leak.”
The woman said she would send her son over to check it out and Higgs left. The woman changed her tip from $14 to $100, which Higgs appreciated, but the message she sent her the next morning was a much greater reward for her going the extra mile.
“Thank you so much, once my son went to check on my dad it turned out it was definitely leaking,” she wrote. “You definitely saved my dad and my younger son’s life!!!”
Through tears, Higgs said, “I’m just an Instacart worker, but if you see something, say something. I did and I’m so happy I did.”
Higgs’ TikTok has been viewed more than 15 million times and has been shared widely on social media. It has also attracted the attention of big companies.
Royal Caribbean Cruises shared a TikTok video of its own praising Higgs for her heroic act and offering her and her family a seven-day cruise anywhere in the world. “Cause even heroes need a vacation,” the company wrote.
Stitch with @jessicahiggs3 – cause even heroes need a vacation. Thanks @captaincruiseguy
Old Navy connected with her and arranged a shopping spree where she got to model several new outfits. People Magazine commented, “You’re literally a HERO! Good job trusting your instincts. 💕” Even TikTok itself wrote, “You are amazing ❤️thank you for sharing this with all of us.”
Lots of commenters also pointed out that she’s not “just an Instacart worker.” Her work is important, she’s providing a needed service and any job done in a spirit of helping others should not be minimized. If she hadn’t been there doing her job well, that man may not be here. Never underestimate the difference each of us can make by the simple act of looking out for one another, friend and stranger alike.
Higgs’ heartfelt story touched millions, and she’s being rightly rewarded for listening to her heart and going out of her way to help someone. Gotta love seeing good things come to people doing good. Well done, Jessica Higgs.
Scotch whisky between $50 and $60 is where things get pretty interesting. While there are still plenty of standard bottles at this price point, we’re starting to get into the better stuff. We’re looking at specially blended malts with big-name brands in the mix alongside single malts that are a little more niche.
Overall, finding a great bottle of Scotch whisky at this price isn’t too hard. There are plenty of bottles in this range on the shelves these days. Add in that the years of Trump-era tariffs have ended on Scotch whisky imports and you simply have more options at a better price. That’s a win-win for the average whisky drinker out there.
The ten bottles below are whiskies I vouch for. I’ve ranked them according to taste to give you a sense of where the prime cuts are in the $50 to $60 range. Hopefully, this will help you make a more informed decision the next time you’re looking to try something new from Scotland.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
Master Distiller John Campbell created this whisky to highlight the diversity of the casking process behind Laphroaig’s classic expressions. The juice is a blend of four casks. Their quarter, Pedro Ximénez, triple wood, and ten-year-old casks are married to create a deeply satisfying bottle of whisky.
Tasting Notes:
The whisky draws you in with hints of red fruit, plums, nuts, and a bit of peated maltiness. The fruit leads the way on the palate while the wood leans mildly spicy with a bit of alcohol warmth, Ace bandages, smoked salts, and more of that malt. The end lingers as the fruit and wood come together with an ever-so-distant wisp of smoke and Band-Aid.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a light and almost airy introduction to the world of medicinal peated malts, this is the bottle for you. I’d also argue that this is a mild and accessible introduction to the wider and heavier peated world of Laphroaig, especially if you pour it over a rock or two.
This Speyside whisky is all about Spanish wood and Scottish malts. The whisky is matured exclusively in sherry casks for 12 years before vatting and proofing without any additives or coloring.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a soft sense of blackened bananas next to vanilla beans, a hint of lemon oils, and a whisper of dried roses on the nose. The palate marries that lemon and banana into a banana bread with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg with a touch of vanilla next to a savory melon vibe. That savory fruit drives the mid-palate towards a finish with almost a lemon cream pie feel to it next to a hint more spice and soft vanilla rounding things out.
Bottom Line:
This is a very easy-drinking sweet whisky. While I tend to reach for this when making highball, you can drink it on the rocks for a fruity change of pace.
Back on Islay, this peated malt is another great gateway to the Island’s smoke whiskies thanks to being extremely lightly peated. This expression is made from 12-year-old barrels that once held bourbon or sherry. Those barrels are vatted and the whisky is proofed down and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this opens with mild notes of smoked cherry next to burnt candle wax, tart apples, and salted caramels laced with orange oils. The taste mellows with a creamy vanilla pudding base with notes of Black Forest Cake with plenty of brandied cherries and dark cacao and a faint hint of cherry wood smoke way back in the background. The finish leans into that dry and fruity wood and leaves you with a touch more vanilla silkiness and singed cherry wood.
Bottom Line:
This is so subtly “peated” that you’d be forgiven for not even noticing it. The fruitiness and softness are the stars of the show, making this a good candidate for on the rocks or cocktail applications.
This Lowland malt is renowned for being triple distilled (much like Irish whiskey). That extra distillation allows the juice to go in the barrel with an extra layer of refinement. The whisky spends 12 years mellowing in mostly ex-bourbon casks with a few ex-sherry casks in the mix too.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a rich and creamy vanilla-pudding-with-burnt-sugars covered in ground almonds countered by a lemon-lime vibe with a touch of orange zest that leads towards fresh tea leaves and a touch of fresh mint. The palate lets that orange and lime really shine with a tartness and sweetness that leads back towards that soft vanilla pudding with a touch of Almond Joy and spiced malt. The finish lets that spice warm up your palate with cinnamon and clove as the almonds make a nutty and dry comeback.
Bottom Line:
This is a pretty big outlier in the broader Scotch whisky scene. This whisky is deeply hewn and unique while also being very drinkable — neat or on the rocks. I do like this one in a simple cocktail even though those ABVs are pretty low.
This Island’s whisky is all about reaching over the pond. The 100 percent malted barley juice is aged exclusively in ex-bourbon barrels (for an undisclosed amount of time) before it’s vatted, proofed, and bottled as-is to highlight that barrel.
Tasting Notes:
This has a nose full of ripe apples and pears with stems and cores alongside soft and damp cedar and chewy vanilla-laced toffee. The palate counters with grapefruit pith, silken vanilla cream, and apple butter brimming with dark spice. The finish comes about with a singed cedar bark feel next to soft powdery spices, orange oils, and a very light vanilla ice cream scoop.
Bottom Line:
This feels both like a really approachable and fruity single malt and a subtle bourbon-infused whisky. It’s a great bridge between Kentucky and Scotland and perfect for anyone looking to check out something from Scotland.
Glengoyne uses unpeated Highland barley that they airdry themselves before fermentation. The uniqueness of this whisky doesn’t end there. They also season their own American and European oak barrels with sherry for six years before filling them with their juice. After ten years of maturation, those barrels are vatted, proofed, and bottled for this expression.
Tasting Notes:
This starts off fairly familiar for a sweet Highland malt with notes of apple candies, butter toffee, and a few chocolate-covered almonds. Then a note of buttered popcorn arrives on the nose, which is inexplicable for a non-corn-based whisky. The taste leans back into the apple but it’s more tart and juicy now as minor notes of anise and wet cedar bark lead to a little bit of warm cream sitting on top of a shot of espresso and hint more of those almonds. The finish lets the malts sweeten with a hint of orange marmalade on toast rounding things out.
Bottom Line:
This is a soft and somewhat wild ride for both a ten-year-old whisky and one this inexpensive. This is definitely a whisky to try on the rocks or with a few drops of water to let it bloom a bit.
Bruichladdich’s philosophy on whisky making is pretty unique. Each batch highlights local, unpeated Scottish barley that’s fermented and distilled. That juice then goes into some combination of ex-bourbon, ex-sherry, and ex-wine casks for a varied amount of time. That means each batch is unique. Bruichladdich then provides a code on their bottles so that you can go to their website and find out what makes the bottle in your hand special.
Tasting Notes:
Though each batch has its own nuance, there will be a through-line on the taste. Expect a nose full of wildflowers, fresh mint, brine, and salted caramel wax paper with a touch of citrus oils. The taste will edge towards malts and sweet woods with hints of sea spray, tart apples, and dark syrups. The end is often very slow and has a well-balanced fade of sea salt, malt, and oak.
Bottom Line:
These are great to collect and sample to help build a palate for unpeated scotch. Overall, I’d still say this is more of an on the rocks sipper than anything else, but it definitely works well neat with a few drops of water too.
The blended malt leans into apples as a predominant flavor note of sweet Scotch whisky. The juice in the bottle is a blend of 39 percent Linkwood single malt that aged in ex-bourbon barrels, 20 percent Clynelish single malt also aged in ex-bourbon barrels, Benrinnes single malt from ex-bourbon barrels. The next eight percent is a single malt from a distillery in the town of Aberlour (not the distillery) that aged in ex-sherry butts with two percent from a Highland malt blend that aged in custom-built and toasted French oak barrels, and the final two percent from a peated malt from Caol Ila that matured in ex-bourbon casks.
Tasting Notes:
Naturally, apples burst forth on the nose with tart, sweet, and juicy notes next to a soft pear vibe, lemon and lime zest, a touch of sweet pineapple, and a soft echo of dry but fragrant Earl Grey tea leaves. The palate leans into fresh ginger soaking in a pot of floral honey next to minor notes of fresh strawberry shortcake with a soft vanilla sponge cake, fresh berries, and a dollop of vanilla-laced whipped cream. The finish leans into a light white floral note while the pear and apple return with a ripeness that feels like they’re fresh off the vine and a final note of lightly spiced malts with a whisper of applewood smoke.
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a complex fruit-bomb whisky, this is going to be the bottle for your bar cart. This is so well-built and complex while still being 100 percent approachable. It’s truly an easy-drinking whisky that really benefits from a little water or rock to let it bloom in your glass.
Johnnie Walker’s Green Label is a solidly crafted whisky that highlights Diageo’s fine stable of distilleries across Scotland. The juice is a pure malt or blended malt, meaning that only single malt whisky is in the mix (and no grain whisky). In this case, the primary whiskies are a minimum of 15-year-olds from Talisker, Caol Ila, Cragganmore, and Linkwood.
Tasting Notes:
Soft notes of cedar dance with hints of black pepper, vanilla pods, and bright fruit with a wisp of green grass in the background. The palate really delivers on that soft cedar woodiness while edging towards a spice-laden tropical fruit brightness. The finish is dialed-in with hints of cedar, spice, and fruit leading towards a briny billow of smoke at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best blended malts on the market for an amazing price. A 15-year-old Caol Ila costs three times as much as this bottle alone. That aside, this is the perfect whisky for mixing cocktails or highballs or simply sipping on the rocks after a long day.
This single malt hails from a tiny yet beloved Speyside distillery. The actual whisky is also made on their smallest still, nicknamed “Wee Witchie.” That juice then goes into ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks for 12 years. Finally, those whiskies are married, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This is subtle yet engaging, with a nose of almost burnt toffee next to bright red berries, mild spice, hints of oak, and a bit of cedar. The palate leans into the berries by becoming jammy with more of that toffee and a mild sense of spicy tobacco arriving late. The end is long-ish with a plummy chew next to that tobacco and malty spice.
Bottom Line:
Mortlach is the whisky lovers’ whisky. While it is becoming more known in the U.S., it’s still pretty niche. That’s changing fast though, as can be seen here — a stellar bottle of whisky at this price point. Just make sure to add a little water to your dram to really let this one shine in your glass.
The NBA trade deadline is rapidly approaching, as we are less than three days away from the 3 p.m. ET cutoff for trades, and as has been the case for months, much of the focus on a national level is on what will happen with Ben Simmons and the 76ers.
Simmons has continued to refuse to play for the Sixers as he demands a trade, while Philly is still trying to extract a star-level player in return for him. To this point, they have not found a trade package that meets their demands, and many seem to believe they’ll drag this out into the summer in hopes of making a run at James Harden (who they’ve tried to talk about getting at the deadline, but Steve Nash squashed that publicly).
All of this stems from growing discontent from Simmons with the situation in Philadelphia, one in which he believes he got scapegoated by Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid for their playoff loss to the Hawks last season after already feeling pushed to the periphery by trade rumors involving him and Harden at last year’s deadline. Embiid spoke, again, about those comments on Monday in an interview with Mike Missanelli on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia, and detailed why he felt his comments weren’t out of line — noting all the other people he called out, including Matisse Thybulle and himself, for the end of Game 7 — and when asked if he felt Simmons’ reaction was unreasonable, he said “definitely.”
“Do you think his reaction was unreasonable?”
“Oh, definitely.”
Joel Embiid responds to Ben Simmons’ reported frustration with Embiid’s post-Game 7 comments pic.twitter.com/85RG95P3vt
Embiid was later asked what could be done differently and defended Doc Rivers comments, noting the support he offered Simmons all season and saying that Rivers should be allowed to make mistakes in the heat of the moment too.
Joel Embiid when asked by @MikeMiss25 whether anything could have been done differently after the Hawks series to prevent the Simmons situation:
“I mean, the only thing I can think about is the comments…But I really believe that it’s really deeper than that.” pic.twitter.com/UyL5MU2IEs
All told, it just continues to emphasize that there is no coming back from this for the Sixers and Simmons, despite the front office continually stating they want Simmons to return to the team this season. Embiid and the team seem to have completely moved on and it is clear that it’s best for all parties for Simmons to get a fresh start, it’s just a matter of when that happens. The good news for all of us is, no matter whether he’s traded by 3 p.m. Thursday or not, once that passes we can hopefully get a few months reprieve of Simmons reports as there’s nothing that can be done until the offseason once the deadline goes by.
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This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
