Katy Perry’s time onAmerican Idol has come with plenty of emotions. Aspiring singers often bring with them a rollercoaster of emotions. Regardless of the talent of the singers, hearing the contestant’s stories can be an intense experience, no matter what they’re going through. However, an audition from Sunday night’s (February 26) episode was particularly painful, leading to Katy Perry tearing up.
A 21-year-old mattress salesman named Trey Louis gave a heartfelt performance of “Stone” by Whiskey Myers. After singing, he was asked what inspired him to come onto the show. He explained that in May of 2018, he was at school in Santa Fe, Texas, when a gunman took the lives of classmates and teachers. As a result, he wanted to give a better reputation to his hometown.
The judges were impacted by this story, especially Perry, who broke down in tears, holding her face in her hands. “Our country has f*cking failed us,” she yelled. Louis agreed. She added, “This is not okay. You should be singing here because you love music, not because you had to go through that f*cking bullsh*t. You don’t have to lose eight friends. I hope that you remind people that we have to change. ’Cause, you know, I’m scared too.”
Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie both consoled Perry, echoing her grievances. “We have tolerated this for so long,” Richie said. “Too long.”
However, after the game there was considerable concern about LeBron James’ status going forward after he went down in the late third quarter with a right foot injury on a drive. James was heard on the broadcast telling Anthony Davis he heard a pop, but would tighten his shoe, walk it off, and stay in the game to help the Lakers’ comeback effort.
#Lakers superstar LeBron James said he heard his right ankle “pop” after this play late in the 3rd quarter vs. the #Mavs.
After the game, James had a bit of a limp and the Lakers said they would monitor how he was feeling, and on Monday we learned the injury was at least significant enough to keep him out of their next game in Memphis against the Grizzlies. The official injury report for L.A. had James listed as OUT with “right foot soreness” while D’Angelo Russell remains doubtful with an ankle sprain. Given the ground the Lakers still have to make up in the West, James’ status looms large for how they’ll navigate this closing stretch of the season. Facing the Grizzlies, who have found their stride again of late, without James is a tall task, but the optimistic view is he is choosing to sit out the first of a back-to-back and could return as soon as Wednesday. That is when the Lakers will face the Thunder in OKC and then have the Timberwolves on Friday back home in L.A., with every game against West foes crucial for their playoff and play-in hopes.
And because of that chaotic landscape, it’s easy to get completely lost when you’re looking at bourbons for just under $100.
To help you find some semblance of light at the end of the tunnel with bourbons at this price point, I’m going to call out 20 bourbon whiskeys that are actually worth giving a shot. What’s interesting is that 16 of these whiskeys are made by non-distilling producers or blender-bottlers. These folks are the mad scientists/magicians working with barrels that are either contract distilled or sourced from a distillery before a blending team finishes and blends those barrels into special (sometimes one-off) whiskeys that are unlike any other. Generally speaking, those are the whiskeys that really shine at this particular price point. This is where you find the real whiskey nerds tinkering with new ideas, new flavor profiles, and whiskeys.
The 20 bourbon whiskeys listed below are all winners in their own way. So read through the tasting notes, find what sparks your curiosity, and click on those price links to see if you can find the bottle near you. Though be warned, these prices are set for delivery (Total Wine and ReserveBar mostly) in Kentucky or distillery bottle shops. Local prices and availability may vary.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This crafty whiskey from New York is a grain-to-glass bourbon experience. The mash bill on this one eschews rye and wheat for 80% locally grown corn supported by 20% malted barley from England. The juice is then aged for four years in small 15-gallon barrels and treated according to the law and bottled in Kings County’s signature hip flask bottles.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This draws you in with a strawberry shortcake with a cornmeal base, topped with fresh berries, buttery vanilla whipped cream, and then dipped in a caramel sauce.
Palate: The palate veers away from all of that and touches on bitter black coffee syrup with brown sugar and butter notes next to oatcakes and vanilla sauce with a hint of spice lingering in the background.
Finish: The end is long and full of chocolate malts, leather, and more of that creamy and buttery vanilla whipped cream.
Bottom Line:
This is a quintessential craft bourbon. There’s a deep layer of sweet graininess that leans into fresh fruit and classic bourbon vanilla and spice notes. Overall, that makes this the perfect whiskey for someone looking for something local, tasty, and more on the crafty side of things.
19. Redemption Aged 9 Years Barrel Proof Bourbon Whiskey
This sourced whiskey from Indiana (MGP) is one of the best examples of how a unique shingle can make whiskey shine. Redemption’s team painstakingly searches the warehouses for just the right barrels to meet their taste requirements. In this case, that was a nine-year-old single barrel of bourbon with a mash bill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose really gives you a sense of oily vanilla pods with touches of wildflower honey, rich and buttery toffee, and a hint of dark roasted espresso beans.
Palate: The palate holds onto those notes as the vanilla and honey both become creamy while adding a slight black pepper spiciness with a hint of salty smoked bacon fat lurking far in the background.
Finish: The end is medium-length and touches back on that vanilla, toffee, pepper, and bitterness on the fade.
Bottom Line:
This is a testament to how iconic MGP’s 75/21/4 mash bill bourbon is. This whiskey rules at this age. This a great food pairing whiskey as well, especially if you’re roasting some protein and root veg or smoking some meats/fish in the backyard.
18. Bib & Tucker Small Batch Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 12 Years
Bib & Tucker’s barrel picks are always worth chasing down. The whiskey is a Tennessee bourbon (some say it must be Dickel) aged for 12 long years in very lightly charred oak. The whiskey then goes into the bottle after being proofed down (ever so slightly) to 99 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Expect a fairly classic bourbon nose of creamy vanilla, salted caramel apples, and a hint of soft cedar.
Palate: The palate should touch on dark orange oils next to bright red cherry, with a vanilla pudding base and a subtle dose of dark spice leading towards salted dark chocolate.
Finish: The end is quite quick and leaves you with salted dark chocolate, orange, and a hint more of salted caramel.
Bottom Line:
This is where Bib & Tucker truly shines brightest. This is an excellently formed whiskey with a classic depth. It’s satisfying and engaging with the smoothest of edges. If you’re looking for a modern classic bourbon from Tennessee, this is the bottle for you.
17. Widow Jane Aged 10 Years Blend Of Straight Bourbons
This is sourced from Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee bourbons (though that’s likely to change since Heaven Hill bought the brand). The hand-selected barrels are sent to New York where they’re blended in small batches of no more than five barrels, proofed with New York limestone mine water, and bottled. What you’re paying for here is the exactness of a whiskey blender finding great barrels and knowing how to marry them to make something bigger and better.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a raw pancake batter note on the nose next to mulled red wine with plenty of spice and orange next to a vanilla pudding and light mint waxiness.
Palate: The taste has a mix of marzipan next to dark chocolate and real, almost woody maple syrup.
Finish: The finish adds some cherry to that dark chocolate and layers in woody birch water on the end.
Bottom Line:
This is a great example of blending and the power of unique finishing water. Everything comes together nicely in this whiskey’s build to create a bold yet approachable pour. This is a no-brainer buy if you’re looking for an excellent blend of the Ohio Valley and New York in one bottle.
The bourbon in this bottle was contract distilled in Ohio at Middlewest (but it’s now being made in Kentucky). The whiskey is a wheated bourbon that spent eight years mellowing before bottling. Each barrel was hand-picked before being married into a barrel strength expression that’s bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a mild crafty, sweet grain nose that opens toward a pile of freshly chopped firewood, lemon pepper, creamy vanilla-laced honey, winter spices, and Kiwi boot soap.
Palate: The palate has a hint of caramel malts next to Vanilla Coke, a buttery and spiced apple pie with plenty of brown sugar, and a hint of ginger next to some orange blossoms in the background.
Finish: The end is solid with a spicy warmth next to more of that dry firewood and a smidge of sweet oatmeal cookies.
Bottom Line:
This is a great, familiar craft bourbon with a kick. There’s a slight craft edge that gives way to classic bourbon notes, creating a wonderful balance of the old and new vibes. This whiskey also supports veterans in getting the medical care and assistance they need once they return home.
15. Joseph Magnus Murray Hill Club Bourbon Whiskey, A Blend
This is a masterfully sourced whiskey. The whiskey is a mix of 18 and 11-year-old bourbon with a nine-year-old light whiskey (a high-proof whiskey aged in lightly toasted, uncharred barrels). That blend is then just touched with water before bottling without any fussing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a rich sense of buttery toffee on the nose with plenty of cinnamon/nutmeg/allspice next to a hint of savory fig and some vanilla cream.
Palate: The palate merges the spices into a lush eggnog vibe as hints of old cedar planks mix with a black peppercorn sharpness.
Finish: The end mixes the spices into a buttery cookie with hints of singed cinnamon bark, old pine, and soft vanilla tobacco leaves.
Bottom Line:
This hits those bourbon classic notes with boldness and clarity. It’s one of those whiskeys that are just good from top to bottom. It also makes a mean bourbon cocktail.
14. Lucky Seven “The Hold Up” 12-Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This whiskey was founded by cinephiles who also happen to be bourbon lovers — the “Lucky Seven” moniker is a nod to Warner Bros.’s iconic Sound Stage 7. The bourbon in this bottle is a blend of sourced 12-year-old barrels from Kentucky. Those barrels are hand-selected by the Lucky Seven team to create their perfect bourbon.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Dried apricots and prunes lead to a date-rich cake with plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg next to an echo of caramel corn with a flake of salt.
Palate: The taste starts off sweet with a cotton candy depth that then turns toward old cedar planks, worn leather, and a hint of savory herbs like thyme and sage.
Finish: The mid-palate pops with Red Hots as the caramel corn makes a comeback before the finish dives into a plummy tobacco chewiness and buzz.
Bottom Line:
There’s a lovely deep fruitiness with a dry herbal vibe that gives way to more classic bourbon tones. It’s a nice balance of bold and unique with familiar and ideal. If you’re attending a movie night with friends, this is the bottle to bring along.
13. American Highway Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This whiskey from country music legend Brad Paisley actually crisscrossed the country with the star. The whiskey in the bottles is largely from Bardstown Bourbon Company, with four whiskeys aged three to 15 years with both low and high rye bourbons in the mix. The team at Bardstown worked closely with Paisley — a whiskey nerd himself — to select, blend, and finish the bourbon according to Paisley’s palate. After a 7,314-mile trip across America, the barrels were vatted, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a lightness at first whiff that gives way to a soft apricot jam on a buttered Southern biscuit next to a hint of cinnamon-spiked caramel and apple cider-soaked oak staves.
Palate: The palate really does burst forth with firework pops of old leather, toffee candies, Red Hots, peanut brittle, nougat, milk chocolate, and vanilla pipe tobacco.
Finish: The mid-palate sweetness fades as the pipe tobacco takes on a little warmth and spice while brioche, black pepper, and braided dry cedar bark round out the finish.
Bottom Line:
This whiskey feels like it’s heavy with gimmicks. But once you taste it, all that goes away. This whiskey delivers. You can feel the care and love that went into the blend. If you’re a fan of Paisley or the great work coming out of Bardstown Bourbon Company right now, then this is a must-buy. If you’re just a fan of damn good whiskey, then this is a must-buy too.
Barrell’s New Year Bourbon is one of the most beloved releases of the year. This year’s batch is made from a grouping of five, six, seven, eight, and 10-year-old straight bourbon whiskeys distilled in Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Wyoming, New York, Texas, and Maryland. Those whiskeys were batched in Kentucky and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a classic bourbon on the nose with deep flavors of buttered buttermilk biscuits, salted caramel, singed marshmallow, Almond Joy, cherry cream soda, and a touch of Nutella and maple syrup.
Palate: The palate leans into cherry root beer with a hint of vanilla cream soda next to eggnog spices and creaminess, old dried roses in older leatherbound books, and a whisper of red peppercorn cracked over some sweet pipe tobacco.
Finish: The end has a candied chili pepper vibe next to burnt orange, marzipan, and creamy dark chocolate with a hint of walnut and cherry saltwater taffy.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the deepest and funkiest blends of bourbon on the list. This is every plus the kitchen sink but somehow still works as a fun and fresh sipper. It can be a lot, sure, but it’s also very rewarding. Get this when you want to plumb new depths of what bourbon can be.
This masterful blend from Barrell Craft Spirits celebrates the coming of winter with a high-rye bourbon blend. The batch is dailed in toward the flavors and vibes of the season with deep woodiness, spices, and dark fruits to help celebrate the season.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Old porch wicker, boot leather, salted caramel candies, vanilla cakes, and a hint of dried mango rolled in salt lead the way on the nose.
Palate: The palate leans into sharp yet sweet cinnamon with burnt orange and dried plums layering into a spiced fruit cake with a hint of sage and thyme.
Finish: The end has a lightly dried rose vibe with some soft marzipan covered in dark chocolate and layered into an old fruit cake with candied and dried fruits, citrus, nuts, and plenty of dark winter spice.
Bottom Line:
This is just excellent whiskey. You can still find some of this blend on the shelves. Snatch it up before it’s gone forever.
10. Jefferson’s Ocean Aged At Sea New York Edition Straight Bourbon Whiskey
This version of Jefferson’s famed Oceans Series sailed through the North Sea, around Europe, along the Atlantic Seaboard, and through the Panama Canal before ending up in New York City. Once there, the whiskey was batched and proofed down with New York City’s famed water (which is unfiltered and from closer to the Catskills).
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice sense of soft caramel chews on the nose with a dash of cigar tobacco and old humidors next to old leather cloves, burnt orange, and a hint of saline.
Palate: The palate leans into brash winter spices with spicy and woody cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and a hint of cardamom next to lush crème brûlée with a hint of that cigar vibe.
Finish: The end stays strong with the spices and tobacco next to a soft vanilla creaminess and slightly salted pasta water finish.
Bottom Line:
This is another whiskey that feels like a gimmick. But this really does deliver a unique and delicious whiskey that feels fresh. The power of the finishing water really does make for a unique bourbon-drinking experience that’s worth adding to your palate’s arsenal. At the very least, sipping this whiskey will highlight the power of proofing water on a whiskey’s overall flavor profile.
This whiskey marries Hillrock’s own estate bourbon with a carefully sourced barrel or two. The whiskey is partially aged in Oloroso sherry casks before it’s finished in rare French Premier Cru Sauternes wine casks. Finally, those barrels are batched, proofed, and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a nose full of deep vanilla oils, rich caramel with a hint of salt, orange florals, and a deep creamy honey sweetness with a whisper of lemon oil.
Palate: Moist marzipan drizzled with buttery toffee mingles with vanilla cake and more of that honey before a counterpoint of savory melon, slightly bitter marmalade, and dried leathery apricot arrives.
Finish: The end arrives with a hint of spicy old oak (think cinnamon bark and nutmeg) with deeper and creamier honey attached to burnt orange and marzipan on a velvety finish.
Bottom Line:
This is the whiskey you pour when you want something that tastes … classy. It has a 20-year-old single malt vibe that’s filtered through a really accessible sip of bourbon. If you’re a fan of higher-end single malt, then 100% try this bottle. You will like it.
8. Old Elk Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Barrels
This Colorado whiskey is made with a base of 51% corn, 34% malted barley, and 15% rye. That whiskey rests for five years before it’s batched and re-barrelled into 59-gallon port casks from Portugal. After 10 months to a year, those barrels are batched and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is crafty bourbon turned up to 11 with a sweet porridge nose, raw leather, cold apple cider, and a hint of fresh oak.
Palate: There’s a honey-apple crisp sweetness on the opening of the palate that leads right back into that slurry of sweet porridge — now with a white grits edge — before a nice ABV buzz (not burn) leads to orchard barks, winter spice mixes, and a soft sense of cherry bark.
Finish: The finish holds onto the buzziness as the fruit wood and spice settle into a soft and sweet grit ending.
Bottom Line:
This is a pure crafty bourbon that balances the sweet grains with an old-school finishing really well. It almost feels like the marrying of the new and old shouldn’t work but it just does here. This is a great crafty that goes the extra mile to create something fresh and unique.
This small batch from Savage & Cooke out in California is made from an MGP of Indiana 7-year-old high-rye bourbon. Master Distiller Jordan Via hand picks only 38 barrels for this blend and then cuts that whiskey with Alexander Valley spring water before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is another classic nose full of maple syrup over pecan waffles, dried cherries, salted caramel, meaty dates, old leather, and singed cedar with a hint of old musk lurking in the background of the nose.
Palate: The palate has a hint of caramel next to vanilla malt with dates, prunes, and raisins leading to dark chocolate-covered dried cranberries with a hint of spiced tobacco.
Finish: That spiced tobacco mingles with old leather and cedar on the back end.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those whiskeys that’s just good. There are zero faults. It also adds to the mystique of MGP in that this feels wholly its own. This doesn’t taste like any of the MGP-made whiskeys on the list, proving that the people behind these blends are what matter the most when making a good and individual whiskey.
Buffalo Trace Kosher provides a truly kosher spirit that also fully delivers on the palate. The juice is made from the same wheated bourbon recipe as Buffalo Trace’s Weller and Pappy lines. The difference is that the mash is loaded from fully cleaned stills and pipes into kosher barrels (that means the barrels were specially made and purchased under the watchful eye of a rabbi from the Chicago Rabbinical Council).
The whiskey then ages for seven years at Buffalo Trace before blending, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a familiar note of Red Hots and vanilla cream on the nose, with a hint of semi-dried florals.
Palate: The palate mellows out the cinnamon towards a woody and dry bark as the florals deepen towards summer wildflowers right at the moment that a touch of plums and berries arrive, adding sweetness and brightness.
Finish: The end holds onto that dry bark, as a hint of anise pops late with a slight vanilla cream tobacco touching off the medium-length fade.
Bottom Line:
This is a classic spicy bourbon from Buffalo Trace. It’s also one of the rarer releases from the distillery (which is full of rare releases). Brass tacks, you’ll want to grab a case of this before Passover arrives and this disappears for another year.
This whiskey is a blend of two MGP bourbons — their classic 75/21/4 corn/rye/malted barley mash bill with their very high rye 60/36/4 corn/rye/malted barley mash. Those whiskeys rested for 5.5 years before blending and re-barrelling into new French oak from Taransaud Cooperages that’s made with trees from the famous Troncaise forest. After about three months, those barrels were batched and this whiskey was bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a creamy almost maltiness to the nose with a deep vanilla coffee cake, clove-studded orange, and pecan waffles with more creaminess with a buttery edge.
Palate: Apricot leather and apple fritters drive the palate with a spiced cinnamon toastiness next to a light drizzle of salted dark chocolate.
Finish: Cinnamon bark and sweet orange marmalade mingle on the finish with a light sense of spiced apple cider, wet orchards in the late fall, and creamy pear pudding.
Bottom Line:
This is a wild bourbon. It presents much more like an old Scotch whisky for cognac lovers with hints of American bourbon peaking in from time to time. It’s fascinating, delicious (like, really delicious), and a true outlier. Get some before it’s gone forever.
This expression is made from instant-classic Stellum Bourbon barrels. The ripple here is that the blend of this bourbon was created from specific rare barrels used for Stelllum that were blended until the exact moment of the vernal equinox. That whiskey was then bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Soft grains and leather lead to a hint of sour apple on the nose with a touch of sweetgrass, woody spice, and mild toffee.
Palate: The palate opens with dried and leathery apricots dipped in fresh honey next to a sharp cinnamon stick shoved into an orange rind with clove berries in between.
Finish: The mid-palate layers of creamy citrus with a whisper of jasmine and maybe some oolong tea as a thin line of black potting soil, dark cacao powder, and old dusty oak staves fill out the finish.
Bottom Line:
Gimmicks aside, this is one of the best releases from Stellum to date. That’s saying a lot in that they have yet to miss with a single release of theirs. This very well could be your next go-to house pour and mixer (it makes a killer old fashioned).
3. Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Single Barrel Barrel Strength
This is classic Old Forester from a single barrel that’s not cut with any water. When you find these, they’ll generally be a pick from a retailer or bar program. That means they’ll vary slightly, depending on what the person picking the barrel was looking for. Still, there’s a consistency of “Old Forester” running through them all.
Tasting Note:
Nose: There’s a clear sense of dark fruit, especially cherry, that becomes stewed with dark winter spices on the nose with a good dose of dry tobacco in an old cedar box that’s wrapped up in old leather.
Palate: A hint of old dry roses sneaks in on the palate as those spices and syrupy cherry and berries intensify and attach to the chewy tobacco.
Finish: The mid-palate sweetens with an almost rose-water marzipan vibe as the cherry tobacco dried out pretty significantly, leaving you with a sense of pitchy pine sap and your grandparent’s old tobacco pipe that’s still hot to touch.
Bottom Line:
This is the one and only Old Forester to buy (outside of their limited edition releases that you can’t ever find).
2. Nashtucky Special Release Straight Bourbon Whiskey Aged 5 Years
This new whiskey from Nashville Barrel Company is a marriage of Kentucky spirit and Tennessee ingenuity. The whiskey is made and preliminary aged in Kentucky before the barrels are sent to Nashville to continue the maturation process in a different climate. After five years, the barrels are bottled one at a time at cask strength with no filtering or fussing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a nice mix of old porch wicker (hardcore nostalgia really) next to supple caramel sauce, white pepper, and a sense of savory fruits like figs and maybe some starfruit.
Palate: The palate holds onto that savory fruit before some ABVs kick in with a nice mix of woody spices and burnt sugars.
Finish: The mid-palate leans into green sweetgrass, savory herbs, and a hint of sweet fruit candy that subtly morphs into strawberry soda at the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is another delicious whiskey that proves that sourcing whiskey is more than just putting whiskey in a bottle. The care that the selection process takes and then the aging of this whiskey in a different place adds a whole new dimension to the whiskey. Seriously, this is special stuff for anyone looking for something both new and delicious in the world of bourbon right now.
Michter’s fills their barrels with 103-proof hot juice off the stills. After a handful of years spent aging, that proof inches upwards as the angels take their share. Usually, the whiskey is cut with that soft Kentucky limestone water before bottling but not in this case. This is pulled from single honey barrels that were just too good to cut and bottled at the Fort Nelson Distillery right on Louisville’s Whiskey Row where you can get one after an in-depth tour.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you deep into the classic bourbon ecosystem of rich buttery toffees next to salted dark chocolate-covered cherries, a touch of smoked stone fruits, and a minor note of spicy tobacco leaf.
Palate: The palate delivers on those notes as the tobacco spice amps up before being smoothed out by rich and creamy vanilla, salted caramel, and apricot stone dryness.
Finish: That dryness drives the mid-palate towards the finish with a pecan shell vibe next to slightly bitter singed cedar bark.
Bottom Line:
The fact that you can get this much sought-after Michter’s expression on the tour at the distillery is kind of amazing. This is far and away the best whiskey on the list. It’s complex, exemplary, and flat-out delightful to drink.
Don’t buy this on the secondary. Use that money to go to Louisville. Take the tour. And bring this whiskey home with you. That’s the experience you want to have with this whiskey. Hell, you’ll probably have some money left over if you do that instead of paying the aftermarket price.
Full transparency: I was a little reluctant to write this story. I’ve been working in the cheese industry for 15 years – as a monger, server, and writer – and I feel a little too much comradery with cheesemakers to criticize the fruits of their hard work too harshly. My other concern was about the whole concept of sharp cheddar in the first place. For cheese nerds and professionals, “sharp” can be a tricky term. Customers often seek sharp cheeses but it’s not clear what the term means. The imprecision can breed confusion, and different people think of sharpness differently.
“Sharp doesn’t necessarily align with packaging,” explains Evey Vaughn, a cheesemonger at New Seasons Market in Portland, Oregon. “It greatly muddies the waters when trying to engage customers on the topic.”
Cheese writer Janet Fletcher breaks down sharpness into four components: Glutamic acid, salt, lactic acid, and modern cultures. Even for experts, it’s hard to pin down the flavor components in cheddar and it’s equally hard to define that gorgeous je ne sais quoi of sharp. So what does sharp mean to me? It’s where intensity meets acid. Intensity is simply how powerfully the flavor hits in my mouth. Acid highlights and brightens. Like the acid in lemon or vinegar, it makes your mouth draw into a pucker. It makes you want more. It’s visceral. So for the purposes of this tasting:
Intensity + Acid = SHARPNESS.
Sharp is a great word because I really do think of a sort of knife to your palate and my editor said, ‘we want to talk about those cheeses that feel like they’ll cut your tongue.” As for why that note is so welcome in cheddar, it’s because it balances richness and creates dimension.
PART I — What is Cheddar Cheese?
Cheddar is named after the small village of Cheddar, nestled in Somerset, England. A myth says that sometime in the 12th century, a milkmaid forgot about a pail of milk in one of Cheddar’s labyrinthine caves. When she returned, the milk had transformed into a golden, beautiful cheese. King Henry II declared cheddar the best cheese in England, and colonists brought cheddar to the Americas. When the industrial revolution happened, cheddar came with it – the cheese lends itself to large-scale production and shipping, and so it’s efficient and profitable to make these big, grocery store brands we tasted here.
Cheddar is made in a specific way – it undergoes a “cheddaring” process, the constant stacking and turning of the “loaves” of curds, which helps to remove additional whey (liquid). When the cheddaring is complete, the cheese is ready to mature. Obviously, cheddar is no longer just made in England. For this article, I tasted cheddar from Vermont and Wisconsin, New Zealand, and Wales. Whether artisanal or mass-produced, clothbound or waxed, dyed or pearly white (that orange hue usually comes from annatto, a natural food coloring that doesn’t noticeably affect flavor), or aged for a few months or a few years, cheddar is a favorite for great reason — it’s versatile, delicious, and almost impossible not to love.
PART II — What About Age?
It doesn’t always follow that more age creates a sharper final product. Paul Kindstedt, professor of food science at the University of Vermont and author of Cheese and Culture explains that over time, many of the volatile compounds that create an intensity of flavor will peak and then change. They might gain flavor but lose that bright acidic bite.
It’s a complicated process – flavor, aroma, and texture keep developing with time. As cheese ages, it does lose moisture, which is why more mature cheeses tend to be firm and crumbly. Pro tip: maturing cheese is a careful task (some art, some science), taken on by knowledgeable professionals in environments where humidity, temperature, and microbial growth are precisely monitored. Read: do not try this at home.
PART III — Methodology
Hannah Howard
My tasting panel involved myself, my husband (a certified barbecue judge and dedicated cheddar fan), and my cousin (a food lover with a great palate who was roped into this when she came to visit). We used four criteria to rank each cheese: texture, sharpness, balance, and overall experience. Here are the top picks:
The Lineup:
Hannah Howard
Cabot Naturally Aged 5 Year Cheddar Cheese
Collier’s Extra Mature Cheddar
Old Croc Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Naturally Aged 2 Year Cheddar Cheese
McGadam Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Trader Joe’s New Zealand Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Naturally Aged 3 Year Cheddar Cheese
Organic Valley Raw Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Black Creek Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Vermont Sharp 9 Months
Kerrygold Aged Cheddar
Cabot Vermont Extra Sharp 1 Year
Trader Joe’s Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Trader Joe’s English Coastal Cheddar Cheese
Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Bowl & Basket New York Extra Sharp Cheddar
Crystal Farms Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Land O Lakes Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
Whole Foods Market 365 Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hoffman’s Super Sharpf
Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp White
PART IV — The Ranking
21. Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp White
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Kraft Heinz sold Cracker Barrel Cheese Groupe Lactalis (another Lactalis cheese!) in 2021. So, it’s a gigantic brand and it tastes…mass-produced. It’s fine but lacking in personality and pizazz.
Tasting notes:
The springy texture was a bit off-putting to me. The flavor wasn’t “extra sharp,” as promised, but it was well-rounded and perfectly pleasant.
20. Hoffman’s Super Sharp
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Owned by French conglomerate Groupe Lactalis, this cheese came up short in character, depth, and flavor. It tasted of salt and fat – but not of sharp cheddar. “Blah,” we scribbled in our notes.
Tasting notes:
Hoffman’s Super Sharp is creamy and salty, but not especially sharp or nuanced. It will do in a pinch but I wouldn’t seek it out.
19. Whole Foods Market 365 Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
365 is Whole Foods’ everyday brand, and this is an acceptable everyday Cheddar. It won’t blow your socks off, but if your toddler is anything like mine, she will gleefully devour it in its pure and cheese sandwich forms.
Tasting notes:
We noted that it “fell flat.” We missed the sharpness that the label promised, but it scored high(er) for texture and balance. If it would have been labeled as a mild cheddar, we would have been happy.
18. Land O Lakes Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Based in Minnesota, Land O Lakes has operated as a dairy brand for more than a century. It’s a member-owned cooperative, which is cool. (They also swapped out their packaging, which featured an image of an Indigenous woman, for something less divisive a few years ago.)
Tasting notes:
This felt less carefully balanced than the others, with a not entirely welcome tartness that lingered. A plus: it delivered on sharpness in a big way. Still, we wouldn’t seek this one out.
17. Crystal Farms Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Crystal Farms sources milk from the Midwest and partners with Associated Milk Producers Inc., a dairy farmer-owned cooperative, to make their cheese. It’s a big brand that produces more than 150 varieties of dairy products.
Tasting notes:
Although this cheese wasn’t especially sharp, it had a well-rounded flavor with lots of depth, plus a great just-a-bit-crumbly texture. The disappointment came from its lackluster punch — which is to say, none at all. After tasting so many flavor-packed cheddars, this one faded into the background.
16. Bowl & Basket New York Extra Sharp Cheddar
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
The Shop Rite house brand’s extra sharp Cheddar punched above its weight, with spot-on balance and a razor sharpness that had us reaching for more.
Tasting notes:
“A little spongy, yet surprisingly satisfying,” one taster noted. So, plenty of sharpness. But that weirdly springy texture was off-putting.
15. Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Named for Tillamook, on the northern coast of Oregon, Tillamook’s farmer-owners have been making cheese since 1909. They raise happy, healthy cows – which make excellent milk – which in turn creates tasty cheese.
Tasting notes:
Not the sharpest, but super balanced and decidedly tasty. The most popular cheese in Tillamook County, Tillamook Extra Sharp is naturally aged from 15 to 24 months, during which time it develops an almost fudgy texture, notes of candied pecans, and the very slightest bit of funk. This is a solid cheese choice, but if you’re after sharpness, you’ll be disappointed.
14. Trader Joe’s English Coastal Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Trader Joe’s imports this cheese from between the rolling Dorset Downs and the craggy Jurassic Coast. It’s the only English Cheddar we tasted, so I had high expectations – after all, it’s made in the original land of Cheddar. We liked it, we just didn’t fall in love.
Tasting notes:
The cheese has a hazelnutty flavor and a tangy finish. It’s not as sharp as we hoped for, but still a very flavorful cheese. It won points for its smooth but crumbly texture. This was the only cheddar we tasted from England, the birthplace of cheddar, and so I had higher hopes. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t anything special.
13. Trader Joe’s Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Aged for a minimum of nine months, this domestic Trader Joe’s find is straightforward and hard to argue with. It scored just the tiniest bit above their English Coastal Cheddar for its satisfying sharpness that felt like razors in our mouth (in the best possible way).
Tasting notes:
We loved the sharp, zingy bite. The texture was drier and more brittle than others. It was perfectly acceptable but not especially distinguished or exciting on the palate.
12. Cabot Vermont Extra Sharp 1 Year
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Our least high-scoring Cabot cheese was still solidly impressive. This Cabot extra sharp just wasn’t especially sharp. It had a creamy, slightly sticky moistness and a subtle sweetness.
Tasting notes:
With a smooth finish and a feisty tang, this cheese didn’t wow us with its sharpness. It had a powerful flavorful profile on the palate but lacked that acid zing.
11. Kerrygold Aged Cheddar
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Ireland’s climate is perfect for growing grass – good news for cows, and good news for Kerrygold, who turns their milk into premium butter and cheese. Made with the highest standards of animal welfare, their Aged Cheddar is a pasteurized, grass-fed cow’s milk cheese that is aged for one year and undergoes a stringent grading process as it matures.
Tasting notes:
With rounded, full flavor with a distinctive creamy taste, everyone liked this cheese. That said, it didn’t necessarily stand out. It wasn’t quite as sharp as other contenders, but it scored high for balance and texture.
10. Cabot Vermont Sharp 9 Months
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Another quality find from the folks at Cabot. Aged for 9 months, this is more of an everyday Cheddar than a special occasion cheddar. It won’t blow your mind, but it will satisfy your craving.
Tasting notes:
The acid and tang are what make Cabot Vermont Sharp 9 Months shine. It has a creamy smoothness and a great mouthfeel that makes this an ideal melting cheddar. (Interesting that this scored higher for us than the 1 year. More age doesn’t mean better — it’s a little more complicated than that. Maybe it helps to think of more age = different.)
9. Black Creek Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
The village of Black Creek, in northeastern Wisconsin, was founded in 1862. Black Creek’s cows graze on these nutrient-rich grasses producing fresh, creamy milk – the start of great cheese.
Tasting notes:
This cheese felt richer and creamier than many, with aromas of toasted walnuts. It has a firm, crumbly texture perfect for breaking into pieces over a crisp salad. A classic snackable, crowd-pleasing sharp cheddar experience.
8. Organic Valley Raw Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
If buying organic is important to you, Organic Valley’s award-winning Raw Sharp Cheddar is a solid choice. It’s made with milk from pasture-raised cows without GMOs, and it’s classically delicious.
Tasting notes:
Aged for at least six months, the cheese’s serious sharpness give way to a creamy finish. It tasted more deeply savory than many of the other cheeses we tried, with roasty brown butter notes. I was a little surprised to see this so high on our list.
7. Cabot Naturally Aged 3 Year Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Cabot’s expert cheese graders hand-select this cheddar for the complex flavor and distinct sharpness that comes with slow aging. 36 months of careful maturing coaxes out a balance of smoothness and bite.
Tasting notes:
This cheese starts off so sharp it made my tongue all tingly. Our tasters’ agreed that the sharpness was spot-on; the only flaw was that it was a bit overpowering. But if you’re all about “make it as sharp as it gets!” you’ll be thrilled.
6. Trader Joe’s New Zealand Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
In the lush hills of the New Zealand countryside, cows graze on grass and produce rich, creamy milk that will become this craveable cheddar. It’s aged for six to twelve months and becomes Trader Joe’s private label goodness.
Tasting notes:
The savory depth was a highlight of this cheese – it has notes of bone broth and umami richness. With an approachable sharpness and a full-flavored profile, I’ll be picking up a piece of this any time I make a Trader Joe’s trip.
5. McCadam Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
William McCadam started making cheese in Heuvelton, New York in 1876. During the Great Depression, the facility moved to Chateaugay, New York, where they continue to transform the milk of small Northeast family farmers into award-winning cheese in the Adirondacks. The company is a cooperative of 588 dairy families.
Tasting notes:
This had the make-my-mouth-water, cut-my-tongue sharpness I crave. It’s strong, and it’s easy to see how this won first place in the 2022 New York State Fair Cheese Contest.
4. Cabot Naturally Aged 2 Year Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Another winner from Cabot. Their experts mature the cheese for 24 months until it reaches peak complexity. It’s surprisingly creamy, zippy, and sharp sharp sharp without hitting you over the head.
Tasting notes:
This delivered beautifully on that classic cheddar flavor. Its creamier texture makes it ideal for melting on burgers and grilled cheese, and it packs a bright punch that is balanced by a brothy richness.
3. Old Croc Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Plenty of rainfall, fertile soil, and lush, green pastures make Australia a naturally awesome place for dairy farming and cheesemaking. Old Croc’s cheeses are non-GMO and crafted with Australian milk from grass-fed cows. Their Extra Sharp White Cheddar is aged for at least 18 months for a full, robust flavor (not for the faint of heart).
Tasting notes:
We found this to be firm and crumbly with a just-a-bit granular texture. It received a perfect score for sharpness, and it had that more-ish bite characteristic of the winning sharp wedges. This cheese sort of punches you in the face…and we like it.
2. Collier’s Extra Mature Cheddar
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Collier’s is inspired by Welsh coal miners who worked in harsh, dangerous conditions. A lunch with cheddar was a highlight of the day, so Collier’s seeks to be outstanding. The cheese is made in Wales with a secret recipe and matured for about 20 months to create its signature powerful punch.
Tasting notes:
We noticed this cheese felt “bright” and “alive.” We kept returning to its big, punchy flavor and slightly crumbly texture. It strikes a balance between savory and slightly sweet, with a slow release and a long, deep character.
1. Cabot Naturally Aged 5-Year Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Cabot has been crafting cheese for more than a hundred years in Vermont, and they call their 5 Year Cheddar “the very pinnacle of cheddar craftsmanship.” Cabot Creamery is a cooperative of family farms, and they’re both real-deal cheesemakers and make widely available, accessible products you can find at your local store.
Tasting notes:
Puckery, powerful, and well-rounded, this cheese stood out. Its complexity felt special – savory and sweet, rich and smooth, bold and balanced. We loved how the flavor lingered and made us want more (even after tasting…a lot of cheddar).
PART V — Final Thoughts
Hannah Howard
Cheddar is beautifully snackable – apples and crackers optional – but even our least favorite would be perfectly tasty melted atop a bowl of chili or sliced into a sandwich.
Another note: We didn’t take price into account in our grading, and prices can vary widely.
If you want to go down a cheddar rabbit hole, I hope you explore artisanal varieties, too, like Cellars At Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar from Vermont and Quicke’s Mature Cheddar, a spectacular example of English cheddar. You’ll pay more for these, but they are absolutely worth seeking and savoring.
Whatever cheddar cheese you choose, break out the chutney, a glass of Malbec, or a crisp IPA. Melt away over potatoes and shave into pear and arugula salads. Here’s to the best sharp cheddars and all their joyful and delicious possibilities!
“The Voice” judge Chance The Rapper had a touching moment on a flight on Sunday, February 26, when a kind man gave up his seat so he could sit next to his 7-year-old daughter Kensli. The unexpected thing was that the man who gave up his seat was none other than comedy legend and star of “Only Murders in the Building,” Martin Short.
Chance shared his story on Twitter, where it received nearly 300,000 likes.
“So I just got on this plane with my daughter, and found out our seats weren’t next to each other. I really ain’t wanna inconvenience anyone by asking them to swap seats, but before I could say anything this kind older gentleman offered his seat to Kensli so we could sit together,” Chance wrote.
“We both said thank you and as he stands up, I realize it’s THE Martin Short!! So cool and Kensli freaked out cause she’s obsessed with The Santa Clause 3. What an awesome person! SHOUTOUT TO JACK FROST,” Chance continued.
u201cSo I just got on this plane with my daughter, and found out our seats werenu2019t next to each other. I really ainu2019t wanna inconvenience anyone by asking them to swap seats, but before I could say anything this kind older gentleman offered his seat to Kensli so we could sit together.u2026u201d
— Chance The Rapper (@Chance The Rapper) 1677450728
The fact that a 7-year-old is familiar with Martin Short’s work is a tribute to his incredible longevity and how he’s played roles that are memorable for people of every generation.
Chance doesn’t think it was a favor between celebrities because he doesn’t think Short knows who he is.
u201cDefinitely not, which made it way cooler. He just a nice dude igu201d
— Chance The Rapper (@Chance The Rapper) 1677451298
The “All We Got” rapper also joked that his daughter was really just trying to get her screenplay, a “¡Three Amigos!” sequel, called “The Four Amigos,” in front of Short. Strangely, according to director John Landis, there has never been serious talk of a “¡Three Amigos!” sequel because the first one wasn’t a big hit at the box office.
u201cu201cOh thanks so much but the little girl will be fine where she isu2026 *opens laptop* ANYWAYS this a lil script Iu2019ve been working on itu2019s called u2018Four Amigos!u2019u201du201d
— Chance The Rapper (@Chance The Rapper) 1677453557
Writer Alan Zweibel (“Saturday Night Live,” “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”) wasn’t surprised at his friend Martin Short’s generosity.
Typical Marty. One of the kindest, caring people I’ve ever known.
On a deeper level, some criticized the airline for the situation happening in the first place. These days, airlines are nickel-and-diming people for everything, from checking luggage to early boarding to selecting a seat. Seat selection fees make it more difficult and expensive for families to sit together.
People are so annoyed with these excessive tacked-on fees that the Biden Administration is urging Congress to pass the “Junk Fee Prevention Act,” which would make it free for families to sit with their young children on airplanes.
“We’ll make cable internet and cellphone companies stop charging you up to $200 or more when you decide to switch to another provider,” Biden said in the State of the Union Address. “And we’ll prohibit airlines from charging up to $50 roundtrip for families just to sit together.”
Although airlines run on slim margins, that’ll probably just force them to raise the price of airfare for everyone.
Ultimately, it’s nice to know that Martin Short, whose public persona is so affable, is the same when he thinks that the public isn’t watching.
Full transparency: I was a little reluctant to write this story. I’ve been working in the cheese industry for 15 years – as a monger, server, and writer – and I feel a little too much comradery with cheesemakers to criticize the fruits of their hard work too harshly. My other concern was about the whole concept of sharp cheddar in the first place. For cheese nerds and professionals, “sharp” can be a tricky term. Customers often seek sharp cheeses but it’s not clear what the term means. The imprecision can breed confusion, and different people think of sharpness differently.
“Sharp doesn’t necessarily align with packaging,” explains Evey Vaughn, a cheesemonger at New Seasons Market in Portland, Oregon. “It greatly muddies the waters when trying to engage customers on the topic.”
Cheese writer Janet Fletcher breaks down sharpness into four components: Glutamic acid, salt, lactic acid, and modern cultures. Even for experts, it’s hard to pin down the flavor components in cheddar and it’s equally hard to define that gorgeous je ne sais quoi of sharp. So what does sharp mean to me? It’s where intensity meets acid. Intensity is simply how powerfully the flavor hits in my mouth. Acid highlights and brightens. Like the acid in lemon or vinegar, it makes your mouth draw into a pucker. It makes you want more. It’s visceral. So for the purposes of this tasting:
Intensity + Acid = SHARPNESS.
Sharp is a great word because I really do think of a sort of knife to your palate and my editor said, ‘we want to talk about those cheeses that feel like they’ll cut your tongue.” As for why that note is so welcome in cheddar, it’s because it balances richness and creates dimension.
PART I — What is Cheddar Cheese?
Cheddar is named after the small village of Cheddar, nestled in Somerset, England. A myth says that sometime in the 12th century, a milkmaid forgot about a pail of milk in one of Cheddar’s labyrinthine caves. When she returned, the milk had transformed into a golden, beautiful cheese. King Henry II declared cheddar the best cheese in England, and colonists brought cheddar to the Americas. When the industrial revolution happened, cheddar came with it – the cheese lends itself to large-scale production and shipping, and so it’s efficient and profitable to make these big, grocery store brands we tasted here.
Cheddar is made in a specific way – it undergoes a “cheddaring” process, the constant stacking and turning of the “loaves” of curds, which helps to remove additional whey (liquid). When the cheddaring is complete, the cheese is ready to mature. Obviously, cheddar is no longer just made in England. For this article, I tasted cheddar from Vermont and Wisconsin, New Zealand, and Wales. Whether artisanal or mass-produced, clothbound or waxed, dyed or pearly white (that orange hue usually comes from annatto, a natural food coloring that doesn’t noticeably affect flavor), or aged for a few months or a few years, cheddar is a favorite for great reason — it’s versatile, delicious, and almost impossible not to love.
PART II — What About Age?
It doesn’t always follow that more age creates a sharper final product. Paul Kindstedt, professor of food science at the University of Vermont and author of Cheese and Culture explains that over time, many of the volatile compounds that create an intensity of flavor will peak and then change. They might gain flavor but lose that bright acidic bite.
It’s a complicated process – flavor, aroma, and texture keep developing with time. As cheese ages, it does lose moisture, which is why more mature cheeses tend to be firm and crumbly. Pro tip: maturing cheese is a careful task (some art, some science), taken on by knowledgeable professionals in environments where humidity, temperature, and microbial growth are precisely monitored. Read: do not try this at home.
PART III — Methodology
Hannah Howard
My tasting panel involved myself, my husband (a certified barbecue judge and dedicated cheddar fan), and my cousin (a food lover with a great palate who was roped into this when she came to visit). We used four criteria to rank each cheese: texture, sharpness, balance, and overall experience. Here are the top picks:
The Lineup:
Hannah Howard
Cabot Naturally Aged 5 Year Cheddar Cheese
Collier’s Extra Mature Cheddar
Old Croc Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Naturally Aged 2 Year Cheddar Cheese
McGadam Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Trader Joe’s New Zealand Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Naturally Aged 3 Year Cheddar Cheese
Organic Valley Raw Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Black Creek Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Vermont Sharp 9 Months
Kerrygold Aged Cheddar
Cabot Vermont Extra Sharp 1 Year
Trader Joe’s Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Trader Joe’s English Coastal Cheddar Cheese
Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Bowl & Basket New York Extra Sharp Cheddar
Crystal Farms Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Land O Lakes Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
Whole Foods Market 365 Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hoffman’s Super Sharpf
Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp White
PART IV — The Ranking
21. Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp White
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Kraft Heinz sold Cracker Barrel Cheese Groupe Lactalis (another Lactalis cheese!) in 2021. So, it’s a gigantic brand and it tastes…mass-produced. It’s fine but lacking in personality and pizazz.
Tasting notes:
The springy texture was a bit off-putting to me. The flavor wasn’t “extra sharp,” as promised, but it was well-rounded and perfectly pleasant.
20. Hoffman’s Super Sharp
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Owned by French conglomerate Groupe Lactalis, this cheese came up short in character, depth, and flavor. It tasted of salt and fat – but not of sharp cheddar. “Blah,” we scribbled in our notes.
Tasting notes:
Hoffman’s Super Sharp is creamy and salty, but not especially sharp or nuanced. It will do in a pinch but I wouldn’t seek it out.
19. Whole Foods Market 365 Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
365 is Whole Foods’ everyday brand, and this is an acceptable everyday Cheddar. It won’t blow your socks off, but if your toddler is anything like mine, she will gleefully devour it in its pure and cheese sandwich forms.
Tasting notes:
We noted that it “fell flat.” We missed the sharpness that the label promised, but it scored high(er) for texture and balance. If it would have been labeled as a mild cheddar, we would have been happy.
18. Land O Lakes Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Based in Minnesota, Land O Lakes has operated as a dairy brand for more than a century. It’s a member-owned cooperative, which is cool. (They also swapped out their packaging, which featured an image of an Indigenous woman, for something less divisive a few years ago.)
Tasting notes:
This felt less carefully balanced than the others, with a not entirely welcome tartness that lingered. A plus: it delivered on sharpness in a big way. Still, we wouldn’t seek this one out.
17. Crystal Farms Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Crystal Farms sources milk from the Midwest and partners with Associated Milk Producers Inc., a dairy farmer-owned cooperative, to make their cheese. It’s a big brand that produces more than 150 varieties of dairy products.
Tasting notes:
Although this cheese wasn’t especially sharp, it had a well-rounded flavor with lots of depth, plus a great just-a-bit-crumbly texture. The disappointment came from its lackluster punch — which is to say, none at all. After tasting so many flavor-packed cheddars, this one faded into the background.
16. Bowl & Basket New York Extra Sharp Cheddar
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
The Shop Rite house brand’s extra sharp Cheddar punched above its weight, with spot-on balance and a razor sharpness that had us reaching for more.
Tasting notes:
“A little spongy, yet surprisingly satisfying,” one taster noted. So, plenty of sharpness. But that weirdly springy texture was off-putting.
15. Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Named for Tillamook, on the northern coast of Oregon, Tillamook’s farmer-owners have been making cheese since 1909. They raise happy, healthy cows – which make excellent milk – which in turn creates tasty cheese.
Tasting notes:
Not the sharpest, but super balanced and decidedly tasty. The most popular cheese in Tillamook County, Tillamook Extra Sharp is naturally aged from 15 to 24 months, during which time it develops an almost fudgy texture, notes of candied pecans, and the very slightest bit of funk. This is a solid cheese choice, but if you’re after sharpness, you’ll be disappointed.
14. Trader Joe’s English Coastal Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Trader Joe’s imports this cheese from between the rolling Dorset Downs and the craggy Jurassic Coast. It’s the only English Cheddar we tasted, so I had high expectations – after all, it’s made in the original land of Cheddar. We liked it, we just didn’t fall in love.
Tasting notes:
The cheese has a hazelnutty flavor and a tangy finish. It’s not as sharp as we hoped for, but still a very flavorful cheese. It won points for its smooth but crumbly texture. This was the only cheddar we tasted from England, the birthplace of cheddar, and so I had higher hopes. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t anything special.
13. Trader Joe’s Wisconsin Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Aged for a minimum of nine months, this domestic Trader Joe’s find is straightforward and hard to argue with. It scored just the tiniest bit above their English Coastal Cheddar for its satisfying sharpness that felt like razors in our mouth (in the best possible way).
Tasting notes:
We loved the sharp, zingy bite. The texture was drier and more brittle than others. It was perfectly acceptable but not especially distinguished or exciting on the palate.
12. Cabot Vermont Extra Sharp 1 Year
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Our least high-scoring Cabot cheese was still solidly impressive. This Cabot extra sharp just wasn’t especially sharp. It had a creamy, slightly sticky moistness and a subtle sweetness.
Tasting notes:
With a smooth finish and a feisty tang, this cheese didn’t wow us with its sharpness. It had a powerful flavorful profile on the palate but lacked that acid zing.
11. Kerrygold Aged Cheddar
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Ireland’s climate is perfect for growing grass – good news for cows, and good news for Kerrygold, who turns their milk into premium butter and cheese. Made with the highest standards of animal welfare, their Aged Cheddar is a pasteurized, grass-fed cow’s milk cheese that is aged for one year and undergoes a stringent grading process as it matures.
Tasting notes:
With rounded, full flavor with a distinctive creamy taste, everyone liked this cheese. That said, it didn’t necessarily stand out. It wasn’t quite as sharp as other contenders, but it scored high for balance and texture.
10. Cabot Vermont Sharp 9 Months
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Another quality find from the folks at Cabot. Aged for 9 months, this is more of an everyday Cheddar than a special occasion cheddar. It won’t blow your mind, but it will satisfy your craving.
Tasting notes:
The acid and tang are what make Cabot Vermont Sharp 9 Months shine. It has a creamy smoothness and a great mouthfeel that makes this an ideal melting cheddar. (Interesting that this scored higher for us than the 1 year. More age doesn’t mean better — it’s a little more complicated than that. Maybe it helps to think of more age = different.)
9. Black Creek Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
The village of Black Creek, in northeastern Wisconsin, was founded in 1862. Black Creek’s cows graze on these nutrient-rich grasses producing fresh, creamy milk – the start of great cheese.
Tasting notes:
This cheese felt richer and creamier than many, with aromas of toasted walnuts. It has a firm, crumbly texture perfect for breaking into pieces over a crisp salad. A classic snackable, crowd-pleasing sharp cheddar experience.
8. Organic Valley Raw Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
If buying organic is important to you, Organic Valley’s award-winning Raw Sharp Cheddar is a solid choice. It’s made with milk from pasture-raised cows without GMOs, and it’s classically delicious.
Tasting notes:
Aged for at least six months, the cheese’s serious sharpness give way to a creamy finish. It tasted more deeply savory than many of the other cheeses we tried, with roasty brown butter notes. I was a little surprised to see this so high on our list.
7. Cabot Naturally Aged 3 Year Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Cabot’s expert cheese graders hand-select this cheddar for the complex flavor and distinct sharpness that comes with slow aging. 36 months of careful maturing coaxes out a balance of smoothness and bite.
Tasting notes:
This cheese starts off so sharp it made my tongue all tingly. Our tasters’ agreed that the sharpness was spot-on; the only flaw was that it was a bit overpowering. But if you’re all about “make it as sharp as it gets!” you’ll be thrilled.
6. Trader Joe’s New Zealand Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
In the lush hills of the New Zealand countryside, cows graze on grass and produce rich, creamy milk that will become this craveable cheddar. It’s aged for six to twelve months and becomes Trader Joe’s private label goodness.
Tasting notes:
The savory depth was a highlight of this cheese – it has notes of bone broth and umami richness. With an approachable sharpness and a full-flavored profile, I’ll be picking up a piece of this any time I make a Trader Joe’s trip.
5. McCadam Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
William McCadam started making cheese in Heuvelton, New York in 1876. During the Great Depression, the facility moved to Chateaugay, New York, where they continue to transform the milk of small Northeast family farmers into award-winning cheese in the Adirondacks. The company is a cooperative of 588 dairy families.
Tasting notes:
This had the make-my-mouth-water, cut-my-tongue sharpness I crave. It’s strong, and it’s easy to see how this won first place in the 2022 New York State Fair Cheese Contest.
4. Cabot Naturally Aged 2 Year Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Another winner from Cabot. Their experts mature the cheese for 24 months until it reaches peak complexity. It’s surprisingly creamy, zippy, and sharp sharp sharp without hitting you over the head.
Tasting notes:
This delivered beautifully on that classic cheddar flavor. Its creamier texture makes it ideal for melting on burgers and grilled cheese, and it packs a bright punch that is balanced by a brothy richness.
3. Old Croc Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Plenty of rainfall, fertile soil, and lush, green pastures make Australia a naturally awesome place for dairy farming and cheesemaking. Old Croc’s cheeses are non-GMO and crafted with Australian milk from grass-fed cows. Their Extra Sharp White Cheddar is aged for at least 18 months for a full, robust flavor (not for the faint of heart).
Tasting notes:
We found this to be firm and crumbly with a just-a-bit granular texture. It received a perfect score for sharpness, and it had that more-ish bite characteristic of the winning sharp wedges. This cheese sort of punches you in the face…and we like it.
2. Collier’s Extra Mature Cheddar
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Collier’s is inspired by Welsh coal miners who worked in harsh, dangerous conditions. A lunch with cheddar was a highlight of the day, so Collier’s seeks to be outstanding. The cheese is made in Wales with a secret recipe and matured for about 20 months to create its signature powerful punch.
Tasting notes:
We noticed this cheese felt “bright” and “alive.” We kept returning to its big, punchy flavor and slightly crumbly texture. It strikes a balance between savory and slightly sweet, with a slow release and a long, deep character.
1. Cabot Naturally Aged 5-Year Cheddar Cheese
Hannah Howard
The cheese:
Cabot has been crafting cheese for more than a hundred years in Vermont, and they call their 5 Year Cheddar “the very pinnacle of cheddar craftsmanship.” Cabot Creamery is a cooperative of family farms, and they’re both real-deal cheesemakers and make widely available, accessible products you can find at your local store.
Tasting notes:
Puckery, powerful, and well-rounded, this cheese stood out. Its complexity felt special – savory and sweet, rich and smooth, bold and balanced. We loved how the flavor lingered and made us want more (even after tasting…a lot of cheddar).
PART V — Final Thoughts
Hannah Howard
Cheddar is beautifully snackable – apples and crackers optional – but even our least favorite would be perfectly tasty melted atop a bowl of chili or sliced into a sandwich.
Another note: We didn’t take price into account in our grading, and prices can vary widely.
If you want to go down a cheddar rabbit hole, I hope you explore artisanal varieties, too, like Cellars At Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar from Vermont and Quicke’s Mature Cheddar, a spectacular example of English cheddar. You’ll pay more for these, but they are absolutely worth seeking and savoring.
Whatever cheddar cheese you choose, break out the chutney, a glass of Malbec, or a crisp IPA. Melt away over potatoes and shave into pear and arugula salads. Here’s to the best sharp cheddars and all their joyful and delicious possibilities!
The legacy that the original ’90s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air holds is undeniable. It was a case study in making hip-hop culture more palatable and accessible to mainstream audiences while, at the same time, perfecting how to depict the complexities of Black identity in a sitcom format. It also launched the acting career of Will Smith, one of the biggest box office draws in history and a three-time Oscar nominee (and one-time winner).
Still, with all of the cultural cachet the NBC show had, it ached for a definitive and academic exploration of how it came to be and why it still means so much to fans. Chris Palmer saw the need for this kind of deep-dive and used the skills he’s acquired over a long career covering the NBA to conduct the necessary interviews and research to share important stories and dispel longstanding rumors about the show.
Years later, The Fresh Prince Project: How the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Remixed America is now out (buy it here) for fans of the series, a bookend moment for Palmer, who told us about his initial excitement ahead of the series premiere in 1990 and how he loved DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince (before even knowing his actual name. “My parents were like, you can’t listen to NWA, but you can listen to The Fresh Prince.”
We spoke with Palmer about the evolution of his Fresh Prince fandom, his interest in the origin stories of everyone involved in the show, the importance of the Will and Carlton relationship, why the show resonates to this day, and why the reinterpretation of the show with Bel-Air works as its own entity.
How did your perspective on the show evolve from when you grew up watching it as a fan?
When I first started watching the show, I watched it because it was cool. It was fun. It’s a funny show. First and foremost, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a comedy. It’s known for some of its serious episodes, but it’s a comedy, and that’s why I started watching it. But a lot of the things that I understand about the show now that I didn’t know then was how important familial relationships are. The relationship between Carlton and Will is the core of the show. It’s what drives the show for six seasons. And how different they seemed at the time, but now, as an adult, they’re more alike than they are different.
Will is perceived as the cool guy. He doesn’t have a care in the world, super confident. And Carlton is a stuffy guy. He doesn’t get the girls like Will does. But in reality, on the show, when you look at the characters, Carlton and Will, Carlton is way more confident than Will. He is completely self-assured because his life has already been patterned out and Will is directionless. And Will is very insecure, and he hides it by creating a persona called The Fresh Prince. And so, you don’t understand that kind of stuff when you’re young watching it and you don’t have that perspective.
And you don’t realize how every episode, they’re busting each other, telling all these jokes, trying to put each other down, competing, and all this other stuff. But you realize that they’re there for each other and they need each other. And Carlton is the most important person in Will’s life and the bond that they have. You don’t really pick that stuff up when you’re young. But now, researching the show and watching, all 148 episodes, from beginning to end, you see the arc of their relationship and how important it is.
You weren’t able to get access to Will Smith because he was working on his own memoir that’s come out since. What are some things you would’ve liked to talk to him about and how did you overcome that in the book that we ended up getting?
The main thing I wanted to talk to Will about is the famous fatherhood episode. That’s the one everyone knows. ‘How come he don’t want me?’ But what a lot of people don’t realize is, when Will taped that show, he had just become a father himself in real life. And a lot of people don’t realize that. So I would like to ask him, ‘How did that influence, affect the way that you did that scene?’ I know how his own relationship with his own father affected it, but I’d like to know from a different perspective.
You spend a lot of time in the buildup talking about the people behind the scenes, the names that people saw on their screens (during the credits) but don’t really know. How important was it to you to capture that part of the story?
Oh, it was really important. Because I think one thing I’m really into is people’s stories. Everyone has an origin story. Everyone is from somewhere. And it’s not just about the actors. I mean, where did the writers come from? Where did the directors come from? Where did the producers come from? What is their story? And how did that inform their work on the show, which ultimately shapes and molds the finished product? That’s a really important thing. If I’m going to talk to you about a writer, I want you to know who this person is and where he came from. For example, the writer of the famous fatherhood episode, Bill Boulware, we go into his backstory. And it was really important that I did that because he had a very tough relationship with his father, which is the reason that he wrote that episode.
And he told me, he said, “I wanted Will to experience what I experienced.” In the famous line when he says, “How come he don’t want me,” Bill Boulware, the writer, said in real life to his mom about his dad, “How come he don’t want me?” I was like, “Wow, that just blew my mind.” I was like, “That’s where it came from. His life informed the script, which became the show.” So that’s why it’s important to tell the stories of people who are in the background because you otherwise would never know their stories. But everyone has a story, and all you have to do is just ask them.
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What were some of your favorite stories that readers can look forward to?
One of the best stories is about why Jazzy Jeff got thrown out the front door. Because they had written a script, Jazz’s first episode. He comes in, and there’s a lot of fat jokes on the show surrounded by Uncle Phil, fat jokes and bald jokes, and Jazz comes in and he’s just lighting Uncle Phil up. And the Black writers on the show were like, ‘Whoa, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. You don’t walk into a Black man’s house, and the father figure, and you just bust him up and nothing happens.’
And the white writers didn’t understand it and the white producer didn’t understand it. And so, they got together, and the Black writers were like, ‘No, no, no. There has to be more of a level of respect there. That wouldn’t happen.’ And so, one of the Black writers says, ‘What if we do the jokes, we keep the jokes in there, and what if Uncle Phil literally throws him out the house?’ And everybody loved that idea.
And so the whole entire show is taped, during that time, the first three years taped at Sunset Gower Studios on Melrose. And the only time they actually shot at the actual mansion in Bel-Air is the scene where they throw Jazz out. You definitely don’t notice this when you’re watching the show back in the day, and most people don’t know this, (but) every time they used that gag, they only shot it on one day, but they used it through the whole six seasons. So every time Jazz walks in, no matter what season it is, and he’s wearing a specific shirt, you know he’s going to get thrown out because he has to wear that shirt in every scene throughout the six seasons that he gets thrown out. Now, when you go back and watch it, you’ll notice it. But there’s no way you would notice it if you’re just watching it in real-time, on streaming, or on reruns.
Can you speak to what it is about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that gives it so much relevance even in modern-day pop culture?
So this was the first ever hip-hop-themed primetime network show. And while it’s very loud, bouncy, and cool, and stuff like that, one of the main components was its authenticity. Even though it was a crazy situation, like a kid coming from the hood staying with a rich Black family, most people wouldn’t even know that there would be Black families that rich and living in that type of area.
But even though it’s kind of set up like that, it’s a TV show. The nuances and the interactions between the characters were authentic in terms of how Black folks relate to each other and how Black folks don’t relate to each other, and that was very important. And what the writers, what Andy and Susan Borowitz wanted to do, they wanted to have a lot of input from the Black writers on set so it could be authentic.
Will would go home on hiatus, and he would come back to the set, and he would bring new language, new slang, and new words from the neighborhood. That’s how on top of it they were. But it resonates today because of its authenticity, and a lot of the themes. Driving while Black, fatherhood, colorism, racism, class, all these different things, all resonate today. And the show was funny. If it wasn’t funny, none of this would resonate today. But it was really, really funny. And so, that’s why it stood the test of time, and I just think that’s a huge part of the show’s legacy.
There was a mix of skepticism and excitement about the Peacock reboot, Bel-Air. Where did you fall when it came to that news? And how do you feel about the reboot, if you’ve watched it, measures up to what made the original so special?
I mean, there was no skepticism for me once I found out what they were actually trying to do. When you see the trailer, the original trailer, you knew what they were trying to do. It’s not a remake, because there’s no way they could come out with a remake, which would be a comedy. There’s no way you could do that because you can’t repaint the Mona Lisa.
So what they’re doing is they made it a drama. So I didn’t have any skepticism. I was only curious as to how they would approach it. And I think it stands on its own. It’s very well done. It’s very well cast. I think in terms of casting Will in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Jabari in Bel-Air, lightning struck twice. They hit it right out of the park with both of those casting decisions.
Take, for instance, the driving while Black episode from season one of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. They get pulled over because they’re Black and they get thrown in jail. But it’s funny and there’s comedy and everything that’s going on. But it’s not funny in real life. It’s very scary in real life with real-world consequences.
And that’s how Bel-Air approaches that same situation. Because they get pulled over in the new season coming up, and it’s a scary situation, because you know what happens when Black people get pulled over a lot of the times, and you can’t make a comedy about it. So that’s why, when I realized their take on it, I wasn’t skeptical at all, because it’s like a real show. It’s a real drama. And if The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air never existed, and only Bel-Air existed, it would still be a dope show.
Simon and Schuster
Chris Palmer’s ‘The Fresh Prince Project: How the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Remixed America’ is available on Amazon and your local bookseller.
Fox News is still as Fox News-y as ever, but behind the scenes they’re in trouble. Ever since 2021 they’ve been embroiled in a $1.6 billion lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which had been a frequent target of conspiracy theories spewed on the network soon after the 2020 election. Recently leaked texts between their own hosts reveal that even they knew a lot of what their guests were saying was pure uncut bunk. Now it’s been revealed that so did their big boss, at least to a certain degree.
As per The New York Times, Rupert Murdoch was deposed last month, during which he was asked if hosts like Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Piro, and Lou Dobbs had promoted false narratives. “They endorsed,” Murdoch replied under oath. He added, “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it in hindsight.”
At one point, Murdoch was asked if he could have stopped his employees from bringing on such nonsense-spouters as Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — both of whom are also being sued by Dominion — he replied, “I could have. But I didn’t.”
Dominion’s central argument in their lawsuit is that Fox News hosts knew the conspiracy theories they were spreading were just that, and Murdoch’s testimony should help bolster that. Ditto his hosts’ texts, which include such things as Tucker Carlson saying Powell was “lying” and Laura Ingraham calling her a “complete nut.”
And if matters weren’t worse, their old favorite son, former president Donald Trump, just took his beef with them to a new, even more dumber level.
Is Chipotle the best fast food brand right now? Before you freak out in the comments and call me names, chill out. I’ve been roasting Chipotle for years, both professionally and personally — any criticism you have of the brand, I’ve heard it and probably said it myself. I’m from Los Angeles, so for my entire life I’ve been able to go outside and walk in any random direction and get really great Mexican food. When the world was going nuts for Chipotle, I would shrug it off and wonder, “Why is it okay for this brand to charge so much for food that is magically expected to be cheap when people who look like me make it?” Also, “Where is all the flavor?”
But over the last couple of years, things have been changing — at least from a flavor perspective. Last year, Chipotle dropped a whole bunch of new limited-time protein options that dunked on the permanent menu (why they didn’t keep them, I’ll never understand) and now for 2023, they’re giving a fan-favorite menu hack the official treatment — The Quesadilla with Fajita Veggies.
Popularized by TikTok creators Keith Lee and Alexis Frost, this fajitas quesadilla hack is super simple — it features Monterey Jack cheese and your protein of choice, folded in a tortilla with some fajitas thrown in. It shouldn’t have to be a hack, it’s so obvious that Chipotle should’ve made it a permanent menu item as soon as people started ordering quesadillas but it wasn’t, so credit where credit due — Frost and Lee got it done. To Chipotle’s credit, they haven’t forgotten that, and we think that’s kind of cool.
Seriously, Chipotle could’ve said “Thanks for the idea, now f*ck off” but instead they put Frost and Lee right in the marketing material. It was both creators’ coveted 10 out of 10 ratings that made the hack go viral after all, and Frost’s original review inspired Lee to stitch in his own hack to the recipe: Chipotle’s honey vinaigrette mixed with sour cream combination for a dip, a fan favorite which you’ll be able to recreate as an option on the app dubbed the “Keithadilla.”
So now that the Fajita Quesadilla will be officially available beginning March 2nd, we had to ask: was it worth the wait? We found out by tasting the official recipe early, here are our thoughts.
The Fajita Quesadilla
Dane Rivera
Before you make fun of me for my admittedly bad side choices, let me defend myself. My go-to at Chipotle is a burrito, I haven’t ordered a quesadilla since the days when it was an off-menu item and it came wrapped in foil. I had no idea that the quesadilla now comes in its own special little box with three side compartments for dips. Once I saw the packaging, I knew I f*cked up by asking for rice. Moving on!
Like all menu items at Chipotle, the fajita quesadilla is fully customizable, you can order it with barbacoa, sofritas, steak, chicken, or carnitas as a side option. Because I’ve rigorously sampled each of Chipotle’s protein options, I ordered the best choice — a barbacoa quesadilla with fajita veggies.
This just might be the best item on Chipotle’s entire menu. A common complaint of Chipotle is that their food isn’t hot, it’s lukewarm at best. But for a quesadilla to work cheese needs to be melted and it is. Each bite gave off a gooey trail of cheese that was satisfying to pull apart. This is also Chipotle’s messiest dish, your hands will be left greasy.
Dane Rivera
In terms of flavors, the fajitas make a world of difference. The earthy clove and oregano-heavy flavor of the tender barbacoa are paired with vegetal aromatics and a savory — almost buttery — top note that makes each bite more addicting than the last. My method of utilizing the sides included a big spoon scoop of tomatillo red salsa and beans on top of each bite, which added some mouthwatering heat and a bit more texture to the mouthfeel. Don’t ask about the rice.
Would I have swapped the beans and rice for a side of sour cream and some honey vinaigrette dressing? Absolutely, but luckily that gives me an excuse to order it again. And again. And Again.
Seriously, trust me when I tell you this is Chipotle’s best menu item — we’ve done the work and have built the best burrito, taco, and bowl the menu has to offer. As great as all of those are, this simple flavor combination is the best the brand has put out. Because it’s now official, that means Chipotle has an official method of making this combination work consistently. It sucks that you’ll have to wait until March 2nd to order it, but do it as soon as you can.
As a follow up allow us to offer Chipotle this suggestion — Nachos. I mean come on, the ingredients are all right there! Grab an order of chips (tamp down all the freaking lime, please), throw them in a bowl with a few scoops of pinto beans, add the protein of your choice, fajitas, the salsa of your choice, sour cream (optional), a whole bunch of cheese and a healthy scoop of guacamole and you’ll have the greatest dish Chipotle could ever offer.
The Bottom Line:
Instantly our favorite dish at Chipotle. This simple change-up elevates the quesadilla from an off-menu curiosity to a full-blown essential order.
Schitt’s Creek hasn’t been off the air that long. The finale aired less than three years ago. But after six seasons as the Rose family, it’d be no surprise to learn its cast missed their hot mess characters. Luckily this is an era when shows can always come back for more, even if it’s only for six more episodes. And if people want more Schitt’s Creek, at least two of its stars are in it.
Speaking to Radio Times (as caught by IndieWire) while promoting his new Apple TV+ series The Reluctant Traveler, Eugene Levy was perhaps inevitably asked about one of the most beloved shows of the last decade.
“I know my son Daniel has said this, we’d love to get together with these people again and take the show and the characters to yet another level,” Levy revealed. “There’s nothing in the works right now to be honest, but you know, we’ve never stopped thinking about what might happen down the line. We’re certainly open to anything, I think when the idea that is the right idea presents itself we’ll probably act on it, I guess.”
Let’s just stress that this is all purely speculative and if a Schitt’s Creek reunion or revival or whatever ever gets off the ground, it’ll take some time. Think of it the same way you would Succession creator Jesse Armstrong vaguely floating the idea of some potential spinoff, as he did recently. Even if he never returns to Schitt’s Creek itself, at least Levy already has four separate Emmys he won over the show’s beloved run.
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