As any “X-Files” will tell you, mystery is a major part of the show’s intrigue. After all, Agent Mulder and Scully dealt with some new kind of paranormal phenomenon every episode.
But it’s usually not a mystery centered around the show itself.
That is, unless we’re talking about a catchy country song that appears during the 5th episode of season 6, titled “Dreamland II,” which premiered in 1998. During the episode, Mulder gets body-swapped with an Area 51 employee at a dive bar, where the song plays in the background.
It was a song “so good” that Lauren Ancona tried to use her Shazam app to find its title. Only nothing came up. So then she tried to look up the lyrics. Still nothing. Finally she decided to look up the episode itself.
That’s when she realizes she was stumbling upon a decades long puzzle that even the most high tier “X-Files” aficionado couldn’t solve.
Sharing this saga onto X, Ancona wrote, “apparently I’m not the only one that was like ‘dang that’s a good song’ because it’s mentioned on the IMDB page that nobody can find this silly song.”
just had the weirdest experience
was watching an X-files episode & there’s this country song playing in the background of the bar they’re in
& it’s so good it jars me out of my idle multitasking to Shazam it
Underneath her post she pasted a screenshot of a review where another person sought out this “lost song.” That was 25 years ago.
It didn’t take long for Ancona’s quest to blow up online. Tons of “X-Files” fans tried to sleuth their way towards answers with information provided by the episode’s end credits. They even tracked down a call sheet for the episode, a document which lists every single person behind a production for the episode that week.
Here’s a snippet of the episode in question, for reference:
Still, no real answers were found until the thread was eventually seen by a composer named Rob Cairns, who did in fact know the co-writer of the tune—Dan Marfisi.
Marfisi shared with NPR that Cairns reached out to him and said. “He said, ‘You might want to check out this Twitter thread, and if you jump in, you will be a hero,'”
“So I went and got my cape, and I logged on, and it was a party,” he quipped.
And now, finally, here’s the answer to this decades old riddle.
The song, written by Marfisi and Emmy winning Glenn Jordan, was titled “Staring at the Stars.” And the reason why no one could find it was because Marfisi and Jordan wrote the song specifically for that scene.
“We had a directive to write something that would fit both an alien and a human being,” Marfisi told NPR. “And we kind of looked up in the sky and said, what’s up there besides aliens? And we found stars … that was our brainstorming session.” The song was then produced in around four hours.
And now, thanks to the collective efforts of fans, combined with the power of the internet, all have this newly recorded version of the song to enjoy.
The “X-files” always taught us that the truth is out there. Guess that wisdom still holds up.
Forcing a kid to sit on Santa’s lap, even when it makes them clearly uncomfortable, might have been a holiday tradition once upon a time. But today, in an age where many, if not most parents advocate for their child’s boundaries, it’s an automatic naughty-list move.
And that’s why people are applauding one Santa’s perfect display of respect for a little girl named Adley, who gave him a firm “no” after he asked her if she wanted to sit in his lap. Their viral exchange became a simple, but effective lesson in consent.
Katie Love, Adley’s mom, was so impressed with what Santa told her that she asked him to repeat the message so she could record it, according to Today.com.
“I said, ‘This is her body, and she’s in control of her body,’” Santa explains. “I asked if she wanted to sit on my lap, and she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Way to stand up for yourself. And way to say what you believe is true.’”
He reiterated that the rule goes even for Santa Claus. No means no.
The clip quickly amassed 2 million views on TikTok, with hundreds praising this Santa for his thoughtfulness.
“We love an educated Santa,” one of the top comment read.
Another person wrote, “he’s meant for this job. He’s a good one.”
Others chimed in with agreement of his sentiment.
“I love this. No reason to pressure her to feel uncomfortable for a picture,” one person said. So true. And odds are, you won’t even get a good picture as your kid is traumatized, anyway.
Speaking of uncomfortable, several folks wondered if poor Adley was still not very happy, judging by her awkward look in the video. Some thought she didn’t like Santa’s hand being on her shoulder.
As Love explained to Today.com, it actually had more to do with wondering if she’d still get the purple bike she asked for since she didn’t sit in Santa’s lap.
“But you can see her start to smile when he reaffirmed her reaction and told her that it was OK to say no,” she said.
Santa is, by all intents and purposes, a figure created for children’s enjoyment. A benevolent character who instills good values. This new-age version is doing just that—perhaps even more so than his predecessors—since he honors their agency, and therefore, their wellbeing. May he receive extra blessings this Christmas by instilling the power of consent into all the kids he’s interacting with.
Over the past few years, one of the most significant contributors to the increase in the cost of living in the U.S. has been skyrocketing rent and housing prices. A big reason for the rise is the lack of housing supply. Estimates show that Americans need to build around 6 million more housing units for supply to meet demand.
If we are going to build more housing units, About Here’s founder urban planner Uytae Lee, suggests that the U.S. and Canada focus on building more non-market co-op units.
He lays out his theory in a video entitled “The Non-Market Solution to the Housing Crisis.”
To illustrate his point, he highlights two apartment buildings side by side in the up-and-coming Olympic Village neighborhood in Vancouver, Canada. In one building, the average rent for a 2 bedroom is $4,500. However, in the building across the street, a 2-bedroom unit only costs $1900 a month.
“So how is this building so affordable? Well, it’s really quite simple. It doesn’t make money,” Lee says. “This building is owned by the Athletes Village housing co-op, a non-profit cooperative. Like the name suggests, the co-op isn’t trying to make a profit from this building. So it sets rents that only cover the building’s operating costs, things like heat, water, electricity, taxes, mortgage payments and maintenance.”
“The building next door is a condo that is owned by an individual or corporation who very much wants to make some money from their housing,” Lee continues. “So they can rent it out for well really whatever price they can get. Any money they make on top of their operating costs is the profit they can pocket for themselves.”
Co-ops are often owned by charities, churches and nonprofit organizations that understand housing is a need and want it to be part of their larger mission. There are co-ops for various demographics, whether seniors, refugees, or college students.
If a private building owned by a landlord were constructed simultaneously, their rents would be similar. However, a co-op can lower rent over time while market pressures and profit motives drive the private building upwards.
As market value in a neighborhood increases, landlords raise rent. However, co-ops keep rent at the same level as long as costs remain stable. Further, after the mortgage on the co-op is paid off, its expenses are drastically reduced so that the rent can be lowered.
“Non-market housing promises a home at a stable price right now and an affordable price in the long term,” Lee says.
When there is an abundance of co-ops in a given area, they also have a positive effect on market housing. Lee cites Vienna as an excellent example of non-market housing keeping market rents low. “Private landlords have to compete with non-market housing for the same tenants. They can’t afford to inflate the rents because people will apply for the non-market housing next door, where rents can be as low as €551 a month.”
Just as there are barriers to building large private housing projects in North America, building non-market housing also has its problems. The first is cost. Finding non-profits or government agencies willing to fund an entire apartment building is tough. It’s also hard to get housing projects approved when co-ops have to go up against NIMBYs and housing zoning regulations.
“I think first and foremost we need to change these rules and make it easier to build housing in general,” Lee says.
In the end, Lee believes co-op housing isn’t a magic bullet that will solve all our woes. But it should be an integral part of a larger solution. “I think we should be treating all market housing as an important counterbalance,” Lee says. “Something that limits people’s ability to exploit the housing shortage in two key ways: adding more supply and setting rents that help to stabilize the overall housing market — sending a reminder to all of us that housing is ultimately for people, not profits.”
Forcing a kid to sit on Santa’s lap, even when it makes them clearly uncomfortable, might have been a holiday tradition once upon a time. But today, in an age where many, if not most parents advocate for their child’s boundaries, it’s an automatic naughty-list move.
And that’s why people are applauding one Santa’s perfect display of respect for a little girl named Adley, who gave him a firm “no” after he asked her if she wanted to sit in his lap. Their viral exchange became a simple, but effective lesson in consent.
Katie Love, Adley’s mom, was so impressed with what Santa told her that she asked him to repeat the message so she could record it, according to Today.com.
“I said, ‘This is her body, and she’s in control of her body,’” Santa explains. “I asked if she wanted to sit on my lap, and she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Way to stand up for yourself. And way to say what you believe is true.’”
He reiterated that the rule goes even for Santa Claus. No means no.
The clip quickly amassed 2 million views on TikTok, with hundreds praising this Santa for his thoughtfulness.
“We love an educated Santa,” one of the top comment read.
Another person wrote, “he’s meant for this job. He’s a good one.”
Others chimed in with agreement of his sentiment.
“I love this. No reason to pressure her to feel uncomfortable for a picture,” one person said. So true. And odds are, you won’t even get a good picture as your kid is traumatized, anyway.
Speaking of uncomfortable, several folks wondered if poor Adley was still not very happy, judging by her awkward look in the video. Some thought she didn’t like Santa’s hand being on her shoulder.
As Love explained to Today.com, it actually had more to do with wondering if she’d still get the purple bike she asked for since she didn’t sit in Santa’s lap.
“But you can see her start to smile when he reaffirmed her reaction and told her that it was OK to say no,” she said.
Santa is, by all intents and purposes, a figure created for children’s enjoyment. A benevolent character who instills good values. This new-age version is doing just that—perhaps even more so than his predecessors—since he honors their agency, and therefore, their wellbeing. May he receive extra blessings this Christmas by instilling the power of consent into all the kids he’s interacting with.
Moms can be a little weird sometimes, which really isn’t much of a secret. Something happens when you have a baby. There’s this overwhelming desire to hold onto every piece of your baby’s existence from the moment they enter the world. For some people it’s hanging on to the tiny hospital bands that adorned their little ankles or the outfit they wore home from the hospital.
But there’s a group of moms that take baby keepsakes to a different level and the group is probably much larger than people realize. Somewhere in a plastic baggie or glass jar is an umbilical cord stump that was once attached to the belly of a baby. This last physical piece of baby’s connection to mom is coveted by some and one dad didn’t realize how important it was until he threw it away.
A couple who recently welcomed a brand new baby girl uploaded a video to social media showing Kaylee Dudley’s reaction to news their baby lost her umbilical cord. Turns out Dudley wanted to keep it.
Dudley asks her husband, “where’s her belly button,” clearly confused. The new dad explains that it fell off when he was changing the baby’s diaper so he threw it away. It didn’t take long before the mom was digging in the kitchen trash trying to find the little stump to keep forever. While this reaction seemed to baffle the dad, women in the comments were shocked he would commit such an egregious sin.
“‘I threw it away’ EVERY mom just gasped,” one person writes.
“Saved them from all my babies, I had to get my youngest son’s out of the trash after the Dr pulled it off with a tissue and tossed it,” another woman says.
“I gasped at the same time she gasped when you said it was in the trash my family also saves them! Hahaha,” a commenter reveals.
But not everyone thinks this practice is normal. Some people said their mom still has theirs even though they’re adults and other’s simply don’t understand why anyone would keep such a thing.
How did I not know this was a thing? 😳😅 Backstory ::: We’ve had two great weeks with bean. I’ve learned a lot about taking care of a newborn. Before bean I had never even changed a diaper. 😂 While changing her, I noticed that her umbilical cord had fallen off in her clothing. I didn’t think this was a big deal so I finished changing her and threw it in the trash. This was a mistake. 😂 Apparently Kay had been waiting on it to fall off so that she could save it forever in a little plastic bag. I’m not sure why she wanted it so bad but she’s made it clear that it’s very important that she keeps it. Later while she was changing Ellie, she started yelling my name to come to her. She had noticed that her umbilical cord was missing and panicked. She then retrieved the umbilical cord from the trash and stored it safely in a little plastic bag. I’m so thankful that I put off taking out the trash. I hope that when bean grows up, she’s super excited to have a small dried fragment of her belly button. 😂 #kayandtayofficial #couples #relationships #pregnant #postpartum
“I have never saved any of that stuff. Not the first hair clippings, first tooth and not the cord lol. I have the kid. That’s good enough,” one mom writes.
“I’ve never heard of saving this. Like, it’s a decaying body part,” someone says.
Eh, to some a decaying body part to others it’s the last thing that connected them to their baby physically. No matter what you decide to do with the umbilical cord stump, just make sure you keep it out of reach of animals. A few commenters revealed their pets ran off with their child’s stump.
Moms can be a little weird sometimes, which really isn’t much of a secret. Something happens when you have a baby. There’s this overwhelming desire to hold onto every piece of your baby’s existence from the moment they enter the world. For some people it’s hanging on to the tiny hospital bands that adorned their little ankles or the outfit they wore home from the hospital.
But there’s a group of moms that take baby keepsakes to a different level and the group is probably much larger than people realize. Somewhere in a plastic baggie or glass jar is an umbilical cord stump that was once attached to the belly of a baby. This last physical piece of baby’s connection to mom is coveted by some and one dad didn’t realize how important it was until he threw it away.
A couple who recently welcomed a brand new baby girl uploaded a video to social media showing Kaylee Dudley’s reaction to news their baby lost her umbilical cord. Turns out Dudley wanted to keep it.
Dudley asks her husband, “where’s her belly button,” clearly confused. The new dad explains that it fell off when he was changing the baby’s diaper so he threw it away. It didn’t take long before the mom was digging in the kitchen trash trying to find the little stump to keep forever. While this reaction seemed to baffle the dad, women in the comments were shocked he would commit such an egregious sin.
“‘I threw it away’ EVERY mom just gasped,” one person writes.
“Saved them from all my babies, I had to get my youngest son’s out of the trash after the Dr pulled it off with a tissue and tossed it,” another woman says.
“I gasped at the same time she gasped when you said it was in the trash my family also saves them! Hahaha,” a commenter reveals.
But not everyone thinks this practice is normal. Some people said their mom still has theirs even though they’re adults and other’s simply don’t understand why anyone would keep such a thing.
How did I not know this was a thing? 😳😅 Backstory ::: We’ve had two great weeks with bean. I’ve learned a lot about taking care of a newborn. Before bean I had never even changed a diaper. 😂 While changing her, I noticed that her umbilical cord had fallen off in her clothing. I didn’t think this was a big deal so I finished changing her and threw it in the trash. This was a mistake. 😂 Apparently Kay had been waiting on it to fall off so that she could save it forever in a little plastic bag. I’m not sure why she wanted it so bad but she’s made it clear that it’s very important that she keeps it. Later while she was changing Ellie, she started yelling my name to come to her. She had noticed that her umbilical cord was missing and panicked. She then retrieved the umbilical cord from the trash and stored it safely in a little plastic bag. I’m so thankful that I put off taking out the trash. I hope that when bean grows up, she’s super excited to have a small dried fragment of her belly button. 😂 #kayandtayofficial #couples #relationships #pregnant #postpartum
“I have never saved any of that stuff. Not the first hair clippings, first tooth and not the cord lol. I have the kid. That’s good enough,” one mom writes.
“I’ve never heard of saving this. Like, it’s a decaying body part,” someone says.
Eh, to some a decaying body part to others it’s the last thing that connected them to their baby physically. No matter what you decide to do with the umbilical cord stump, just make sure you keep it out of reach of animals. A few commenters revealed their pets ran off with their child’s stump.
We Northern Hemisphere folks are almost at the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when we flip from our days growing darker to gaining more and more sunlight.
The winter solstice is a good reminder that darkness is a temporary state. It’s also a good time to slow down, get cozy and embrace the season for what it is. Put up more twinkle lights. Make a cup of tea or cocoa and sip it under a blanket. Light some candles and get your hygge on.
Embracing simple joys make the dark days a little brighter, and we’ve got some simple joys to get you started right here.
Enjoy!
1. How fun are these Christmas Olympics game ideas?
The guy riffing the original can be seen here. This lip sync challenge was popularized early in the pandemic when we were trying to find ways to stay connected virtually, and she just absolutely nails this.
4. These kids on the bus cheering on Xavier, the ‘fasted kid alive’
Everyone needs this kind of cheering squad. Go Xavier, go!
4. People are sharing good things happening in America that are flying under the radar
The news may seem like nothing but doom and gloom, but there are good things happening all around us all the time. From huge leaps in disease treatments to threatened wildlife making a comeback to everyday people being awesome human beings, you can read about tons of good things happening here.
6. The beautiful thing that happens in Amsterdam if you die and have no one to attend your funeral
Leave it to the poets to find everyone’s humanity worth celebrating. The Lonely Funeral project enlists a poet to write a custom poem for people who don’t have any family or friends and read it at their funeral. The concept has now expanded to cities around the world. Read the full story of the Lonely Funeral project here.
7. Lonely baby camel, ‘Sir Camelot’ gets his very own best friend: A baby cow
Aw, Sir Camelot! Everyone needs a friend. Read the full story here.
8. The total and complete guilt on the face of these doggos
u201cOh no, we got caughtu201d ud83dude02
— (@)
That “save me” hug at the end, though. So hilarious.
9. The ‘last GenX playground’ has 40 and 50-somethings drowning in nostalgia
Last GenX Playground!❤️ #genx #genxtiktokers #over50 #bestgenerationever #genxkid
Welcome to our childhood, youngsters! The slide that became a thousand degrees in the sun. The spinning seesaw that made kids puke. The wooden teeter-totter that made you see stars when someone jumped off and your butt hit the ground. Ah, the good ol’ days!
10. Doggo loses his mind with joy when he finds out he’s going to visit Grandma and Grandpa
The other video got a “sensitive content warning” because of the end… but why?? 😂 #repost #dogsofttiktok #dogs #australiancattledog #blueheeler #acd #heeler #cattledog
The flop for the belly rubs at the end? So darn sweet.
Hope that added a few smiles to brighten your day! If you’d like to receive posts like this one in your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter, The Upworthiest, here.
In late October, Matthew Perry died of an apparent drowning at age 54. Six weeks later, the LA County Medial Examiner’s Office has revealed his full toxicology results, and drowning is now listed as a contributing factor in the Friends star’s fate. Additionally, the report lists “the acute effects of ketamine” as the primary cause along other contributing factors in his accidental death.
Matthew Perry died from “the acute effects of ketamine,” according to the toxicology report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. Contributing factors in the “Friends” actor’s death included drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine (used to treat opioid use disorder). The manner of death was ruled an accident.
TMZ follows up with additional context, which suggests that the ketamine dosage that caused Perry’s death was self-administered and outside of the therapeutic dosage that he had received days before he passed out in a hot tub at his home:
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office just released the toxicology report, concluding Perry had taken ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety a week-and-a-half before his death. The ketamine in his system at the time of his death, however, “could not be from that infusion therapy, since ketamine’s half-life is 3 to 4 hours, or less.”
The chance to win, naturally, was high on the list, as the Dodgers are perennial contenders and part of the reason Ohtani deferred almost all of his contract was to ensure they could keep bolstering the roster around him. However, the Dodgers weren’t going to simply rely on their reputation as a contender and gobs of money to finish the deal, as they made a complete pitch to Ohtani to try and ensure he knew how important they viewed him as a potential L.A. sports icon.
To do so, they relied on a video they’d shot six years ago when Ohtani was making his decision on who to sign with as he left Japan, but its message was arguably more powerful in 2023. That’s because it was a video from Kobe Bryant, which Jeff Passan of ESPN reports was one of the “highlights” of the meeting for Ohtani and meant a lot to him.
Back in 2017, Bryant had filmed the clip as a favor to the team. Now, more than three years after his death in a helicopter crash, Bryant’s reputation as the ultimate competitor spans all sports, and his message to Ohtani registered the same posthumously in 2023 as it would have then: There’s no better place in the world to win than Los Angeles, and there’s no better team in baseball to win with than the Dodgers.
“That was one of the highlights of the whole meeting,” Ohtani told ESPN through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. “I was really surprised to see it. It was a strong and touching message.”
When Bryant said Ohtani’s name, it took him aback. They never met, but Ohtani marveled at his commitment, to his craft, to his sport, to his team. Mizuhara, who is as much consigliere to Ohtani as the conduit for his words, grew up in Los Angeles and understood what it meant for Bryant to vouch for the Dodgers. A minute of his time, of the presence he still casts, felt like a wonderful eternity.
You never know exactly what is going to draw a player in during a free agency pitch, and Ohtani very well could’ve opted to join the Dodgers no matter what. However, having an ace in the hole in the form of a recruitment pitch from Kobe Bryant, vouching for the Dodgers organization and their commitment to winning, certainly didn’t hurt their cause in landing one of the greatest baseball players of all-time.
It’s brandy season! I mean… when is it not? But the holidays lean into the brandy vibes that little bit more than most times of the year. Although brandy can go by many names — cognac, calvados, Armagnac, weinbrand, eau de vie, grappa, applejack, brandy de Jerez, pisco — there’s something for everyone and every vibe, time, and feel. Moreover, since there is so much different brandy out there, there’s always some really good stuff for great prices.
To that end, we’re calling out 10 of our favorite brandies — across all styles — for under $60. The brandy bottles below are all affordable. Moreover, you should be able to find them fairly widely at any decent liquor store or online retailer. The throughline is that they’re all delicious… in their own ways. We’ve specifically cast a wide net to offer refined French spirits next to American crafty apple brandies next to murky and dark Spanish pours and more.
Since there is something for everyone below, our advice is as follows. Read through our tasting notes, find the brandy that sparks your interest, and then hit those price links to get a bottle. Sound good? Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top Five Brandy Articles of the Last Six Months
Ol’ Henney Lo. This entry point to the wide world of Hennessy is a blend of over 40 brandies (or eau de vie) that were aged a minimum of two years. The grapes are exclusively Ungi Blanc and grown in the core regions of Cognac, France.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Rich chocolate and marzipan lead on the nose with a good line of ripe red fruits leaning toward black cherry and blackberry with a hint of the bramble.
Palate: The palate is lush but light with bright fruits leading toward a hint of cinnamon and clove wrapped in old leather with a twinge of oak in the background.
Finish: The end brings back the choco-marzipan vibe with a whisper of red berries sourness.
Bottom Line:
This is where most brandy journeys begin and it’s easy to see why. This is a great classic cognac that’s easy to drink while offering a signature brandy vibe. Overall, this is a great candidate for brandy cocktails or replacing whiskey in whiskey cocktails.
Germany’s Asbach is the closest you’ll get to “cognac” outside of France. The brandy was re-designated “weinbrand” (wine brandy) after the French dialed in their appellation designations for “cognac” and prohibited anyone outside the region from using that term back in 1892. The grape distillate is made from German-grown grapes but aged in French Limousin oak (like cognac) for up to three years. The result is a blend of two to three-year-old brandies.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Aspach starts with nice woody vanilla, buttery caramel, and notes of ripe and almost juicy apricot on the nose with a nice twinge of winter spice from the wood.
Palate: Warm pepper spiciness comes into play on the palate with a rush of dark sweet fruits, light and dry nuts, and a touch of light but acidic white wine.
Finish: The end is heavy on the vanilla and berry with a nice accent of woody spice that fades pretty quickly.
Bottom Line:
The classic highball to make with this is an ABC, which is an AsBach and Coke. It’s a delicious variation on the iconic Jack and Coke. From there, this is also a very good brandy to pair with chocolate, making it great for holiday sipping once you get into that box of chocolates from your favorite aunt.
PARK VS Cognac is a classic brandy that’s that little bit more refined than your average Henny or Remy. This brandy is made with a 50/50 blend of brandies made with Fins Bois and Petite Champagne grapes. The brandy then spends up to three years aging in Limousin oak before batching and proofing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with a deep sense of buttery salted caramel apples cut with Luxardo cherries, a hint of woody winter spice, and a flutter of pear skin over white wildflowers.
Palate: Those white florals brighten on the palate as a sharp note of white pepper arrives with a return of the apple and cherry, now cut with bright orange zest.
Finish: The flowers take on a slight honeyed vibe late with a nice sharp woody spice on the finish that’s warming but not overpowering.
Bottom Line:
This is a nice sipper before a big meal. It’s light but offers flavors that are just deep enough to keep your attention. You can also stir up some nice brandy old fashioneds with this one.
This apple brandy is made in Indiana from mostly locally-grown apples from the Huber Farms. The on-site pressed juice is fermented and then distilled in an old 80-gallon copper pot still. That juice is then left to mellow in charred new American oak barrels until it’s just right.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this one bursts with freshly picked sweet apples with a hint of woodiness, apple core, and apple stem next to bright summer flowers and a dash of honey sweetness.
Palate: The palate follows the same path while leaning into the essence of a fresh apple with a lovely sweetness and a hint of spiced apple butter over an English muffin with a bit of cinnamon butter.
Finish: That butter cinnamon and stewed apple drive the long finish with a nice dose of woody winter spice mix that brings about a hot apple cider vibe on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is a deep and delicious apple brandy through and through and takes you on a journey from the tree to the warm mug of cider. Now, that’s the holidays in a glass!
This Spanish brandy is a throwback to centuries-old brandy making. The juice starts with Parellada and Ugni Blanc grapes that are fermented slowly. That wine is then distilled twice in old copper stills before it’s loaded into French Limousin barrels for a long 20-year rest.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is pure holiday cake on the nose with plenty of dark spices next to rich dried fruits, candied cherry, orange oils, and fatty nuts with a hint of creamy vanilla.
Palate: The palate delivers on those notes while folding in a light sense of musty cellar beams and the smoothest cinnamon and clove-spiked vanilla pudding you can imagine — it borders on light eggnog with a little water added.
Finish: The finish arrives with a subtle push towards the spice and dried fruit and leaves you with a dry sense of orange-infused tobacco and dry walnut shells.
Bottom Line:
From the holiday cake on the nose to the orange spice tobacco on the finish with a deep nuttiness, this is like Christmas in a glass. It’s such a delicate pour as well that’ll hook you instantly.
Château de Laubade is a vine-to-glass experience from Armagnac, France. The Maison uses primarily Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche grapes to make their spirit. The juice then goes into the barrels for six to 12 years. The barrels are then hand-selected and small-batched with no more than 20 barrels going into a single batch.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a creamy caramel and vanilla underbelly that leads toward bright and ripe cherries on the nose with a fleeting sense of warm florals and soft honey.
Palate: That cherry sweetness counterpoints notes of old oak and dark spice as the sweetness edges towards creamed honey on the palate with a silken overall mouthfeel that’s a delight.
Finish: Sweet dark stewed fruit lingers on the sense of the finish as a tart and spicy pear crumble with notes of clove, woodruff, and lavender mingle on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is just a nice and very easygoing sipping brandy. It’s clear and concise as a neat pour but gets nicely creamy with a single rock, adding a nutty depth that helps this one lean more into the winter vibes with all that stewed fruit and spice.
This was Jay-Z’s signature brand. The juice in the bottle goes way back to Baron Otard from the famed Château de Cognac. The new line was re-crafted to suit American palates and includes a blend of cognacs that are aged at the château for four to eight years before blending, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose starts with dark and rich chocolate and marzipan then carries on toward old soft leather and mild Christmas cake spices with a hint of vanilla and candied fruit.
Palate: The taste mingles soft vanilla pods with buttery toffee and woody spices as the fruitiness shines a ray of sunshine through the whole sip.
Finish: The end has a good sense of dark chocolate and almond with a hint of black tea bitterness rounding everything out.
Bottom Line:
This is an essential cognac sipper that also makes a killer cocktail, especially if you’re leaning into holiday flavors like nogs and Manhattans.
This Spanish brandy has some serious pedigree. The juice is made from Airen grapes grown in Jerez, Spain. The distillate then goes into former Pedro Ximenez sherry casks where it rests for 15 long years. The result is a deeply flavorful snifter that’s second to none.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Roasted nuts, orange-infused dark chocolate, espresso beans, and brown bread greet you on the nose.
Palate: The sip embraces the oak, nuts, and coffee as the body of the brandy feels like sharp beams of golden light flooding through darkly colored stained glass.
Finish: The fruit is fairly dried and plummy and the sweetness edges ever-so-slightly toward molasses. The end is dry, bold, and leaves you warmed to your soul.
Bottom Line:
This is a deep and dark sipping brandy that’s brimming with holiday vibes. Seriously, this is Christmas in a glass. Pour this in a big balloon after a big holiday meal and you’ll be all set. This also rules in eggnog or brandy Alexanders.
This Norman French apple brandy is built from hundreds of acres of apple trees in northern France. The actual apple farm in the Pays d’Auge district was officially designated as the source of the best apples in all of Normandy by the French, so there’s that. The actual brandy is made from several varieties of apples plucked from those famed orchards and pressed before long fermentation and distilling. The brandy then rested for four to 10 years before small batching and proofing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Rich and fresh apples — sweet, tart, woody, and soft — bloom on the nose as a rich oily vanilla offers a lush sense of breezy brandy cut with sunshine and oakiness.
Palate: The apple takes on a lightly stewed vibe on the early palate as the rich vanilla from the French oak peaks with a sense of luxurious mouthfeel next to soft buttery bread smeared with apple butter and a hint of apricot jam cut with orange zest.
Finish: The vanilla layers into the buttered bread as the apples break down into a spiced sauce before adding more butter, creating a fatty apple cider vibe with tons of vanilla, winter spice, and tart red berries adding counterbalance.
Bottom Line:
This turns into a rich and buttery winter apple cider on the palate that’s sort of magical. Take it slowly with this sipper and enjoy the fall vibes leading into deep winter ones. Then go back for more.
1. Cognac Ferrand 10 Generations Grande Champagne Cognac
This is a “Grande Champagne” blend, which is the height of cognac making. The cognacs in the batch are five to 25 years old with 20% of the barrels going through a finishing rest in used Sauternes wine casks before the final batching and proofing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Rich and fresh honey greets you on the nose with ripe apricot, soft sultana, and rich salted caramel vibe before a deep fruit cake spiced with ginger, nutmeg, and clove and cut with rose water and orange oils leads to a deep nuttiness.
Palate: The apricot dries out on the palate along with stewed pear, crushed grapes, and brandy-soaked pineapple and mango with a hint of nasturtiums next to fatty walnuts and menthol pipe tobacco.
Finish: The honey marries the florals on the finish as the minty tobacco takes on a spiced almost peppermint with hints of that nutty fruit cake popping back up with a touch of powdered sugar frosting cut with vanilla, almond, and orange oils.
Bottom Line:
Peppermint tobacco and wintry fruitcake are about as holiday-forward as you can get. Pour this neat and let it warm you next to a crackling fireplace.
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