Ron DeSantis hasn’t even formally thrown his hat in the ring yet. Why would he? He just got re-elected governor of Florida. But his beef with probably 2024 rival Donald Trump has kicked up a notch, with both sides now trading pissy barbs. Things have escalated to the point where it’s Don Jr.’s time to start making unhinged videos where he can’t control the tenor of his voice.
Junior ABSOLUTELY UNLOADS on Ron Desantis tonight. Enjoy! “I’ve spent a lot of time with Desantis personally. The image created online by the paid influencers? Guys, unfortunately, one-on-one, it doesn’t exist.” pic.twitter.com/eGHYNVcRVs
In one of those rants he swears aren’t fueled by Bolivian marching powder, the former president’s eldest son slammed the one not called “Meatball Ron” for, he said, being “owned by the billionaire donors” and being “100%-controlled opposition.” He also called DeSantis’ return fire on his father a “milquetoast response,” allegedly dictated by the GOP gate-keepers who have turned on the still popular Trump.
Moreover, he echoed charges, usually made by those on the other side of the political spectrum, that DeSantis simply “isn’t ready for the big league” and that it’s “not your time.” And he should know.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Desantis personally,” Jr. said. “The image created online by the paid influencers? Guys, unfortunately, one-on-one, it doesn’t exist.”
Thoughout his rant, Jr.’s already wackadoodle voice weaved drunkenly about. Sometimes it turned nasal, as though he was accidentally channeling a Muppet. The fury continued as he moved onto Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who it’s suspected is close to indicting the 45th president.
In his first podcast after the indictment news, Junior was pretty worked up: “This prosecution is pure, Bolshevik-style, witchuntery!” pic.twitter.com/ZVVVTRwpTA
“This prosecution isn’t based on facts or the law or anything that even resembles that,” Jr. charged. Instead it’s “pure Bolshevik-style witch-huntery,” trying to make the Democrats sound
Jr. also tore apart the theory that his Democratic enemies want him indicted so he’ll be the nominee. “This was the hot, stupid take on Twitter over the weekend, like the dumbest take ever,” he said. “Like they weren’t trying to put him in jail for the last eight years. Like they didn’t accuse me and the rest of my family of treason and other things.”
As usual, rather than refer to his father as “my father” or “my dad,” he called him simply “Trump.” Because that’s how close they are.
Killer Mike had a big 2020 with the release of the new Run The Jewels album RTJ4. Now, it looks like he’s stepping out on his own for a new solo record titled Michael.
“Yesterday I got the chance to sit and listen to @killermike new solo project ‘Michael,’” DJ Kenny Perez, a Milwaukee radio host, wrote in an Instagram post on March 16, during SXSW. “Without a doubt, RUN and embrace it when it drops. The project is a journey through his life, and he doesn’t hold back. Collabs with Andre 3000, Lil Wayne, Dave Chappelle, and more.”
Meanwhile, Killer Mike unveiled the song “Talk’n That Sh!t” in October of last year. “The song is self-explanatory,” he said in a statement. “With the video, I wanted to show the freedom and beauty in being able to turn up in spite of all the f*ck-sh*t. That upsets the bourgeoisie even more — in spite of all your criticisms, we’re gonna live free and stay lit.”
He also revealed nearly a year ago that a new Run The Jewels album was in the works. “I say this with a smile, and a wink — me and El-P were in the studio together,” he said. “We may have messed around and started Run the Jewels 5. So we’ll see what happens.”
This week, Affleck spoke to another prominent basketball personality when he sat down with ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins. This time, Perkins teed up Affleck to dive into his beloved Celtics by asking for his top-10 Celtics of all-time — with Perk joking this list would be excluding himself. Affleck turned the tables by then insisting without Perk there is no list, as it’s just 10 Kendrick Perkins from the 2009-10 season.
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Kendrick Perkins: “Outside of me, who is your favorite Celtic of all-time?”
Ben Affleck: “There’s nobody outside of you. You in my top 10. The 10 of my top 10 is you. 09-10 Kendrick Perkins, I’d put up against anybody in 2K.” pic.twitter.com/5wVL8OdbfW
Of course, Affleck handled this like the pro that he is, praising Perkins in a delightful way and showing off his Celtics bonafides by even referencing a specific season in which his fandom of Perkins seemed to grow. It also makes for perfect internet fodder in that Affleck gave a completely unserious answer and also avoided anything more specific. In short, it’s great stuff, and Perkins got to be praised by a movie star on the air, which clearly delighted the big fella.
France’s National Assembly has passed a new law that could seriously impact parents’ ability to share photos of their children online. If passed by the Senate and signed by the president, it would give courts the power to ban parents from posting pictures of their children online.
The bill is controversial because it takes away parents’ rights and puts them in the hands of the government. But supporters believe there are more than a few good reasons for the potential ban.
First, it keeps the child’s image out of the hands of unsavory characters. Member of Parliament Bruno Studer, who proposed the bill, told Le Monde, “’A 13-year-old child has an average of 1,300 images of themselves circulating on the internet. These are photos that can be misused for child pornography or that can lead to bullying in the school environment.”
According to Le Monde, 50% of all imagery of children shared on child pornography forums was first posted online by the child’s parents. The bill would also give both parents the right to the child’s image, so if one parent thinks the other is posting inappropriate images, they have the right to stop it.
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“The first two articles aim to establish the protection of privacy as one of the responsibilities of parents as holders of parental authority, for which they must obviously involve the child,” Struder continued. “In the most extreme cases, it is provided that the family judge may, if necessary, make a forced partial delegation of parental authority for the specific case of an exercise of image rights.”
Opponents of the bill believe that the legislation would strike a blow to parents’ rights. But doesn’t a child have a right to choose how their image is used, especially in a world where the photos could remain visible for the foreseeable future? As the old saying goes, online is forever and photos taken of someone as a child could follow them around well into adulthood.
Further, as the first generation of children who grew up in influencer families are becoming adults, we’re starting to realize the damage the lifestyle can have on young people. Aren’t these kids entitled to some protection from being exploited by their parents?
“We talk a lot about image rights, but not about children’s dignity,” Thomas Rohmer, Director and founder of l’Observatoire de la Parentalité et de l’Education Numérique, told Le Monde.
The bill has struck up a much-needed debate online and some parents are adamant that it’s their business what they do with photos of their children and no one else’s.
Don’t think it’s necessarily a bad move, but it should be left at the behest of the parent and not the State.
Once you put your child on social media facial recognition follows them for life . There is no escape no privacy . It is not fair to your child to make such an important decision for them.
— A Conservative Environmentalist (@SUITE911) March 20, 2023
The debate is interesting because it involves three rightfully interested parties—parents, their children, and a state entrusted to protect children’s rights. Whether or not the law is passed, the debate should serve as a way for people to confront this serious idea and to give parents a reason to think twice before posting photos of their children online.
“When you get signed, the label wants a hit,” she explained in a February 2022 interview. “They want a return on their investment, which I understand. But it’s important for artists to understand themselves before they start seeking for hits.” She offered an estimated release date of the summer of that year, which obviously didn’t happen.
In a new interview with E! News, the rapper shared another update on the LP. “I feel like a debut album is not something you just put out,” she said. “It’s not something you play with. I’m a Cancer, so I like to overthink sometimes, but I think you have to be really careful with that, and I take my art really serious.”
“I’ve been through a lot of interesting experiences,” she added. “So, I wanna put that all into my album in the most artistic and organic way.”
In June of last year, she shared more on her Instagram Story about the process. “These past couple of years have been a growing experience for me as an artist, human, but most importantly, a woman,” she wrote. “I have realized my purpose with the platform God has given me, which is why I have taken my time with releasing music this time around. Through hours of self-reflection, I have realized that Pretty B.*.T.C.H. music is not an album — it’s a movement. It’s a culture. It’s a language. It’s a lifestyle. We not rushing art. We taking our time! This ain’t no microwave sh*t! It’s baking & it will definitely be worth the taste.”
Saweetie is a Warner Music Artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Today, real estate feels like the separator between the haves and the have-nots. Someone saving up for a down payment could easily be disheartened to hear their degree, buddy Otto is now a professional landlord influencer who leverages debt to buy twelve townhouses for passive, cash flow positive, uber-wünder-wealth. Because everyone wants one, houses are expensive (even s**** ones), and this can be attributed to simple supply and demand economics — much demand, little supply.
ICON has developed the best 3D printing machine to date, “The Vulcan.” Using concrete material known as “Lavacrete” the Vulcan basically operates like a carnival crane, except instead of futilely snatching build-a-bears, it’s meticulously shooting Lavacrete like cake frosting, constructing the walls of a home layer by layer. And instead of an angry guy failing to impress his dream date, this machine’s being piloted by advanced, error-proof software.
Check it out:
Feed the machine any sort of architectural design and it will build it; twice as fast, for half the cost, and double the quality. In a 2022 SXSW Talk, titled “It’s Time to Build,” ICON CEO Jason Ballard stated, “If you want a house in the shape of a Fibonacci spiral, we can print you one, and if you want a house in the shape of a square, you’re boring, but we can still build it for you.”
While the walling (the most labor-intensive part of construction) is automated, the flooring, finishing, windows, and roofing are all manually crafted.
CAN YOU LIVE IN ONE?
Sadly, because the technology is quite new, 3D-printed homes are not widely available (yet!). But it’s possible. ICON is in the process of proving that they can scale this sort of home construction by building the first 3D-printed neighborhood in history, The Genesis Collection at Wolf Ranch, Texas. This 100-home community could be a sneak peek at what’s to come. The neighborhood is a mixture of eight distinct floor plans classified as The Genesis Collection.
Here are just a few of the models so you can get a feel for what it would be like to live in a 3D-printed house:
Some might be skeptical about buying a house made by robots, thinking they’re settling for an inhuman, dystopian, concrete cell. But oddly enough, visitors of Icon’s earlier projects have confessed that they actually feel very human. According to CNBC, prices for one of these homes start in the mid $400,000 range.
THE PATH TO QUALITY, SUSTAINABLE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Ultimately, before prices go down, supply must go up, and the efforts to rapidly raise supply by conventional home building are causing problems. Ballard says, “[In America] we presently have 5 million fewer homes than we need, and we’re building 2 million fewer than we need every year.” He goes on to state, “As we try to dig out of this hole, we resort to less skilled sources of labor, and lesser quality of materials. We try to cut corners.”
And even when corners are cut, conventional housing construction is still more expensive, labor-intensive, and inefficient. It’s also a large contributor to landfill waste, water consumption and carbon emissions. If there was a way to build more houses and leave a smaller carbon footprint, most would prefer that method. But it’s not just a matter of preference. It’s a matter of necessity.
Ballard puts the mission of housing 1.6 billion people in perspective, “Lennar, the largest home builder in America, builds 70,000 homes a year. If they could build a million a year, it would still take 1000 years. Only robots can do this. There are not enough humans who know how to build things to get us out of the problem that we’re in.”
BOTTOM LINE:
3D printed homes are coming: the money and the expertise don’t lie. Valued at just $1.9 million in 2019, the 3D printing market is now projected to be worth $76 billion by 2030. And if you thought “The Vulcan” sounded very scientific and Star Trek-y, you’re not wrong, because ICON recently partnered with NASA. NASA doesn’t just believe 3D Printing will be the best way to build houses in the world, they think it will be the future of interplanetary construction. Ideally, if 3D-printed homes scale to the capacity that experts hope, houses will become more affordable, and the chances of sticking it to Otto the landlord will be promising.
Regardless of the time of year (but especially in the early spring), we love to partake in a wheat beer or two. These top-fermented, heavily wheat-filled beers are widely available from US craft brewers as well as traditional European beer makers. Traditionally, they come in two main versions (along with a few offshoots like the Berliner Weisse, Gose, lambic, and others): the Belgian Witbier and the German Weizenbier. While we could spend all day writing about both styles, today we’re sticking to the German version exclusively.
German wheat beers are well-known for their heavy wheat, yeast, fruity, and sometimes lightly spiced flavor profile. Specifically, the popular hefeweizen is known for its yeasty, clove, almost banana flavor. While these flavors (and others) vary by brewery and beer, it’s safe to say that cracking open a wheat beer on a late winter or early spring night is a good idea. They’re refreshing, flavorful, and complex enough for the remaining cooler weather.
Now that we’ve gotten you good and thirsty, it’s time to actually find some of these European gems. Below, you’ll find eight of our favorite classic German wheat beers. We ranked them based on flavor and balance.
This top-fermented beer is known for its natural, yeasty, tangy flavor profile. A classic since its first release in March of 1993, its flavor profile of bananas, cloves, fruit, honey, and funky yeast is just as great thirty years later.
Tasting Notes:
The nose of bubblegum, banana, cloves, and yeasty bread draws you in. The palate is more of the same with flavors like ripe bananas, wintry spices, citrus zest, and bready malts. It’s yeasty, simple, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
While it’s difficult to find any fault with this beer, it’s a little yeasty and hazy for some novice wheat beer fans.
This 5.1% ABV top-fermented, hazy, unfiltered, yeast-filled wheat beer is known for its mix of funky, tangy, floral flavors, and refreshing, effervescent mouthfeel. This award-winning beer is light and refreshing, yet complex enough to excite the biggest wheat beer fans.
Tasting Notes:
This beer starts off with a surprisingly yeasty, funky nose along with ripe bananas and wintry spices. The palate follows suit with tangier, barnyard, funky yeast, bananas, bubblegum, and cloves. It’s crisp, refreshing, and loaded with wheat-centric flavors.
Bottom Line:
Another banger of an unfiltered beer. The only downfall, similar to the prior beer is the funky, almost barnyard yeasty aroma and flavor.
If you’ve been to Munich or you’re a big German beer drinker, you’ve likely heard about Hofbräuhaus. The restaurants serve Hofbraus beers, but if you’re not near one, you can grab a sixer of Hofbräu Hefe Weizen at your local beer or grocery store. One of the historic brewery’s most popular beers, it’s known for its well-balanced, citrus, and banana-filled flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, you’ll find honey, wheat, yeasty bread, bananas, and baking spices. The palate is exactly like the nose with a heavy dose of ripe banana, cloves, funky yeasty, what, and light citrus peels taking center stage. The finish is crisp and lightly bitter.
Bottom Line:
Another well-balanced, complex wheat beer that deserves a spot in your fridge. It might be a bit heavy on banana flavor for some new German beer drinks.
Brewed with malted barley, malted wheat, yeast, and Hallertauer Herkules and Hallertauer Taurus hops, this 5.5% ABV Weissbier is known for its naturally cloudy, unfiltered, yeasty, fruity, lightly spicy flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
This beer smells like freshly-baked banana bread with a little clove and floral, Noble hops mixed in. The pleasant aroma makes way for a palate of ripe bananas, candied orange peels, clover honey, wheat, and spicy cloves. It’s a great mix of yeast, sweet flavors, and spice.
Bottom Line:
This beer is a great example of how to make a well-balanced wheat beer. It has every aroma and flavor wheat beer fans crave and they are all working in unison.
Another popular German hefeweizen, Franziskaner Hefe Weissbier is known for its unfiltered, natural cloudy appearance as well as its mixture of fruity and spicy flavors. It’s a very complex, balanced wheat beer that has fans all over the world.
Tasting Notes:
Dry hay, yeast, sweet wheat, banana, honey, dried fruits, and wintry spices start everything off right with this beer’s nose. Drinking it reveals yeasty bread, wheat, earthy funk, bananas, sweet malts, citrus peels, and light spices. The finish is crisp, sweet, and memorable.
Bottom Line:
Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier leans heavily into the yeasty, bready, banana flavors, but it’s all very well balanced and drinkable.
The number one wheat beer in Germany, Paulaner Hefeweizen is brewed with Herkules hops as well as light wheat malt, dark wheat malt, Pilsner malt, and Munich malt. The result is spicy, floral, sweet wheat beer you’ll come back to again and again.
Tasting Notes:
Yeasty bread, lemongrass, bubblegum, bananas, and cloves make a major appearance on the nose. The palate is very fruity with bananas, brown bread, funky yeast, citrus peels, fruit esters, pepper, and cloves. There are little to no hop flavors and aromas, but somehow it still works.
Bottom Line:
This is one for the fruity wheat beer fans. While it’s yeasty, funky, and has some other well-known wheat beer flavors, it’s the fruity flavor that propels this one to a different level.
Not only is Weihenstephaner the kind of brewery that seems to make nothing but bangers, but it’s also the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world with its inception in 1040. Its Hefe Weissbier is known for its unfiltered cloudy appearance and fruity, banana, and clove flavor.
Tasting Notes:
Complex aromas of funky yeast, sweet wheat, bananas, freshly-baked bread, orange peels, wintry spices, and caramel malts make this a very welcoming nose. After that start, the palate doesn’t disappoint with flavors like banana bread, candied orange peels, dried fruits, cloves, and yeasty bread.
Bottom Line:
Weihenstephaner crafted one of the most flavorful, fruity, well-balanced wheat beers not only in Germany but in the whole beer world.
Schneider Weisse traces its history back to 1872 when George Schneider purchased the rights to brew wheat beer from King Ludwig and took over the formerly abandoned brewery Zum Maderbräu in Munich. Its most well-known offering is its Schneider Weisse Original Hefeweizen, an unfiltered, well-balanced traditional wheat beer.
Tasting Notes:
It all starts with a nose of ripe bananas, bubblegum, grassy, floral hops, sweet wheat, yeasty bread, and cloves. The palate is filled with flavors like candied nuts, fruit esters, bananas, freshly baked bread, and more wintry spices. It’s fruity, spicy, and sublimely balanced.
Bottom Line:
If you only drink one German wheat beer this spring, make it Schneider Weisse Original Hefeweizen. Its unfiltered, banana, fruity, yeasty flavor is one you’ll crave long after you finish drinking it.
Dropping around $250 for a single bottle of whisky is no small feat. At this price point, you’ll be getting bottles that are well past 12-year or 15-year entry-level single malts or blends. This is the price where you start to get into the 20-year-old single malts, the crazy blended malt whiskies, and peated smoky whiskies that go far beyond ashiness. This is the good stuff through and through. Still, we’re talking about a lot of money so a little guidance is always a good thing.
To provide you with that guidance, I’m calling out 15 bottles of Scotch whisky — both single malts and blended whiskies — that are actually worth adding to your bar cart. I’m calling out the truly “good stuff” that I professionally vouch for.
While all of these bottles absolutely slap, some are deeper and more interesting than others. So, I’ve also ranked these bottles by how truly amazing they really are as sippers. At this price point, whisky is about taking you on a journey through a flavor spectrum. More serious depth, balanced nuance, and true uniqueness are key to whisky at around $250. If that sounds like a journey you’d like to take, make sure to click on those price links to see if you can get these whiskies where you are. Let’s dive in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Scotch Whisky Posts of The Last Six Months
This expression from The Macallan changes things up a bit in maturation. The whisky is made from ex-bourbon and ex-sherry barrels from America (instead of the standard European ones from Spain) that are seasoned in Spain for The Macallan. That whisky is then vatted and proofed before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a hint of apple candy next to sharp and fresh ginger with hints of floral honey and bourbon vanilla acting as support on the nose.
Palate: The palate turns that ginger into gingerbread with plenty of cinnamon and brown sugar next to a dash of orange oils.
Finish: The finish layers the vanilla and gingerbread over stewed plums and a whisper of spicy/malty tobacco leaves.
Bottom Line:
This is classic Highland unpeated malt. This is smooth to its core with a deep flavor profile. Overall, this is a starter whisky (like a lot of The Macallan) that will get you hooked and lead you toward bolder whiskies down the road.
14. Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky Aged 25 Years The Signature
Master Blender Stephanie MacLeod has taken blended scotch to the next level with this expression. Grain and single malt whiskies are aged for 25 very long years before they’re married and placed in oak vats to get to know each other. Then the whisky is filled into single malt whisky casks from Royal Brackla Distillery for a final maturation. Think of it as a special finishing that’s a single malt barrel instead of rum, port, stout, etc., essentially making this a double-cask whisky.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a note of that iconic Aberfeldy honey at the core of the nose, leading your senses towards dried apple chips, a touch of cedar, and what feels like an English muffin covered in clotted cream and berry jam.
Palate: The taste really leans into the muffin and berries as light notes of honey syrup, dried florals, and more of those dried apples (with a pinch of salt) mix on your tongue.
Finish: The end is long and fruity with a nice spice counterpoint and a final note of minty tobacco in a cedar box.
Bottom Line:
This is a great high-end whisky that feels accessible and deep. You get this whisky from the first nose to the final sip but it still takes you a long and refreshing journey along the way. If you’re looking for an easy but very refined everyday sipper (or highball whisky), then this is it.
13. Royal Brackla Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 21 Years
This whisky is the oldest aged statement from the Last Great Malts from John Dewar & Sons line. The juice is distilled slowly before it spends 21 long years maturing Olorosso sherry casks where it’s left untouched. The barrels are vatted when they’re just right, proofed with soft Speyside water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Light vanilla pudding with a big dollop of berry compote welcomes you on the nose as this vibrant white grape bursts forth.
Palate: The taste meanders from spicy dark chocolate towards a malty Black Forest cake as stewed cherries, light cream, and a lot of dark chocolate shavings come together.
Finish: The finish embraces the chocolate until that bright white grape comes back to bring about a nice end.
Bottom Line:
This is very similar to Dewar’s 25 above but that little bit more refined. Overall, this is the bottle you get when you want a great classic unpeated sipper that isn’t going to challenge your palate or make you think. It’s comfort in a glass.
12. Glenfiddich Grand Cru Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 23 Years
It’s all in the name of this yearly special release from Glenfiddich. The whisky in the bottle matures for over 23 years in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks before it’s vatted and then filled into French Cuvée casks that held Champagne. That whisky is then cut down to proof and bottled just in time for the holiday season every year.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is straight-up classic malt on the nose with stewed apples and pears with a slight tartness and floral impression over a buttery brioche with a hint of maple woodiness.
Palate: The palate is lush and supple with a vanilla foundation and layers of pear candy, old toffees, creamed honey, and orchard wood with a sweet side.
Finish: The end has a pear and apple skin ambiance leading to barks, cores, and stems with soft floral honey and a bit of proofing water.
Bottom Line:
This is quintessential unpeated malt whisky. It has every classic note on the flavor profile. The key that makes this whisky rise above simply being “classic” is that each flavor note is so dailed and tight that you’re transported by them. You feel the apples, butter, vanilla, pears, and creamy honey like you’re actually enjoying those things when you sip this whisky. It’s fantastic. Get this if you want one of the truest and most dailed whisky experiences out there that’s just … nice.
11. Aberfeldy Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey Aged 20 Years Exceptional Cask
This special Aberfeldy release spent 20 years mellowing in re-fill bourbon and sherry casks. Then the prime malt barrels were married and filled into hand-selected Sauternes sweet wine casks from France for a final year of maturation. The results hold onto the signature honeyed heart of Aberfeldy while adding more sweetened nuance to the dram.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a clear sense of honey on the nose with dried fruit, malts, and light oak.
Palate: The taste leans into the honey and malts while a sweet red berry flourish arrives. There’s a hint of butter toffee next to those whisky malts that eventually end up with sweet honey tobacco married to soft dried apricots, sultanas, and a hint of cream soda.
Finish: The finish feels like honey-soaked cedar planks that have been left in a fruit orchard all summer with a hint of black soil lurking underneath it all.
Bottom Line:
This starts off subtly and then explodes on the palate. It’s almost like a magic trick. If you’re looking for a quietly bold unpeated sipping malt with beautiful softness, this is the play.
10. BenRiach Malting Season Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky Second Edition
The second edition of BenRiach’s Malting Season series is made with barley malted fully in-house at the distillery in Speyside. The barley in this case is Concerto barley grown for this release. Once distilled, the hot juice went into 30 first-fill bourbon barrels and rested for around nine years before batching and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a nice sense of rich caramel malts on the nose with a sense of distiller’s beer from the washback next to fresh tangerine skins, almond shells, and a touch of macadamia nut cookies.
Palate: The palate leans into fresh and lightly piney honey with a sense of apple bark and orange oils next to creamy caramel malts and vanilla malts.
Finish: The end leans into marzipan laced with lemon oils next to plums and apricots dipped in that fresh honey and spun with thin lines of apple tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is just good whisky. It’s nuanced and kind of brilliantly complex. It’s also very distinct. Overall, this is a special release so treat it like a special once-a-year bottle that you pick up for weekend sipping with friends.
9. Octomore 13.3 Edition Aged 5 Years Super Heavily Peated Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This new limited edition Octomore from Bruichladdich is all about Islay. The whisky is made from heavily peated malts grown on the island (most malts are shipping in from the mainland) back in 2015. In 2016, the whisky was distilled right by the sea at Bruichladdich and then loaded into first-fill, ex-American whiskey casks and second-fill European oak casks from the Rivesaltes region of France and the Ribera del Duero region of Spain. After five years, the casks were vatted and then bottled completely as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is a subtle mix of salted caramel with sweet caramel malts, apricot jam, gingerbread, and a touch of nasturtium with a whisper of smoked apples and pears before the ashen peat starts sneaking in with a sense of a BBQ pork rib rack smothered in BBQ sauce.
Palate: The palate opens with smoked brown sugar next to rich marzipan with a hint of Almond Joy next to Kiwi boot wax, orange marmalade, dried roses, lemon pepper, and a hint of oyster liquor.
Finish: The end has a caramel maltiness that’s just kissed with sea salt and potpourri cut with mild dark spices and more of that marzipan, finishing on a light fruit soda vibe.
Bottom Line:
This whisky is for peated whisky fans. If you’re not into the heavy peat monsters, this will not be for you. You’ve been warned. That said, this has so much more going for it than just smoky peated whisky vibes. It’s truly deep and fascinating with a rich flavor profile worth spending time exploring.
8. Highland Park Single Malt Scotch Whisky 21 Years Old (2020 Release)
This special release from 2020 is sort of like a Scotch “small batch” whisky. The whisky is a marrying of whiskies aged in nine first-fill sherry casks, eight bourbon casks, and nine refill barrels. Those whiskies are then vatted and brought down to proof on the windswept Orkney Islands.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a clear sense of grilled tropical fruits drizzled with sweet and thick balsamic next to hints of shelled nuts and fresh ginger.
Palate: The ginger spice persists as saffron-stewed pears mingle with vanilla husks, raisins, and pecans baked into pancake syrup.
Finish: The end lingers for a while and warms towards the spicier end of the ginger as an earthy, almost mossy, peaty smoke dances through your senses.
Bottom Line:
This is a peated whisky that leans far more into the sweet oak sugars and yeasts than the peated malts. Don’t get me wrong, this is peated and it is clear from the finish. But that smokiness is tied to bigger and clearer notes of spice, fruit, and earthiness, making this a great whisky for someone looking for something complex, dark, and fascinating.
7. Johnnie Walker Blue Label Blended Scotch Whisky
This is the mountaintop of Johnnie Walker’s whiskies. The blend is a marriage of ultra-rare grain and malt stock from extinct Diageo distilleries around Scotland. That’s just … cool. This expression is all about barrel selection and the mastery of a great noser and blender working together to create something special.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this one feels like silk with soft malts, dried plums, good marzipan, old boot leather, mulled wine spices, and a whisper of fireplace smoke.
Palate: The taste layers orange oils into the marzipan as rose-water-infused honey leads to a line of bitter dark chocolate that’s touched with smoked malts and nuts.
Finish: The end has an even keel of velvet mouthfeel next to floral honey, soft smoldering smoke from a fireplace, and old dried fruit.
Bottom Line:
Johnnie Blue is always a good choice. It’s such an approachable blended whisky with a subtle peatiness that’s almost a ghost compared to the rest of the flavor profile. This is the sort of whisky that leads to “ah-ha!” moments where you finally get what all the fuss is about.
6. The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch Whisky PortWood Aged 21 Years
This masterfully crafted expression from The Balvenie takes some serious time. The whisky is initially aged for 21 years in ex-bourbon casks. That whisky is then transferred to small port pipes, which held port in Portugal for 30 long years. That’s a long, long time, creating some very rare and well-seasoned oak. The effect is singular and distinct.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: You’re pulled in by a gentle sense of ripe yet soft peaches next to wet rose petals and a small billow of cherry tobacco smoke from a pipe.
Palate: The palate, again, is gentle and carries notes of red, sweet, and tart berries, stewed plums, and tiny moments of velvety and buttery pain au chocolat.
Finish: The finish holds onto that chocolate as it slowly meanders through your senses, leaving you with dark fruits, a whisper more of that cherry tobacco, and a pure silk mouthfeel.
Bottom Line:
This is a great whisky for any old bourbon whiskey fan out there. There’s a clear continuity to the flavor profile between this and 10-plus-year-old bourbons. So if you’re a high-end bourbon fan looking to get into really good high-end scotch, you’ll be very happy with this bottle.
5. Glenfarclas Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey Aged 25 Years
This unpeated Speyside malt is left alone for a very long time. The whisky is aged in a combination of ex-bourbon and first-fill Spanish sherry casks for 25 years. The barrels that actually make it to that age are vatted and proofed with local water for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Walnut and date Christmas cake draws you in on the nose with a mix of burnt orange, creamy honey, and thin lines of espresso cream with a dollop of dark chocolate.
Palate: Sweet nut cakes and rum raisin malted cookie dance on the palate with rich toffee, dark chocolate-covered espresso beans, and a whisper of Earl Grey tea leaves mixed with clove and allspice.
Finish: That spice layers into the sweet malt with a sense of old oak cellars and salted dark chocolate over dates soaked in espresso and sprinkled with dry lavender.
Bottom Line:
This is a great whisky. It’s also about half the price of other 25-year-old whiskies. I’d argue that this makes a perfect dessert or digestif pour after a big meal. Pour this into a big snifter and slowly enjoy it.
4. The Dalmore Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged 18 Years
This is more than just an 18-year-old whisky. The whisky spent 14 years maturing in ex-bourbon casks. Then the whisky was filled into Matusalem sherry casks that held sherry for 30 years for four more years of maturation. The casks, from Bodega González-Byass, are exceedingly rare and impart something truly unique into this whisky.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Dried roses meet your nose as orange-zest bespeckled dark chocolate dances with hints of old book leather, vanilla husks, and sultanas.
Palate: The taste holds onto the orange and chocolate tightly as a nutty, peppery, syrupy vibe takes over with a light touch of oakiness.
Finish: The chocolate zeroes in its bitter qualities on the end, with a little bit more vanilla sweetness and a savory counterpoint that’s kind of like saline (or wet salt).
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect confluence of unique, rare, and delicious. Buy and drink this if you want a whisky that has seriously unique depth but still gives you a comforting embrace with every nose and sip.
3. Scapa Single Malt Scotch Whisky Vintage Edition 19 Years Old
This special edition of Scapa was bottled exclusively for The Whisky Exchange. The whisky was distilled back in 2003 and bottled in August 2022. During the 19 years between those dates, the whisky rested in first-fill American oak barrels before bottling 100% as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Tart yet stewed green apples swim in vanilla buttercream on the nose as apricot jam and marmalade mingle with soft winter spices, lemon cream, raisin bread, and a hint of oyster shell.
Palate: Pear orchards and apple hand pies drive the palate as more lemon cream folds into a coffee cake (with a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg) with a dollop of marmalade, thin lines of honey, and raw brown sugar cubes next to a fleeting hint of wood wax.
Finish: Rye crackers with salt and sesame dipped in honey arise on the finish with a soft sense of salted black licorice, more of that raisin bread, vanilla buttercream, and spicy apple butter.
Bottom Line:
This is freaking excellent. It’s wild yet understandable on the palate. It just keeps going but always makes sense in the end. This is a great one-off bottle to add to any bar cart, especially for a whisky fan who’s looking for something truly unique and special that we’ll likely never see again.
2. Mortlach Single Malt Scotch Whisky Aged for 20 Years
Dufftown’s Mortlach is one of those distilleries that may just make you fall in love with scotch. The mash is distilled 2.81 times, according to Mortlach’s unique distilling methods. That juice is then loaded in sherry casks and left to do its thing for 20 long years. The results are vatted, brought down to proof with that soft Speyside water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Freshly baked apple pie with cinnamon bark and nutmeg lead to black raisins, fatty walnuts, grilled pineapple, and sea-salt-infused dark cacao sauce with a hint of vanilla and pear on the nose.
Palate: The palate leans into the lard pie crust under that apple pie with a hint of powdered sugar icing next to mint chocolate chip, old vanilla pods, and banana’s foster with a smidge of clove and allspice thrown in.
Finish: There’s a light sense of caramel malts on the end that leads to a walnut cake full of raisins and cinnamon with a buttery vibe next to a savory note that’s part green herbs and part extra virgin olive oil.
Bottom Line:
This is about as close as you can get to perfection when it comes to unpeated Scotch whisky.
1. Caol Ila Aged 25 Years Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
This is the first official Caol Ila 25 Year that was bottled with a good dose of proofing water (previous 25-year limited editions were bottled at cask strength). This whisky is made from Caol Ila’s famed briny peated malts. The whisky spent 25 years mellowing right next to the sea on Islay until a few barrels were just right.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Smoked vanilla pods and salted black licorice lead on the nose with a sense of burnt toffee, burnt stout, and the darkest of chocolate cut with oyster liqueur, beach rocks, and a fleeting (almost inexplicable) sense of freshly mown lawn.
Palate: The palate is luxuriously silken with a soft salted toffee next to a whisper of bourbon caramel next to old leather pouches that held spiced pear tobacco and old maritime ropes with a touch more of that oyster brine.
Finish: The end has a balanced and subtle spiced maltiness that then leans toward the vanilla, toffee, and licorice candy sweetness with a hint of plum and apricot next to a soft summer sea breeze carrying a sense of blooming wildflowers.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the truly great whiskies in the world. It is perfect. It is delicious. It should be on your bar cart if you consider yourself a whisky connoisseur.
There were a number of wild upsets in the first weekend of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, headlined by 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson taking down 1-seed Purdue and 15-seed Princeton shocking not one but two teams to reach the Sweet 16.
The first major upset though came in a 13-4 matchup, when Furman topped Virginia in the craziest endgame sequence of the tournament thus far, as Virginia just threw the ball up for grabs after being trapped in the corner, with the Paladins stealing the ball and drilling a three to take a one-point lead with two seconds to play. It was a truly insane play and one no one expected, particularly those calling the game as Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and Dan Bonner lost their minds courtside watching the final sequence unfold.
Thankfully, CBS Sports gave us the announcer cam footage of their reaction to the play live, which is an incredible glimpse into the three very different ways they all took in a shocking turn of events.
“DID WE JUST SEE WHAT WE THINK WE JUST SAW?!”
Kevin Harlan nearly FELL OUT OF HIS CHAIR. Dan Bonner and @realStanVG were STUNNED.
Harlan is unquestionably the star, as the always excitable play-by-play man almost fell out of his chair, then begged his colleagues to explain what the hell they just witnessed. Then there’s Van Gundy, who immediately recognizes there’s about to be a disaster for Virginia as soon as the ball gets thrown into the air, and then just sits there in stunned silence while Harlan screams next to him. Bonner might be my favorite though, as the veteran of so many tournaments and wild moments, he just yells “oh you didn’t need to do THAT!” as the pass goes up and immediately just turns to check the time and score to see what Virginia is about to have to overcome.
Announcer cams are always fun to watch after big moments, and this one is immediately one of the best as they all take it in differently, with Harlan delivering a spectacular call as he always does to really hammer home the chaos of the moment.
It’s not unusual, these days, for young directors to go from making Oscar-winning films to working for Disney. After Nomadland, Chloe Zhao’s follow-up was Marvel’s Eternals. Now the same thing’s happening to the Daniels, aka EverythingEverywhere All at Once auteurs Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the pair are working on Star Wars:Skeleton Crew, one of Disney+’s next big shows in the now mostly TV-based franchise. The series, starring Jude Law, has actually been filming in secret for months. Beyond being about a bunch of kids (not including Law, of course) lost in that far, far away galaxy, not much is known about it. For one thing, it’s not known how many episodes the Daniels helmed. (It’s also not their baby. It was co-created by Jon Watts, he of the last three Tom Holland Spider-Mans.)
After Everything Everywhere took home seven Oscars, including for Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, the Daniels are hot stuff in the industry. They recently inked a five-year deal not with Disney but with Universal. So they might simply be directors-for-hire on Skeleton Crew, bringing their special knack for hot dog finger wackiness, adding more flavor to a franchise that has enough room for both Baby Yoda and Werner Herzog.
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(@RonFilipkowski) March 20, 2023
