“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate,” William Shakespeare once wrote in Sonnet 18. While he was expressing his desire for a woman, the poetry makes me think of a cannabis drink I recently tried and had big feelings for. Hear me out.
Generally speaking, I have conflicted feelings about cannabis drinks. That’s not a knock on the product category on its face — in the last year, in particular, cannabis drinks have become a force of their own in the legal cannabis market, growing into a popular way for people to imbibe, especially those who are not keen on smoking. In that time, cannabis-infused beverages have also significantly increased in quality, thanks to advancements in emulsion technology. No longer are they stratified cocktails with a layer of oil sitting on the top. These days, the science has been narrowed down, the molecules shrunken. When drinking one of the many cannabis drinks on the market today, one could be forgiven for not even noticing there was cannabis in it at all, flavor-wise.
Where my skepticism comes in is the actual popularity of these drinks. I have written elsewhere, particularly on this website, that I’m a flower gal — smoking actual weed is far and away my favorite way to consume cannabis. That said, I’m a regular partaker of almost every ingestion method under the sun, which includes cannabis-infused drinks from time to time. But even though I enjoy them, I will admit that I struggle to find out where the drinks fit in my routine.
Edibles, particularly gummies, are easy for me — I pop one, chew a few times, and I’m on my way, usually to my bed or couch to watch a movie. Smoking precedes just about everything for me, including social activities, while dabbing is something I reserve for particularly taxing days when I just want to shut off completely. The drinks are harder to place in my mind because they are marketed as a social product, often as an alcohol replacement. While that is certainly true for some people, the fact is that, for many, ingesting weed is not the most social activity. Edibles and drinkables heighten all my senses, yes, but they also help me turn inward and focus more on my own thoughts and feelings in my body, rather than engaging with anyone else. I prefer the quick pop-in-my-mouth, sit back, and relax fix that a gummy offers rather than the slow sipping of a drink. In my mind, there are other, better ways to enjoy a beverage, especially drinks with more socially-minded intoxicants in them.
I know I’m not alone in that conundrum, but out in the wider world, the numbers tell a different story. Cannabis consumer data company Headset claims that current 2021 sales for cannabis-infused beverages total $123.9 million, compared with the sales in the same category in 2020, which clocked in at $79.3 million. That’s a year-over-year sales increase of 56.2%. Clearly, the appeal of these drinks is catching on.
Courtesy of Cann
Tove Lo x Cann
Which is all context to write this: Last week, I finally found a cannabis beverage that made me truly, genuinely get it. Cann, which is the largest purveyor of cannabis drinks in California, recently debuted a new drink in partnership with pop star Tove Lo, who is also an investor in Cann. The drink is exclusive to dispensaries Sweet Flower and Airfield Supply Co. Called “Passion Peach Mate,” which leaves little to the imagination, it’s exactly that: a carbonated, naturally caffeinated, cannabis-infused peach-flavored drink.
It’s absolutely perfect. It’s also the first to market for caffeinated cannabis beverages.
Infused with five milligrams of THC, the 12-ounce canned drink offers a lower dose option that is perfect for nighttime socializing, owing to the caffeine, or daytime drinking, also owing to the caffeine. That, in my mind, makes Cann & Tove Lo’s Passion Peach Mate” the tour de force that it is.
My first thought when holding the marquee-bright yellow and pink can in my hands was, “Wait, how did they legally combine THC and caffeine?” As an older millennial, I am a veteran of the unregulated Four Loko days. I asked a friend, who tipped me off to the fact that it was because the caffeine came from mate, a caffeine-rich drink made with dried holly leaves from South America. In California, it’s okay to combine THC with naturally-derived caffeine, it turns out.
The result is, basically, a fully enmeshed version of the hallowed stoner tradition, “wake and bake,” which involves someone smoking weed first thing in the morning, often while drinking coffee. The body high and head change from smoking weed balances the jolts and jitters from caffeine. For many, it is a really comfortable and fun state to be in. Four Loko capitalized on those good vibes and turned them up to 11, which proved to be too high-octane in the end, especially for regulators, who eventually put strict alcohol and caffeine limits on drinks that contained both.
The Passion Peach Mate high and buzz never approaches anything resembling the intensity of a Four Loko bender. It’s much more mellow on both fronts and gives the drinker a euphoric altered state. It’s this gorgeous mind-and-body feeling that reminds me of Shakespeare’s sonnet — drinking the Passion Peach Mate is like tasting a summer day in a can. It also goes down much smoother and is more delicious than other options, on top of it.
Taste-wise, it’s lightly carbonated, and the bitterness that usually accompanies mate, which I generally enjoy, is instead replaced by a not-too-sweet peach flavor. It’s delicious and, unlike many alcoholic beverages or other cannabis-infused drinks, easy to drink to the very end. The flavor isn’t too overpowering, tastes nothing of weed, and is not something the drinker will get sick of.
Case in point: I had three in one sitting!
Crucially, it is also infused using nanoemulsion technology which makes smaller THC molecules so they are absorbed into the bloodstream faster and with more of its bioavailability intact. This means it hits faster but it also fades faster, in some ways mimicking the onset times for alcohol. It costs $20 for a pack of four, which is priced similarly craft beers or canned cocktails.
The bad news is that, at present, it’s a limited release through just Sweet Flower and Airfield Supply Co. I can’t even order it from my home in San Diego, which upsets me. If you’re reading this, anyone at Cann, consider this my plea for your company to make the Passion Peach Mate a regular in your cannabis-infused drinks line-up. You have a winner on your hands.
Along with making music and headlining festivals this year, Run The Jewels have been expanding into the beverage industry. The duo made up of Killer Mike and EL-P recently hopped on the hard seltzer trend with their Pink Lemonade drink. Now, Run The Jewels are partnering with several Black-owned breweries for a new line of craft beer.
The line of beers includes the recently released rice lager Never Look Back brewed at Green Bench Brewing Co. in Florida, the molasses and corn grits ale All Due Respect brewed in collaboration with Proximity Brewing and Spaceway Brewing, and Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1, an IPA brewed at Brew Gentleman Brewery in Braddock, PA and made with cannabis terpenes.
Each of Run The Jewels’ beers benefit various nonprofits. A portion of proceeds earned from their Never Look Back beer is slated to benefit Beer Kulture, an organization that works to advance and create opportunities that foster diversity, equity and inclusion within the craft beverage space.
A portion of the duo’s All Due Respect beer will be donated to Blacktoberfest, where the beer will also debut. Blacktoberfest invites over 100 Black-owned establishments to spotlight their products and are about to celebrate their second year as a festival. Furthermore, Run The Jewels have committed to donating 50 percent of proceeds from their Blockbuster Night, Pt. 1 IPA to various Pittsburgh charities serving the children and the arts.
See product images of Run The Jewels’ new craft beer below. Order it here.
Not all that long ago, Lil Nas X worked at Taco Bell. Now, he is once again working with the restaurant, but in a different role: It was announced today that he is the chain’s new Chief Impact Officer.
A press release notes that Chief Impact Officer is “a newly created honorary role that will allow [Nas] to collaborate on the brand experience from the inside out.” It continues,”In his first 60 days, Lil Nas X and Taco Bell are teaming up to offer an exclusive experience around the upcoming release of his album Montero, launching Taco Bell’s newest menu innovations, and most importantly, tapping into his history as a Taco Bell team member to help make the experience even more impactful. ”
Taco Bell CEO Mark King said, “Lil Nas X knows the job, the experience and the culture Taco Bell creates for its fans — including its people. This unique partnership will deliver on more than just marketing, allowing us to tap into the genius of Lil Nas X to inspire our team members and align with our commitment to unlocking opportunities for young people.”
Jennifer Frommer, SVP Brand Partnerships & Commercial Sync at Columbia Records, also noted of the partnership, “Lil Nas X is one of the most important voices of this generation. His expertise in understanding social media and youth culture alongside his skills in creating great music makes this partnership with Taco Bell exciting, brave and one of the most innovative campaigns I’ve had the pleasure of creating.”
Nas previously reflected on his time working at the restaurant, posting some in-uniform selfies earlier this year and writing, “in 2017 on this day i got my first job at taco bell. here’s me leaving the cash register unguarded to take pictures in the restroom.”
in 2017 on this day i got my first job at taco bell. here’s me leaving the cash register unguarded to take pictures in the restroom. pic.twitter.com/BO9lalrz8R
At this point, what doesn’t Travis Scott do? Aside from being one of the world’s biggest rappers right now, he regularly produces site-crashing sneaker collaborations with Nike, has a clothing line, a middling hard seltzer brand, a McDonald’s meal… the dude knows how to stay busy. Somehow, amidst all of his various projects, Scott found the time to also quietly drop his first foray into the cannabis industry last month. The artist’s new brand, Cactus Farms, is made in partnership with California-based cultivator Connected Cannabis. So far, the line consists of a single hybrid strain, dubbed PYT Jack Flower, hand-selected by Scott himself and now sold at California dispensaries that carry Connected products as well as Harvest dispensaries in Arizona.
If you’re in the habit of regularly buying weed, you’ve no doubt heard about and have probably smoked strains from Connected before. Not only is it one of California’s best tasting and strongest weed brands on the market right now, but it’s also the priciest — with eighths hovering way too near $100 after taxes. That’s an expensive high for 3.5 grams of herb and those high prices plague Cactus Farms as well — so we set out to see whether or not the new drop is actually worth your cash.
Check our review, below!
PYT Jack Flower
Dane Rivera
Average Retail Price $80 (per eighth)
Strain: Hybrid
Terpene Profile: Not disclosed
THC: 29.56%
CBD: .07%
The High
Right off the bat, we’ve got to talk about this packaging. For $80 for an eighth, it isn’t too much to expect the weed to be packaged in a glass jar, which Cactus Farms is not. Instead, it comes wrapped in a resealable plastic bag. We’d give Connected and Travis Scott points for at least choosing a resealable bag… if the weed was $30. Because it’s packaged in a bag it does retain freshness in the same way a jar would. My weed was packaged on June 19th, 2021, and here I am smoking it nearly two months later — the buds have lost all stickiness. Another side effect of the bag is that once you’ve ripped open the seal, this stuff is going to stink up your room, no matter how hard you press on that reseal.
Cactus Farms’ labeling also leaves a lot to be desired. It offers no real information aside from THC percentage. No terpene profile, no expected effects, it doesn’t even tell you that the strain is a hybrid. When it comes to the packaging of Cactus Farms, this brand has taken one too many missteps, it’s not even a C effort, this is a straight-up F.
On to the weed…
Dane Rivera
Despite its lack of stickiness, the Jack Flower held up pretty well for being nearly two months old. The buds were frosty with deep green leaves with brilliant purple streaks tangled in wiry orange hairs. The smell had mixed notes of pine and sweet berries, with dense buds that broke easily in my grinder, turning to a perfect fluff. I smoked out of a Pax 3 vaporizer to really focus on the flavors and found that Jack Flower has a really pleasing taste to it. Those berry notes that tease themselves on the nose are prominent here, mixed with the sort of gassy funk you’d expect from an Indica-leaning hybrid.
The high also delivers, providing a radiating sense of calm that made me feel at peace and relaxed, without feeling totally blown out of my mind to the point of physical and mental debilitation. It’s definitely a weed strain geared towards chilling out with your friends or enjoying good music or a movie, rather than staying active, even though it doesn’t weigh you down. But while Jack Flower won’t force you to fight against couch lock, it’s not exactly something you can smoke without completely wearing “I’m stoned” on your face. After a single bowl, my eyelids were comically heavy — I spent the next few hours looking half asleep and blissfully unaware of anything.
The Bottom Line
Jack Flower provides a powerful high and an experience that is in line with other top-shelf cannabis brands in this price range. However, for this same price, you can pick up an equally powerful and flavorful weed that is packaged with a lot more care. If you absolutely must smoke Travis Scott’s weed, you won’t be disappointed. But if you’re a hard-core stoner looking for a strain to add to your regular rotation, this probably isn’t it.
Drinking whiskey and listening to music go hand in hand. Pouring a glass of the good stuff and slipping a beloved vinyl out of its sleeve is a whole vibe. Or maybe you’re rocking your favorite summer streaming playlist and downing Jack and Cokes. Either way, whiskey pairs well with pretty much all genres of music so much so that thousands of songs have been written about drinking in general while hundreds have been written specifically about whiskey.
We’re here to talk about songs about whiskey and the best whiskey to pour for each of those tunes. I’m not a music critic, so I won’t be critiquing any of these songs. But I am a whiskey critic, and these tunes stand out from the dense crowd of whiskey hymns, so I paired them with the bottles that capture the vibe of each song.
The feel of the song is really what I focused on with these pairings. Bands and artists from the plains tended to elicit thoughts of vast fields of rye and wheat. Irish bands singing about whiskey took me to Midleton, Cork, and Dublin. Old school Americana blues riffs called for old school bourbons. You get the point so let’s dive in and listen to some good tunes and drink some damn good whiskey.
We’re starting off by going way back to the Benny Goodman big band era. While this song doesn’t actually reference whiskey in the lyrics, it’s all about a regretful love life, which is a major theme of a lot of songs about whiskey. Plus, we all need a little extra Billie Holiday in our lives.
The Whiskey:
The blend is a “pure malt” blended whisky, meaning that it’s made only with single malts (usually blended scotch is made with both grain and malt whisky). In this case, the juice is pulled from all over Scotland with a focus on Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Island malts, including a minimum of 15-year-old Talisker, Caol Ila, Cragganmore, and Linkwood.
Tasting Notes:
This sip draws you in with the smells of an old, soft cedar box that’s held black pepper, sweet fruits, and oily vanilla pods next to a hint of green grass. The taste really holds onto the cedar as the fruits lean tropical with a hint of dried roses pinging in the background. The end builds on that by adding a note of spicy tobacco, a splash of sea spray, and a distant billow of campfire smoke.
The Pairing Lyric:
“I jumped out of the frying pan and right into the fire. Lord, right into the fire.”
This feels like the best place to start since oftentimes when drinking scotch, you’re jumping into the smoky fire for the night.
19. One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer, John Lee Hooker — Chivas Regal 12
This mid-1960s version of the bluesy original from Amos Milburn is far more succinct than the sprawling George Thoroughgood version, which is a bit like watching a documentary play out in song. It clocks in at just north of three minutes, which is the perfect amount of time to pour yourself a whiskey and get ready for a drinking session with John Lee Hooker’s timeless licks.
The Whiskey:
This Highland whisky is built around the famed Strathisla Distillery. The whisky is crafted to work as a sipper or mixer, with real complexity built-in. It really shines in both respects.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a matrix of oak, nuts, malts, and fruit up top. The fruitiness leans into orchards in full bloom as a minerality drives the taste towards spicy tobacco with a hint of creamy vanilla. The oak peeks back in with a little more maltiness, as the end slowly fades alongside a mild chewiness.
The Pairing Lyric:
“I ain’t seen the girl since night before last. Wanna get drunk, get her off my mind. One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.”
Chivas feels like an easy pour at a dive bar if you’re ordering scotch. It’s cheap, very easy drinking, and pretty damn ubiquitous.
18. What Good Can Drinkin’ Do, Janis Joplin — Old Tub
Joplin wrote and recorded this deep cut when she was 19. It’s a classic blues number in all its 12-bar glory. It also feels like a time machine to a completely different era — if not world — where you learn the cold hard truth that the answers you seek are not at the bottom of a bottle.
The Whiskey:
Last year, Jim Beam released their “distillery-only” Old Tub expression on the national market. The juice is an unfiltered and higher ABV version of classic Beam, giving you more of the brand’s depth in each sip of whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sense of cornmeal next to sawdust, oily vanilla, and a hint of fresh honey sweetness that entices your senses. The sip takes on a caramel corn sweetness as the vanilla carries you towards sweeter woods and cherry fruits. The end is short and sweet (like most Beam), with a distant wisp of orange oils next to a slight minerality.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Give me whiskey, give me bourbon, give me gin because it doesn’t matter what I’m drinking, Lord, as long as it drowns this sorrow I’m in.”
The old-school blues harmony of the guitar and vocals on this take you straight back to the 1920s. And that is exactly where Old Tub is from (albeit a new version of that). The throwback bourbon feels perfect for sipping on while listening to this throwback track.
17. Moonshiner, Bob Dylan — Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye
This early Dylan track goes deep on the whiskey drinking and sorrow wallowing with friends at a local bar. The song’s last verse starts with “The whole world’s a bottle and life’s but a dram.” If that’s not the perfect whiskey verse (albeit a Shakespeare paraphrase), we don’t know what is.
The Whiskey:
Crown Royal puts out a lot of whisky. But their Northern Harvest Rye might well be their best release to date. The juice is a blend of ryes, creating a 90 percent rye whisky, that’s then cut with spring water and bottled at a very approachable 90 proof.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a nose leaning into dried florals and herbs with a sweet edge of pear and apricot. It’s slightly grassy with touches of pepper spice and woody vanilla taking. aback seat to the pears and peaches and red berries. The end is swift but leaves you with a sense of scones covered in orange marmalade with a nice dose of eggnog spice warmth.
The Pairing Lyric:
“The whole world’s a bottle and life’s but a dram. When the bottle gets empty, it sure ain’t worth a damn.”
There’s just something about the old-school, wind-swept Northern folksiness of this song that feels like the ever-moving grass fields where Dylan grew up. And that always leads us back to Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye. The whisky will transport you to those grassy fields that Dylan ran away through all those times as a kid.
16. Streams of Whiskey, The Pogues — Tullamore D.E.W.
The Pogues have always felt like the ultimate whiskey drinking band. It’s no secret that the band’s lead, Shane MacGowan, would go on notoriously dark drinking binges. That darkness often comes through in the lyrics of a lot of their upbeat pub songs, including this one.
The Whiskey:
This is a straight-up classic Irish whiskey. The juice is triple distilled — like most Irish whiskeys — and then it rests in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The whiskeys are then blended into a final product that’s as easy to drink as it is to mix.
Tasting Notes:
Clear fruity notes of apple mingle with a hint of bourbon-y vanilla. That fruit carries on through the very light (in a good way) sip as a hint of wood and citrus arrive. The vanilla peeks back in near the end as the sip quickly fades while warming you up.
The Pairing Lyric:
“I am going, I am going where streams of whiskey are flowing, yeah!”
This could literally be Ireland’s tourism branding. Whiskey and Ireland and inextricably bound and Tullamore D.E.W. feels like the Pogue-esque underdog to enjoy while dreaming of the Emerald Isle.
15. Whiskey in the Jar, Thin Lizzy — Jameson Stout Cask
In the end, this is a classic Irish folk song (originally performed by The Dubliners) of love, betrayal, colonialism, and death wrapped up a in very 70s rock jam.
The Whiskey:
Aging stout in whiskey barrels has a long tradition in brewing. Then there’s the whole tradition of stouts in Ireland that go hand-in-hand with drams of Irish whiskey. So aging Jameson in whiskey barrels that held stout beer makes a lot of sense.
In this case, the aged juice spends an extra six months in the stout barrels, giving the whiskey that little something extra.
Tasting Notes:
Apple orchards and bails of hay mingle with almonds, spice, chocolate, and a hint of lemon oil. Dark chocolate and a note of spicy wood dance on the palate as creamy sweetness balances everything out. The end brings about a note of butterscotch next to a milkier chocolate texture that quickly drops off.
The Pairing Lyric:
“As I was goin’ over the Cork and Kerry mountains…”
If there’s anything County Cork is now known for, it’s the Midleton Distillery where the world’s supply of Jameson is made. The extra boozy aspects of this song of lust, murder, and tragedy adds a certain Irish stoutness to the mix, hence the mix of stout finishing and old-school Jameson.
This politic Irish folk song from Christy Moore goes to some pretty dark places while memorializing Irish suffering during the Troubles. Moore laments the people lost to “winter graves” and “streets running red” and, yeah, we need a pull of a whiskey now too.
The Whiskey:
This is a testament to the magic that can happen when a cask hits just the right marks. This is the standard 12-year expression — single pot still, triple distilled, and ex-bourbon/ex-sherry maturation — that’s blended and bottled unfiltered and uncut.
It’s the purest expression of the cask in the bottle.
Tasting Notes:
Dried tropical fruit, stone fruit, and berries come through on the nose with a hint of cedar next to a slight cinnamon-forward spice powder. Those fruits and spices mix into a Christmas cake with a bit of malt next to that wood while vanilla pokes in with a rich and creamy texture. The fruit, oak, and spice marry on the long and warming end as the fade brings a buzzing to your senses.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Kids wear white garters and smell like their mothers whose husbands and fathers alike drink black beer in the same public houses, smelling of smoke and strong whiskey.”
This protest song gets pretty deep and brutal, so we’re sticking with the “strong whiskey” part. And that makes us think of Redbreast 12 Cast Strength. It’s one of the stronger Irish whiskeys on the shelf while still being one of the most well-made.
13. Here Comes A Regular, The Replacements — Larceny Wheated Bourbon Barrel Proof
This song feels like it’s going to be about Norm from Cheers. But it’s, again, a dark tome of drinking alone, the loss of a friend, and more drinking.
The Whiskey:
These barrel blends from Heaven Hill are meant to highlight the precise quality of the distillery’s prowess from grain to bottle. This small batch of wheated bourbon is derived from barrels between six and eight years old. The juice then goes right into the bottle with no cutting or filtering, allowing the masterful craft to shine through in every sip.
Tasting Notes:
This has a mellow nose that ebbs and flows between soft maple syrup cut with cinnamon sticks, a light touch of brioche, new leather gloves, and bruised apples. It offers a warm rollercoaster ride through figgy puddings touched with burnt sugars, dried fruits and nuts, holiday spices, and a brandy butter silkiness. The taste has a hint of almond or walnut shell on the end that marries to a dry mouthfeel, vanilla, and a touch of tobacco chewiness.
The warmth lingers pretty long but never overpowers and almost becomes halfway between fizzy and buzzing as it fades, leaving you with a woody, bourbon vibe and a very late wet straw note.
The Pairing Lyric:
“And even if you’re in the arms of someone’s baby now, I’ll take a great big whiskey to you anyway.”
Most of the wheat for American bourbons comes from Minnesota (and North Dakota). Since The Replacements also come from the land of endless wheat, a wheated bourbon felt like the best move. Plus, Larceny Barrel Proof feels like the epitome of a “great big whiskey.”
12. Whiskey River, Willie Nelson — Balcones Texas Single Malt Whisky
There are about a million country songs about breakups and whiskey. We chose three for this list and at least one of those had to be from Willie Nelson. While this song is pretty straightforward (it’s all chorus and bridges), it flows at the perfect pace to sip some good whisky.
The Whiskey:
Master Distiller Jared Himstedt has one of the best collections of Scotch single malts I’ve seen outside of Scotland. This expression is his salute to the classic style. The juice is made from 100 percent malted barley in copper pot stills before aging in variously sized barrels before getting finished in a single, large barrel. The final product is a single malt unlike any other that’ll help you fall in love with the style.
Tasting Notes:
Hints of pears and bananas greet you with a sense of rose water and citrus. The sip shines with a feel of rich, sweet, and bitter marmalade with a base of sourdough toast dripping with rich, creamy butter. This sip is like a warm hug that you didn’t know you needed.
The dram fades slowly through the senses as burnt sugar, cedar, and honey notes linger on the palate.
The Pairing Lyric:
“I’m drowning in a whiskey river, bathing my mem’ried mind. In the wetness of its soul, feeling the amber current flowin’ from my mind.”
You need a Texas whisky as unique as Willie for this song and that is Balcones Texas Single Malt.
11. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar), The Doors — Evan Williams Black Label
This might be the most 60s-sounding song of all time. Still, the beat is quick enough to get you hyped about a drinking session at your favorite whiskey bar, and that’s sort of the point of all of this.
The Whiskey:
This is more of an entry-point for Evan Williams. The juice is a mix of four to seven-year-old barrels of the standard Heaven Hill bourbon. The whiskey is then proofed to 43 proof and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a bit of that fruit candy feel to this sip next to vanilla, dry corn, and a hint of caramel apples next to oak. The body of the sip is very light, with a slight spice burn. The end is very short, sweet, and full of vanilla, toffee, and oak.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Well, show me the way to the next whiskey bar. Oh, don’t ask why.”
If you’re drinking shots of Evan Williams Black at a whiskey bar, no one had better ask you why.
10. Take Your Whiskey Home, Van Halen — Bulliet Rye
This song starts off as a classic blues number and ends as a now-classic 80s rocker with a nice Eddie Van Halen solo to cap things off. At its heart, though, the song is about alcoholism destroying a relationship, which is very in line with classic blues.
The Whiskey:
MGP of Indiana’s rye is one of the most popular ryes on earth. Their rye is has a mash bill of 95 percent rye and five percent malted barley. The juice is aged for four to seven years before blending, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This dram opens up with a mix of resinous cedar, sharp rye spiciness, creamy vanilla, and a hint of fresh mint. The taste delivers on those notes while folding in hints of dark cacao (with water added), savory fruits, and a buttery/crumbly biscuit somewhere deep in the bottom of the sip. The end lasts a while and circles back around to that cedar and sap, with plenty more sharp spiciness.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Yeah, you know that you’re headed for a lot of trouble if you take your whiskey home.”
Bulleit Rye remains one of the best bar whiskeys money can buy. It’s a good mixer or shooter and always available … at the bar.
9. Friends In Low Places, Garth Brooks — Jim Beam Bonded
Yes, this is a country breakup song. But it’s uptempo and pretty much a classic (or standard) at this point. It’s also a banger for just the right moment when you’re drinking at a dive bar and just tipsy enough to sing along with the whole bar.
The Whiskey:
This bourbon is Jim Beam’s high watermark when it comes to Kentucky bourbon. The juice is aged in a bottled-in-bond facility for four years where it’s also bottled at 100 proof with no bullshit. This is the standard Beam bourbon mash bill (77 percent corn, 13 percent rye, and ten percent malted barley) but there’s just something extra happening that makes this expression shine.
Tasting Notes:
This bourbon beckons you in with notes of toasted oak, red cherry, and vanilla. That leads to fresh honey, sweet caramel corn, rich toffee, bold vanilla, crisp apple, more of that red cherry, peppery spice, and a note of fresh mint. With a little water, the dram edges towards bitter dark chocolate with a nice billow of pipe tobacco while holding onto the mint, toffee, and vanilla oakiness.
The end is long, meandering, and full of warmth, fruit, spice, and bourbon goodness.
The Pairing Lyric:
“‘Cause I’ve got friends in low places where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away and I’ll be okay.”
You’re gonna want something familiar, cheap, good, and strong while you party (and sway) to this song. Jim Beam Bonded hits all of those marks perfectly.
When I made this list, I thought to myself, “Whiskey’N Mama has to be in there.” I remembered a fun romp of Texas rock. But, again, this is a breakup song about a Whiskey’N Mama. I swear we have some fun songs on this list too!
The Whiskey:
This introductory juice from Four Roses is a blend of all ten of their whiskeys. The barrels are a minimum of five years old when they’re plucked from the warehouses, blended, brought down to proof, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a bit of steeliness to the nose that’s mellowed by hints of dried florals, apple, and a touch of honey and spice. The taste doesn’t veer too far from the nose as the apple turns more honey, with mild vanilla and more honeyed sweetness. The end is subtle and short with a touch of green oak, spice, fruit, and one more dash of honey.
The Pairing Lyric:
“I should have known better than to fool with a whiskey’n mama.”
There’s something about Four Roses that feels very ZZ Top. Just grab a bottle of Four Roses the next time you’re in a liquor store, you won’t be disappointed, especially if ZZ Top is already playing on your car radio.
7. Whiskey And You, Chris Stapleton — Jim Beam Black
This is the ultimate hangover/breakup song. Stapleton’s very slowed and drop-D take on the Tim McGraw track will break your soul if you’re already hungover and maybe help it start to mend if you’re going through a breakup.
The Whiskey:
This expression replaced the old Black Label 8 Year. The juice in this bottle is aged longer than your average four-year-old Beam, but there is no age statement on exactly how long. The best way to think of it is that it’s aged for as long as it needs to be, according to the distilling team.
Tasting Notes:
This bourbon is where Jim Beam starts to get dialed-in to its core notes of vanilla, caramel, corn, and oak, with a hint of orchard fruit. Yes, all of those elements were there in standard Jim Beam above. But there’s more refinement in this whiskey with a little bit of sweet smoke added in. By the end, the vanilla is more like a dried vanilla pod, the caramel is richer, the fruit is a bit more tart (sweet apple-ish), the oak is more toasted than charred.
The fade isn’t too long but sticks with you.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Come tomorrow, I can walk in any store, it ain’t a problem, they’ll always sell me more.”
Jim Beam is the ultimate bottle that you can literally walk into any store and find some variation on the shelf. And yes, they’ll always sell you one.
6. Whiskey Girl, Gillian Welch — Michter’s Small Batch Original Sour Mash Whiskey
Keeping things low and slow, this ethereal song is all about a couple tying one on and going deep into the “underworld.” It’s very folksy and Americana-filed somehow (I told you I wasn’t a music critic). In the end, it’s about two people coming together rather than splitting up.
The Whiskey:
This was the first American whiskey to be named “Whiskey of the Year” by The Whiskey Exchange just last year. The reason this is a “sour mash” and not a bourbon or rye is that the mash bill doesn’t focus on corn or rye, hence it’s just a sour mash whiskey. The juice is then aged in new white oak with a heavy char.
Tasting Notes:
Smoked plums and rye spice mingle up top. The sip really embraces the smoky dark fruit with hints of vanilla and cherry popping up on the palate. The dram carries that smoky plumminess through to the end with a nice nod to the oak and bourbon-y vanilla underbelly.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Nowhere man and the whiskey girl, they loaded up for a weekend in the underworld.”
There’s something about the folksy and haunting tones of Welch’s voice that speaks to this deeply flavored and folksy whiskey. Pour it neat and let the record spin.
5. Drink You Away, Justin Timberlake — Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select
This song straight-up references Jim and Jack, so you know we had to pick one of those two. And, yes, we know this is another breakup song. Still, it’s an easy jam to let spin while you sip some good whiskey.
The Whiskey:
Frank Sinatra was one of Jack’s biggest fans. The crooner was buried with a bottle. The actual juice in this expression is a throwback of sorts to how Jack was made in Sinatra’s day. They use special “Sinatra Barrels” that have concentric grooves carved into the newly charred oak, giving the whiskey more surface area to do its thing. Once that’s aged, it’s blended with traditional Old No. 7 and proofed at 45 percent, as it also would have been back in the Rat Pack days.
Tasting Notes:
Stonefruit, caramel apples, vanilla pods, and a hint of that toasted oak pull you in. The sip leans into the fruit with a rich and buttery vanilla-laden caramel, plenty of peppery spice, and more of that oak, along with a very distant echo of tobacco smoke. The fruit leans back towards a mild banana as the caramel, spice, vanilla, and oak slowly fades out and warms your senses, leaving you with one final puff of that smoke.
The Pairing Lyric:
“I’ve tried Jack, I’ve tried Jim, I’ve tried all of their friends, but I can’t drink you away.”
But did he try Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select? Really, this is more about the tuxedo-wearing swagger Timberlake rocked during his 20/20 tour — that was Sinatra to its core — than it is about a breakup song.
Okay, we’re picking things back up. This is the ultimate “let’s get this party started” tune for hard rockers. Hell, a shot of whiskey almost magically appears in your hand when this song revs up.
The Whiskey:
Starward Solera is an Australian grain-to-glass experience. The mash is made from 100 percent Australian malted barley. The juice is then aged in used Apera fortified wine casks from Australia. The final result is cut with local water and bottled at a very agreeable 86 proof.
Tasting Notes:
Subtle notes of butterscotch, red berries, and vanilla pods mingle on the nose. The palate has a slight floral note (think dried roses) that marries well to those sweet red berries as a note of woody spice comes into play with a hint of honey. The end leans into the vanilla to the point of getting a little creamy as the fruit, honey, and spice fade out.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Yes, my glass is gettin’ shorter on whiskey, ice, and water.”
Look at that! The recipe for a highball. Starward Solera is an excellent choice for a great highball with unique flavors and plenty of Aussie vibes.
3. Broken Whiskey Glass, Post Malone — Wild Turkey 101
This feels like a post-modern My Morning Jacket boast track. It’s mostly about getting f*cked up and going through life as a rock star, which whiskey always seems to be a central part of. But hey, at least it’s not about another breakup.
The Whiskey:
A lot of Wild Turkey’s character comes from the hard and deep char they use on their oak barrels. 101 is a high-rye and high-ABV bourbon that leans into the wood and aging, having spent six years in the cask. A little of that soft Kentucky limestone water is added to cool it down a bit before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a sweetness that feels like buttery toffee next to creamy vanilla and a note of citrus next to charred oak. The taste delivers on those notes and adds more vanilla pudding, sharp rye spice, butterscotch, and a hint of fresh and sweet tobacco leaves. The end is bold and long with the spice, oak, and sweetness lingering on the senses while heating you to your soul (this is what’s called the “Kentucky hug,” although this particular embrace isn’t overly gentle).
The Pairing Lyric:
“And that 101 like the highway in hell, going too damn fast.”
Those extra ABVs on Turkey 101 will 100 percent get you there faster.
A song purely about partying, taking shots, wearing sunglasses at night, and Jameson with an Avril Lavigne hook (of sorts)? F*ck yeah, I’ll drink to that.
The Whiskey:
This is more than just 18-year-old Jameson. It’s a masterful blend of hand-selected 18-year-old whiskeys aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. That juice is then married and finished in first-fill bourbon casks until it’s just right.
Tasting Notes:
This has a bold-yet-dialed-in nose, with bourbon vanilla, soft cedar, orange oils, rich toffee, and subtle spice. The taste delivers on those promises and adds in leather, hazelnuts, and a dusting of dark chocolate (especially with a little water). The end is slow and combines the cedar, toffee, and spice in a wonderful balance.
The Pairing Lyric:
“Oh, let the Jameson sink in, I drink to that, yeah, yeah…”
If Rihanna is calling out Jameson shots at the bar, they better be the best f*cking Jameson shots ever. And that’s clearly Jameson 18.
1. Tennessee Whiskey, Chris Stapleton — Uncle Nearest 1856
This list was pre-destined to end on this song. It’s about being in love and the person you’re in love with being as good as Tennessee whiskey — well that and strawberry wine and brandy too. Regardless, this is probably the best whiskey song of all time (this version specifically) because it’s not about a breakup. It’s about finding love, which is a massive outlier in songs about whiskey.
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is the entry point to the newly minted Uncle Nearest line. The shingle was created to celebrate Nathan “Nearest” Green who was instrumental in Jack Daniel’s early success in postbellum Tennessee. The juice in the bottle is a sourced (for now) blend of Tennessee whiskeys that have aged eight to 14 years before blending and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Fairground caramel corn mingles with rushes of dry hay, thin maple syrup, bowls of freshly picked peaches, and a hint of red berries. The fruit takes on dry edges as the maple and caramel take on a spiciness next to a maltiness that almost feels like a spiced cake full of dried red fruit. There’s a hint of dried florals behind vanilla and caramel on the short end.
The Pairing Lyric:
“You’re as smooth as Tennessee whiskey. You’re as sweet as strawberry wine. You’re as warm as a glass of brandy. And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time.”
That deep red fruit that turns a little dry in a Tennessee whiskey exudes the vibes of this song’s chorus. Tennessee whiskey, strawberry wine, and brandy is this bottle.
Check out the whole playlist below:
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
After the Travis Scott and J Balvin meals helped to lift McDonald’s out of a pandemic-induced sales slump, it’s only natural that the fast-food titan would want to continue its collaborations with popular musicians to keep the party going — and it looks like the next choice is one that already gets plenty of attention thanks to her exotic and elaborate snack concoctions. That’s right, Saweetie is getting her own McDonald’s meal, a combination that the phrase “match made in heaven” was coined to describe to a T.
The Saweetie meal goes on sale on August 9 and includes a Big Mac, a four-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, a medium Sprite, and “Saweetie ‘N Sour” and BBQ sauce. The meal will come in new packaging inspired by Saweetie’s “Icy” branding and the restaurant chain wants fans to “remix” the meal by topping the burger with fries, just like the “My Type” star has done on her fan-favorite live streams.
Saweetie’s food concoctions regularly go viral as she combines items that some fans don’t believe go together — like spaghetti and ranch dressing — prompting jokes that the rapper has an “iron stomach.” The McDonald’s meal makes sense, as one of her most infamous combos prominently featured the restaurant’s sandwiches, namely a McChicken and a McDouble put together. She’s also joked about removing her brand new tongue piercing just so she could enjoy a burger.
West coast rapper and weed legend Berner went from spitting on tracks with other California weed rap icons like Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and B-Real to founding one of the world’s biggest cannabis brands and retail spaces, Cookies. Now, the rapper-turned-entrepreneur has his sights set on developing the best cannabis rolling papers that a stoner could ever long for. Developed over a three-year process, Berner “put a lot of shit in my lungs to find the right paper.” That dedication shows with his newly released VIBES.
Available in four varieties — including Organic Hemp, Hemp, Ultra-Thin, and Rice — VIBES presents different rolling papers geared towards specific needs. That level of care and attention to detail ensures your joint comes out a bit better than it would with your standard zags.
“It just compliments the herb,” Berner says, “and that’s what our whole mission is. We want to make the ultimate experience when it comes to blazing. We took our time to find the right resources, to find the right materials, to find the right paper… it’s stuff not in the market.”
You might not think all that’s totally necessary, and if you’re a casual smoker you’re unlikely to notice a major difference in the experience. But if your preferred smoking method is the classic joint, you’re going to want that fine attention to detail. I’ve tried out both the Rice and Organic Hemp VIBE papers and the Rice has quickly become my go-to, anytime I’m rolling a joint. I don’t use a roller, I grind up my weed and roll it myself and the texture of the Rice VIBE keeps the stickiest weed from becoming a hassle to roll. It’s a hack I didn’t know I needed!
This week, I linked up with Berner to talk about VIBES’ new products, how bud-tending has changed for the worse, and his secrets to rolling a perfect joint.
Cookies
Why do we need a better rolling paper at all?
I’ve been smoking cannabis for over 22 years, maybe as long as 25 years. In that time, people like Raw came to the table and brought quality rolling papers and educated the market on the difference between materials in the paper, what makes paper special, and what compliments the flavor of herb. All that time, being a connoisseur, understanding what was in the market gave me a chance to understand what wasn’t in the market.
When we came out with the Ultra-Thin VIBES and now with the Organic Hemp VIBES, that quality of paper is just next level. How thin it is, how clean it is, how pure it is. We took our time to find the right resources, to find the right materials, to find the right paper, and also come up with some innovative SKUs like the Cubano; the Cali, which we are dropping soon — it’s stuff not in the market and that’s what we’re working focusing on right now.
What makes a rolling paper perfect?
My thinking is it all starts with what you’re smoking. What makes a perfect paper to me is pairing it with the perfect herb. Certain bud I’ll get that’s extremely flavorful, it’s perfectly cured, I’ll put it in a Hemp VIBE knowing it’s not tough to roll. That’s the biggest thing, how is your rolling experience going to be? That’s why we have our different SKUs.
For instance, our rice paper is for that stickier, thicker, crazier herb that’s just gonna be a problematic roll. The paper is just a little thicker, it burns a little better with a stickier bud. And Ultra-Thin and the Organic Hemp is perfect for that connoisseur head sesh that you tuck away and hide for yourself. For me, it’s all about pairing.
COOKIES
I know you have your history as a Bay Area bud tender. Has bud tending changed for the better or worse? These days there is a lot less interaction because of prepackaged products.
For the most part, it’s changed for the worse — because everything is on a screen. You wait in line, you look on a menu, and pick what you want. But at the Cookies store we tried to implement some of that old school 215 vibe, that’s why when you come into our stores you have a dedicated budtender that sits with you through the whole experience, helps you look at things, that’s why we have the jars on top of the table, we’ve designed those custom for you to pick up and smell the bud and look at it. Fully transparent, not like some of those square jars out there.
When you’re done with the experience they send you to the cashier, and the cashier’s sole purpose is to ring you up, but that personal experience with the budtender, we try and keep that there. And its cool to be able to implement that in all our stores around the world because we don’t want that shit to go away.
As a budtender, you use to be able to open up a jar, let people smell it, even give them a bong hit if they weren’t sure they wanted to buy it and that’s missing big time. It’s changed for the worse but we’re trying to keep that vibe alive.
Walk us through the steps for how to roll the perfect joint
First step is you need the best bud possible. You need something you like and enjoy, if you’re gonna smoke you might as well do it right, start off with the best bud you can find that fits you and your body.
Second, you’ll need a tool like our Santa Cruz Shredder — the teeth are designed by a NASA engineer, it’s next level, it’s produced here in the US. I’ve been using our hemp shredders and that gives you the perfect fluff. You need to grind it right, you don’t want to be left with chunks or dust, there is a fine balance. You get the perfect bud, shred it to give it the perfect fluff.
I take a tip and put it in a cylinder, I take an Ultra-Thin VIBE or my Organic Hemp VIBE and I roll that bitch nice and loose. I like it nice and loose for air flow, I hate a pregnant joint. A tight joint that you have to hit hella hard is a bad joint. I want to pull on it softly and get nice rips, so a perfect joint is all about airflow!
A great adventure story? We’re sorry, but it just never begins on your couch. Yet, that’s where most of us have been stuck for more than a year, putting plans on hold and leaving us to dream about safe and smart travel when normal comes back around. Maybe that means reconnecting with family and friends or touching down in locales in the US and abroad that populate your personal bucket list and feed your sense of adventure.
For singer/songwriter Sofia Valdés, it’s those things and a chance to stoke creativity through the achingly missed act of meeting people as you explore their home cities and countries learning just a little bit about them in the process of being inspired. As Valdés says in the first episode of our new Creator Connections video series (made in partnership with Delta Air Lines), “There’s something magical about being able to find a home in people, so wherever you are, you feel at home.”
That’s the power of travel and exploration, essentially — a charge that comes from new experiences, new cultures, new destinations, new people, and a new perspective that promotes a larger, more informed view of the world. Even if you’re going somewhere familiar or just looking to relax, it’s going to change you for the better. Because it’s still a connection (to people, places, and things), and it’s what we’ve all been missing most.
Check out Sofia’s story (above) to learn more about how she finds a home and a community wherever she travels and how Delta is helping her reconnect with her career and musical life in this episode of Creator Connections.
While it’s been scarce on the music side of things for Travis Scott lately, the rapper has proven himself to be the king of brand partnerships over the past twelve months. He’s teamed up with the likes of McDonald’s, PlayStation, Fortnite, and more to deliver merchandise and content that his fans rushed to get their hands on. Scott looks to continue that streak as he joined forces with marijuana cultivator Connected Cannabis to launch his very own cannabis line, Cactus Farms. The strains are already available in some dispensaries in a few states across the country.
For those who are interested in trying out the Cactus Farms line, they’ll have to stop by dispensaries that stock Connected Cannabis products in California or Harvest dispensaries in Arizona. According to Connected Cannabis, the first strain from Travis’ Cactus Farms line is a hybrid that was hand-picked by the rapper himself. It’s labeled as an “Indica-leaning strain” that features a “dense, purple bud that releases a pungent, funky-sweet gas aroma rounded out by a unique berry twist,” according to NME.
The news comes after a report revealed Travis and Meek Mill had to separate from each other following a verbal altercation at a Fourth Of July event earlier this month. The cause of the fight is still unknown at the moment, but thankfully, the two rappers walked away from each other before things turned physical.
Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Electronic artist Dawn Richard is one of those creators who seems to never rest. A former member of Danity Kane, the last decade saw Dawn drop four celebrated albums, appear in several films, guest on other artists’ albums, become a curator at Adult Swim, and open up her own successful vegan food truck in New Orleans, Papa Ted’s. When we entered a new decade, no one would’ve blamed the woman for resting on her laurels.
But we all knew that wasn’t happening, right? This year brought Richard’s latest — and greatest — album to date, Second Line, which rightfully debuted at #1 on the iTunes Electronic charts when it released a few months back. The nocturnal, pulsing rhythms throughout the whole run of Second Line harken back to the early days of techno, house, and the electronic genres that Black producers pioneered in the late ’70s and early ’80s, genres that would go on to define the sound and feel of modern music. In that sense, Second Line is both nostalgic and contemporary, with hints of futurism via the album’s imagery and production that point to where music might be in another five to ten years.
As the pandemic continues to wane, we hit up Dawn for a travel guide. We told her she could pick anyplace to focus on that she wanted and she hit us back with a guide to her five favorite Black-owned art spaces in Los Angeles. Before you jump into the guide, be sure to give Second Line a spin and watch the animated video for “Voodoo (Intermission)” below.
The inspiration I get walking into this place moves me. When I want to sketch, I always go there to get inspired. There is so much history in this place; it’s one of the popular Black Museums in Los Angeles. This was the first museum I visited when I moved to LA… I was just blown away.
Another fun visual is the interior design of the museum; I love the way the museum is designed and mapped. The flow feels good. I know most people wouldn’t look at that but I do, lol!
As soon as you walk into this Gallery you can feel its pulse. It’s small, boutique even. And that’s part of its charm. I’m someone who prefers light crowds and I feel like I can admire the art in such a better way at a gallery like this. Los Angeles can be massive, so finding a small gem that feels like it’s all for you is perfection.
I recommend all creatives check this slice of heaven out.
I love the outreach that this museum does for artists in the community. Coming from New Orleans, community outreach was crucial for artists like me who had limited resources. I think the appeal of this museum for me is at any given time you can find local artists being supported or highlighted.
Not many museums showcase local talent like this space.
A lot of incredible artists can be found here! I try to go on Wednesdays because I find new intriguing artists every time. I like that it was founded by a collective of creatives, which makes it a haven for people like me. You get a sense of local support and community. When I was recording my album Goldenheart, I would come to the Mart for artistic stimulation.
I love this space because they celebrate and showcase Haitian, Cuban, and contemporary ethnic art. Fabius, who was born in Port-au-Prince, came to the US when she was eight years old and runs the space along with her partner, Giacomini, a French American sculptor and artist. Being of Haitian decent it was something that felt close to home. Six years ago, I discovered my Haitian culture and have been learning and delving into my heritage ever since.
This modern space shows the best of Haitian art and its artists. I learn new visual stories every time I visit, and feel closer to Haiti artistically when I visit. I grab a cup of coffee and just experience the beauty!
(@LilNasX) 
