Latest news with #Waco
Forbes
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Best American Whiskeys—According To The New Orleans Spirits Comp
Glass of whisky with ice, sitting on the American Flag. getty American whiskey is experiencing a thrilling renaissance—an era defined by innovation, experimentation, and a revival of classic styles. Distillers across the country are embracing bolder grain bills, alternative cask finishes, and regional identities to craft whiskeys that rival the complexity and character of the world's finest spirits. This year's top-scoring whiskeys showcased the category's remarkable diversity—from fruit-laced corn whiskeys and cask-strength Tennessee whiskey to American single malts. Nowhere is this creative momentum more evident than at the 2025 New Orleans Spirits Competition (NOSC). Held in conjunction with the renowned Tales of the Cocktail festival, the NOSC brought together a distinguished panel of judges and a global slate of entries, reaffirming its status as a premier stage for the best in contemporary distilling. Crafted in Waco, Texas, Balcones Lineage is a bridge between traditional Scotch-style single malt production techniques and the bold influence of Texas terroir. The whiskey is made from a blend of Scottish Golden Promise and Texas-grown barley and is aged in a combination of virgin and refill oak barrels under the intense Texas climate. This whiskey was picked as Best in Class Whiskey at the 2025 NOSC. The whiskey features aromas of sweet, cooked malt/cereal, apple, toasted oak, apricot, and a faint mineral note. It's rich and malty on the palate, showcasing flavors of dried dark fruit, nutmeg, roasted pecan, malted milk, and baking spices with a balance between sweetness and oak dryness. The finish is long and drying with gentle tannins, cocoa, cooked grain, and stewed orchard fruit. Starlight Distillery, located on the Huber family farm in southern Indiana, blends six generations of agricultural heritage with small-batch whiskey production. Their blackberry-flavored whiskey is part of a broader range of fruit-infused spirits, crafted using fresh local produce and aged bourbon or corn whiskey as a base. The whiskey features aromas of fresh blackberry jam, accompanied by notes of vanilla, honey, and hints of baking spices. It's rich and flavorful on the palate, with flavors of ripe blackberry compote, sweet corn whiskey, and subtle notes of clove and cinnamon. The natural fruit character is vibrant without being overly sweet. The finish is medium length, with a lingering blackberry tartness, seasoned oak, and a whisper of caramel. Uncle Nearest is a tribute to Nathan 'Nearest' Green, the formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel the art of whiskey-making. The brand has quickly become one of the most awarded in American whiskey, particularly renowned for its single-barrel releases, each offering a unique character. Batch 3633 is drawn from a hand-selected cask, bottled at cask strength. The whiskey is bold and complex, featuring aromas of brown sugar, ripe banana, saddle leather, and toasted marshmallow. It's full-bodied and spicy on the palate, showcasing flavors of caramel, molasses, dark chocolate, cinnamon, and toasted oak. A touch of stone fruit emerges mid-palate. The finish is long, sweet, and powerful with lingering notes of wood spices, dried tobacco leaf, char, smoke, and a peppery close. Glass of American whiskey on the rocks sitting on an old wooden barrel. getty Heaven Hill Distillery, Mellow Corn Bottled-in-Bond Corn Whiskey, 50% ABV, 750 ml. $21 Mellow Corn is a cult classic among whiskey aficionados. Produced under the Bottled-in-Bond Act, this 100-proof, straight corn whiskey must be at least 80% corn and aged in used oak barrels. It's an old-school American whiskey, inexpensive yet flavorful and robust. The whiskey features aromas of sweet corn, vanilla custard, apple, and a hint of sourdough. It's creamy yet robust on the palate, showcasing flavors of buttered popcorn, toffee, fresh oak, banana, and lemon zest with an underlying, cooked, grain-forward richness. The finish is medium and slightly spicy with lingering notes of cornmeal, caramel, and charred wood. Stranahan's Diamond Peak, Barrel-Finished American Single Malt, 45% ABV, 750 ml. $80 Stranahan's, based in Denver, Colorado, was one of the first distilleries to pioneer the American single malt movement. This Diamond Peak expression is a limited-release bottling, crafted from 100% malted barley and finished in Caribbean rum casks. The exact finish varies from year to year by batch, adding an extra layer of intrigue. The whiskey boasts aromas of toasted malt, dried fig, cocoa, and vanilla, complemented by subtle notes of molasses and tropical fruit. It's bold and silky on the palate, showcasing flavors of dark chocolate, cherry cordial, espresso, tropical fruits, spice box, a hint of smoke, and toasted oak. The finish is long and fruity, with lingering notes of pepper, seasoned oak, tropical fruits, and cocoa. The 2025 NOSC highlighted the extraordinary breadth and quality of American whiskey today. Heritage brands continue to honor tradition while pushing the envelope, and craft distillers are fearlessly reimagining what whiskey can be—one barrel at a time. Whether through the lush depth of a rum cask finish, the raw power of single barrel Tennessee whiskey, or the layered elegance of an American single malt, these winning expressions reflect a category that is evolving with confidence and creativity. The future of American whiskey is not only bright—it's bold, boundary-breaking, and brimming with flavor. More From Forbes
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
One-Handed Backflip: Best Wave Pool Air Ever?
Before most people could buzz from their morning coffee, 18-year-old Hughie Vaughan was bouncing off the walls. Yesterday, the 18-year-old Australian, fresh off winning Stab High Japan and entering the 2025 Swatch Nines at the 11th hour, paddled out for the first session of the day and landed one of the most inverted, off-axis airs ever seen in Waco's famed wave pool. Hughie greased a one-handed stalefish backflip — with no straps or winch pull — right in front of slack-jawed filmers. When the clip circulated on social media, plenty of heavyweights chimed in on Hughie's accomplishment. From Mick Fanning to Julian Wilson to Mateus Herdy to Paul Fisher, they were all stunned. "There's a new standard," Julian Wilson said. "That was unbelievable." A few hours later, while eating banana cream pie before his last session of the day, the grom got another surprise as he scrolled through his phone. 'No way,' Hughie exclaimed. 'Tony Hawk just followed me.' The living skate legend dubbed Hughie's move 'The Stale Fish Flipper' and instantly gave the young surfer major kudos. This is the kind of cross-pollination Swatch Nines strives for. It's a surf, skate and BMX playground where ideas are shared, attempted and lauded. The unexpected is celebrated, and Hughie's rotation is already being hailed as arguably the best air ever done in a wave pool. Certainly, Jacob Szekely, Matt Meola and Mikey Wright could add their names to the hat, but a one-handed backflip without straps or a winch? That has to take the cake. '(Hughie) didn't even know what he did today,' Chippa Wilson said. 'He didn't know he just did the best air ever done in a wave pool.' Due to the format of the event, things like Hughie's wave can go down at any moment. In removing the constraints of competition like heats and scores, organizers created a caldron of creativity. Head to the bathroom and you're liable to miss an air. Grab a sandwich and you won't see the boardslide. But you'll hear the cheers. You can watch for a while, see nothing land, but then the remarkable happens when you glance away. 'It's wild—there's nothing else like it,' said BMX star Kevin Peraza, fresh off his recent X Games bronze medal in Tokyo. 'You've got creativity, and a bunch of different athletes feeding off each other—it's non-stop.' Hughie's air has been the most impactful move from Swatch Nines Surf thus far, but plenty of highlights have gone down over the last two days: A 200-ton crane hoisting an illuminated 8-foot aluminum ring, surfers flying through (and crashing into) said ring, boardslides on floating rails, winch-whipped full rotations and a barrage of technical airs. In the last light day two, Robbie "Rasta Rob" McCormick stomped a huge backside 540 off the winch on the left, and a few minutes later, Jacob Szekely landed a lofty tail-high 360 (sans winch) with a burned finger he sustained while holding a flare on an earlier attempt. Gotta pay to play, they say. One of the biggest changes between last year's inaugural event and this year's edition is the enormous floating skate ramp and rails suspended by the crane. Surfers have three rails to choose from: a straight rail, a kink rail and an arched wallriding feature. And after just a few sessions, things are already clicking. Mason Ho, Noah Beschen and Zeke had several clean attempts on the left. Cam Richards, battling bruised knees and bloody shins, has also been a standout. He's glided across the kink rail numerous times and completed a clean fakie boardslide over the wallride, a move so sweet that Nines founder Nico Zacek ran the length of the pool to embrace him. If nothing else, the Nines challenge surfers. It makes them put into practice things that normally only exist in a deep, dark corner of their brains. Even for creatives and technical maestros like Mason and Chippa, who have seen and done much in their careers, Waco offers something different. 'I've loved trying wallrides or any sort of boardslides in surfing,' Mason said. 'I've loved it just because I'm a little crazy and there's rocks or something in the way. It's so fun to tear a wave apart, but now it's like, I'm in the water, then out of the water. It's all about the combo. 'Last year, they had the rail and the hamster ball, and it was one of the funnest events I've been a part of," he continued. "This year is even more special and it feels like just the beginning. Last year, we used this tractor for the rail. And it was at the very end of the wave. Now, we've asked them to move it to the middle and gone way bigger with the crane. They've gone to the next level and it's like a dream come true.' 'I've never done pool rails, but I did skate a lot when I was a kid,' Chippa said. 'And this was the closest feeling to hitting your first rail as a kid. It's crazy. A front boardslide feels so sick. So when I first hit this setup, I was so fired up. I almost stuck it and I just needed to go again.' Call it novel, experimental, random or radical. Stuff is happening at Swatch Nines. One-Handed Backflip: Best Wave Pool Air Ever? first appeared on Surfer on Jun 25, 2025
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tony Hawk Names 'Best Air Ever Done' in Surfing (Video)
Let's be real: surfers suck at naming tricks. Perhaps 'suck' isn't the right word. A little harsh. Maybe it's more like confused or disorganized, especially when compared to our boardsport brethren in the worlds of skateboarding and snowboarding. So, recently, when young Aussie aerialist Hughie Vaughn landed a never-before-seen maneuver, one touted by many as the 'best air ever done,' during the Swatch Nines event at the Waco Surf wave pool, the Birdman, Mr. Tony Hawk himself, was not only impressed, but also stepped in to help the disjointed surf community with what to call it. Bu…was Tony right in his royal coronation? See below. 'Stale fish flipper.' That's what Tony is calling it. Maybe just a stale fish backflip? Keep things simple? Anyway, it's hard to argue with Tony. The dude, allegedly, has been the first to land 89 skateboarding tricks. 80-freaking-9. And that includes the first-ever 900 on a vert ramp during the X Games back in 1999, a moment etched in sporting very own August Howell was on the ground in Waco during the Swatch Nines event, and he got the inside scoop on what the other surfers were saying about it. 'Some of the highest quality surfing I've ever seen in my life,' Mason Ho said of Hughie's flip. 'It almost looked like snowboarding, it looked fake, but he wasn't strapped in, and he was just surfing. I was like, 'Whoa, I think this is what this is all about.'' However, soon after Hughie's flip, surfing's very own Gumby, Maui's Matt Meola, pulled off another aerial that many were also calling the 'best ever done.' (Surfers love hyperbole, in case you haven't noticed.) It was a tweaked alley oop with a double rotation. The rotation wasn't stomped fully, however; a bit of revert in the whitewash. do we call it? A 720? Someone get Tony Hawk back on the line. Or Travis Rice. Also, whose was better: Hughie's or Matt''s? Ah, the subjectivity of surfing. Gotta love Hawk Names 'Best Air Ever Done' in Surfing (Video) first appeared on Surfer on Jun 28, 2025
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Internet-Breaking Aussie Surfer Hughie Vaughan Lands New Sponsor
Last month, 18-year-old Hughie Vaughan launched into the mainstream-verse for his one-handed backflip during the Swatch Nines Surf event in Waco. The algorithm soaked up the footage like water on a sponge, and everyone wanted a piece of Hughie. Tony Hawk lauded his "stalefish flipperr". Even The Today Showand The Guardianpicked it up. But Hughie has no-so-quietly been killing it in the ocean years before he blew up for a wavepool air. Born and raised on the central coast of New South Wales, Hughie is a grom's grom. Big airs, big slabs, damn the consequences (Check out a proper highlight reel here). He runs on candy and soda. His energy and surf-all-day attitude make him a perfect fit for his new sponsor, the red-hot rider-backed eyewear brand known as Ritual Vision. Hughie's addition adds to an already loaded roster: The three founders, Mikey Wright, Noa Deane, and Harry Bryant, along with creative director Dion Agius, plus Mason Ho, Parker Coffin, Rolo Montes, Holly Wawn and Milla Coco Brown. All of those surfers will be featured in Ritual Vision's debut film, Ritualistic Tendencies, set to debut this December. Directed by renowned filmmaker Wade Carroll (Repeater, Saturn). Word is that the location-based includes an all-time score at a board-crunching Mexican point break. Hughie's tendency to stick massive punts and charge solid waves has endeared him to some of the best freesurfers in the world, the same guys who are now his teammates with Ritual Vision. And Hughie needs good shades right now. He's future is looking Aussie Surfer Hughie Vaughan Lands New Sponsor first appeared on Surfer on Jul 20, 2025
Fox News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network backlash puts home renovation star in hot seat
The backlash towards Chip and Joanna Gaines' new Magnolia Network reality series "Back to the Frontier" has put a spotlight on the couple's sprawling lifestyle empire. The couple was criticized last weekend after Chip promoted the new series, which features three families living like pioneers. People flooded his post promoting the show with frustrations over a same-sex couple being cast as one of three couples on the reality series. Reverend Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called the casting decision "very disappointing." "While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of God's Word," he wrote on social media. "His Word is absolute truth. God loves us, and His design for marriage is between one man and one woman. Promoting something that God defines as sin is in itself sin." Chip was quick to respond to the criticism, writing on X: "Talk, ask qustns [sic], listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never It's a sad sunday when 'non believers' have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian." The Gaines first gained fame more than 10 years ago when they were cast on the HGTV series "Fixer Upper" in 2013, which showed the couple revitalizing dilapidated homes through their Magnolia Homes business in Waco, Texas. After five seasons, they decided to leave the show, and then signed with Discovery + and started the Magnolia Network in 2022. Along with the network, the couple also have the five-acre Magnolia Market at the Silos, which includes the shops at the Silos, the Silos Baking Co. bakery, the Magnolia Press coffee shop, and they also own the Magnolia Table restaurant several miles away. They also own the Magnolia Journal magazine, have written a series of lifestyle books, including Joanna's "Home Body" and Chip's "No Pain, No Gaines," they have their own Magnolia Home, furniture and accessories line, and a home line created by Joanna called Hearth and Hand for Target. The couple also opened a boutique hotel, Hotel 1928, in 2023, after renovating a historic hotel in Waco with 33 rooms. The pair also offer vacation rentals in Waco, including Hillcrest Estate and Hillcrest Cottage, the original carriage house for the estate. "TV shows impact the culture, but Chip and Jo impact people's lives," Discovery CEO David Zaslav told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. "They provide something very rare in America today: a sunshiny hopefulness that you can make things with your own two hands and your life will be better for it."
