Tiger Uncaged - The Street Food Heroes

‘Why are Malaysians so afraid to follow their dreams?’

With that question, Tiger Beer Malaysia is on a prowl to uncage hungry individuals from their hidden talents or “Uncage Heroes” where it hopes to inspire fans to follow their dreams in diverse fields (dance, tech, fashion, art, food)  to make a positive impact, even if that means defying societal expectations.

Earlier in September, Tiger collaborated with Pestle and Mortar clothing and WWF featuring selected artists. At the media preview of this new Uncage segment, 3 street food heroes who have defied social conventions and odds were featured to showcase their interpretation of local delights - Im Cheah (Bacon It), Herukh Jethwani (Meet The Porkers) and Jun Chan (Bowls of Steel).

(2nd from L-R) Tiger Uncage Street Food Heroes Herukh Jethwani, Jun Chan and Im Cheah, with Jiri Rakosnik, Marketing Director of HEINEKEN Malaysia and Pearly Lim, Marketing Manager of Tiger Beer.

The sneak peek allowed us to see what these street food heroes have in store and more in the upcoming Uncage Street Food Festival (scheduled to be held on 1-2 December 2018).

Herukh's mini tandoori pork ribs tacos sautéed in crispy prawn chilli, garlic and curry leaves dish, and his famous Siew Yoke Briyani.

The festival will feature the signature dishes by these uncaged heroes and other local talents from  myBurgerLab, The Porki Society, Ticklish Ribs & ‘Wiches, Pho King and Makirito under one roof. Those are just the tip of the pig's snout because I am told there will actually be 40 stalls in all.

Im's famous bacon and sambal ikan bilis popcorn, pork bacon and gula Melaka (palm sugar) popcorn variation, and 'Going Bananas Over Bacon’ that incorporates bacon ice cream and pisang goreng (banana fritters) topped with sticky-sweet rum gula Melaka caramel

There is also a fun online ‘Find Your Tiger’ quiz  to find out what kind of Tiger you are - and the results were printed out on the spot on a coaster with our names on it.

Jun's ramen burger with Tiger Beer cheddar cheese sauce, and ‘Main Bola’made from egg plant, minced brisket meatball, sweet potato gravy with a local touch of belacan sofrito, ayam kampung egg and salted egg crumble.

Check out www.facebook.com/TigerBeerMY/ or www.tigerbeer.com.my for more info on the upcoming Uncage Street Food Festival.

A street food event won't be completed without having several ice cold bottle of Tiger beers, of course.

- Jon

(Images: Tiger Beer)

The Macallan Edition No. 4 - Launched in Malaysia

Ever since the scarcity of aged statement whiskies from an Asian upsurge of consumption some years ago, The Edrington Group to which owns the Macallan whisky brand among others went on the offensive to meet the explosion in demand. Which brings us their The Edition series - a yearly limited edition no-age statement series where Macallan plays around with a wide range of wood for the series.

The No. 4 of the Edition Series is their, you guessed it, fourth edition of the series.

The No.4 is aged in a combination of seven different cask types. These include (deep breath guys); European/American Oak refill butts, European/American Oak refill hogsheads, American Oak first fill Vasyma hogsheads, European Oak first fill Diego Martin Rosado butts, European Oak first fill Jose Y Miguel Martin butts, European Oak first fill Tevasa butts/puncheons and European Oak first fill Tevasa hogsheads.

Different from the previous three edition which were more focused on the taste and aroma, master distiller Nick Savage developed Edition No. 4 to reveal the 'structure of the whisky', inspired by the construction of their swanky, newly constructed, £140 million distillery, design by the team behind London's Millennium Dome, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Image: Macallan

6 years in the making. 36 copper pot stills. This colossal distillery is quite a sight to behold... at least that's the feeling I'm getting from its video - https://www.themacallan.com/en/the-journal/new-distillery/

The tasting notes for the No. 4 is quite a departure from the usual Macallan signature (sherry, sherry baby). This one had bright orange zest with grapefruit, berries, hazelnuts and some spice. The finish is short but what I liked was what felt like a burst of sunshine.

There were plenty of people at the launch which described this as smooth - which is not exactly a flavour per se but hey, who am I to tell someone how to enjoy their whisky?

At the point of writing, it's RM600 a bottle.

More: https://www.themacallan.com/en/whisky/single-malts/limited-releases/the-edition-series/

- Jon

The Great Brew Fest 2018 by Heineken Malaysia

October is here. Which also puts us to the month that is beery important ....... in Germany.

Over here in sunny Malaysia, Heineken has launched their very own answer to the globally popular Oktoberfest - the Great Brew Fest.

Tap ALL the beers at the mobile tap bar

This is probably a great opportunity to finally do a side-by-side tasting of the wide range of brands under their belt and to take on the journey of how each brew was made (differently!) and how it should rightfully be served to preserve its different flavour qualities.

Did you know that Heineken Malaysia (formerly known as Guinness Anchor Berhad) produces not only Heineken but also Tiger , Guinness, Kilkenny, Kirin Ichiban, Paulaner, Strongbow cider, Apple Fox cider and Anchor?

FA not doing so well with tapping beers.

While beer is essentially made with just 4 ingredients (grains, water, hops, yeast) but each beer is different because they can be made with so many types of grains, hops, even yeast strains. Even the production for each beer can be different. While cider takes only 3 to make (apple juice, water, yeast)  their ciders also tastes different from one another.

Jiri Rakosnik Marketing Director (left) and Roland Bala Managing Director (right) wants you to have some fun with The Great Brew Fest 2018, and if you learn something from it, all the better!

Well, if you get to encounter Heineken's The Great Brew Fest pop up bar featuring taps of ALL its beers, you'll be able to find out more.

Throughout this Fest, you'll also be able to taste their "festival brew" - the Tiger Amber Lager which is available on tap and only until 10 Nov. A likely crowd-pleaser at 5% abv, this has the familiarity of the Tiger beer, with a hoppy note (that reminds me of Guinness), a malty sweetness (like the Kilkenny) and even a hint of citrus.

Hello Tiger Amber Lager!

There's also limited edition designer mugs for Apple Fox Cider, Tiger Beer, Guinness, Kirin Ichiban and Paulaner München which was created with local artists (CLOAKWORK, Kenji Chai, Beautiful Machines featuring Sling, Jarold Sng and Lynda from Pink Tattoos) to collect.

To join the festivities, learn more about your favourite brews and taste the ones you're unfamiliar with, catch their mobile tap bar, promos and giveaways (RM250k worth of prizes to be won including vouchers fora  bottle/bucket of your favourite brew) at participating outlets around KL, Ipoh, Penang and JB 10 November 2018.  Selected outlets would even get a visit from the Great Brew Bus (featuring the Tiger Amber Lager) and the Great Brew Wall (to learn more about your favourite brews).

I was trying to learn about the beers, not check out the how brand ambassador, really.

Check out https://www.facebook.com/thegreatbrewfest and https://www.instagram.com/GreatBrewFest_MY/ for more info and their locations.

Don't say I #bojio!

- Jon