Insta Weekly: Jagermeister remedy - Angostura Fling - Matusalem Rum Party - 44 Bar & BBB event - Beer Day - JW Gold - Singapore Sling

So as soon the the raya festivities ended, the parties came back. I don't suppose a long introduction is needed because last week was quite a happening week, so prepare yourself for a long update ahead:

1. Jager Hot toddy

Cantaloupe, Claret & Fuego Bars @ Troika Sky Dining

In conjunction with Fuego's August cocktails promotion, a few of us were invited for a #TroikaCocktailsCruise  event where we were introduced to Troika Sky Dining's bars by docking at each bar to sample their cocktails before cruising on to the next..... I loved this cruise even before it began. :p

For the uninitiated, Troika Sky Dining is located on the 24th floor of The Troika (along Persiaran KLCC) and is popularly known for its insanely gorgeous view of the KL twin towers and fine dining restaurants. It houses 3 restaurants which are segregated by cuisines: Cantaloupe for French, Strato for Italian, and Fuego for South American.

There are tonnes of reviews out there on its food and breathtaking views which Google can ply you with. But with me, you know we'll be paying particularly close attention to (or geek out at) the liquid side of the business, right? So let's get to it, shall we!

Bonjour Cantaloupe Bar!

Insta Weekly: A Really Special Whisky Tasting Session - DIY Old Fashioned - Troika Sky Dining Bars - Souled Out

The best drinking times are not the ones with the best locations or the best drinks (though those are nice to have) but are the ones shared with great company. It's a privilege to share some good times with old friends and a pleasure of making new ones through such sessions. Bonus is when I get to try and learn new stuff along the way. So here's a shout out to all of you for spending your good times with me at these events below, the ones before and the ones that will be coming our way. Yam seng!

1. Tasting Some Stuff I Can't Afford. :(

We had the utmost privilege of meeting up with Eiling and  Luc Timmermans (of Thosop fame), both of whom are internationally-famous independent bottlers, for a whisky tasting party at their recent Malaysia visit. During these sessions, we bring some of our more down-to-earth stuff to taste and compare with Eiling & Luc's stuff of legends. Our palates get spoilt rotten and our lives are never the same again everytime we see them.  <3

Insta Weekly: 44 Bar The Row - DIY Cocktails: GnT, Manhattan & Jungle Bird - Janice of O+A - Labuan & Kota Kinabalu.

Oops. Last week's insta weekly report's late because I spent the last weekend travelling across Labuan and Kota Kinabalu, which I'll tell you about once you get past my other equally-exciting boozy adventures of the week, hehe.


1. 44 Bar's Found a New Temporary Home @ The Row, Kuala Lumpur

Left: Juicy fruity Tango Mango. Middle: Kick-ass Bottle Aged Cocktails. Right: Potential crowd favourite: Donkey Kick

The 44 Bar that we know and love (previously ex-APW) has popped up at The Row along Jalan Doraisamy. The Row may sound unfamiliar to you - but how about its former name - Asian Heritage Row? That's right, The Row IS a souped up ex-Asian Heritage Row filled with new third wave cafes, quaint eateries and other instagram-genic shops that hipsters would love.

Insta Weekly: World Gin Day, Kampachi dinner feat. Izumibashi Sake, P&C Bar, French Martini, Whiskey Sour

I'd like to share with you something interesting that happened to me last week.

I was at a bar for a quiet drink and bumped into some friends who knew that I enjoyed mixing drinks at home. Everyone was having fun and had quite a bit to drink... eventually I was asked to make a drink at the bar. Much to my reluctance, I did agree, but only after the bartender agreed to it as well.

Thinking back, I wondered how I could have handle that situation better. So many things could have gone wrong (since it wasn't a bar I was familiar with, and I'm actually not a bartender), but thankfully it didn't! Anyway, this experience made me realise a few things:

1. I really do enjoy working behind an actual bar - it's still such a thrill. How do I do something about that which is more feasible for my bank account? :P
2. I need to improve my mixing skills and confidence.
3. I need to learn up a wider repertoire of cocktail recipes.
4. I need to find a secret hide-away bar to drink in. :P
5. Don't get tipsy in a bar, just in case I ever get another opportunity like this again - since my "reputation" is at stake here haha!

That being said. Thank you all for the opportunity. You all know who you are! :)

So what else happened last week?

Insta Weekly: Diageo Worldclass Malaysia Finals, Tuak from Sarawak, Taps Beer Bar, Vom Fass Whisk(e)y Tasting, Glenlivet 50 Finale, Kitshcy French Wine.

Last week was filled with celebrations!

- celebrated 4 very talented bartenders who were chosen to represent Malaysia in one of the biggest bartending competitions in the planet.

- celebrated the winning bidders who bade a record-breaking RM96k for a bottle of rare 50 year old...whisky (hehe).

- celebrated a pair of good friends' baby's 1 year old birthday, where family and close friends got together to over-indulge in an awesome home-cooked BBQ meal... with some awesome drams of course.

- and celebrated the relocation of this wonderful, wonderful bread shop with some delicious wines.

What I'm trying to say is, there's always a cause for celebration. And those causes are usually the greatest reasons for a good drink... or two.... ;)

1. Diageo Reserve World Class Finals @ The Bee, Publika. 

Insta Weekly: Martin Miller's Gin, Ardbeg Uigeadail, Whisky Fling @ S&A, Revisiting WIP, Ippudo's new Geikkeikan Sake, Negroni Week @ Hyde, Nikka Taketsuru 12

Man, after last week, I thought I would go easy on the drinking and whiskies but apparently, I'm made of tougher (and more idiotic lol) stuff. This week's summary is a little late because I just came back from spending the weekend in Melaka for a friend's wedding which was also a great excuse to stuff my face with food along the way (sorry about all that food spam on my insta today lol).

I love Chinese banquet weddings. Bonus if the first four (out of 8, usually) dishes tastes really good (usually the appetiser, soup, white meat & fish) because I'm usually too stuffed to have anymore (after that it's commonly the prawns, vegetables, rice and dessert). Even bigger bonus if there's loads of booze about - this one had a whole lot of beer, wine and whiskies. Back in the day (I'd say about 10-15 years) ago - chinese banquet dinners predominantly featured brandy and at the most, blended scotch. These days? Single malt and Japanese whiskies are all the rage. Attending a chinese wedding dinner is really a good gauge of what the current beverage trend is. :)

1. Martin Miller's Gin

Had this at O&A last week. Hmm, seems like I'm really into my gins now. :D This one tastes like it's in between your london dry & botanicals. Stuff like this reminds me why I love the beverage industry so much. You think you've tried a lot and then something new comes along to surprise you. I wish I could easily get one of these but unfortunately, it's not easy to get, and also in the premium category like your Botanist (which is already RM2XX duty free, by the way). I think I will invest in more gins, while the whole region is still mad with their whisky. Rums too. Once, the whisky craze dies down, it's likely we'll take to rum or gin. Let's see. :)

Insta Weekly: Sommelier Championship 2015 & French Wines Trade Show, Nikka Event, Glenfiddich's #ValleyOfTheDeer, Omakase + Appreciate, Ardbeg Day

I made another resolution this year - to do something different every month. Better if it's something I've never done before. It could be something as simple as watching a musical, or it could be something as big as picking up a new skill. I figured if I didn't force myself to commit to it,  every day would just be like any other day, and I'd be living my life on autopilot. What a wasted life that would be, innit? I figured, since we're only given one life, I must make the best of it, the best that I can.

What have I done so far? In January, I completed my first ever 6km (more like 7.6 actually) cross country (which goes off-road!) run. I kinda copped out in February by merely going on a jungle hike at a nearby park. But March & April was quite a good one as it was my first trip to Siam Reap AND I participated in a 17km cycling tour there. What did I do for the month of May? Well, it's booze -related so you'll need to read on to find out. :)

1. 24H French Wines Trade Show & Malaysia Best Sommelier Championship 2015

Insta Weekly: Valley of the Deer, Benromach, Marini's New Menu, Kaku Highball, Nikka Taketsuru 21 & Mizuwari

I went for something called "Glamping" last weekend. It's an interesting concept, where you take a holiday in a remote location (usually a jungle of sorts) with some comforts of luxuries you don't usually find when you're camping (eg: toilet, bed, shower...). Usually no forms of entertainment are provided though, so you have to find ways to entertain yourself. We read , drank a lot of wine and beer, and caught a movie marathon on the laptop.

Why didn't we go outside to enjoy the pretty cool jungle air, sights and sounds? Well, the weird thing is that the location of this place is actually on a building site, and it seems it's a work-in-process. So a lot of the natural beauty of the place has been hacked off and basically, it's just a muddy mess with nothing much to see. But the night sounds of the jungle nearby was a nice change, as sleeping in a tent with the rain hitting against the canvas, and showering with the freezing ice cold water because there was no heater provided.

The 3 things I always try to take on a holiday to make sure I have a good time 1) expect the worst 2) bring my own entertainment 3) and have lots of booze. Share with me your tips for a good holiday while we get on with what happened on my instagram ya!

Insta Weekly - Jura Whisky Highball, Hendrick's Booklet, Glenfarclas Tasting, The Bar @ Empire Damansara, Nobu KL's Cocktails & Chillean wine

It was a lovely 4-day weekend in Malaysia wasn't it? Didn't you wished every week was a 4-day work week with a long 4 day weekend? Well, I do. I think a long weekend is just about enough time to really recuperate from the office, spend time on your own personal projects to improve and learn, chores (yuck!) your friends, your family, and with sufficient time to rest. 

One can dream, I suppose. Or quit the corporate life and get your own thing going - which actually could be a worse option because you never sign out of your "office". Oh well! One can't have everything, but one can grab a quick drink and relax....and wait for the next long weekend holiday that's coming up soon! Yippee! 

Made a Jura whisky highball. Drinkable.... but maybe I'm not doing it right.

A highball is actually any spirit mixed with a mixer served in a tall glass. This is me experimenting with a whisky highball - using Jura & soda. A bit of a mistake going with the Jura as it's a little peaty. In fact, I shouldn't even be using single malts for this :p

Insta Weekly: DIY Moscow Mule - Ozzie wines - Mason Shaker - Botanist Gin - Marini's on 57 - Nobu KL - Sommersby's #thatweekendfeeling - Penang Trip

Apologies for the tardiness! I was away in Penang for the weekend and back only yesterday. Let's quickly get on with last week's recap:

Homemade Moscow Mule with Russian Standard & Smirnoff vodka

I continue with my Moscow Mule madness from the previous week - trying it with the different types of vodka I have at home - this time with Russian Standard and Smirnoff. It all works for me, at least with ginger ale it does. I just found out that there's nothing russian about Moscow mule except its name. The cocktail was actually created by a Smirnoff distributor in America, who was trying to boost sales. Yes, the copper mug guy was in on the marketing scheme too. :)

Launch: Ippudo (yes that yummy ramen shop!) Bar @ Bangsar Shopping Centre

Firstly, let me get this out of the way - I LOVE Ippudo ramen. It is the best after-drinks food EVER. Nothing beats a pipping hot bowl of noodles swimming in a pool of delicious broth of pork after you're high from slightly over-imbibing. So what I'm going to say after this may be SIGHTLY biased. :P

I was so excited to find out that Ippudo launched a new bar in BSC last week - especially since it's going to be a full-fledged Japanese concept bar.

Sure you say, BSC is FILLED with bars. Do you really need ANOTHER bar?

Yes I say. Hell YES. A million times YES.

Some psychedelic lighting was happening at the launch party - but we were assured that on normal non-event days, it will be cosy & non-intrusive.