Insta Weekly: Homemade cocktails - Launch of Hana @ Sunway Pyramid - 0% ABV beer - Gin Madness.

Last week I had an insightful conversation with a very famous wedding photographer who happened to be a very old friend of mine. He said I should really work on improving my photography skills if I wanted to take this content generating thing seriously. Because more often than not, it seemed that I don't put in enough effort into the composition of my photos - and readers these days, they love a good picture over wall-of-texts posts any day. 

Can't say that he doesn't have a point (double negative!). If it wasn't true, Instagram, Facebook sharing, and Pinterest wouldn't be as popular as it is now. And thanks to Twitter, I'm inclined to think that if a post is > 140 characters, no ones attention span can take it anymore.

Thing is, I'm one of those old-generation bloggers who's used to rambling on and on and on.... and old habits die hard. 

So what I really really want to know from you is this:
1. Do really good DSLR-quality pictures matter?
2. Do pictures matter more than words?
3. Long posts are okay, or just keep it short like Twitter?
4. Do you need a good combination of decently okay pictures with some accompanying drivel?

Because if it's #4, I hope I'm already complying by leaving you with Insta Weekly updates like this one:

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: Soju - Hexa Lounge - The Great Beer Bar - Sangria - 44 Bar

Last week was a relatively quiet week. Nice change actually. Too much imbibing feels a little... indulgent and unhealthy. So when my body nudges me to take a break, I do take it. :)

Chum Churum soju by Lotte - do you like this stuff? I don't know how to.

I've never liked Soju. Tried it again last week and I find that..... I still don't like it. It's basically a Korean version of vodka, usually distilled from grains or starch with some sweetener added into the final product and Koreans drink it like their lives depended on it. HOWEVER - when soju is mixed is baekseju to become osipseju it is a whole different drink together and I LOVE IT. I wrote about this mix 2 years ago here and I highly recommend you to try it the next time you have Korean food. Take care though, the end product is a total of 2 x 360ml bottles so best to share among 3 or more pax. Definitely NOT for the weak hearted. :)

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. :)

Insta Weekly: DIY Cocktails - Kronenbourg 1664 Wednesday - Glengrant Tasting - Rennie's - Gin Tasting

Hi! Sorry about the silence. Lots been happening lately and I find myself updating my other social media platforms more frequently than the blog. By other social media platforms, I mean my personal Instagram and Facebook Page. It's filled with booze-reated stuff, so feel free to follow them (just click on the links) if you're inclined to that sort of thing. :)

I really love updating stuff with these 2 platforms. You see, with instagram, I get to grab a quick picture of what I'm doing/where I am, and write a short explanation of what's going on. With Facebook, it's pretty much the same but instead of just personal experiences, I use it to update whatever booze-related stories I come across at a click of a button and a few type-written lines on my phone.. and it's out there. It's so fast how I can churn stuff out.

With the blog however, as much as I still enjoy it, takes more time. The crafting of copy, the editing of pictures, the re-editing of the entire post, and actually having to type in coherent, as-grammatically-correct-as-possible content. It's definitely not something I have the luxury of time to commit to on a frequent basis - though I still aspire to update it at LEAST once a week.

What I'm trying to say is this - I intend to do a weekly updates of what I've posted on Instagram. My gut feeling (haha) tells me that there are more people on the internet universe than there are on Insta (and even Facebook), so summarising the week on my blog makes sense (to me). It also makes my experiences more permanent and accessible to everyone else not on Instagram.

So, say hello to Insta Weekly posts!