Launch: Aka Chochin Izakaya @ Pavillion Kuala Lumpur

Aka Cochin wishes you Irasshaimase!

An Izakaya is a Japanese version of what we know as a pub or bar which has a decent accompanying food or snack menu. 

Izakaya literally translates as "to stay (in a) sake shop". It's historically derived from when the Japanese bought and drank their sake inside the sake shop. Today, this has become the Japanese version of a pub where people hang out after work to drink and unwind with food to snack in-between. 

Aka Chochin means "red lantern" - which is usually found outside an Izakaya.

Put these 2 words together and you have the name of the (relatively) new Japanese outlet in Pavillion, KL. Located at where Circus used to be, it's not too hard to find if you're familiar with Pavillion. 

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!

Launch: FiftySix Degrees Whisky - A Malaysian Brand

Hello FiftySix Degrees!

Well, let me qualify the post title - it's not actually made in Malaysia. (edit: changed the title a bit so that it's less ambiguous lol)

Launched barely a month ago (12 March 2015), the whisky is actually from Scotland, but the brand and bottling is Malaysian. And as true Malaysians, as long as there's a certain % that's made in Malaysia, idiotic nationalists like me will unabashedly proclaim it MADE IN MALAYSIA! :P

You definitely won't find it anywhere else yet though. It's currently only available in Malaysia, so don't bother looking for online reviews on it.... For now.  :)

Tiger Beer Vs Tiger Radler: What's the Difference?

Hello Tiger Radler

I feel like this post needs to be written up because until today I still find people getting confused over what Tiger Radler really is. Allow me to try and clear up that confusion for you once and for all.

To put it simply,

 Tiger Beer + Lemon Juice = Tiger Radler

To put it lengthily, read on. :)

Firstly, why is it called a Radler? 
Radler is just another type of shandy. Shandy's a mixture of beer and some flavoured carbonated soda (usually citrus, fruits, ginger beer). The term "radler" is popularly used in Germany where they mix part beer with part sparkling lemonade (or Sprite or 7-Up as we know it in Malaysia).

The Bee's Heart of the Run Whisky Festival Post-Event Report

One of The Bee's event posters which I thought was cute and deserved a repost. :D

The Bee held (what was probably) the first (and biggest) whisky fair in Malaysia just last Sunday, 8 March 2015 at their Solaris Publika outlet.

If you had any interest in whisky at all and weren't there (without a good reason), kindly proceed to give yourself a nice good kick in the behind. And then read on while I explain to you WHY you deserved that nice good kick.

The IBA Project: Cuba Libre

Everything you need for a Cuba Libre. I had of course, finished the Coke only to remember that I haven't taken a picture.

The Grandfather Story:
The recipe of this cocktail might have originated from Cuba around the late 1800s. The original drink was said to have been made with cuban rum and a dark syrup mixture of kola nuts & coca.

The name apparently came about when an American captain proposed a toast with the drink (which became rum, coke and a squeeze of lime) around 1900 in a Havana bar filled with American soliders - "Por Cuba Libre", they would cheer, and cuba libre means "free cuba". This was just after cuba's war of independence with the Spanish.

This very disputed story was re-told by a famous rum company. There is a comprehensive article which disputes this, and yet another article which refutes this dispute, lol.

Well, whatever the story, the cocktail's yummy. :)

Taste: Taiwanese Pride - Kavalan Single Malt Whisky

That movie reference

If you're old enough (like me) , you might remember this movie called "Armageddon". In that movie, a Russian astronaut exclaimed this rather infamous line:

"Components? American components, Russian components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!"

It's true innit? Everything CAN be made in Taiwan. Even Single Malt Whisky.

That's right. Just in case you've been living under a rock these past few years, Taiwan now has its own single malt whisky brand -  Kavalan.

Guinness Anchor Berhad (GAB) Wants Make Your Chinese New Year a Merrier one.

This happy lion just wants you to pet it for luck.

Chinese New Year is around the corner and GAB wants to be right there to celebrate it with you.

So if you're enjoying your spot of dinner or supper at your favourite neighbourhood food court, don't be surprised to suddenly find yourself in a GAB party with loads of entertainment.. and even the obligatory Choi San Yeh visit to rub on some new year luck to you.

GAB Professional Solutions (GABPS) Academy National Finals

Yes, that's a LOT of words on the post title..... So let me try and break it down for you.

Firstly, a TLDR: A competition for Malaysian bartenders to pour the perfect pint of Heineken happened 2 weeks ago. The winner will represent Malaysia to compete against the rest of the world to be the best.. in the world.

Read on for the longer version! Give face la, I spent a lot of time typing this post up leh! :(

The stage at the event looked like it was setup for a huge concert and the contenders were the super Kpop stars. Nice.

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.

Martell Celebrates its 300th Birthday.

Born 1715, Martell is 300 years old this year.

Of course a huge fabulous party was thrown, if I lived to 1/3 of that, I would too!

Just to put things into perspective for you, the (recorded) oldest human being that ever lived was 122 years old.

This means that Martell lasted at least 3 (human) generations!

Elegantology all decked up with exclusive limited edition martell bottles for the party. Did you know that Martell is the patron for Elegantology? Read it up here! (Picture credit: Martell)

Carlsberg 2015 CNY Celebration - A Smooth Sailing In the Year of the Sheep

5  clear signs that Chinese New Year is upon us:

1. McDonald's Prosperity burger set is available
2. Eu Yan Sang runs their cheesy hamper radio ads
3. Banks start giving out empty angpow packets
4. Malls put up loud red decorations and/or loud chinese new year songs
5. Beer boys organise Chinese New Year parties and start dropping prices of their 24-can packs in hypermarkets, coupled with chinese new year themed gifts.

Item #2 is what we're going to talk about today....... No I kid. of course I meant #5. Surprise surprise. It's the only sort of thing I'll ever talk about, on this blog, anyway. So let's go go go!

Did you know that Carlsberg was born in the year of the sheep waaaayyy back in 1847? Well, this 168 year old young man brand celebrated its zodiac-versary, with a HUGE party. And by huge, I mean, a 18 ft Chinese ship (sheep, ship, lol) in the middle of Ara Damansara Oasis HUGE.

See how BIG the ship was. I placed the entire Carlsberg management team, 2 lion dancers, 7 chinese drummer boys and 8 gods of prosperity there just for scale..

The IBA Project: Hemingway Special

The Grandfather story:

• A twist of what Hemingway liked - which was basically a daiquiri with no sugar and extra strong (known as the Papa Doble, where > 3 oz of Bacardi  was originally used), blended with shaved ice. 
• A Hemingway Special is based on this recipe but with an additional maraschino, grapejuice and with less rum, which I suppose was to make it more palatable for the normal, non-alcoholic drinks like you and me. :D

Fun fact:
Hemingway was a known alcoholic and diabetic. Apparently he could consume glasses upon glasses (6-12, legend has it) of this original recipe of this daiquiri in a sitting.