The Booze Blog Portal - Alcohol, Bars, Malaysia and Beyond.

27 May 2015

Plaza Premium Lounge (PPL) has everything you need to live in an airport.

(Note: Plaza Premium Lounge kindly allowed a group of us to experience all their amenities mentioned below without charge.)

The terminal, starring Tom Hanks. One of my favouritest movies.
Image credit: artsentertainmentbaba.com/

Do you remember the movie The Terminal starring Tom Hanks? Man, I loved it so much I must've watched it a hundred times. It's a story of this guy who was stuck living in the airport for a while because his country was at war and his passport wasn't recognised. It looked like he was having a good time living in the airport, making friends with everyone who worked in the airport. And he even managed to get part time job in there... albeit he was roughing it out a little. I've always wondered what that felt like, seemed fun!

What a treat it was that we kind of did get that experience...  Except we didn't  have to rough it out in the airport like Tom's character did with Plaza Premium Lounge being around. They fed us, quenched our thirst, and after all that, even gave us a comfortable night's stay at KLIA 2 just before our insane 6am early morning flight to Siam Reap the next day. Since this is (mostly) a booze blog, I'm going to spend a little more time sharing with you about the liquid side of things, and then quickly touching base on the other services and facilities.

26 May 2015

Insta Weekly - Canadian Club Old Fashioned, Cheap Singha Beer, Singha Soda Water, Nikka in the Fridge, Auchentoshan 16 Years, Glenffidich #ValleyOfTheDeer, Whistling Duck Wine

Oh my goodness. I'm still not used to the idea of 2015 yet and June is coming (tiny GoT reference, anyone?). What on earth? Does time go by faster with each year with age? Or is it because of those dratted technological advances that makes us forget to slow down and enjoy the time we have on earth? 

I find myself spending too much being "connected". It is a terrible habit really, how the internet and technology has taken over our lives. At first I thought it was just a younger generation thing but no - the older folks (ie my parents) have now picked up the habit of constantly having their noses buried into their phones. For me, it's gotten so bad that now, I can't sleep if I don't spend at least an hour surfing on the net for pointless mindless entertainment to unwind. Sometimes I wonder if Wall-E wasn't a bit of a prophecy - human kind being too dependent on technology to the point we even forget how to WALK. Scary thought for me.

Which is why, since last year, I've been making resolutions to get disconnected more. I've taken myself out of chat groups, muted a lot of apps, and really trying very hard to be in the NOW. I have to admit, it takes a lot of effort to do this. More often than not, I find myself being drawn to the damn phone. I must make this habit stop. How bad is your tech habit? Do you even have one?

Slightly ironic that I'm talking about my bad tech habit on my blog, haha. Well, on to my favourite habit - talking about booze:

20 May 2015

Glenlivet Winchester Collection Vintage 1964: Bottle 3/100 For Auction in Malaysia & How-To

The Glenlivet Winchester Collection Vintage 1964 Bottle No.3 is in Malaysia
The Glenlivet's first collection of 50 Year Old single malt Scotch whisky, Vintage 1964, has landed in Malaysia.

Released at 42.3% ABV, this is bottle No. 3 of 100. Yes, there are only 100 bottles available on earth.

Having gone through 7 master distillers, it takes its name from the current master distiller, Alan Winchester, making it the first of the many Glenlivet Winchester collection expressions to come. The next vintage will be a 1966, which will be released in a ........ make a wild guess? Uh huh, 2 years time. :)

17 May 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!

11 May 2015

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

06 May 2015

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. 

04 May 2015

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. :)