Tiger Beer’s Uncage Food Festival 1-2 December 2018

The Tiger Uncage Street Food Festival was AWESOME.

What is it? A 2-day food binge festival featuring 20 local vendors, about 40 types of food, with fun and games, live performances and of course, cheap ice cold tiger beers at the Gasket Alley, PJ.

What's the point of all this? Read about it in our previous post here.

Here are some pictures from that day:

So much food! (Image: Tiger)

Happy hour prices were insane! After happy hour prices were also well-priced.

People bought tiger beers by the buckets to park.

We wanted to bike off the crates of beer....

Lots of fun games and free stuff during the weekend (Image: Tiger)

Plenty of live performances to entertain us as well (Image: Tiger)

Tiger Beer, let’s do this again this year!!!

For more information on Tiger Uncage and to find out what is in store in the coming year, visit www.facebook.com/tigerbeermy, or www.tigerbeer.com.my

- Jon

The Bar Awards 2018 Events: 21 - 28 November 2018

The Bar Awards is back to Malaysia for its second year. This time, they're covering KL AND Penang yeay!

The Bar Awards acknowledges the best bars and F&B teams who are nominated by the public and then judged by a panel of professionals from the local F&B industry for the following categories:

• Bartender of the Year
• Bar Of The Year
• Best New Bar
• The Rising Star
• Best Restaurant Bar
• Best Beer Bar
• Best Wine Bar
• Best Hotel Bar
• Best Specialist Concept
• Best Hospitality Ambassador
• Best Hospitality Team
• Most Creative Cocktail Program
• The Bar Awards Luminaries

The top 10 for each category can be found here.

Here's the icing on the cake - there's going to be a whole slew of activities, parties, guest shifts from international bars (Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, and Bangkok) and brand ambassadors well as masterclasses leading up to the announcement of the winners on the 25th, and then a little bit more after:

Get updated at: www.facebook.com/thebarawards

Don't say I bojio!

A Celebration of Heritage and Gastronomy with John Walker & Sons XR 21

John Walker & Sons XR 21 returns to celebrate its craft and Malaysia's legacy with the annual Mastery session.

This year, the Mastery Gala continues its celebration of Penang at the Colonial Penang Museum in Pulau Tikus.

The museum, rated as one of the top 10 museums in Malaysia by TripAdvisor, is an awe inspiring mansion that houses some of the oldest artworks in the country, some over 100 years old.

Perched on an Angsana tree in the front garden of the mansion was a  treehouse that fit only 10 people per visit. There, Johnnie Walker and Diageo Malaysia’s Jeremy Lee surprised us with the soon-to-be worldwide release of Johnnie Walker 28 year old “Midnight Blend”. We were the first few in Malaysia to sample this.

The 28 year old Midnight Blend contains, among others, two grain expressions from Cambus Distillery, whiskies from the Speyside region including Strathmill, Cylenish, Glenkinchie and Caol Ila. The end product has the sweetness of vanilla, butterscotch, citrus, fresh fruity notes a warm, smoky finish.



The Midnight Blend is a limited production of Johnnie Walker’s Private Collection series (only 3,888 bottles) bottled at 42.8% ABV.

The final part of the event was a scrumptious dinner that featured local delights with a twist to pair with the XR21.

For more www.johnniewalker.com and www.facebook.com/JohnnieWalkerMalaysia

My take on last year's XR 21's Mastery session at Khoo Kongsi here.

We had a great time as usual. Thank you, Diageo Malaysia!

- Jon

#XR21Mastery #XR21
(Images: Diageo Malaysia)

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)

Tiger Beer x WWF-Malaysia Endangered Edition Launch

The Endangered Edition collection by Pestle and Mortar Clothing (PMC) is not just another cool streetwear limited edition collection. It is Tiger Beer’s latest CSR campaign on the awareness and Conservation of Malaysian Tigers in collaboration with PMC and WWF.

This makes part of Tiger Beer's 6-year partnership with WWF in its efforts to support doubling the population of wild tigers globally by 2022.

There are 4 designers’ tiger motif t-shirt designs to choose from by four local artists - Sean Lean, Kenji Chai, Julian Oh, and Hugh Koh. All proceeds of these t-shirt sales will go to the WWF Malaysian Tiger conservancy fund.

Only 260 pieces of these limited edition t-shirts have been made, but this number is still more than the number of Malayan tigers left in the wild (estimated at 250).

These t-shirts that are priced at RM100 each and are available at the PMC flagship Bangsar store while stocks last. Online sales for the exclusive Endangered Edition collection will go live on PMC’s online shopping platform, https://www.pestlemortarclothing.com from 21 st August onwards.

For more information on the Endangered Edition collection, visit www.facebook.com/tigerbeermy.

- Jon

Images from Heineken Malaysia.

Lone Wolf Gin Comes to Malaysia!

A few of us had a sneak preview of this lovely gin, which has recently pounced its way into the Malaysian gin market - making us their first market in Asia to enter. Yeay!

MyBeer (of Taps Beer Bar fame), who is likely one of the largest importers of craft beer in Malaysia brings this in. Why is a craft beer importer bringing this in? Because: they bring in BrewDog and BrewDog makes this gin.

With so many gins in the market, what sets this new product apart is with the brewers at BrewDog’s distilling their grain spirit from scratch (50% wheat, 50% barley) - unlike some gin brands that outsources their grain spirits.

The botanicals include juniper, Thai lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaf, coriander, pink peppercorn, almond, fresh lemon peel, mace, fresh red grapefruit peel, and Scottish pine needles.

Bottled at 44% ABV, the higher than industry standard 40% ABV packs just a right punch to allow its botanical to shine especially when gin is married with it and even upon dilution with melting ice.

Creamy with citrus on the nose and spiciness in the end, this gin is delicious.

Lone Wolf will be made available on retail .... soon. We're keeping an eye out for the Lone Wolf tonic as well, which is formulated to pair with their gin like ketchup on fries. There's even a canned G&T at 8.8% ABV - which FA approves:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on May 26, 2018 at 4:15am PDT

There are other planned canned booziness too but we'll have sit tight and watch out for it.

- Jon

Taste Almost 50 types of Whisky And Spirits at Whisky PLUS!

Whiskyphiles, block 28 July 2018 on your calendars for the upcoming WhiskyPLUS 2018.

What is it:
A whisky and spirits tasting event, organised by the TEG Media Group. Whispers tell me that this could be Malaysia's answer to Whisky Live Singapore!

What can you expect:
About 50 brands of whiskies and spirits to try including: the Arran, Balblair, Bruichladdich, Benromach, Bunnahabhain, Bushmills, Chivas, Deanston, Glenfarclas, Glenfiddich, Hazelburn, Kilchoman, Ledaig, Longrow, Maison Du Whisky, Mars, Monkey Shoulder, Nikka, Octomore, Paul John, Port Charlotte, the Glenlivet, SMWS, Ancnoc... and these are just the whisky brands. Check out the full list here: http://www.whiskyplus.my./#brands

Format:
There are 2 sessions to choose from (12pm - 4pm & 5pm - 10pm) and number of tickets for each session is limited for crowd control so hurry!

Pricing:
Ther are 2 ticket types are available -  Gold (Standard) or Black (VIP).

1) Gold passes vary from RM135 - RM188, depending if you're bulk buying (cheaper) and if it's the 1st vs 2nd (the longer and therefore pricier) session.

The Gold ticket gets you:
- access to the main tasting floor, with unlimited sampling of whiskies and other spirits
- light bites provided by the hotel
- a Glencairn-style whisky tasting glass to bring home
- complimentary F&B vouchers for Hilton KL restaurants
- a free cocktail by guest bartenders

2) Black passes go for RM268 and RM298 (in additional to the gold ticket access, you get other exclusives like the cigar lounge access, VIP premier tasting room, and an upgraded goodie bag) (sold out!)

BONUS! If you are a Dram Full - Malaysia member (why aren't you already?? tsk tsk), you get discounts ranging from RM10 to RM40, depending on the session and the type of pass chosen. CLICK HERE.

More: 
- Purchase-by-the-dram whiskies at the Collector’s Corner to sample private collectors’ rare and expensive bottles.
- Discounted promo codes for MULA e-hailing rides home

- Selected bottles for sale at discounted prices.

For more details on #WhiskyPlusKL2018 and ticket purchase, visit www.whiskyplus.my.

Don't say I bojio!

P/s: I am running a Facebook giveaway contest for a pair of tickets worth RM270!

How to participate?

1. Share this post on your Facebook.
2. Include this in your post "l want to go for #WhiskyPlusKL2018 with (tag your friend) because...."
3. Comment below so I know you're participating. Make sure your FB profile is public otherwise I can't keep track. If I can't see your profile, you're automatically disqualified okay! :)
4. Get the highest number of likes on your post.
5. Win 2 tickets!

Contest ends this friday, 5pm. good luck!

Go go go: https://www.facebook.com/ang3ltini

Guiness Malaysia’s Perfect Pour Masters 2018 - Finale

Take a Guinness pint glass.
Hold it at a 45° angle.
Toggle stout lever until pour reaches the golden harp.
Stop.
Upright the glass and let it sit for about 119.5 mins until the cloud of gas (aka the surge) settles and the liquid calms to a ruby red (it looks black on the naked eye, but try holding it up against a bright white light and you'll see it!).
Top up the stout till the frothy head reaches the rim of the glass.
Stop.

This is Guinness's perfect serve, also called the ‘two part’ pour.

It takes more than 2 minutes for a perfect pint to be poured and the best of establishments make you wait for your pint. If your stout comes out too soon, especially in a busy establishment, you can be sure that it's not done the right way, and you should send it back.... or never go there again :p

 Bartenders at Guinness outlets are trained to get the perfect pour right with Guinness Malaysia through the Heineken Malaysia Star Academy. The trainers travel across the country to do this and over the past month, they have shortlisted 8 of the best perfect pint pourers from hundreds of trainees from Central, North, South and East Malaysia.

The 2018 finalists. (Image: Guinness)

4 winners were announced as winners on 21 June at the finale held in Publika were awarded with a tour to the home of Guinness in Dublin, Ireland.

Sales Director Mr Andrew Woon, Marketing Director Mr Jiri Rakosnik & Finance Director Mr Szilard Voros with the 4 winners: Alwin Goh,  Henry Lai, Julio Jeremy, Kenny Loo (Image: Guinness)

So the next time you are at any of these establishments, you have every right to expect your Guinness to be served in a perfect pour.

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Jun 21, 2018 at 4:18am PDT

FA says hi!

For more: www.facebook.com/GuinnessMalaysia.

- Jon

Tiger ROARS at the World Cup 2018

Tiger Beer will be hosting a whole slew of viewing parties this whole month at participating outlets.

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Jun 14, 2018 at 6:21am PDT

Expect large screen TVs, ice cold beer promotions, games and prizes to be won at their viewing parties.

While you're at it, grab a picture with the ‘Tiger Beer ROAR Machine’ and score a goal to win free beer!

If you're going to be consuming (responsibly)/buying loads of Tiger beer anyway, download the TigerMy app, earn points and redeem exclusive memorabilia such as jerseys, photo frames, football boots and balls which are autographed by legendary football stars.



Log on to http://tigerbeer.com.my/roarwithtiger/ for locations of their roving viewing parties and beer promos.

Or you could look up for them on FB for more info: https://www.facebook.com/TigerBeerMY/

Don't say I bojio!

- Jon

Except for the instagram image, all images by Tiger Beer.

Carlsberg's Probably The Best Football Beer Contest for World Cup 2018

If you're a Carlsberg and World Cup 2018 fan, you stand to win a tonne of prizes. Let me count the ways:

Managing Director of Carlsberg Malaysia, Lars Lehmann, wants you to win lots of stuff from Carlsberg!

1)  At coffeeshops, foodcourts and F&B outlets
Collect the Carlsberg green bottle caps or the Smooth Draught POP Big bottle caps (remember to insist on them at the outlet!) and you might just win yourself limited edition jerseys, football umbrellas, and more beer

2)  At home
Receive the limited edition can or bottle cooler sleeve when you purchase your football-themed Carlsberg or Carlsberg Smooth Draught from super/hypermarkets and convenience stores.

Play their online game and win an all-expense paid trip to watch a Liverpool FC match LIVE in the UK with a friend at Anfield Stadium!

3) Online at www.probablythebest.com.my/football

Play “Probably The Best Football Beer Game" and use your football knowledge to predict the scores to win an all-expense paid trip to watch a Liverpool FC match LIVE in the UK with a friend.

Win all the World Cup 2018 merchandise (girls not included)! 

4) At any of the 3000 viewing parties nationwide

Participate in any of their games at the viewing party (like the “Probably The Best Foot Pong”, nd Football Trivia Challenge) and you could win an exclusive “Probably The Best Football Kit” consisting of jersey, umbrella, limited-edition Carlsberg and Smooth Draught with bottle and can cooler sleeves. There’ll be Bonus Codes giveaways to earn extra points for the online game and successful participants can also stand a chance to walk home with either a Hisense 39” LED TV or a Vivo V71 Smartphone.

Play and win lots of stuff at viewing parties!

5) "Buy and Win" & “Swipe and Win” at hypermarkets
Buy a carton of Carlsberg or Carlsberg Smooth Draught, deliver your best kick and walk away with football merchandise and score exclusive party passes.

If you're a hoarder, you could also collect the limited-edition cans and bottles featuring flags of Brazil, Germany, Spain, England, France and Portugal. 

Don't say I bojio!

- Jon

(All images provided by Carlsberg)

Carlsberg's Probably The Most Victorious Year

Image: Carlsberg Malaysia

Once again us alcoholics kick off our yearly CNY celebrations with the annual Carlsberg Chinese New Year party. This year’s big bash was held in One Utama, High Street ground centre court accompanied by everything that makes it an awesome CNY celebration - an acrobatic lion dance, giant drum performances and lots of not-halal Chinese food.

Carlsberg Malaysia MD, Lars Lehmann all smiles while "drumming" off the Carlsberg CNY promotion.
Image: Carlsberg Malaysia

This year also marks their half a BILLION ringgit fund-building milestone for their Top Ten initiative, an effort with China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau, that funds the development of Chinese education and schools in Malaysia. Keep up the good work, guys!

Carlsberg Malaysia's CNY theme for 2018 is inspired by the Chinese saying Qí Kāi Dé Shèng (齊開得勝) which means “flagging off to successful ventures” or “together, we succeed”. Well, 2017 was a humdrum on the economy, so 2018 being ‘ye leng yat fatt’ it can only be better, right?

 Image: Carlsberg Malaysia

In conjunction with Carlsberg's Probably The Most Victorious Year promotion this year,  there's a whopping RM6 million worth of prizes up for grabs from Jan 1 to Feb 28 across so many campaigns that basically, everyone that drinks or buys Carlsberg can be a winner!

For more: https://www.probablythebest.com.my/cny2018 or www.facebook.com/CarlsbergMY

So go forth, drink a Carlsberg and HUAT AH!

- Jon

P/s: And here's a whole bunch of hashtags:

#carlsberg #Carlsbergmy #probablythebest # probablythebestcnybeer #probablyhemostvictoriousyear #probablythebestbeerintheworld #victoriouswithcarlsberg #smoothdraught #drinkresponsibly #probablythebeerbrandwiththemosthashtags #probablygettingsorethumstyping

Okay, the last 2, I made it up.

Gekkeikan Sake Food Pairing X Poseidon Caviar & Seafood Bar

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Jan 19, 2018 at 4:18am PST

The good folks from Thirstmag very kindly extended their welcome for us to check out an exclusive seafood pairing by the newly opened Poseidon with Gekkeikan sake. And you know when there's booze, we're game.



The night featured a 4-course tasting menu by Poseidon's Chef Chris Tulseikrishnah Ramachandram and hosted by Cellar Eighteen’s Certified Sake Sommelier, Sebastian Chen. Sake and seafood are MFEO (made for each other), which makes sense because they both originated from and are abundantly found in Japan respectively.

The pairing menu covered:
-  Josen Karakuchi, a dry-styled sake was paired with some lovely fresh raw oysters.
- Traditional Sake, a full bodied spirit forward sake, was paired with hearty mushroom bruschettas with truffle oil.
- Cho-Tokusen with Gold Leaf, a little gimmicky (IMHO) sake which had gold flakes meant as a luxurious sake for gifting, was paired with savoury smoked trout

- Horin Junmai Daiginjo, made with the high quality Yamada Nishiki used for brewing premium sake, delicate and fruity, was paired with an exquisite royal fillet salmon. 

Credit: Thirstmag

We also had a taste of the Bizan Super Rice Shochu (25% ABV), which would've been a lovely as a highball, in my opinion. 

Being a seafood lover myself, we would have to make another trip back to Poseidon. They have a wide range of fresh premium seafood and being a caviar and seafood bar, its other highlight would be, you guessed it, its premium Beluga caviar, which is absolutely YUM.

As usual, we had a good time - made especially great with the usual media drunkards. Thank  you for the jio! <3

Hennessy Declassified

Hennessy created an interactive experience to show invited guests how the cognac was brought to life through a a super elaborate simulated distillery tour that built on the 50th floor of the Platinum Park Tower, Kuala Lumpur.  Held from 11th -16th Dec 2017, the tour was divided into 5 zones which ends in a free-flow lounge bar.

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Dec 12, 2017 at 7:04am PST

Did you know: A brandy can only be called cognac if it's:
1) produced in the Cognac region
2) made with grapes produced from the cognac region (mostly a white grape called Ugni Blanc)
3) distilled in a copper pot still, twice to produce a fruit wine (eau-de-vie) of at least 70% ABV
4) aged in french oak casks for at least 2 years.

At Hennessy, their casks are still hand-labelled by their coopers (the guys in charge of casks) who are specially trained in a specific calligraphy style that's been handed down from generations.

Image: Hennessy Malaysia

Also, did you know that Hennessy has a tasting committee of 7 people that meet PRECISELY at 11am everyday to taste anything between 40 to 100 samples of eau de vie for blending. It takes no less than 10 years of training before one can even think about sitting on that table.

Image: Hennessy Malaysia

At the end of the tour, we had a little treat of the Hennessy Paradis Imperial. It's a recreated blend of a once historic eau-de-vie made for royalty. An average of only 10 out of 10,000 eaux de vie goes into this blend, making it pretty damn rare. How does it taste? On the nose - a bouquet of flowers, like a luxurious perfume with a hint of warm spice. In the mouth it's creamy, viscous, full - with some tannins that made my mouth water. In a word - Divine. No surprises now that it retails for about RM6,400 a bottle!

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Dec 12, 2017 at 5:51am PST

The afterparty at the lounge was a perfect way to end of the night - plied with free flowing drinks (neat Hennessy and Hennessy-based cocktails by local and international bartenders), delicious small bites (rounds and rounds of fresh raw oysters!) and being crooned by a live band. Wish I brought my cigars!

Image: Hennessy Malaysia

Thanks for the jio!

- Jon