The Majestic Hotel's Tribute to Hollywood's Golden Age: Bogart Spirits

“ Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”

That's Humphrey Bogart’s famous quote from the movie Casablanca. Before Marlon Brando and later James Dean perfected the art of mumbling while looking suave and sophisticated, it was Bogart that started it all.

The Bogart Spirits is a collection of 4 spirits - rum, gin, whiskey, vodka, by ROK Drinks Company (US) in collaboration with The Humphrey Bogart Estate.

The introduction of its gin, vodka and rum was held at the Majestic Hotel’s Cigar Lounge, a masculine, classy location truly appropriate for someone like Rick Blaine (Bogart’s character).

The gin is juniper forward with floral and fruity notes of lavender, citrus, macadamia cucumber and coriander.  The rum delivers flavours of  almond nuttiness and coconut. The vodka,
distilled 7 times, is clean and dry, with a light fruity body and spicy finish. I wished we could've tried the blended Irish whiskey which sounded like an interesting blend of single malt and grain whiskeys, matured for at least 3 years in ex-bourbon American oak casks.

To commemorate the launch, Johnny, the head bartender of The Majestic made 5 Hollywood cocktails - Ginger Rogers (gin based), Mae West (brandy based), Jean Harlow (rum & vermouth), Coco Chanel (vodka based) and The James Bond (aka Vesper) (a twist of the gin martini). With the exception of the ‘Vesper’ which is actually a classic cocktail, the other 4 named after actual famous icons of the past.

Jean Harlow, Ginger Rogers,  Coco Chanel

The James Bond

Mae West

This collection is exclusively available  at The Majestic's The Smoke House and goes for RM45 a glass and RM600 for a bottle.

For more on Bogart Spirits: http://www.bogartspirits.com/
For more on Majestic's Smoke House & Gentlemen's Club: http://www.majestickl.com/smokehouse.html

- Jon

(Images: The Majestic Kuala Lumpur)

2018 Heineken Star Serve

2018 Heineken Star Serve winner, Edilon C. Cauilan from The Beer Factory, flanked by
Andrew Woon (Heineken Malaysia Sales Director) and Carmen Chong (Heineken Senior Brand Manager) 

The Beer Factory tops again this year with a new Heineken ‘Star’ Serve champion, Edilon Cauilan from the Raja Uda (Butterworth) branch from a challenge of 7 other contestants from around Malaysia.

As with previous year's winner, the creme of the lot wins an all expense-paid trip to Amsterdam in October, the home of Heineken, and represent Malaysia at the Heineken Global Bartender Final.



Now in its 5th year, Heineken Star Serve campaign had draught masters Jonathan Chong and Thomas Ling teaching the Heineken 5-step Pouring Ritual to more than 600 bartenders across eight cities in Malaysia. The Heineken Star Serve pouring ritual involves five steps: rinse, pour, skim, check and serve. These 5 steps are the secret to delivering a perfect glass of Heineken.

Mastery of the 5 step ritual however, is not the main criteria for winning the competition. The contestants and eventual winner has to exude personality and charisma befitting of a great barkeep.



My hope is for Edilon to emulate Eddy Jay Jaimin, who won the Heineken Global Bartender of the year back in 2016.

Well done and good luck to you Edilon. Do Malaysia proud!



- Jon

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.

Rampur Select debuts in Malaysia

The Irish claimed to be the first, the Scots made it famous, the Americans made it different, the Japanese refined it into an art, Taiwan's mad about it.... and now, India is jumping into the foray.

After John Paul and Amrut established names of single malt whisky brands from India, Rampur makes an inroad to our shores as the 3rd and latest brand of single malt whisky from India. This brand has been floating on retail for the last few months now but only last 29th Aug, in a cozy little media launch, I managed to sample a little of this latest pride from India.

Rampur Select is produced by Radico Khaitan. The distillery that sits on the foothills of the Himalayas in a little town called... can you guess it.... Rampur. Radico Khaitan is no stranger to the liquour industry in India. Having been around since 1943, it's known to be the largest spirit producer in India.

On the nose is a crisp whiff light fruity notes. On the palate, you can taste the youth of the liquid, not much body, more fruity notes and ending with some spiciness. Overall, an uncomplicated whisky to enjoy.

It's hailed by Whisky Advocate magazine as no. 5 of its top 20 whiskies of 2017 with 93 points. Bottled non-chilled filtered and at a 43% ABV, it retails here at RM345. You can buy this online at StayThirsty.

For more: http://rampursinglemalt.com/

- Jon

(image: StayThirsty)