The Heineken Star Serve National Finals 2017

Heineken Bhd travelled across Malaysia and selected 8 of the best beer pullers to tap the perfect pint of Heineken draught beer in the Heineken Star Serve (which used to be called the GAB Professional Solutions Academy before the brewery re-branded) National Finals that ran last August.

What makes a perfect pint Heineken pull? It involves its signature "5 part ritual": the rinse, the pour, the skim, the check and the serve. And for the finalists, this ritual is to be completed in 4 minutes.

Now in its 4th year, the Heineken Star Serve is a global programme that educates bartenders so they know how to serve the perfect pour of a draught Heineken.

Unlike in the previous years, Heineken International announced that there will be no Global Bartender Finals for 2017. However this international event will be back next year. Last year, Malaysia was put on the map when our local boy bagged 1st place at the Global Bartender Finals in Amsterdam.

This year’s Star Serve National Finals was clinched by Daimler Kenn Cagas of The Beer Factory, Kota Kinabalu and he won himself an all-expenses-paid trip to Amsterdam to explore the Heineken Experience.

Syabas to Daimler!

- Jon

A Most Unusual Wedding Dinner

This is a long procrastinated official thank you post.

2nd Aug 2017 was officially our 2nd wedding anniversary and not coincidentally also my FA's birthday. How time flies when you are having a great time (no, she didn't put me up to say this, really).

Diageo Classic Malts Tasting Session

Diageo recently held a tasting session featuring some of its Classic Malts collection which include Clynelish 14 Year Old, Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old, Oban 14 Year Old.

The highlight of the evening was the Benrinnes 21 Year Old from Diageo’s Casks of Distinction.

What is “Diageo’s Casks of Distinction”? It is a limited program where customers can purchase the entire casks from selected distilleries, and then choose to either bottle it or continue ageing it for bottling at a later date.

Know about your wine before you drink it - Vivino

Note: This is not paid nor sponsored post, but we really wished it was. :)

Source: Sotheby's

Wine has always been my Achilles heel. Not because I don’t like it, but it is so vast in variety and so subjective. What I can tell is if a wine is bad (which really just means, I don't like it) or no good. And then there are wines which are just absolutely divine in the mouth. Both I'll only know once I have the wine with me, and it's opened, and the liquid's in the mouth.

What I really can't gauge is wine prices or possibly what we should be expecting from it just based on the bottle itself. So this is where this little app on my phone is very helpful - Vivino.

Angeltini reviews… Caught on Video

So we're gonna be trying to do some casual vblogs.

The stuff reviewed will be random and unadulterated and possibly (no, will be!) NSFW from a verbal point of view.

The products featured will be random items we either have in hand or recently bought to try.

It's an honest review from FA, unscripted, one take and full of imperfections.

This one's on 2 types of Guinness 0% ABV which was purchased from a nearby Hero supermarket at the soft drinks section, priced at RM3.50 each. One looks like an "original" version and the other is called a 'Ginseng zesty lime".

Enjoy!



- Jon

Locker & Loft's Shake and Take

At one point of his life, Deepak of The Thirsty Blogger told himself, “I’ve had enough of this nonsense” - alcohol prices were going off the charts in prices (no thanks to imposed taxes) which led to too many unscrupulous players in the industry, "cheating" customers.

Then Deepak said FTS and went on to open a bar with his business partner - giving birth to Locker and Loft.

The man himself, Deepak.

About Jon," The Bodyguard".

So Fireangel/FA/Ah Fa has been inundated with her offline obligations and I've decided (on her behalf) that it's time to dust off the cobwebs on this blog and bring it to life again.

Allow me to introduce myself.

I started off being known just as… "The Bodyguard", which was before I became "the boyfriend" to which then blossomed into "the Fiance".

Today, I go by different monikers namely "the ex boyfriend" or her "ol man", and "grumpy ol man" (depending on my mood).

My past resume reads like this: 1. Accompany FA to events and prevent her from getting herself drunk.

Yup, actually just ONE job, really.

Apparently I have done a decent enough job and now she trusts me enough with her blog to provide research and creative content for Angeltini.com.

So for any posts with my input, I'll be signing it off with "Jon'".

Or you could also call me “O ghost who writes"

Cheers!

- Jon

P/S:  FA is still very active (perhaps too active1) on  www.instagram.com/fireangel80. Boozy updates (#angeltini) will be interspersed with her daily shenanigans too. If you'd like to take a peak into her life, go ahead and follow her now!

K1664's “Pause for Le Moment!”

When in France drink as the french do, which we’d probably think; wine right? But the French also have their own beer too - the Kronenbourg 1664 - which you'll also see Parisians enjoying in their little cafes in the heart of a city on a hot summer's day.

K1664 showing you how to chill correctly.

Win: Probably the Best Brewery Tour by Carlsberg

DRINK ALL THE BEER!

FA used to live just a mere 3km from a beer brewery and now after moving in (to, what seems like, another "continent") with me, we live 7km away from another. I’ve been to both countless of times but never have had the participate on a brewery tour... until recently.

Botak Liquor @ Petaling Street Kuala Lumpur

Smack right in the urban jungle of Chinatown Kuala Lumpur is this super instagram-friendly bar with its mismatched quirky furniture in its rustic pre-war shoplot charm (it used to be an actual brothel!) surrounded by foliage from floor to ceiling.

The concept of this bar is farm-to-glass. Raw ingredients will be sourced from the founder's own farm in Cheras as much as possible. They are proud of their homemade syrups (no pre-made ones in the bar, they say) and infusions. Fresh ingredients (herbs, vegetables, fruits) are the star of their drinks.



Its back bar features predominantly white spirits like mezcal, tequila, grappa, neutral makes and even moonshine which they plan to expand in time to come. They even have selected cocktails on tap!

If you need a break from the concrete jungle that's KL - I would highly recommend that you check this place out. Don't say we #bojio

Find them here: https://www.facebook.com/BOTAKLiquor/

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Dec 1, 2017 at 3:22am PST