One of ‘em is John John Hazelnut Ale. Named after two Johns.

When i last checked out the range of Rogue beers, the Hazelnut Brown Nectar, the base for John John, was one of my faves.

This brew spends six months in barrels that were used to age rum. Tried it recently, it’s quite yummy, a lil sweetish with nutty hints. ABV is 5.6%.

The Double Choc. O yea, there's also bingo Friday nights. Cash prize

Another addition is the Double Chocolate Stout, flavoured with bittersweet chocolate. This one’s in your face, full and robust. There are sweetish, cocoa aromas. In the mouth, it’s creamy with a long bitter finish.

Morimoto Black Obi Soba sounds like some Jap lizard dish, but it’s a beer with specialty malts & hops, making it full and crisp.

Tastes better than it sounds

The McRogue Scotch Ale was also tested. This comes in a little bottle, and is malty, hearty Scotch ale.

There’re various food options that can be paired with the beers there, and the staff can give recommendations. I usually sink my face into pork ribs. Always works.

This crazy-lookin rogue is found on many bottles

Brain damage: 7.5/10

While the can was mostly gold, it’s now got two shades of brown, making it look more attractive. A bit like a coffee i gotta say, but i prefer it over the old design. Bolder.

Special eh?

The bottle, in line with the redesign of Carlsberg’s bottles, has a more radical change. The new bottle is minimalist, with not much of a label. A lot like the Green Label beer, but in a brown bottle.

This classic lager has some history with me, tho not as much as the Night Train.

Kicked my ass a few times. Never could get used to the strong flavours though. At 8.8%, it’s a good bang for your buck.

The new large SB bottle (left), and the new Gold (right) vs old

Many drinkers have a past with this beer.

I’m tempted to try it again tho. It’s been years since my last dose.

With the number of brands of strong beers available here now, I feel Special Brew has a tough battle ahead. There probably 15 lagers above 8% around. (Some up to 13%! Haha). That was probably one of the incentives to change its looks. The other – all Carlsberg’s main brands are undergoing  a change, even the Gold.

The new look is currently in Malaysia only.

Amazingly, the beer was originally brewed by the Danes for Winston Churchill (England’s WWII PM). His visit to Copenhagen in 1950 was commemorated with a ‘special’ brew (originally 9%) produced in his honour.

Churchill’s favourite drink was cognac, so in brewing him a commemorative beer, the brewers at Carlsberg created a stronger lager with cognac flavours among its tasting notes.

Interesting eh? I bet 90% of Special Brew drinkers never knew that part.

Was there Friday, and got a sweet deal. Only $27.55 NETT for a pint of Jaz Fresh / Aromatic / Lychee, and you get two more free. So dats like only $9 per 500ml.

I think there’s a similar deal for the 5-liter kegs.

Sure beats any of ‘em, $50 for 3 pints thing.

Refreshing

Was never a fan of the bottled Jaz, but tried the Aromatic (draft) – its pretty good stuff and goes down in a hurry. It’s fruity, with  a creamy body too.

The outlet is at The Pyramid in Sunway, and is quite new. Brussels Beer Cafe also just opened there tonight.

17 Saloon is related to Overtime (Starker beer), and the original outlet is in Sunway Giza. The same deal is on at Giza. (Enquiries for 17:  012 321-3475)

Food is Asian & Western. There’s liquor too. It’s a large outlet, with cozy, chill sofas too.

And, this cool deal is daily from the morning – 11am to 9pm!

Pre, during and post-Christmas drinks anyone??

At these prices, the parties goin on in the Sphinx's belly sgonna get him wasted too

Party starts

To add some spice, beer fans will be pleased – GAB has introed three new German beers for the season – Hopf Ice Wheat Beer, Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier, and 111 Zwickl. Mixologist Ben Ng brought us thru a tasting.

Balloonhead got thirsty

The Hopf (ABV 5.5%) uses ice-conditioned wheat where excess water from the wheat is extracted through freezing, giving more depth to the flavor and body. Gives the beer its distinctive crisp and clean taste that is mild and refreshing.

Welcome to Malaysia

The Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier (ABV 6%) is synonymous with the Oktoberfest in Munich, and is its official beer. Its gotta rich malty aroma, pleasant taste, and a reasonably full body.

The 111 (5%) is light-flavoured, with a hint of flower, and a mild yeasty flavor.

GAB’s recommended retail prices for outlets  for these beers are:

• Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier (Draught, 500ml)        : 26
• Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier (Draught, 330ml)        : 18
• Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier (Bottle,500ml)             : 26
• Hopf Ice Wheat Beer (Bottle, 330ml)                      : 18
• 111 Zwickl Beer (Bottle, 330ml)                                 : 18

They can be scored at these outlets.

The new Souled Out, HSC tower

Some of the other games for Oktoberfest, besides drinking, is rolling the barrel, the chicken dance, and masskrugstemmen – basically holding up a stein (litre glass) up straight as long as u can.

More info on the Oktoberfest FB page here.

Steins. I like

One way to cheers in German is Eins, zwei, drei, g’suffa! (Pronounced aa-eens, zvai, dry, zuffa.) It means One, two, three, drink! Doesn’t get simpler than that.

Names, as expected, are weird. Brutal IPA, Mom Hefeweizen, Chocolate Stout, Dead Guy Ale, Juniper Pale Ale, Mocha Porter, OREgasmic Ale and Hazelnut Brown Nectar.

Rogue dudes

Tastes, as expected too, are unconventional. There are no lagers, only ales.

The launch involved sampling every beer generously. Senget.

Fresh meeeat

My flight began with the Mom Hefeweizen (Belgian ale, ABV 5.2%), an amber-coloured beer. It starts light, with a very hoppy (bitter) finish that lingers, almost metallic.

2. Hazelnut Brown Nectar (brown ale, ABV 6.2%) is a nice maroon colour, and it  gave me a nose of dodol. It’s a light-tasting, slightly sweet malt, with a pleasant bite at the end.

Cool brown ale

3. Dead Guy Ale (German maibock, ABV 6.5%) has a creamy body and gives out fruity maltiness. Tho its the strongest here at 6.5, i’m impressed that u wouldn’t notice it.

4. Juniper Pale Ale (pale ale, ABV 5.3%) is light and a lil sweet, crisp and bitter.

5. Brutal IPA (bitter ale, ABV 5.8%) has an IBU of 59 (the higher the IBU, the more bitter) has in-your-face creaminess, with a good bite of bitter, although it’s short. Nice body. (not talkin bout the waitress)

Sempat do a major "yamseng" shout

6. OREgasmic Ale (pale ale, ABV 6%) stays silent in the mouth for a second before it kicks. And kicks. A little too heavy for my palette.

7. Chocolate Stout (American stout, ABV 6%) The IBU is 69, but it’s definitely a pleasant bitterness. The aroma is of vanilla coke. In the mouth, it’s a bitter-sweet of dark chocolate and Kahlua, with a lingering finish of local kopi-o.

Great bites were served too (picture in my stomach)

8. Mocha Porter (porter, ABV 5.3%) is stout-like draught and a lighter-bodied ale, with a more bitter finish.

My personal top three are the Hazelnut Brown Nectar, the Chocolate Stout and the Dead Guy.

Lager junkies would be taken aback by the usually-intense flavours and body of these beers. It takes some getting used to, especially for unadventurous drinkers who stick to one brand.

Geeks

Half the ales are in 330ml bottles (1, 3, 4, 8), the rest draught (2, 5, 6, 7). The bottles go for about 30 nett. The pint draughts are $25.50 nett (before 6pm); $31.30 (6pm-8pm); and about $37 (after 8pm).

Nice rack

Hey lil birdie

In the pipes for later in the year are other Rogue ales, Somer Orange Honey Ale and Chipotle Ale.

As well as Morimoto Black Obi Soba.

What dahell they bottling, seafood?

Nice fridge

At the mo, we have the 1664 lager in Malaysia, launched last year. Now there’s this ale too, the Blanc (330ml, abv 5%), which is a wheatbeer.

Party on

It comes in an attractive blue bottle. The beer pours a murky yellow, and i got aromas of frangipani. Quite similar to the Starker aromatic.

The View also launched it's i-Bar, an interactive, touch-screen bar top. Pretty neat

Taste is very light, not as fruity as it smells, with a short finish, with no bitterness at all. I think i had 10.

This French beer is distributed by Carlsberg Malaysia.

A self-portrait, touch-screen Facebook-page camera

For now the ale is available at The Library (Puchong, Mid Valley, The Curve, Avenue K), La Bodega Pavilion, Ecoba, Bakita, and The Hill. It will be introduced nationwide from next month on.

On tap too (apologies, camera phone for now!)

Bartenders joining d fun

I reckon it will also appeal to those who dislike lager, or want something light, probably easy to pair with any meal without overpowering it in any way.

Brain damage: 8/10

It’s called Moa Beer (abv 5.5%), a cherry-flavoured one that is being marketed as a breakfast drink. Cherry beers have been around a long time tho, especially in Belgium. Had a crazy time trying all d fruit beers in Brussels – grape, strawberry, apple, raspberry, apricot, etc.

Yup

I think except for heavier ales like stouts and porters, all beer is suitable for breakfast, especially if ur having an English breakfast, with bacon n shit.

Anyway, this New Zealand wheat-based ale, to its credit, isnt some shandy-wannabe as it’s above 5%. And the launch took place at 7am. Probably a lil too early.

Of course alcophobics have criticized it, as they aint day-drunks. They say it encourages pathological behaviour. Hmmm. I guess that makes me a pathologist.

And, there’s also a pizza-flavoured beer from the US. That’s right – a beer that tastes like liquid pizza.

If there’s one thing i could eat daily, it’s pizza! (Actually, I did. For six months in the UK.) Would love to get my lips on Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer. Basically, a Margarita pizza is boiled (sounds bad, but it’s received very good reviews), then spices and hops are added. After a coupla weeks, it’s ready!

In theory, as i can eat pizza everyday, this drink could turn me into an alcoholic.

It’s also good as a cooking ingredient.

Drink your food

I’d think it would be like a fizzy, spicy, sweet-sour tomato juice ale.

I want one! Should be great for breakfast too, if not better!

Long way to go, but it’s a start. We all know service levels in Malaysia are going down, as i commented on once.

Pay attention now..

The event was attended by employees from various outlets. Taylor’s University is involved to improve bar operation skills and customer service. Since it was done in English, i assume the foreign staff didnt understand much.

I sat out the training module as it was only for outlet staff. (sorry, all pix by camera phone.)

Brands distributed by Carlsberg Malaysia via Luen Heng

The highlight that day was the attendance of George Reisch, the main man, aka Brewmaster of Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns brands like Becks, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Budweiser and 200 others. Its the world’s largest global brewer, with 25% of the market, revenue of more than 100 billion a year, and staff of 116,000.

He gave a presentation about beer as well. One memorable statement from him – when storing your beer, keep it in a dark spot so it dont get ‘light-struck’ – light affects beer quality. Hence beer bottles tend to be dark.

Lightstruck! Haha!

We also got to taste half-made lager.

Shady-lookin brews

The oldest was a 20-day (with added wood chips for flavour as is done with Bud), which tastes as good as regular lager. The 5-day End of Aplha is pretty raw, with a nose of cider. Taste is quite bland.

Like Jaz Beer.

The cold wort is very young, and smells to me like Guinness Malta. Its cloudy, and tastes bitter-sweet.

That's George

George enlightened us that 400 different compounds / molecules have been found in wine, and 1,200 in beer. More complicated that you think.

Hmmm. Tough choice. I'd probably go for some Leffe

Also met Carlsberg Malaysia's new marketing director, York Spencer

The program went on for a day. Let’s hope there’re some better-educated bar staff out there now!

Brain damage: 5/10

"Hmmm. I think i swallowed these seven; you had those two"

Fortunately, there are countless styles of beers.

Unfortunately, it’s in Singapore.

Happening June 16-19,  the event includes its Asia Beer Awards. Starker (Malaysia) scored some silverware last year.

There’s whole lotta other stuff goin on too.

Beer that will give u wings

Shd be fun especially as u get to sample all the beers before u buy ‘em. I’d go, but just had a vacation in Sabah last week, so to scoot again next week would be too much.

There’ll be 25o types of lagers and ales, commercial and craft brews. From the website, looks like Malaysia’s participating beer brands this year are Jaz and Connors.

Ermm… no comment.

Well, that’s the truth of it – we have very few Malaysian beers. No thanks to government control. If they were liberal with licences, i’d be a goddam brewer. Haha

If ur there, have a blast, and try as many as your body allows! Here’s the link.

Haha! Vietnamese promoters kickin it olll skool

Tho i’ve been to The Tavern (the brewery bar) quite a few times, this was the first tour of Guinness Anchor Bhd’s brewery in Sungai Way.

Toured Carlsberg Malaysia’s brewery in 2009, where, even while sober, i showed Steven Gerard how it’s done.

Ambik kau! In yor face

No footballers to abuse at GAB tho.

The event was in conjunction with Guinness Malaysia winning the BEST Guinness outside Ireland for four years in a row! Congrats Malaysia.

It’s called the Guinness League of Excellence, and has been around since the ’90s.

Some of the stuff that beer's composed from

The award covers both Guinnesses, the Foreign Extra Stout and Draught. And the competition was between breweries in 50 countries.

We take our black stuff seriously eh?

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The judging was by an independent panel, and there are four parameters – Process control (GAB is usually tops here), analytical conformance, dress code (look of the bottle), and taste test (also always top).

Some of d stuff that Guinness is made from - roast barley and hops (pellets)

The tour by Alan Pinto provided an insight on the processes at the brewery. The bottling and canning lines are real impressive. Super hi-tech and fast.

The brewery has some amazing output: It can produce 70,000 cans of beer every hour! And 350-400 kegs/hour, for a volume of 45,000 liters of beer every seven hours.

The superb canning line. What every home needs

The brew is tested daily before being released, and there are nine parameters that are tested. By a bunch of lucky guys. (Unless they’re fed up by now.)

What gives Guinness its uniqueness is among others, a special Guinness Yeast, and the addition of a secret essence called the Guinness Flavor at the end.

Pix weren’t allowed at the production area. Just in case alcos figure an angle to break in.

The zero-gravity ride that guests can partake in

After the tour, i wuz thirsty, obviously, seeing all that brew moving around the brewery floor. But i had to wait. A lil while longer. Mixologist Ben Ng gave a demo on the two-part draft pour that Guinness recommends.

Just kidding. Its one of 'em stainless steel beer tanks

Pour three-quarters first, chill-out, then pour d rest later. Ben explained the rationale.That it has to settle well to taste better.

Ben pulling one

The pouring routine takes a minute-plus, tho personally i prefer the single pour coz it tastes creamier. And arrives colder.

To each his own.

Straight

We soon got rid of Ben and tested the beer. It sure hit d spot.

Cashless bars rock!

So if we have the top Guinness in d world, then the Malaysian bar that pours your favourite Guinness has the best Guinness in the world! You’ll probably enjoy your next glass more now. It’s quite a trip to know this aint it?

From the old to the new...

Brain damage: 8/10