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

Nice

The Porsche Design Studio, created in 1972 by Dr FA Porsche (whose cool granddad designed my cool car), has collaborated with JW to produce the ‘Blue Label Collection by Porsche Design Studio’ – four fancy collector’s items, including a luxurious ‘mini’ bar.

Chillin with the Chiller

The design classics from the Collection are the Cube, the Mini Cube and Chiller. All three follow the blend of beauty and functionality epitomized by The Private Bar, fusing the classic and the modern through luxurious leather and brushed metals.

The Mini Cube

They’re priced from $860 for the Chiller, which i think is real cool and a good deal. The bottle’s case opens up to double as an ice bucket!

The Cube

The Private Bar? It’s this eight-foot tall bar in a vertical cube. Hit a button, and the cube’s top rotates automatically and opens up to reveal a luxurious bar, with a couple of Blue Label bottles, four glasses and an ice bucket, ready to rock. An alcohol Robocop.

The tall, robotic bar, aka Porsche Design Studio Collection Private Bar

It’s crafted from the finest materials, including luxurious leather and brushed titanium. Also has a chiller built-in.

Strictly for Blue Label

If you get order one, JW will throw in an ultimate Blue Label luxury experience in Scotland giving you access to the secrets behind the Walker family’s blending crafts and some of Porsche’s most powerful cars.

But at 500 grand apiece, you better be a multi-millionaire eh?

Here it comes

Grant’s 12 is made of a blend of fine single malts and grain whiskies, matured in oak for a minimum of 12 years. It also does an additional three months in American oak casks. The result – a full-bodied whisky that’s real smooth and rich. It’s main notes – mix of vanilla n spice, and a lil fruity too.

Grant’s is from William Grant & Sons (how come it’s never … and Daughters?) Ltd, a family-owned distillery since 1886. It won Distiller of The Year at the IWSC in 2010 and 2011.

Starter

The event took place at one of my favourite-lookin lounge, Flo. Food was great, and there was haggis too. Tender stuff.

Funky joint

Main bar

There were guys in skirts dancin

I’m pretty sure that the award-winning Grant’s 12 has been in Malaysia before, I’ll tell u why. My bro got married a few years ago, so after the ceremony in the morning, there was a drinking session at a members club for the groom’s posse before the lunch. Within that short period before we makan with the bride’s side n all, we polished 20 bottles of Grant’s 12. Good stuff.

We were very late and very high by the time we showed at the hall for lunch. And the dancing began.

Ready to party

Great to see you again Grant’s.

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.

Sudah mari

It’s been available since Nov last year at duty-free, and was meant to be exclusive to that segment, but not anymore.

Should be enough for our table

“Overwhelming demand dictated that it should be introduced to a wider audience but still as a limited edition targeting key gifting occasions,” says Charles Wright, JW brand manager.

Charles, a major fan of the DB

It uses whiskies from Scotland’s west coast, thus making it peatier, smokier and more intense. I enjoy it with water. Anyway i reviewed it a few months back here.

The bottle is nice – shape-wise, the same at the Black Label, with a charcoal tint. Labelling is a lil different. ABV is unchanged at 40%.

We also enjoyed a guided tasting session

U can get your thirsty throats satisfied with this award-winner at Cold  Storage, Jusco, Sunshine and other retailers. Recommended retail price is about $209.

U want it, get it, coz it’s estimated to run locally until CNY 2012.

Chillin

This is a bar modeled after a speakeasy – which is an establishment that illegally sells alcohol.

Cigars? Cigarettes?

Speakeasies flourished during Prohibition in the US, between 1920 and 1933, when alcohol was illegal in the US.

Whose stupid idea was dat??

Obviously the policy failed. And created mobsters, like Al Capone.

Luv d special bulbs over d bar

Anyway, Tate is cozy, dim and intimate, so i reckon it fulfills some criteria.

Patrón-based margaritas goin out

It’s also impossible to find da joint, unless you’ve been tipped off.

Where's da party, dammit?!

After a few drinks, boyz got experimental with the knight

Brain damage: 7.5/10

Blue Label. Nice job.

Met up with him when he hit town recently – he was around to launch the brand new Blue Label bottle. He’s a travelling man, on da road for most of the year.

Jonathan sure loves his job. His enthusiasm when talking about his job and product is real obvious.

Can u blame him?

The man enjoying his product

He introduces the new bottle, saying that “the Blue Label bottle aesthetics is definitely younger. It would fit in nicely at a nightclub, it would fit in a restaurant.”
I was a fan of the previous bottle; classic style. But the new bottle? Refreshing, trendy and classy at the same time. A beautiful piece, so it’s time I upgrade mine!

Ta daa!

Although Jonathan himself represents the Blue Label, it’s not a drink he consumes daily. “I do enjoy Tanqueray and tonic.” He also enjoys Black Label over ice. And a cup of tea!

Amazingly, he’s a qualified and certified sake brewer, after having spent some years in Japan. “Part of the training included spending a week brewing sake during winter in a temple in the mountains!” Obviously he’s a big sake fan, adding that he’s amazed by the sophistication of sake.

Jonathan showing us the origins of Scotch on his pimped map

He’s been on the job now with Johnnie Walker for 18 years. “These days, I’ve become more than a travelling showman, I also help develop the liquid, and work with the master blender.”

Envious? Good.

Old Pulteney is not a common Scotch over here. However, a company called Interbev brings them in, and according to them, there’re plans to promote the brand locally.

Lookin good

According to the distillery, the £74.99, 46% ABV drink is a marriage of bourbon cask and sherry (American not European wood) cask-matured whisky.

According to Jim, ““Owned by a relatively-small company, without the financial muscle of the major whisky barons to market their malts on the global stage, I hope that this award helps Pulteney to become better known around the world; that is the whole point of my Whisky Bible, after all.”

The bible includes an astounding 2,100 new whisky releases!

Second and third places went to US bourbons George T Stagg, by Buffalo Trace Distillery, and Parker’s Heritage collection Wheated Mash Bill Bourbon, aged 10 years.

Look forward to seeing more OP around.

It’s large, dark and stylish. And it comes in a awesome box. This is the  Jasper Goodall Limited Edition (only 1,000 bottles worldwide), launched at an art gallery in Bukit Bandaraya recently.

An old picture of an ad

The new bottle has a smoky, dark hue, which fades out at the bottom to reveal the whisky, on a thick base.

At 1750ml, it’s even larger than a magnum. And i especially love how Jasper, a renowned illustrator, has redesigned the legendary Striding Man into a fiery version.

Bottle-autographing in process

Jasper’s inspiration for the limited edition design came from a visit to a whisky distillery years ago when the tour guide explained that over time, a small amount of whisky evaporates and escapes every barrel, and how this process is known as the “angel’s share”.

I wouldn’t light up a cigarette in there.

On fire

The Striding Man, a Johnnie Walker icon, was first drawn by cartoonist Tom Browne on the back of a menu card in 1908.

According to Jasper,  “I wanted to try to visually capture the taste of Black Label, its smoothness, its softness and its golden warmth. Twisting, nebulous forms build together to create images from abstraction; illustrating the entire flavour spectrum.”

Good job

Johnnie Walker’s brand manager Charles Wright feels that this limited edition bottle is a rare piece of JW heritage, and would just as easily find its way into the home of the whisky connoisseur, as it would the home of an art lover.

Same contents - good ol JW Black

Or maybe eBay. Only 1,000 has been produced for the world. Considering  170 million bottles of JW are sold each year, one thousand is only …%, ..well u can do the math.

I wouldnt mess with that guy in a dark alley

I’ve got bottle number 480. You can score yourself a piece directly from Moet Hennessy Diageo (email Daphene.Dunn@mhdm.com.my), with a reasonable RRP of RM788. It definitely has gifting potential.

When ur in trouble, fire-up the Batman spotlight. But thirsty? Striding Man!

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.