Category Archives: ~ Booze news / new products ~

Absolut redesigns all its flavoureds

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Absolut has jigged an overhaul of the packaging for all its fruit flavours, sayin it’s “one of the most dramatic changes we’ve made” to the vodka brand.

The designs dodge fruit imagery and use “symbolism and myths” attached to the fruits instead.

Definitely more colour

Definitely more colour

The packaging redesign covers all Absolut fruit flavours and has already started shipping to all Absolut markets, so expect to see it at your bar soon.

Click to view all

Click to view all

Thus far, am liking the skin on the Pears, Vanilia, and Cherrys bottles.

Come 'ere!

Come ‘ere!

Absolut Hibiskus is launching here soon. Since the hibiscus is our national flower, i guess u could call this our national vodka.

Keep an eye out for that!

Or rather a tongue.

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Johnnie Walker runs away

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Johnnie Walker has really bolted with the lead in terms of value worldwide. It totally trashed the others by far. It’s brand value is US$4.4 billion, which is almost double the second-placed, which happens to be a Chinese brand, Moutai.

This is based on work done by Brand Finance, according to Drinks International.

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Exceptional growth of Double Black and Blue Label partly responsible

And whisky is still the king of planet earth. The whisky brands in the list have more value than the totals for the next three most-valuable categories combined – vodka, baijiu and rum.

Cognac, liqueur and rum are doin well too. Hennessy comes in third, followed by Bacardi, which falls two spots to 4, Smirnoff at 5 (6 last year).

The biggest mover is Ciroc, from 35 to 19. An 82% increase in value. (Puffy doin his job.) Absolut drops a spot to 11.

Johnnie Walker, Hennessy, Jack Daniel’s and Famous Grouse achieve AAA brand ratings, meaning they have the most potent hold over consumers, putting them in the same bar as Ferrari, Disney, and MU.

Champagnes n wines continue to struggle, but winemaker Concha y Toro, has seen its brand value increase by 35% to $663 million. Moet still leads. American company Gallo is second (it makes the one, the only, the ghetto, the legendary, Night Train Express!).

Can i get a "choo choo!"

Can i get a “choo choo!?”

I’ve only had 38 outta the top 50 in the list. Quite a few baijus in there. These Chinese liqueurs are still only big domestically. It’s gonna be tough to breakout, considering how it tastes! A  matter of gettin used to i guess. We all hated our first sip of beer right? Like damn, watdafuck are the adults drinking??

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Adios, Soren!

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Carlsberg Malaysia (CMB) ‘s unorthodox managing director Soren Ravn is outta here on July 1, after leading the brewery for three party-packed years.

Soren will be remembered as a sport, who mingled and drank with the crowd at the beer brand’s many launches and gigs (and rapped). No doubt he’ll be missed.

There was a real grand send-off party at the funky rooftop bar, Luna. Everybody was there.

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Fortunately, Soren’s got a big-ass promotion / raise, and at age 39, the Dane will be CEO of Carlsberg Greater China (China+HK+Macau+Taiwan). From being in charge of one brewery here, Soren will handle 41! That’s three billion litres of beer annually.

Or 8.2 million a day. Or 5,707 litres every second. Buuurp!

On his watch, CMB’s growth has been good, helped by a diversification in its beer portfolio, bringing in some brands i frequently enjoy (via its subsidiary Luen Heng), such as Hoegaarden, Franziskaner, Savannah, Jagermeister, Asahi, Kronenbourg, Erdinger, Leffe and Konig, although they lack a decent stout. They got liquors too. (And Amarula!)

Yummeh!

Yummeh!

I remember just a few years back when Carlsberg’s online presence was… crap. Their comms/PR wasn’t dat great either, and same with their website and FB. Things are much better now, with more engagement. I assume it was Soren’s influence. In fact, where GAB used to lead, CMB might have caught up or even surpassed them, as it’s been very active.

CMB has managed to get a lot of support from online media now.

It's goodbye to Shah Alam for Soren

It’s goodbye to Shah Alam

Henrik Juel Andersen, a Dane aged 46, will succeed Soren. He’s currently the Regional CEO of Carlsberg Indochina, a position he has held for the past five years.

All the best to Soren. Go yamseng your butt off in China.

 

The MD of rival Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB) has also left. However, there was no information where he’s goin, except that Hans Essaadi has taken over. Hans was the MD of Heineken Africa & Middle East.

Well, never really got to know Charles (who’s English). He’s been in charge of GAB for the last six years.

Anyway, significant top-level change among our breweries. We’ll wait and see how things will pan out for the year then.

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Cocktail Solutions launched

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Independent cocktail producers Cocktail Solutions launched their RTD (ready-to-drink) products recently at Wanaka The Bungalow @ Damansara Heights.

Up the hill

Up the hill

Basically, these are cocktails that are pre-made and in bottle form, so they can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere. Handy for road-trips, among others.

The drinks are made by Joshua Ivanovic, who’s been with Tate @ Intermark and Circus here in the Valley, as well as Milk & Honey in London. He won the Cocktail World Cup in 2008, so he’s been around.

The idea is to make cocktails convenient and affordable (from RM12+ for a 270ml bottle).

Choose yor juice

Choose yor juice

So after months of experimenting with ingredients, flavours and ingredient, Cocktail Solutions has created six RTD cocktails to start.

They were featured during the launch, and this is what i liked:

Delicious

Delicious

It’s a fruity blast of fresh strawberries, with the right amount of sweetness and a limey finish.

The Lychee Martini (tho not strictly a martini as it’s ABV is 5%) is okay too, sweet-sour, with some lychee coming thru on the finish.

Fixing

Fixing

Other flavours we tried – Margarita, Mai Tai, Mojito and Cosmo. I found them a lil too limey for my anti-sour palate. All ABVs are 5%.

Party in effect

Party in effect

Cocktail Solutions can customize cocktails of your choice, including low-cal ones. You can also have your own label on, eg, for events or parties or celebrations.

At least 12 hour’s notice is required, depending on quantity, as it’s made-to-order. Minimum order is a case (24 bottles). There’s a mistake on the website – no sales to under 21. Actually, it’s supposed to be 18.

These guys deliver. You can get the stuff from their website – cocktailsolutions.com.

Nice. Like Fridays aint fun enough!

Nice. Like Fridays aint fun enough!

Brain damage: 6/10

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