Glenlivet unveils a new whisky

Scotch producers Glenlivet recently blessed planet Earth with a new expression, labelled the Guardians’ Chapter, a limited edition.

It was unveiled at an outlet of the oldest barbershop in the world, Truefitt & Hill, in JW Marriott, KL. Guardians were entitled to a complimentary service at the outlet – The Royal Cut, or The Ultimate Shave. Nice.

Obligatory

Obligatory

The Exotic is the result of a special voting process by thousands of Guardians spanning 37 countries including Malaysia. Master Distiller Alan Winchester created three whiskies (single malts) to choose from –  Exotic, Classic and Revival in Sept 2013.

In the domestic market, the Guardians’ Chapter will be available only to the Guardians for purchase at RM398 a bottle, or at selected travel retail.

Mall party

Mall party

The Exotic is rich and luscious. I find it velvety smooth as well, and almost Cognac-like in it’s hints of sweetness, making it easy to drink.

It’s cool that they went for a high ABV of  48.7%, but you’d never know it – you wouldn’t feel any burn, at least when enjoyed with rocks.

I recommend it.

Incoming

Incoming

Sluuurp!

Sluuurp!

After several delicious whiskies, I went for the Royal Cut. Quite a detailed process, considering my hair was pretty short to begin with. It was a relaxing 45-minute experience which i enjoyed. Fortunately we could drink during the session. And then the party moved to Omakase + Appreciate.

Hard at work

Hard at work

Truefitt & Hill hails from an era of craftsmanship, with a history that began in fashionable Mayfair, England, in 1805. Patrons have included  Oscar Wilde, Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, Fred Astaire and The Thirsty Blogger. There’re several outlets here.

Fondling men's hair for 200 years

Fondling men’s hair for 200 years

Says Pernod Ricard Malaysia’s Angelyn Gan, “Taking our Guardians on a little trip back in time to experience such classic old world grooming services is what the Guardians programme strives for with each event.”

Good job there PRM. Some of the previous events have been cool too. Something i always look forward to!

Hey Monkey-Man. Need a leg-shave?

Hey Monkey Man. Need a leg-shave?

Brain damage: 8.5/10

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Heineken and Guinness rock on

Heineken has launched a new label for some of its bottled beers, featuring six cities of the world. It’s a global campaign aimed at inspiring people to get out of their routines and start exploring their cities. A good idea.

Fortunately KL is one of them, so there was a cool party called Cities of the World to introduce the Cities bottle and campaign. It went down in an industrial zone in PJ, and the set-up (from scratch) was really good.

New Heineken Bottles.

Getting to the bar / music area required some navigation, and it felt like a maze, and i opened quite a few dud doors. There were exhibits and all along the way, and some salsa thing goin on.

Trippy.

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Goin somewhere?

The main room featured an island bar and DJs on ground-level decks. Among the performers were Goldfish and Blink, as well as Hulkas. The boys from Hulkas rocked it. Awesome house set.

Hulkas in action

Bust a move

Heineken says that the campaign aims to “inspire people to move away from their usual habits and discover more within their own backyard.” It would be interesting to see how they plan to do this.

Salud. (pix by @juzliv)

Salud (pix by @juzliv)

There’s a website that’s been built to give people a look into interesting locations around them. Not very impressed with it though. Lack of content.

I’ve seen a lot of my city, but coincidentally i plan to see more of the inner city soon, by booking a couple of days in a hotel downtown. And explore.

New Heineken Bottles

Drinkers will find a unique code under the cap of each limited-edition bottle, which gives people a chance to win prizes, including an opportunity to unlock worldly adventures in New York. You can checkout the site here.

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GUINNESS meanwhile has launched the Amplify campaign, one that’s based on music.

With this, the Arthur’s Day seems discontinued. Amplify seems more focused on local talent, and more personal as opposed to Arthur’s Day’s mega gigs.

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Launch in session at a bar in PJ

It’s a platform for extraordinary local musicians to showcase their talent alongside international stars, and will feature fourteen of Malaysia’s best acts including Kyoto Protocol, Paperplane Pursuit, OJ Law, Froya, and An Honest Mistake. International act Howie Day will be joining the party on Sept 6 at The Bee, which is the kick-off.

4. Guinness Amplify Live Tour Listings

Admission to the 6 shows in the Guinness Amplify Live Tour will be free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis, and will feature special promos on Guinness throughout the night. More details here.

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Kronenbourg’s rooftop BBQ

French beer Kronenbourg 1664 wants us to get our butts off from working too much and get straight to drinking.

A great idea.

It recently launched, over many drinks, “Taste the French Way of Life” at Stratosphere at The Roof, which is a call to merge our culture of hard work and the French one of taking time off.

Party time

A sundown outdoor BBQ? On a grassy 360-view roof of a skyscraper? Perfection. To top it off, generous amounts of chilled beers were making their rounds.

It felt like we were chillin at a resort.

The series launched

The series launched

There was also entertainment by a band, fire-eaters and poi performers, and you could release some stress by slamming a giant hammer in the Mr Hammer game. And loads of grub. And of course, free breeze.

As Henrik Andersen (MD of Carlsberg Malaysia) says, “Together we will champion the art and beauty of work-life balance by simply treasuring good conversation and company.”

Saya sokong.

Slam it Henrik!

Slam it Henrik!

It was a nice evening out by Kronenbourg, pampering its guests very well. And fortunately they have six more events comin up! Including a comedy night, dining in the dark, and a Broadway show. Sounds great.

(The FB page is here).

 

Brain damage: 7.5/10

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Marini’s & Jose release an album

Legendary producer of chilled beats series Cafe Del Mar, Jose Padilla is back in the music scene after a break of coupla years, teaming up with Marini’s on 57 to produce a special album based on the outlet, called Sunset Hours (Marini’s On 57 Vol 1).

Jose himself was at Marini’s for the album launch, a half-day affair starting with the PC in the afternoon, followed by drinks at Marini’s, and finally Jose juggling the decks later that night for a house set. But i had to miss the last one due to another engagement.

Cool bar

Cool bar

Jose Padilla is world-renowned for being a sunset-tunes DJ at Cafe del Mar, a bar on Ibiza, and popularized electronic chillout, specifically the Balearic variety. The first Cafe del Mar compilation was released in 1994, and there have been 18 since. Jose’s Mixcloud link here.

1,000 pieces of the new album have been initially pressed. This one has 14 tracks from all over the world; it would have been great if we had a KL artist in there as well.

Close neighbour

Close neighbour

The theme is chilled of course, being Sunset Hours n all (aka cocktail time!).

There’s one exclusive track, which Jose co-created, while the rest are other artists. The compilation is more electronic than his usual stuff. And quite serious.

A couple of tracks stand out for me. Dragonflies (Cantoma Remix), a chill house tune by Jose Padilla has a solid, jazz-funk-inspired bassline, topped by the seductive, minimalist and ethereal vocals of Scottish chick Kirsty Keatch.

I Hate Hate (an oxymoron of a title) is a laid-back, housy track of about 90bpm, by Razzy Bailey. It’s got that ol skool vibe, with vocals by a male, a rarity.

Jose and Modesto

Jose and Modesto

The album is available at Google Play, Amazon, iTunes, music stores in Europe and several other online sources. The CD itself should be available for sale here once approvals are got.

Represent! In NYC's Times Square

Represent! In NYC’s Times Square

The outlet’s founder and owner Modesto Marini launched the album to coincide with the beautiful outlet’s two-year anniversary, which is also the highest F&B spot in the country.

This is an interesting marketing strategy to put Marini’s on the world map. In fact, it joins iconic brands such as Café Del Mar, Pacha and Hotel Costes which have their own internationally-recognized music albums.

Congrats Marini’s!

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