Barry Chalmers, who was Theme mag’s UK bartender of the year (2005), had a hand in creating the cocktail menu.

Hit the spot for a taste session.

The Hill's lounge

Kicked off with the Fish Bowl ($69.60, all prices netted), which turned out to be my fave among four cocktails that were featured.

Scoop a fish

It’s inspired by the sangria, and features white wine, cider, amarettto, muddled mango, married with lemon grass and a tinge of spice.

It tastes fruity and a little sweet. It’s got that, how do i put it…. childhood-flashback effect for me, as i did get memories of lollipops. The wine cancels out some of the sweetness.

Hawaii 5-0 (had it in a shot glass)

We also had the Hawaii 5-0 ($46.40), which is served in a pineapple. This is a mix of 1.5 shot Smirnoff Green Apple, rasberry jam,  pineapple juice, and Falernum syrup, which is a slightly spice, Caribbean-style sweetener. Its kinda light, with a mainly sour, n light-bitter flavour.

Barry impressed the crowd with his toy

The Florida Keylime Pie ($34.80) is a drink in a martini glass with a toasted meringue top. The top tastes interesting, while the liquid, which is vodka-based, was too sour for me, as i like my drinks balanced. It’s made of Smirnoff Lime, muddled lime, and a dash of milk.

Cookin up the Florida

We ended with the Tea for Two ($58), served in a teapot. And with scones. Haha! This beverage contains Hendrick’s Gin, strawberry yogurt-infused tea, and strawberry jam. For those with a very sweet tooth.

Screw green tea

The cocktail menu has a good variety of drinks served in creative ways, like the Weedkiller, which comes in a poison bottle.

Drinks spread

There’s a cool and fancy party happenin this Sunday at The Hill, in conjunction with Halloween. It’s a Veuve Clicquot event called Yelloween. Entrance is with the purchase of one bottle of VC. Details, click:

Brain damage: 7/10

The session at View Bar was entitled Spirits of the Tropics, ie rum, hence my presence. Mixologist Junior created four types of freshly-made cocktails, which were available for civilians at $15 net a pop.

Menu

Sweet deal, considering the quality of the rum (Angostura, Trinidad & Tobago) and the high-quality ingredients. The first, Jungle Bird, is the only well-known Malaysian tiki cocktail. An extremely unique blend of sweet, finishing with bitter, as it has Campari. As well as dark rum, fresh lime juice, syrup and pineapple juice.

Tiki time

I also liked the Missionary. It’s one of ‘em fruity and tropical sweet-sour cocktails. Not too sweet, the way i like it. Better once the ice melts a bit.

The Screw Pine Mojito tastes like a very limey mojito. The loads of mint leaves had me chewing like a goat in Morocco.

The Screw Pine doesn't come with the dragonfly

However, the Malacca-Loda is too bland for me.

Malacca mari ah?

Also hit the tequila dinner at Las Carretas, Damansara Heights. Jose Cuervo sponsored the liquor, and i was taken aback when i saw this:

Yea! One of me fave tequilas

The walk-in drink is known as Old & New, a pair of shooters of iced tequila and Sangrita. I love the latter, like a salsa-sauce drink. Similar to the Red Hot Smoke i had recently.

Food was great, tho not what i expected, as it wasnt spicy.

Mixologist Timothy Jason also fried some sugared pineapples with a blowtorch for the second cocktail, Citrus whisper – 1800, Joseph Carton Triple Sec, orange slices and home made grape fruit soda. It tasted quite like a Screwdriver.

Toast 'em!

Before we left, there was a treat – an extremely rare Cuervo family reserve – the Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia. Only a couple of thousand bottles worldwide a year. Ben says “Each glass is probably over a hundred bucks.”

It has a nose similar to a single malt or cognac, with more caramel. Its super-smooth in the mouth, velvety, with a sweet, intense finish. Not a typical tequila.

Niice!

Especial

KLCW is likely to be an annual affair. It should get bigger next year, with more publicity and a heads-up for all yall who’d like to know more about (and get high on) an exciting variety of high-quality cocktails. You’ll be informed!

Brain damage: 8/10

It’s organized by Fluid Alchemy / mixologist Ben Ng.

This event is truly about cocktails…. cocktails.. and more cocktails. So brace yourself for a week of ‘hard work’ at the bar. You’ll also have the nation’s top bartenders mixing up their signature KLCW creations for your enjoyment. Their cocktails will be available for customers at only $15 nett.  A decent deal.

Details visit the event page here. C ya there!

Funny thing – i shot all pictures blind – my camera’s lcd screen is blank, and there’s no viewfinder. Gotta mentally imagine the picture n shoot. Haha! Koyak.

Mari mari mari

Bartenders in action – John, Ben Ng (Fluid Alchemy), Junior (View) and Josh (21), all established guys.

For some reason, i wuz expecting a classroom / education session. Instead, what i got was an all-out, party-style, cocktail-making and drinking session! On a rooftop.

Definitely not disappointed.

It was very well-organized by TWE. Congrats Michelle, Vincent, u boozepimps!

In session. In the end, everyone was buzzed

Each bartender has minimum three special fresh cocktails created, and u just go up to each of them and make a request from their list.

Too easy.

Caipirinha with a twist

My first drink of the afternoon was at Junior’s station – Pineapple Cardamom Caipirinha: pineapple chunks, 30ml cardamom syrup, 60ml Sagatiba Pura. Interesting; lil too sweet for me.

Hit up the Kayu Manis next: a whole lime, 30ml palm sugar, 60ml Sagatiba, one cinnamon stick. This one’s refreshing, tho very limey after awhile.

Stick it!

Ben was my next visit. He fixed me a shooter called Red Hot Smoke. Totally loved this – zesty, fresh, slightly herbal-spicy.

Ben's poisons

It’s a mix of smoked Sagatiba and gazpacho (tomato, aged balsamic vinegar, chillies, ginger & citrus). I had many.

Smoked 'em

I checked in at John’s station. What i loved most was this -

Sagatiba Wallpaper

It won cocktail of the year by Wallpaper magazine. Nice mix of tangy n light sweetness.

Its 30ml Sagatiba, 20ml fresh passion fruit puree, 1 bar spoon of passion fruit syrup, 2cm of a vanilla pod, 1 small piece (5mm) of red chilli (to taste) (optional).

Vincent of TWE havin d chili option

Unfortunately, all the notes i made while drinking is gone. The wind was awesome on d roof, so i wondered how paper planes will perform if i threw them off, so unintentionally away went my notes.

Ridiculous! D stupid shit i do when am cruisin. Making paper planes from your media release gotta be waay up there.

Lift-off point

John also fixed me a berry-lime mix

Yuuummm seng!

Afternoon drinking. I like.

I think i asked John on several different occasions for particular styles of cocktails, etc, that i wanted him to make. He obliged, in style. We chatted n shit.

John takin a break

There came a point when John yelled, referring to me, “Who is this guy?? Really, who are you man?”. Haha! I guess i got his attention. After introductions, he says he’s been to this blog. Alco.

Main bar, View. Style. Will be reviewed on this blog soon..

John’s got skills, and it was an honour sampling his varied styles of cocktails. He gave me ideas.

Chachaca is pretty versatile, good for cocktails or shots. If u like rum, but would like a stronger-taste liquor base for your mixes, consider Sagatiba, either Pura or Velha.

The slingers - Josh, Ben, John & Junior. Very happy

A funky, casual, professional cocktail showcase in a great atmosphere. We could use more of these!

Brain damage: 7.5/10

Hmmmm. Gives me ideas.

I did try to ferment sugarcane juice once but it failed coz the container wasn’t airtight. Will definitely retry soon.

Met up with Boozepimp Michelle from TWE & mixologist Ben Ng at Celsius, a stylish new bar downtown to get to know cachaça better (pronounced ka-SHAH-sa).

Yet more new stuff in town

Its similar to rum in terms of the raw product source, but rum uses sugar cane molasses, produced by boiling the juice until it turns to solids (crystals). Cachaça is made by fermenting and distilling fresh-pressed cane juice, thus it retains an intense earthy aroma. It’s used mostly for cocktails, the most popular being the world-famous Caipirinha (cachaça, lime juice, sugar), one of my faves.

If you’ve seen a red/white label bottle with a large “51″ on it sitting behind bars, that’s cachaça, but a different brand, Cachaça 51.

There are more than 5,000 cachaça brands in Brazil, the majority known as a ‘poor man’s drink’, as its dirt cheap. 99% consumed domestically. But these days, better quality (and more costly) options are available. It’s Brazil’s national drink.

Maybe we should give some to our national team so they play better football.

Clear as water

Like capoeira, it’s got a long history (five centuries), but is only now becoming popular outside Brazil. Plantation owners used to give it to their slaves to make ‘em work harder. Nice incentive.

One of them that TWE has brought in from Brazil is Sagatiba, which has the honour as the world’s first premium cachaça.

Had a sampling of it in several Caipirinha cocktails at Celsius, but of course a neat shot first.

It really grabs you with its strong flavours. I got some earthy vanilla hit. Its ABV is 38%.

Soon there was a Caipirinha feast goin down.

Pomegrenate Caipirinha

Spicy Mango Caipirinha

Mangosteen Caipirinha

A Cucumber Caipirinha

They’re all fruity, refreshing drinks. All that’s missing is a beach. You could add more liquor to give it some bite/resistance.

Then Ben brought out some eggs.

What's cookin?

Am not a fan of egg in cocktails, but he created a very drinkable and almost smoothie-like drink – Maracuja Sour which is from Peru, but Ben replaced pisco with cachaça.

Koktel tarik

Its other ingredients are passion fruit juice and sugar syrup.

Batida

The final one’s my favourite, a Strawberry Grapefruit Batida. A Batida is a popular cocktail in Brazil that combines cachaça with fruit juices, and sometimes coconut milk. I could drink this all day.

The Sagatiba Pura is available now at TWE (map) for about $130, as well as bars like Celsius, Traders Hotel, Elixir, Laundry, ReggaeBar, Werner’s and Friday’s. There are plans to soon bring in the top-shit premium Sagatiba Velha, which is aged in oak barrels. Lookin forward to that!

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Brain damage: 7.5/10

The Manor

Now there’s a list of 350 cocktails! I was invited to try some last Thursday, not all obviously. Should have brought my sleeping bag and some rations – 50 cocktails a day, i could be in and out of there within a week.

The cocktail list is separated by cocktail types – aperitifs, long drinks, shooters, classics and frozens.

The intro drink turns out to be Brain Hemorrhage. Its not as sick as it sounds, although it looks like an alien foetus.  Its a shooter – a mix of Kahlua, Peach Schnapps, Baileys and Grenadine. A very pleasant and easy drink to shoot.

My first long drink is a Tequila & Tomato – tequila, tomato juice, lime juice & tabasco. A lil like a Bloody Mary, but better, to me at least. I guess it’s a tangy version. Pretty spicy. Tequila & tabasco combine well – in fact it’s also a common shooter. Tex-Mex shit.

Weekend special

Multi-flavoured

The Weekender is a mix of Malibu, dark rum, banana liqueur, Grenadine, orange juice & ginger ale. Sounds very tropical and flavourful. There might have been too much mixer, so it was a lil bland for me.

Hit a Caipirinha, a classic of Cachaca, brown sugar & lime. Refreshing, sour, bitter and sweet at d same time.

Suck on dat

Then comes the Blow Job, a classic shooter. Baileys, Kahlua, Creme de Banana & whipped cream. Ur supposed to use only your mouth to lift the glass and swallow the contents. Can get pretty messy. Obviously a nice-tasting drink.

I enjoyed this shooter called Black Forest – Kahlua, Baileys, Cherry Brandy. You could have a few of these without blinking. And its got a classy ruby-red hue.

My cherry

Am not into frozen cocktails, mainly coz they seem to take days to thaw. But had to go for the Brown Cow. Also, coz i feelin totolly tropikal marn. This is rum, Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao and chocolate ice-cream. Niice.

Great dessert drink. An alco-slurpee. The chocolate and mint liqueur is just a perfect blend in terms of taste, while the rum provides da boost.

Unfortunately i had to leave early.

Mmmm...... chocolate

Daaaaaamn. I was just gettin warmed-up. Other stuff that caught my eye were another dessert, Frozen Banana Mama (rum, dark rum, banana liqueur, coconut, pineapple juice and strawberries), Jamaican Dust (rum, Tia Maria, pineapple juice), Bangkok Special (vodka, rum, gin tequila, Midori, Cointreau, ginger ale), Harbour Lights (shooter: tequila, spiced rum, Kahlua) and shitloads more.

Prices (nett) for all drinks are $26.45. There’s happy hour for beer buffet (6pm-9pm): $50 net for Carlsberg, $130 for Hoegaarden, daily but closed Mondays. The outlet is for dining as well.

Decked out

The Manor consists of Desire, O Walk and The Terrace. Party section Desire is a nice-lookin joint. Pretty stylish and cosy too. There’s a generous & tasteful application of glass, with a cool semi-outdoor lounge.

If ur into deep/funk-house, I’d definitely recommend Tim Coates, who’s on deck Fridays. There’s also this Aussie freestyle chick, Jamain MC who’s launching her single on Thursday. Heard her belt out some rhymes. Pretty good. She’s featured on an MOS album.

Take your pick

Cocktail fans can check out their list at the bar.

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Brain damage: 7.5/10

Been havin a cold for a coupla days, tho i been partying a lot d last few days too. Including popping Clarinese and Panadols, and washing ‘em down with bourbon n vodka. Explains why i havent updated here for quite a few days.

I tot i’d check out whats the best way to feel better, utilizing booze rather than chems. My grandma, she always recommended some brandy (neat) with lemon.

I hope we all got some grandma remedies that we can remember, n pass on. Am sure they have some basis.

Vodka, rum both oso can i guess

What Granny recommended was kinda like a Hot Toddy. A Hot Toddy is not referring to the regular toddy most people think of, but it refers to a hot cocktail, made of a shot of either whisky, rum or brandy, mixed with hot tea, plus lemon and honey. It’s a well-known and popular remedy to make your nose and respiratory system feel relief, especially from congestion or a runny nose. And its all-natural. And u could probably get a nice lil buzzzz.

I think all liquors are fine. Avoid cold beers tho (which i didnt).

Anyway, came across a piece on Liquor Snob. Here are some of the recommended hot cocktails to relief the symptoms of a cold.

Hot T&T

The Ts here are for toddy & tequila. Boil water, pour into a mug, add a teabag. Sink a shot of tequila, squeeze some lime, and a tablespoon of honey. Sip ‘n enjoy.

Tequila does d job too

The Hot-Headed Cuban (aka Tony Montana)

The Hot Headed Cuban is derived from a combination of the Mojito and the Crazy Cuban. Its meant to relieve sore throat, stuffy head and nose, and body aches. This drink requires mint tea. Add one shot of your favorite rum to the hot tea, and half a shot of Amaretto, and squeeze in half a lime.

To upgrade the cocktail from Hot Headed Cuban to Tony Montana, sprinkle in some coke, and scream “Puto!” after u down it.

"So wotchusayin, u name a fokin cockotail ofter me now u stoopid fok"

Spicy Hot Toddy

Fill a tea pot with hot water, add freshly-squeezed lemon juice, a shot of bourbon and throw in some Jalapeño peppers, either fresh or pickled.

Anyway, just got back from a long Sunday afternoon of drinking at Luna Bar, and my cold seems to have significantly lessened. I had vodka, whisky, and a few tequila shots. So maybe any liquor helps!

Well, am gonna try to remedy that, with a new series called Basic Cocktails, aka Know Your Shit.

Today’s cocktail is Long Island Iced Tea, which has no tea in it. One of my faves, it got me at “Long”.

And “Island” of course.

I used to have pitchers of it every Friday at Velvet. Got me well-wasted – each n every time! Perfect score. At one of my birthdays, 12 of us had enough long islands on d table to drop Godzilla – 16 jugs. It almost dropped me.

Tho i dislike cola cocktails, taste-wise, the LIIT is considered pleasant and easy to drink, tho the alcohol content can really come thru on the palate. I usually ask ‘em to go easy on the sweet ‘n sour, coz it makes d drink too sweet ‘n sour. Haha. In fact u could try pineapple juice instead of that.

Kick-wise, its waay up there. Respect.

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LONG ISLAND ICED TEA

Type of cocktail:   Highball (served in a high glass / Collins)

Alcohol content by volume:   28%. Phew!

Alcohol types:   5 – vodka, light rum, white tequila (aka silver/blanco), gin, Triple Sec. One shot each (30ml), tho some do half shot each, depending on the size of the glass too

Mixer:   Sour mix (aka sweet & sour), splash of cola

Standard garnish:   Slice of lemon

Method:   Shake everything except the soda, and pour into glass with ice. Top with cola

Where to have one:   Will leave it to you consumers to recommend (if possible pls include price, should be between $20-25 net). The problem is many outlets these days use cheap-ass Klang-made liquor to mix drinks. Fuckdat.

One place I know for a fact uses premium liquors is Sid’s Pub, and its significantly cheaper than all the neighbouring outlets as well.

Popular variation to try:  Long Beach Iced Tea – cranberry juice substitutes the cola. Nice.

The food is actually authentic Thai. With good selection of grills.

More on that later. Our first drink was a giant margarita. Like fuckin huge. U could lose your face in it.

As compared to a large pack of fags

This is the Funky Rita, with four layers of flavour & colours ($67.85 net). It will take u ages to go thru this frozen stuff! Maybe an hour. So its best to keep this as a side drink while u have your main drink. Its def d largest glass of cocktail i’ve ever attacked.

My fave part is d top, which is a strawberry mix. There are like nine frozen cocktails dat come in these gorilla glasses, like Mama Alexander (rum, Tia Maria, coconut cream)  and Peach Alexander (Cognac, Creme de Cacao, peach liquer).

Tripped out, as the outlet is inspired by Koh Phangan's full moon parties

Melon Colada shd make a decent dessert – rum, Midori, coconut cream, honeydew & vanilla ice-cream.

Totolly trrropikal marn.

Illusion - fruity

We also had some Illusion ($29.90) (Vodka, Malibu, Blue Curacau, Midori, OJ). Strong shit. But like any such cocktail, goes down quick.

I gotta say for a Thai joint, d place has quite a few drinks in its list.

D little food dat we had was great. One amazing dish from northern Thailand is the goddam Ra Hum On Jun. No shit.

Take me to your dealer

Like nothing i’ve had in my life. Basically boiled egg wrapped in fishcake ($15). Am not really a big fan of either one, but man. The eggs are boiled to i dunno 85% or sumtin, so its not totally hard yet, jelly-like, and combines with the spicy fishcake topped with sum salad to blow your mind outta yor skull.

For sharers

After recovery we dug into some platter. Tong Lo ($55.20). This one is kinda a good grill sampler of seafood, tenderloin, prawn cake, spring rolls and a mango salad. For a couple of alcos like me & Byron, we had a tough time finishing it coz our stomachs were full of margarita!But i gotta say, the outlet’s grilled food is excellent. A great accompaniment for drinks. There’re also loads of That tapas.

The menu is very extensive. Makin a choice could be a problem! There are six Thai chefs there.

So our food escapade ended right there, and we moved on to the Nutcracker, a cocktail of vodka, Irish Cream, Amaretto, hazelnut liqeuer and a lil vanilla ice-cream.

Yummy

The outlet is labelled as a Thai Grill & Wine Room. It does have outdoor BBQ, as well as some wines. There’re actually several sections to it – the dining area inside, the bar  area, the cushy lounge, the patio, and the newly-launched Balcony & Funky Villa.

Loungin

Barcony is a mezzanine floor, more like a balcony. A great spot for private parties or BBQs. I watched this fish (below) being BBQ-ed – lemongrass-stuffed, (thru d damn mouth) salt-baked sea bass, a northern delicacy. I tried a lil. Niice.

Pla Krapong Tod Sam Rod. Seriously.

The semi-outdoor Balcony

They got sum sweet lunch deals:

OK wat

Happy hours – noon till 6pm – $51.75 for two pints Hoegaarden, Stella or Connor’s. ($63.25 from 6pm-10pm). Carlsberg pitcher at $41.40 from noon till 10pm. Funky Villa opens till late.

Beware the crazy bird..

Yesss... beware

Called CocktailRight, only one cert will be issued per recipe.

Pretty cool. Pretty egoistic too.

I guess it’s about bragging rights. I’m not gonna apply for them. For one, it costs US$35. And, it dont bother me whoever created the recipe coz i believe in sharing and exchanging knowledge.

But seriously, u could legally protect a cocktail recipe by i) Registering the cocktail recipe itself as a copyright (possibly under Literally Works Registration); ii) Trademarking the name of the cocktail, so nobody else can use that name.

The cert by Bartender Mag is more for fun. But it could make a nice gift for one of your easily-pleased alco friends. Frame and stick it on d wall n shit.