JW Black Circuit party comin up

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Yea boy, d crazay rockin party which was held at Swedish Marque last year, is back. And u can get exclusive invites right here.

Johnnie Walker, the world’s number one Scotch whisky and global partner for highly-successful Formula One team McLaren Mercedes, once again will be bringing us the ultimate VVIP after-race party experience to Kuala Lumpur, the Black Circuit Lounge, on Sat, April 9.

This highly-anticipated event is an inside-look at the glamorous lifestyle of global racing that Johnnie Walker has privileged access to. On April 9th, the Black Circuit Lounge will again be the official race party of the Malaysian Grand Prix and will play host to the crème de la crème of Malaysian society. The event’s FB link is here.

There are two sets of FOUR invites to give out. So u get to bring your crew. The venue will be revealed to winners later.

To get your hands on the sought-after invites, tell us your “Keep Walking” story in more than 30 words before April 3. “I stumbled around like a sotong but i Kept Walking” wouldnt work.

Mail it to cocktaleblog@gmail.com. Include your IC no and contact.

Good luck, and see u there!

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St Patrick’s Day, and some Irish cocktails

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The patron saint of Ireland has his day comin up on Thursday, March 17. St Patrick was responsible for transforming Ireland from a pagan country with many ancient religious practices and beliefs into a Christian community.

Why does everyone drink on St Patrick’s Day then?

Do we even need a reason??

In Ireland, it was traditionally a day of mass and family. Elsewhere, its anything but that. Last year’s party here was cool. Am gonna get real high riding a St Paddy’s bus tomw.

Irish stouts are the staple on St Paddy's Day

Anyway, here’re some Irish cocktails, using mostly whiskey, which is an Irish invention; starting with the simple but famous..

Irish Coffee!

If u have an IQ below 50 and know how to heat water, u can do this! Make coffee (with sugar & cream). Add Irish whiskey.

Created by Joseph Sheridan (hence the liqueur called Sheridan’s), a chef at an Irish airport restaurant in 1940 for weary travellers.

Enjoying Irish Coffee (with Scotch) with d boys in Sarawak

Irish actor and musician Alex Levine once said, “Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: caffeine, sugar, fat and alcohol.” Wise words.

Ring of Kerry

Half shot of coffee liqueur, 1,5 shots (45ml) of Irish whiskey, 1 shot cream liqueur, shake ’em with ice, pour into chilled glass. Top with shaved chocolate.

Irish Buck

Squeeze some lemon into a glass of whiskey. Top with ginger ale.

PV Doyle

Mix one shot of creme de menthe with 1.5 shots of Irish whiskey, and 30ml of cream. Shake with ice, pour and top with maraschino cherries.

Here are a coupla Irish toasts:

May you have warm words on a cold evening,
A full moon on a dark night,
And the road downhill all the way to your door.

And..

May you live to be a hundred years
With one extra year to repent!
.

Have a merry St Patrick’s Day 2011 yall.

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Flight number 150

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… was to Langkawi last week for a company trip.

Where i hung in Langkawi...

Obviously i love travelling. I have been on an aircraft about 150 times now. Most were incident-free, except for two.

Once i was flying back from Sabah to KL, and bumped into a friend, who’s a doc. “Watsup man?”

He says with a big smile: “Escorting patient to KL General Hospital,” obviously happy to take a few days break in KL. Soon after take-off, there are complications, and i watch as he desperately performs CPR on the patient. Eventually, soaked in sweat, he calls it, and the plane turns back to offload him and the body.

I say to him “No luck eh? Maybe next time then! C ya!”

... for obvious reasons

The other incident was more recent when i was returning from somewhere in China. I noticed some activity mid-flight, and realize that an old man was in trouble. The crew kept paging for a doctor. No luck. I know CPR, but i’m no doc, so i remained seated.

Then i watch as the crew goes around and fetches the man’s family, grandkids, etc who are seated elsewhere. The old man dies.

Most passengers dont notice, and the crew then make it look like he’s asleep for d rest of the flight. Blanket n all.

Kinda weird flying with dead people in the cabin.

I lurv underwater bar stools

On my journeys via 747, I’ve only sat upstairs (the dickhead of the aircraft) twice. That wuz cool. I focused on the champagne of course.

The smallest aircraft i have been in was a 10-seater i think (single propeller), when i did my parachute jumps, twice in UK and once in Malacca.

I love the propeller-run Malaysia Airlines Twin Otters that fly into the interior of Sarawak and Sabah. Pretty small, and u can see the scene and pilots in action in front of you as there’s no door. They need to weigh u before they seat you.

There was even a band to entertain us at d pool-bar

Re drinks, i usually go for wine or cocktails. No thanks to fucking terrorists, there are now rules against opening bottles on board. Asian airlines (I still love MAS the most) obviously have d best service, while the rest of the world sucks. Some crew are real stingy with d drinks. No thanks to goddam drunks who cant hold their booze and start making noise. Dickheads.

Been lucky not to hit any major weather or turbulence. But of course, each time i try to take a piss, there’s turbulence.

For the first time in my life, i was served booze by bargirls in headscarves. Checkitout - Carlsberg AND Tiger draught in d same outlet. Rare.

Its been fun flying around d world. Will upload photos someday if i’m not too lazy. Been to about 30 countries now. Lookin forward to more!

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GAB vs Carlsberg Malaysia

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The Big Two are the players in the country’s beer industry (aka malt liquor market). And looks like Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB) is pulling away from traditional leader Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd (CBMB). (The other small one is Napex, producer of Jaz lager and Starker ale.)

The beer battle is pretty hot

Surprisingly, to me at least, Carlsberg (the Green Label beer) is still the number one-selling brand of beer in Malaysia. They’re still doin ok in small towns n villages. Tiger (GAB) would be second. When it comes to stout, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (bottle/can) is definitely ahead of the other brand, Danish Royal Stout (CBMB), which is virtually unknown to the urban crowd.

And in draught, Guinness trashes Connors (CBMB). I dont even know why Connors is around. Nothing seems to have been done to market it, or even introduce it.

Tiger’s doin well here, with a growth rate of 20% a year. So is Heineken. Put together, these two GAB brands are outselling Carlsberg Green Label now.

(Graphic from Star Online)

But i gotta say i really like some of the beers Carlsberg Malaysia imports, especially Franziskaner and Konig Ludwig. Great stuff. These bottled beers are getting more common, and outlets are starting to have ’em on tap as well.

I foresee more Malaysians going for non-lager beers like these. When Hoegaarden was still being sold mostly in bottles and not draft a few years ago, i foresaw that it had potential to go mainstream. And it has in quite a big way, tho its highly over-priced. I did make such a suggestion to Carlsberg’s assistant brand manager at that time, and also said that the female market is a huge one that should be attacked via Hoegaarden.

No idea if i’ll be right bout these other brands. In my opinion, by far the only obstacle they face is the high pricing.

But after having lager virtually forced down our throats for years, it’s time for a breakout.

To be frank, i’m jelak with lager. Bored of it too.

This also affects where people like me hang out, coz GAB-aligned outlets cant sell Carlsberg Malaysia products, and vice-versa. Its silly, but dats d situation we as consumers face.

However, the new laws coming in effect in 2012 could change all this forever.

Unlike Carlsberg Malaysia, GAB is however banking too heavily on lager and stout. But I really hope there’ll be more variety in their range soon.

New players. With potential, i feel

I have always seen Carlsberg as ol skool. Not really in tune with young Malaysians. Pretty much non-existent in social media. (And the same dance track has been playing on their flash-heavy website for two years.)  However, with these new brands, i think CBMB is  making some headway with younger drinkers.

New brands that CBMB introduced over the past coupla years include Blackthorn (cider), Kronenbourg 1664 (lager), Tetley’s (bitter), Savannah (cider), Skol (lager), Asahi (lager), Leffe (ale), Franziskaner and Konig (weissbier aka wheatbeer) – all by CBMB or its subsidiary / importer / distributor Luen Heng Sdn Bhd.

GAB meanwhile came up with Strongbow (cider), Guinness Black (lager), Paulaner (weissbier) and the latest, Newcastle (brown ale).

There was an article in The Star today featuring their financial results and market share. GAB claims 59% of market share and is obviously ahead of Carlsberg, which is estimated to be at 41%. Carlsberg lost the lead five years ago. While it used to battle with Anchor a long time ago, it now faces Tiger (now a Singaporean brand, which is actually a Malayan brand as it began brewing in 1933, before Singapore was a country.)

Carlsberg has been diversifying

Personally i think GAB has done a much better and a more engaging job at marketing compared to CBMB. I foresee their market share increasing, and Tiger overtaking Carlsberg as the best-selling beer pretty soon. And once Carlsberg drinkers die-off in a coupla decades or so, as many of them are the older crowd, Tiger will probably dominate the scene. But there are many variables, including the fact that lager might not be the favoured beer in 20 years. Who knows.

GAB is doin real well

GAB posted a 47% increase in net profit to RM64.6mil from the same quarter a year ago. It’s the biggest first quarter it has ever produced in its history. Thanks mainly to its huge Oktoberfest campaign.

CBMB saw net profit climb 51.7% to RM30.5mil. Its profit was dominated by the performance of Carlsberg Singapore (CBMB acquired it in late 2009). Excluding Carlsberg Singapore, net profit grew 2%.

Both Charles Ireland (MD, GAB) and Soren Ravn (MD, CBMB) are against any excise duty/tax increase for awhile. Maybe they should talk to Alcon then on how best we should approach this issue. I feel all parties should cooperate for long-term advantage and mutual benefit.

GAB kicked ass since 2006 (graphic from Star Online)

Speaking of GAB, their St Patrick’s Festival this year will be KL, in Changkat Bukit Bintang at 6pm next week Thursday (17th). Details here. Might have been better to do it on Saturday evening. It’s a working day and they doin it downtown? Considering the possible traffic chaos, i dont know wattup with that.

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