Absolut Fun

Absolut‘s global brand ambassador was in town recently, along with the Absolut Akademi trainer. Somehow i ended takin ’em clubbing! Twice.

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Matt Pomeroy and Hendrik Ohlstenius gave us an insight into the Absolut brand as well as the product quality during an interesting three-hour session at BlackBox, Dutamas Solaris, KL.

Ready to rumble

Class in session, Matt (r) & Hendrik

They’re pretty funny guys. The session started with all of us being made to down a shot of Absolut. Those who were late had to take a shot too. Or if u took a call / text. So i pretended to play with my phone, n got ‘punished’ with another shot. Haha

We tasted eight vodkas, including Smirnoff, Sky and 42 Below. While most vodkas are meant to be tasteless & odourless, in practice they do have flavour. Absolut especially, subscribes to having a distinctive taste. However, its still distilled 7 times. The new world brands like Sky and 42 are more to the tasteless category.

Eight neat portions

Absolut gets all its raw material, the wheat, from home, ie Sweden, while some brands source them from all over the world. It does this to maintain consistency – it tastes the same wherever in the world u get it, unlike some other brands. Its still made in the little scenic town of Ahus.

Tho it only began exports to US n elsewhere in 1979, it’s history is more than 100 years old, when L.O. Smith started distilling it. (Story here)

According to Hendrik, “”The biggest misconception is that vodka has no taste and doesn’t add anything to the drink. In Asian countries, dark spirits like whiskey are more popular, so our job here is to educate people on how to appreciate vodka and show that you can create some really good drinks with it. We also want to share the rich heritage of the Absolut brand with them.”

End of class

They got us to try all the samples neat. Instead of encouraging us by sayin “Do it!”, they kept saying “Buaat!” Haha!

Ended the evening in Velvet with them and Kiki from Pernod Ricard Malaysia.

Tomyam before party in Changkat BB

Met them again at Ecoba the next day, where there were coupla of Aussie bartenders showing some flaring skills for Absolut.

Serving cocktails to aliens

Buat!

Drove them to Zeta Bar, where we partied for that nite. Fed them some local shine that i had under my seat, called Thai Song. Cheap shit, but they seemed to like it! Straight. We finished d bottle.

Partyyy!

Doubt they’ll soon forget their trip to Malaysia.

“The biggest misconception is that vodka has no taste and doesn’t add anything to the drink. In Asian countries, dark spirits like whiskey are more popular, so our job here is to educate people on how to appreciate vodka and show that you can create some really good drinks with it. We also want to share the rich heritage of the Absolut brand with them.”
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India, pt 2

While there, we hit d road a few times. The state is much smaller than it used to be in its glory days under its famous Maharaja & general. First the Brits, then India, totally carved it up, n looted it.

It’s also seen lots of bloodshed. First by wars with the Moghuls, then more recently by battles against India and its fucked-up police n military, which routinely committed brutal war crimes.

On d road

Anyway, went to Punjab’s capital, Amritsar, to the Golden Temple. Altho it was destroyed by the Indian army in 1984, its been restored, and is a beautiful, tranquil place. Its lies in the middle of a lake, with a bridge leading to it.

The main complex area

The front

Inside

On d roof

Punjab means Five Rivers (panj = 5; arb = river), but i only saw one. The turquoise waters come from the Himalaya mountains to the plains of Punjab, and canals channel them to the farmlands.

Fresh water supply

Uncle enjoyin a TB

Havent talked about d booze! The well-known beer is Kingfisher, but Thunderbolt is good. Smooth n strong (abt 7%), i cdnt get enough of it. Easy to drink as carbonation is low.

Their local whisky is good too, and the famous ones are Bagpiper and Blender’s Choice, considered premium.

The default beer on this trip

Transaction at the booze shop

But booze is only available at the designated booze shops, and almost all are just take-away. U wdnt really find ’em at local restaurants / stalls.

Our host, Hidayet, also took us to his wife’s village for dinner. It was 2 hours away, but worth it. Food n company was great. Met his in-laws n all.

Dinner & drinks in d courtyard

Bobby, a kid who doubled as our waiter/bartender

Sunset, when i was chillin on their roof

Cant recall the name of their village

Clear skies averyday

It has a huge Sikh temple

We headed back to our host village, ready to head back to KL the next day.

Stopped at the ice cream parlour for dessert

The next morning we sere set the nine-hour drive south to Delhi.

Took one last look around.

Kid gettin a morning ride

Kids off to school

Spinach field

Our host Hidayet escorted me all the way there.

Hidayet enjoying a beer at a rest-stop

A typical breakfast - wheat bread with a lil mashed potato inside, white butter, pickled chili

My first trip to India was many years ago. My whole family got sick, except me, altho they were very careful with food/drinks. U know what they say right? Dont drink the water. Only take bottled water, even to brush yor teeth! This time, I DRANK THE WATER. Dont know why.

Not only that, ate at stalls all d time. Somehow escaped any stomach/ass problems. Was hoping to lose some weight. Fail.

Quite an interesting trip, and who knows, i might head there someday to chill (and put on weight) again.

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Beer diva??

Thats right. A lady who calls herself the Beer Diva made an appearance one morning at The Tavern on GAB’s premises.

To be frank, i laughed when i got the mail invitation, like how people laugh when i say i wanna be a celebrity alco.

Not for the glamour u see, more for the perks.

One day, like the diva, maybe I could be givin talks n presentations n shit. And they could pay me in alcohol.

Hmm..

Kirrily Waldhorn is a consultant, especially for beer-food pairing in Australia. She gave a short presentation about beer basics, followed by a funny video, then some food + beer.

Since this was a morning event, had to start it right

Happy diva

We didnt go into much detail with the food pairing. Lagers, being light-tasting n bland (and sometimes boring… in my opinion anyway), tend to go well with seafood.

Lager + fish fingers

An interesting team that worked is Guinness with dessert, ie choco cake.

Decent mix

It ended with that, and then we continued drinking.

I think dry, robust malts would go with sweet shit. A simple way to figure is the general rule, if thinking like wine – regard lagers like white wine, and ales as red wine. Thus, red meat would go better with ales, tho we’re unfortunately low on choices when it comes to ales (like porters, IPAs, bocks). Lagers are crisp n delicate, ales are robust and sometimes fruity.

Some say the beer-food should complement each other, while others say contrast. That’s a tough one. I’d usually go for complement, coz i cant imagine cake with lager! *Vomit* Or stout with prawns.

‘Beer experts’ advocate stronger and fruitier flavors (like wheat beers) when dining on spicy fare.

Then again, u can be experimental. In fact, u could also pair food with your DIY beer cocktails. Like Cili Haram, a spicy drink dat goes well with sumtin salty n fried. Or even creamy, for contrast, like Sid’s kick-ass blue cheese shrooms.

Speaking of GAB, it had a Christmas party recently for the Guinness brand, which went down in Malone’s, KL Sentral. There was turkey too!

Merry Guinness was launched, a nationwide campaign for December, with special events (54 of them) and collectibles: an ol skool Guinness glass.

Spot the turkey(s)

U can get it free with every six pints of draft or a bucket of FES (Foreign Extra Stout, bottles). There’re two designs, based on the acclaimed Guinness ads of 1938 & 1955, which featured illustrations by John Gilroy.

U know the hornbill on Guinness merchandise? Its actually a toucan, native to the Americas. I got him on my pillowcase.

Up for grabs

December’s gonna be heavy, as usual!

How's this for a vintage ad?? Luv d wheels!

Kirrily Waldhorn

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